John 15
1 “I am the true vine,a and my Father is the gardener. 2 He removes every branch connected with me that doesn’t produce a crop, and he cleansesb each one that produces a crop so that it can produce a larger crop. 3 You are already cleanc because of what I’ve spoken about with you in conversation.d 4 Stay presente with me, and me present with you.f Just like the branch can’t produce a crop by itself if it doesn’t stay connectedg with the vine, it’s the same with you if you don’t stay present with me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever stays connectedh with me and me connected with them—they are who produce a large crop because you aren’t able to do anything separated from me. 6 If someone doesn’t stay connected with me, they are thrown outside like a branch and wither, and theyi gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you stay presentj with me and my statements stay present with you, then ask for whatever you want, and it will happen for you. 8 This is how my Father is shown to be praiseworthy:k that you produce a large crop and become my students.
9 “Just like the Father loved me, I also loved you. Stay present with my love. 10 If you pay close attention to my directions, you will stay present with my love, just like I have paid close attention to my Father’s directions, and I stay present with his love. 11 I have spoken about these things to you so my joy would stay present among you and your joy could be filled up. 12 This is my direction: that you would love each other like I loved you. 13 No one has a more impressivel love than this: that someone sets aside their very life for their friends.m
14 “You are my friends if you do what I am directing you to do. 15 I say you aren’t enslaved anymore since an enslaved worker doesn’t know what his lord does; however, I have said you are friends because I let you know everything I heard from my Father. 16 You didn’t pick me; instead, I picked you and set you aside so that you would go and produce a crop, and your crop would stay present, so that the Father would give you whatever you ask him for as my representatives.n 17 I am giving you these directions so that you would love each other.
18 “If the world system hates you, you’ll understand that it has hatedo me first. 19 If you were part of the world system, the world system would love its own. But since you are not part of the world system—just the opposite, I pulled you outp of the world system—that’s why the world system hates you. 20 Remember what I said in conversationq with you: “The enslaved worker is not more respectedr than their lord.” If they pursued me, they will also pursue you. If they paid close attention to my discussion,s then they will also pay close attention to yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you because you represent me,t because they don’t know the one who sent me. 22 As long as I didn’t come and didn’t speak to them, they didn’t have deviation, but now they don’t have an excuse for their deviation. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father. 24 As long as I did not do the actions among them that no one else did, then they did not have deviation. But now they have seen and have hated both me and my Father. 25 Nevertheless, the result is that what was expressed with wordsu written in the Hebrew Bible,v which they follow, will be given a fuller meaningw: ‘They hated me without cause.’x 26 When the Advocate that I will send to you from the Father comes—the Life-breath of the truth that goes out from the Father—shey will tell about me. 27 You will also tell about me because you have been with me from the beginning.
FOOTNOTES:
a While no exact reference to the Hebrew Bible can be identified, vine imagery regarding Israel was used many times in the Hebrew Bible. Ezekiel 15-19 seems especially relevant as background for the discussion Jesus explores here.
b Other versions translate this as ‘prune,’ which is understandable in context, but the word is katharizo, ‘to cleanse,’ which makes it a connection to a major theme in scripture of clean/unclean and an ongoing thought begun in chapter 13 that connects to other sections of John and is continued here. The translation should not obscure that connection.
c See John 13:10.
d Literally, “Because of the logos which I have spoken with you.” See note on logos in John 1:1.
e Or ‘reside’
f Some translations add a second verb in this sentence ‘Dwell with me, and I will dwell with you.’ However, there is no second verb in the Greek, which makes it difficult to know the best way to fill in the implied gap. Adding a future tense verb carries a different meaning from a present tense verb or other tenses/moods/voices/etc.Making it future makes it sound conditional. It’s possible that is the intention, but it is not clear exactly what is in view and any addition here risks confusing rather than clarifying the meaning.
g Or ‘reside’
h Or ‘resides’
i The people doing the gathering are not identified here. As a metaphor, it likely doesn’t matter. I would assume field workers are vaguely in view. This is not an allegory with one-to-one meanings for every symbol.
j Or ‘reside’
k Or ‘praised.’ Traditionally, ‘glorified’
l Traditionally, ‘greater.’ Literally, it means ‘bigger.’ It is often used in scripture to mean ‘more impressive’ or ‘more important’ or ‘more significant’ or even ‘more powerful’ or ‘treated as more important,’ which would be translated as ‘more respected’ or something along those lines.
m This word, philos, literally means ‘loved one’ but it is from the word philia (affection/emotional attachment/relational bond), not agape (committed action for the benefit of the one who is loved), though the commandment is to agapao each other, not phileo each other. It can refer to close friends or it can refer to family members.
n Literally, ‘in my name’
o This is the Greek miseo. Like its antonym agapao, this is more than just about an emotion connected with dislike. It’s about being motivated to pursue harm, to mistreat the one being hated.
p This word, eklego, is traditionally, ‘chosen,’ which is a good translation most of the time. It can also mean ‘collected’ as in a tax or toll or it can mean ‘pull out’ like one pulls out hair in frustration. Here it seems to be a sort of choosing but with an emphasis of removing from one’s previous situation.
q Literally, “remember the logos that I spoke to you.” See note on logos in John 1:1.
r Traditionally, ‘greater.’ Literally, it means ‘bigger.’ It is often used in scripture to mean ‘more impressive’ or ‘more important’ or ‘more significant’ or even ‘more powerful’ or ‘treated as more important,’ which would be translated as ‘more respected’ or something along those lines.
s Greek, logos. See note on logos in John 1:1
t Literally, ‘because of my name’
u Greek, logos. See note on logos in John 1:1
v Literally, ‘law’ or ‘Torah.’ Torah was the first of three sections of the Hebrew Bible (Torah-Instruction, Nevi’im-Prophets, Ketuvim-Writings). The term ‘Hebrew Bible’ did not exist, so it was referred to commonly as ‘The Torah and Prophets and Psalms’ (Psalms is the first book of the ‘Writings’) or ‘Torah and Prophets’ or sometimes just ‘Torah’ to refer to all three sections as a shorthand.
w Or ‘will be lived out’
x Quotation of Psalm 35:19 and/or Psalm 69:4. See the context of each full psalm.
y This word is masculine and singular in the Greek, matching the grammatical gender of ‘Advocate’; the grammatical gender of spirit is neuter in Greek. The Grammatical gender of spirit in Hebrew is feminine. Pronouns are surprisingly complex to deal with in translation since gender means different things and is used in different ways in different languages. English does not use a grammatical gender, only a gendering that is supposed to reflect something of the ontological nature of a person or animal of a determined sex. Many other languages have grammatical gender, which confuses the translation process even more. Hebrew, for example, has no concept of ‘it.’ Neuter gender for any noun does not exist. Every object, place, concept, or being is grammatically ‘he’ or ‘she’ regardless of whether it is inherently male or female.