John 15

A Study from Verse 1-17

Verse 1
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

Jesus is the true vine and God the father is the vinedresser. The vine was described
as true vine, so it implies that there is a false vine and we should be aware so that
we can keep ourselves away from it. And like what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you
not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?unless indeed you fail
to meet the test! We should examine ourselves if we are really connected in the
true vine, for if we fail, we believe in vain.

Verse 2
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that
does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

This verse was a confirmation to me that a man that have been born again, or is
saved can lose his salvation. As what Paul says in Romans 11: 17-22 NIV

If some of the branches have been broken off, (we are the branches as have been
said in Verse 2) and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the
others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider
yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not
support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, Branches were
broken off so that I could be grafted in. Granted. But they were broken off because
of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did
not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the
kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you,
provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
So it was clear in this verse, that the salvation can be lose if we do not continue to
abide in God. But, if we lose it, or we become the branches that He takes away
because we are not bearing fruit, God has always the power to attach us again, only

if we believe and abide in Him again. Romans 11:23 And if they do not persist in
unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Verse 3
Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

The LORD was speaking this to His disciples, and truly by the Word of GOD,
we can be made clean because it prevents us from doing sin (Psalm 119:11) or in
other words, through His words, we will able to know what is pleasing to God and
what is not so that we can abstain ourselves to do wicked things or sin that is not
right in the sight of God.

Verse 4-5
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the
branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for
apart from me you can do nothing.

Indeed, we cannot bear fruit, nor do good deeds by ourselves. Because we

are sinners so out of our heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false witness, slander (Matthew 15:19) and out of the abundance
of our heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). And this wicked things will flow from us
because this is who we are, and the tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:44). So if we
abide in the true vine or in Christ, certainly we will bear much fruit that will last for
eternal life. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Colossians
1:19) and from him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting
ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Ephesians
4:16 NIV). And he is able to increase our faith (Romans 10:17) and abound in love (1
Thessalonians 3:12)
And truly, we can do nothing apart from Him. For if we are separated from Him, we
have no life! For in His was life, and this life was our light (John 1:4) and without Him
was anything made that was made (John 1:3) and we will certainly die without Him,
because He is the bread of life (John 6:48).

Verse 6

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and
the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Undeniably, if we do not abide in Christ we will perish for the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23). Because
only in Christ we have an assurance that we are saved (Acts 4:12) because through
His crucifixion He cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal
demands, this he set aside nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). And that if we do
not abide in Christ, we will remain unrighteous, and we know that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9) and is destined to rot in Hell.

Verse 7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be
done for you.

If we are abiding in Christ, we are growing in the knowledge of Him, and his
words are abiding in us. And part of his words that must abide in us is that you will
keep His commandments. The word if is a word that demands a condition, so it is
not applicable for all people to ask whatever they wish in Christ and it will be done
for them. They must first abide in Him and His words abide in them in order that
whatever they ask in His name, it will be done. And we can only know that we are
really abiding in Him if we are keeping His commandments. And also, this verse was
related in what the Lord Jesus says in John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name,
this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in
my name, I will do it.

Verse 8-9
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my
disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
In a natural way, an individual remains in a relationship in a longer time
because he loves to be with that person. So it is the same in our relationship with
God, we remain in Him not only because apart from Him was no life, but because we
are satisfied only in Him and that we enjoy our fellowship with him. And verse 9 is
related in John 14:21, Whoever my commandments and keeps them, he it is who
loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and
manifest myself to Him.

Verse 10
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
Father's commandments and abide in his love.
So abiding in Christ Jesus was not merely remaining in Him, but it is more
likely loving Him. John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. So
we can see that John 14 and John 15 is so related to each other that we can
paraphrase this verses as If you love me, you will keep my commandments,
because keeping my commandments or loving me will allow you to abide in my love
just as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in His love.

Verse 11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full.

The joy that He is talking in this verse is with accordance in the previous
verse where He said that just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide
in his love. For we know that Jesus Christ delights in the commandment of the
Father, that it is His food (John 4:34). So He wants to tell to us that we should
delight in keeping His commandments so that our joy will be complete like the joy
that He feel when He keeps the commandments of His father.

Verse 12-13
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater
love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Indeed, Jesus wants us to walk in love. For God is love (1 John 4:16). We might
be confuse that verse 12 is quite related to the second greatest commandment
(Mark 22:39) since He also command them to love others, but this one is really
different. Because He is commanding the disciple to love their fellow disciples with
the same love that He had in them. In verse 13, he is telling what kind of love is the
love He had in them, that He is willing to lay down His life (resemblance of the
cross), that His love for them is more powerful than death. So we can conclude that
He is trying to tell us in these verses is that This is my commandment, that you
love your fellow believers like the love that I had shown you on the cross.

Verse 14-15
You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you
servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called
you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Truly, the Lord shows His great humility in these verses. That He called His
disciples as friend IF they do what He commands. And it is also applicable to us,
that IF we do His commandments, we can be His friend. Without a doubt, the LORD
wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him that in time, as we grow in
knowing Him through abiding in Him, from being a servant, He can also call us to be
His friend. So we can also experience a deeper relationship with our Creator, and
enjoy our fellowship with Him like Moses. Psalm 103:7 He made known his ways to
Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

Verse 16
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and
bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in
my name, he may give it to you.

Definitely, God is the one who chose us, not that we chose Him because since
the creation of the world, no one seeks God (Romans 3:11). And he wants us to bear
fruit, because it is only a proof that we are really keeping His commandments so
that in times when we ask the Father by His name, this He will do it to us. Why is
that? Because, if we are abiding in Him we are gradually changing to His likeness
and in its our goal to be like Jesus Christ for we are predestined to be conformed in
His image, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those
whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified,
and those whom he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30 In short, as we
become like Christ, His desire will be our desire, and we know that His desire is to
do the will of His father, then surely God the father will grant whenever we ask in
His name for our desire will be according to His will.

Verse 17
These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

He wants to emphasis in this verse that love is the source of His ways. Colossians
3:14 NIV And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in
perfect unity.