John Chapter 15

The Parable About a Vine

¹ “I’m the true vine; my Father is the vinedresser. ² He cuts off every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit. He prunes every branch that does bear fruit so it’ll bear more fruit. ³ The message I’ve spoken to you has already pruned you. ⁴ Stay in me and I in you. A branch can’t bear fruit by itself; it has to stay connected to the vine; you can’t either unless you stay in me. ⁵ I’m the vine; you’re the branches. If you stay in me and I in you, you’ll bear lots of fruit. You can’t bear any by yourselves. ⁶ If you don’t stay in me, you’re cut off like a branch that dries up and people burn up. ⁷ If you stay in me and what I say stays in you, ask whatever you want, and you’ll receive it. ⁸ This is what honors my Father: you becoming my disciples and bearing lots of fruit. ⁹ I’ve loved you like the Father has loved me. Stay in my love. ¹⁰ If you do what I tell you, you’ll be staying in my love like I’ve done what my Father told me and stay in his love.

Jn 15:1-10

            ¹¹ “I’ve told you that so you can have the complete joy I have. ¹² This is my command: love one another like I’ve loved you. ¹³ Nobody loves more than a person that lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You’re my friends if you do what I tell you. ¹⁵ I don’t consider you servants anymore; servants don’t know what their master’s doing. I consider you friends because I tell you everything I’ve heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You didn’t choose me; I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit that lasts, so my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name. ¹⁷ I’m commanding these things so you’ll love one another.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you were like the world, it would love its own kind. But because you’re not like it, it hates you—but I’ve chosen you out of it. ²⁰ Remember that I told you servants are not better off than their master. If they persecuted me, they’ll persecute you. If they kept my word, they’ll keep yours. ²¹ They’ll do that to you because of me, because they don’t know the One that sent me.

Jn 15:11-21

            ²² “If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty; but now they don’t have any excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father too. ²⁴ If I hadn’t done among them what no one else has done, they wouldn’t be guilty; but now they’ve seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ What they’ve done fulfills what their Law says, ‘They hated me for no reason’ [Ps 35:19; 69:4].

²⁶ “When the Helper comes that I’ll send from the Father—the truth-revealing Spirit—he’ll speak on my behalf. ²⁷ You will, too, because you’ve been with me since I began my ministry.                 

Jn 15:22-27