John 15 Further Words in the Upper Room. Jesus Is the True Vine, the New Israel.

1). Jesus Is The New Israel, The Witness of God. If We Would Enjoy His Blessing We Must Live Continually in Him In Trust and Obedience (John 15. 1-11)

Jesus wishes to encourage His disciples further before finally leaving the Upper Room and emphasises their oneness with Him, as He is One with the Father. He likens Himself to the True Vine. Jesus regularly likened Israel to a vine (see Matthew 20.1-16; 21.23-41; Mark 12.1-9; Luke 13.6-9; 20.9-16), and the vine as a symbol of Israel appeared on coins in the time of the Maccabees. Israel was also regularly portrayed in the Old Testament in terms of the vine, and often as a false vine (e.g. Psalm 80.8; Isaiah 5.1-7; 27.2-6; Jeremiah 2.21; 12.10; Ezekiel 17.6; Hosea 10.1). Thus His reference to Himself as the true vine is in contrast with Israel as the false vine. He is the source of the new Israel.

15.1a “I am the true vine”.

In Psalm 80.8 Israel is likened to a vine which God planted, but although its beginnings were promising and it seemed to flourish, the Psalmist goes on to say, ‘the stock which your right hand has planted, and the branch which you made strong for yourself, is burned with fire and is cut down. They perish at the rebuke of your face. Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself’.

The parallels with this passage are clear. Israel was the failing vine, the false vine, Jesus, the Son of Man at God’s right hand, the true. Israel is burned and cut down. The Son of Man, the man of God’s right hand, is fruitful.

Jeremiah also emphasises Israel’s failure in these terms. “I planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to me?’ (Jeremiah 2.21). In another picture Israel was God’s vineyard but it produced only wild grapes, unfit for their purpose (Isaiah 5.1-7 compare also Mark 12.1-10 where Israel is said to have persecuted the prophets, and finally killed the only Son). But here, growing from the vineyard of Israel, is the True Vine, the One Whose fruit will satisfy to the utmost, the One Who is a true Witness to the world, the One Who will fulfil what God purposed in Israel.

So when Jesus speaks of Himself as the true vine He claims to be fulfilling the purpose God had for Israel, and to be completing the task in which Israel had failed. He, and His disciples who are the branches, He says, are the true Israel, who will produce fruit and flourish.

We can compare this with how, in Isaiah, the Servant of God is first Israel, then the faithful in Israel, and then finally a unique figure who will bear in Himself the sins of Israel and be a successful proclaimer of God’s righteousness to the world.

The early church believed firmly that they were the Israel of God (Galatians 6.16). They saw themselves not as replacing Israel but as being the true Israel, as becoming true sons of Abraham (Galatians 3.29) and as united with the covenant promises and the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2. 11-13, 19). They had been implanted in the olive tree while those of Israel who had continued in unbelief had been cut off (Romans 11.17-24). Thus all of the true Israel will be saved, including within them the fullness of the Gentiles (Romans 11.26). That is why 1 Peter 1.1 and James 1.1 could write to Christians as ‘sojourners of the Dispersion’, ‘the twelve tribes of the Dispersion’.

This follows the pattern of the Old Testament where believing Gentiles were absorbed into Israel continually (Abraham’s foreign servants, the mixed multitude - Exodus 12.38, many Israelites like Uriah the Hittite), while unbelievers in Israel were to be cut off leaving only a remnant (Isaiah 6.13).

15.1b “-and my Father is the vinedresser.”

Just as God tended, and then dealt severely, with the false vine of old, now He will tend the true vine. He will watch over it and do all that is necessary for it to flourish, and because it is the true vine it will be fruitful (see Isaiah 27.2-6). The picture is of the tender yet severe activity of God on behalf of the vine, for even here the unfruitful branches are cast into the fire.

15.2-3 “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he cleanses it that it may produce more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you”.

The branches are those who ‘attach’ themselves to Jesus by an outward form of belief, appearing to respond to Him and His teachings (the eleven on the one side and Judas on the other). But they are then expected to live fruitful, righteous lives in order to fulfil the purpose of the Vine by the very virtue of their attachment, and will do so if the belief is a true one wrought by God. For just as an earthly vinedresser will cut out branches which are not bearing fruit so that the fruitful ones will flourish, so the divine Vinedresser will be harsh with branches that are unfruitful, for this will be a sign that they are useless. They are only fit to be cut out and taken away and burned up because they are no longer connected to the vine. They are rejected.

Some have argued that ‘in Me’ must signify a living relationship, and that is true where it stands on its own or follows the verbs ‘abide’ or ‘is/are’. But here it is being used metaphorically of Christ as the true vine of Israel and signifies ‘in Me as the vine’, and so it is not a parallel usage to the others. This is brought out by the fact that in verse 6 it is quite clear that the branches described are no longer ‘in Me’. They have been cut out.

This latter may well have direct reference to Judas Iscariot. But it also has in mind those who left Him and walked no more with Him (John 6.66). Being outwardly a part of the Tree is not sufficient, it is necessary to be receiving life from the Tree. There are many in churches today who consider themselves part of the Tree, but their failure to live godly and spiritual lives demonstrates that they are not in living contact with Jesus and are therefore only fit to be cast out.

On the other hand, when the branch is properly connected and receiving life from the Tree, then, although problems may sometimes rear their heads, the Vinedresser will ‘cleanse’ or prune the branch so that its fruitfulness increases (e.g. Numbers 14.22-24; Hebrews 12.4-11). This involves the pruning of the dead wood so that the branch may flourish. This is what has happened to the disciples. They are not perfect, but Jesus’ words and exhortations have cleansed them, and are cleansing them, and making them more fruitful.

The test of whether we also are being pruned is not solely our profession as a branch in the Vine, but whether we live fruitful, godly lives in response to Christ. It must be recognised that the ‘fruitfulness’ in the first place refers to godly living, as always in Scripture (Matthew 5.16). But, of course, if it is genuine, from this godly living will flow a living witness.

We notice that the contrast is between branches that bear fruit and those which never bear fruit. This is not a picture of people genuinely struggling and then partly failing. Such people will produce some fruit. It is a contrast between those who have truly responded and those whose response is shallow and not lasting, who thereby demonstrate that they are not good seed growing in good ground (compare Matthew 13.19-24; Hebrews 6.7-8). In John’s Gospel there is the continual contrast between men who ‘believed’, but only superficially (e.g. 2.23-25), and those who ‘believed into’ Christ. Indeed we notice that the unfruitful branches do not receive the ministration of the heavenly Vinedresser. They are just taken away. It is the fruitful branches that are pruned in accordance with His promise to ‘will and to work in you of His good pleasure’ (Philippians 2.13).

Another possible translation for ‘taken away’ (airo) is ‘lifted up’. Some therefore see this as the branch being raised up from the ground so as to aid fruitfulness, and if that is so they must be differentiated from those in verse 6. But in the passage the contrast is between those who abide in Him and those who do not, the latter being burned up as rubbish. Thus the same contrast probably applies here.

‘Already you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.’ The disciples, apart from Judas, have experienced pruning through the words of Jesus to them. They are now in a state to be even more fruitful.

15.4-5. “Remain dwelling in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it remains fruitfully connected to the vine, so neither can you unless you remain fruitfully connected to me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains dwelling in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Here He puts it clearly. He is the Vine, and the disciples (and His people) are the branches. Unless life is flowing from Him to them as a result of His indwelling in them (see 6.56; 8.31), and as a result of their full commitment to Him in trusting faith, then in spiritual terms they can do nothing. They are useless. But if they are fully connected to Him in faith, obedience and prayer (even though faltering, for the Vinedresser can cope with that) then they will finally produce abundant fruit in lives rich in godliness and powerful in effectiveness in whatever God wants them to do. All their success depends on the Vine.

The idea of ‘abiding’ is that of a response of faith followed by obedience. The one who partakes of the benefits of His death, who comes to Him through the cross, abides in Him (6.56). Those who respond to Him with a continuing faith rather than a shallow, sign-induced faith, come to abide in His word and are thus truly His disciples and come to know the truth which makes them free (8.31). Those who are His do not abide in darkness but have the light of life (12.46). We know that we abide in Him and He abides in us because He has given us of His Spirit (1 John 4.13). Abiding begins on being born from above and is to continue on through life. Like faith it is the gift of God, and it results in everlasting life.

John sees the world as split into two groupings, ‘the world’ and true abiding believers. One side abide in the world and in darkness, the others abide in Christ. There are weak believers and strong believers, but all who continue with Him abide in Him, while those who permanently go from Him evidence the fact that they are not His (1 John 2.19). In 1 Corinthians 9.27 Paul spoke of those who would be rejected after testing and was determined not to be among them. Jesus taught the same. We are built on either rock, and hear His words and do them, or sand, and do not hear His words and do them (Matthew 7.24-27). Note the contrast, the former hear His words and do them, the latter do not. We are in the narrow way or the broad way (7.13-14), and only the former leads to life. Only those who do the will of the Father will enter into the Kingly Rule of God (Matthew 7.21-23). We show no favours when we water down God’s word, although He is the final judge of fruitfulness not us.

The same lesson came from Jesus’ own interpretation of the parable of the sower. On the one side are those who are caught up in the world, those who are deceived by Satan, and those who have a shallow, false faith which is not lasting (Matthew 13.19-22), and on the other are those who truly believe and produce a great harvest (Matthew 13.23). Some of the latter produce more fruit than others, but all are fruit bearing.

‘Can do nothing.’ Nothing, that is, of spiritual value which furthers the purposes of God. They can invent great inventions, they can fathom the physical universe (to some extent), they can produce great masterpieces, but all these will pass away. Anything that is enduring must result from dwelling continually in Christ.

15.6 “If a man does not remain dwelling in me he is thrown out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and toss them into the fire, and they are burned up.”

The branch whose connection with the Vine is not fully functional, which is not abiding in Him, will soon reveal its fruitlessness by the way it lives, and the result will be that it will be thrown out, tossed on to the fire and be burned up (compare Matthew 13.41-42 where this is said to be the work of the angels at the end time). So its end is worse than its beginning. There was one among them of whom, alas, that would soon be true. Judas would not remain in the vine and he would be cut off. The branches of a vine are of such a nature that they are useless for anything but fruitbearing (see Ezekiel 15.3-5). They have no other use, they are worthless. All who are not His are spiritually worthless.

There could be no more vivid description of the Christian life. It cannot be too strongly stressed that it is not the church which is the vine, but Christ. Indeed parts of ‘the church’ are too often like the vine that God condemned, dead and fruitless. The Vine is Christ. And if we are His then it is to Him that we must be attached, and from Whom we must be receiving life. If our church is being faithful it will be stressing to us our need for a personal response to Christ and seeking to enable us to maintain our full connection with the Vine. If it is not pointing us towards such a responsive faith in Him then it is failing in its responsibility, and betraying us.

As Jesus is telling us here, we must have Him dwelling within us, and we must remain dwelling in Him by trust, obedience and prayer. The test of whether we are Christians is not whether we have joined the church, but whether we have received Christ in personal faith, whether He has entered our lives and made us His own, whether we are continuing in Him. Baptism may connect us to the church, but it will not necessarily connect us to Christ. It is only the work of the Spirit that baptises us into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12.13). That comes from responsive faith alone, and is finally revealed by godly, compassionate, and considerate living. The secret of the Christian life is in letting Christ live through us. “It is no longer I who live”, says Paul, “It is Christ Who lives through me” (Galatians 2.20).

As we shall see later we are exhorted to love one another and to demonstrate that love to the world. And that does include the ‘gathering of ourselves together’ (Hebrews 10.25) to worship and pray together as ‘a church’ composed of living members. But the church must direct us towards Christ, not make us look to itself. We gather together because we are ‘in Christ’, we are not ‘in Christ’ because we gather together.

It should be noted that as with all pictures different people interpret the details differently. But doctrine must never be established on the basis of the interpretation of these pictures. A picture illuminates a truth but can never give the full picture and becomes dangerous if overpressed. The truth is that there can never be such a thing as a permanently fruitless genuine Christian as the New Testament makes clear. ‘By their fruits you will know them’ (Luke 6.43-49; Matthew 7.16-20; Luke 3.8-9; James 2.18). If they were fruitless it would mean that God had failed in His purpose towards them to work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is strange how those who strongly affirm the sovereignty of God in salvation can then affirm a different doctrine with regard to fruitfulness. Carnal Christians there may be, but not totally fruitless Christians, for, if they are truly His, God will have done a work in them which must reveal itself, even if only gradually.

15.7-8 “If you dwell continually in me, and my words dwell continually in you, ask whatever you will and it will be done to you. In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so you will become my disciples.”

So the disciples are to dwell continually in Him by prayer and response to His words, which they must cherish to themselves, continually meditating on them in responsive faith. Then they can ask whatever they will, and it will be done to them. But as we have said before, this promise that they can ask what they will is said to men whose only aim is to further the work of Christ and to fulfil His words. Here it is strictly limited to them. They would not be looking out for their own interests but for His. This will result in fruitfulness both in preaching and in living, a fruitfulness which will bring glory to the Father.

We can compare His words in Matthew 5.16, ‘Let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven’. This is the proof of discipleship. If we live to reveal the Father’s glory, men will be converted through the testimony of our lives even more than through our words.

‘Become my disciples.’ They already are His disciples, but there is still weakness and failure within them. There is need for them to become more and more what His disciples should be, to become fully disciples. The Christian life is both instantaneous and progressive. From one point of view we are justified (put in the right with God), sanctified (set apart as His) and perfected immediately for ever (1 Corinthians 6.11 - aorist tenses meaning once for all. Compare Hebrews 10.14 - ‘He has perfected for ever those who are being sanctified’). From another we have to experience a continuing sanctification, growing continually more like Him. ‘This is the will of God, even our sanctification’ (1 Thessalonians 4.3).

Note the progression, bear fruit, bear more fruit (verse 2), bear much fruit. The Christian life is depicted in terms of growth. There must be growth. It may not always be visible to outsiders, but if it is not visible to God then there must be a real question as to the reality of the person’s experience. Spiritual sterility is not a Christian virtue.

One way in which we too can enjoy His continual dwelling in us is through ‘His words’ as revealed in Scripture. As we meditate on them in a prayerful way, and let them speak to our hearts, they will make Christ real to us. But this must be in conjunction with a responsive faith. We must have a readiness to pray to, and listen to, and obey Jesus Himself as He speaks in our hearts through His word. Then as we live according to His words, rejecting earthly values, we too can ask whatever we will and it will be done for us. But this must be for the furtherance of His kingdom not for the furtherance of ours.

15.9-10 “Even as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Dwell (aorist imperative) in my love. If you keep (‘meditate on and obey’ - aorist subjunctive) what I have commanded you will dwell continually in my love (future), even as I have kept (‘meditated on and obeyed’) what He has commanded me (perfect), and dwell continually (present) in his love.”

His love for those who are truly His own parallels the Father’s love for Him. And what greater love could there be than that? It is overflowing and permanent. Indeed it is established from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1.4). Thus their decision to abide in His love must also be permanent. Note the aorist tense. It is a once for all dwelling. It is a decision that once made must be final. It is a permanent commitment resulting in a permanent position.

But we can only dwell in His love and remain there if we are obedient to what He commands us, and obedient to His word. Thus we must ‘keep’ His word, meditating on it and obeying it, if we would dwell in His love. The aorist subjunctive indicates the hope that they will permanently put themselves in a position whereby they keep what He has commanded them. Then they will abide in His love. So while He is giving positive teaching to His disciples we can sense the pressure He is seeking to put on Judas, giving him a final opportunity to repent.

‘Even as I have kept (‘meditated on and obeyed’ - perfect tense) what He has commanded me, and dwell continually (present) in his love.” He then cites Himself as their example. He Himself has demonstrated such a life and calls on them to follow in His steps. He has kept and is still keeping (perfect tense) what His Father has commanded Him, and continually dwells (present tense) in His love.

There is no compromise here. Permanent trust and obedience is required, a permanent dwelling in His love is promised. While the New Testament is aware of the weakness of many Christians it never condones it. Rather it encourages such weak Christians to recognise what God is doing in them and become strong, and it warns that the final test is perseverance lest any be deceived by a false profession. On the one hand it strongly confirms that those who are His will be confirmed to the end (1 Corinthians 1.8-9; Philippians 1.6; Jude 1.24 - note that all assume a work of God that is producing fruit), on the other it warns against complacency. All Christians can have assurance that they are in His love if they know that they are truly looking to Him only for salvation, none can have that assurance if they are deliberately continuing in long term disobedience and neglecting His word. You will never find anywhere in Scripture where it is taught that a fruitless so-called believer who is living in a state of neglect to God’s word is given any assurance of salvation.

15.11 “These things I have said to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled.”

Jesus assures His disciples that He wants them to live lives filled with joy, and that if they keep what He has commanded they will be able to do so. This is not ‘happiness’, which is transient and depends on things turning out well, but joy which flows from the soul in all kinds of circumstances even when things are not going well. He has previously promised them peace (14.27). Now He promises joy, and joy to the brim (‘filled full’). And both are found for them, as they are for us, by dwelling continually in Him in confident, prayerful trust and obedience to His will, for He is the source of that joy, and in Him they can know that all will finally be well. Peace and joy are part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22)

2). As the New Israel the Disciples Are To Love One Another (John 15.12-17)

15.12-14 “This is what I command you (my commandment) that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do the things which I command you”.

It is extremely important to recognise that Jesus, having informed His disciples that they must dwell continually in Him, now stresses that they must love one another. The Christian life is two way. Firstly we concentrate on Christ and seek to dwell continually in Him, but this must not become such that we ignore our fellow Christians. That very dwelling in Him must result in outflowing love to other Christians. The lone Christian (except in unavoidable circumstances) is unknown in Scripture. We worship Him and fellowship together, for the one produces the other. We note too the importance that Jesus places on this love between Christians. He recognised how vital it was for the continuation of His message. Had the disciples ‘split up’ the cause would have been lost. ‘By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another’ (13.34). How we fail Him when we fight amongst ourselves!

It is significant that one of the primary commandments to the old Israel was ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Leviticus 19.18 compare Matthew 22.39; Mark 12.31). This too is to be the mark of the new Israel. It is not primarily an emotional, gushing love (we do not always find people attractive), but a practical love (1 Corinthians 13.4-8), although the experience of the people of God is that as our love for Christ increases so does our love for our fellow believers, a love that has to be experienced to be understood.

It should be noted that this love is to be shown to all His people, not just those in our own denomination. Where men genuinely love Christ and seek to do His will, there we find those whom we must love, even though we disagree with them on many matters. There is One Who judges and we can leave such judgments to Him.

‘As I have loved you.’ The tense is in the aorist denoting a complete action, something which is once for all. His love for them is permanent and complete. They can never doubt its potency.

But notice also that our love is to be ‘as I have loved you’. Many times in history men have acted harshly in the name of love, men can be righteous overmuch and ‘the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God’ (James 1.20). But love is never harsh, that is a contradiction in terms. Love is compassionate, as Jesus was to His own. Sometimes a gentle, even stern, rebuke, but always merciful and eager to remedy matters immediately.

Jesus then goes on to stress the greatness of His love. It is a love which is willing to give its life for those who are loved, His ‘friends’, and this was what He knew He was about to do. Then He adds “You are my friends if you do what I command you”. He accepts them as friends because their hearts are set to obey His commands, and to please God in all their ways.

15.15 “I no longer call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you”.

It was no accidental lapse, or careless slip of the tongue, that made Him call them friends. He has treated them as friends, rather than servants, because, instead of just asking for blind obedience, He has revealed to them God’s purposes. What a privilege is this, to be party to the inner secrets of God. God does not ask us to act blindly, but shows us what He is doing. The details may need working out, but the overall pattern is clear. He treats us not as servants but as friends. We are in it together. Which is why we must be friends with each other, loving one another. Yet it was perfectly appropriate that Paul should term himself ‘the servant of Jesus Christ’. While we gladly accept the friendship of Jesus with wonder at the privilege, we must not presume upon it. A servant can be a friend too, but he should not be presumptious.

15.16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give it to you”.

Not only are they friends, but chosen friends. He has chosen them and He wants them to be conscious of the fact. If they love Him they will now carry out what He wants them to do, will go and bear fruit, fruit that will be lasting, the fruit of godly lives. This must include the fruit of men and women turning to Christ and becoming in their turn God-like, but the main stress is on the living of a godly and Christ-like life. If more Christians were God-like more unbelievers would respond. In His own ministry Jesus was able to point to the life that He lived, as well as the signs that he did and the words that He spoke. His testimony was effective because of the purity of that life, and all that He did sprang from that purity. Indeed without it the remainder would have been invalid.

The fruit of faithful lives and the fruit of winning others go together. Both are the fruit of God, and the one will help to produce the other. If at any time they quail at the task they must recognise that this is what He has chosen them for, and called them to do. They have been appointed, and therefore they can be sure that whatever they need in the task will be given, because they are His representatives. They can therefore ask for resources to carry out His purpose, and be sure of a reply.

The emphasis that He has chosen them both stresses their privilege and exhorts them to humility. Disciples of Rabbis were disciples by their own choice. But these are His disciples because He himself called them and commanded them to follow. They cannot congratulate themselves on their wisdom, but must humbly acknowledge their gratitude, while recognising the tremendous privilege that is theirs.

‘That whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give it to you”. The ‘that’ (hina) points back to the fact of their being chosen. It is because they are His chosen ones, and acting as His chosen ones, that this promise can be made. It is not an open-ended offer to all Christians.

We are reminded here again that His words in their primary meaning are to these men whom He has chosen and appointed. When we have the same dedication and commitment as the disciples, we can apply the words, with some discrimination, to ourselves.

15.17 “These things I command you in order that you may love one another”.

This is one purpose of His commands, included in the command that we be fruitful, that we love one another. How He keeps coming back to this need to love one another. This is the end result of His teaching. It is to be the trademark of the people of God. Alas, how we have failed Him in this important requirement. How different history would have been if we had not.

Alternately we may see this as the command to love. ‘I command you that you love one another.’

3). The Disciples Must Not Be Surprised If They are Hated By the World (15.18 - 25)

15.18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, that is the reason why the world hates you.”

The disciples had already seen the response of men to Jesus Himself. They knew therefore that true goodness was not popular. For a while the world will admire good men because they recognise something in them that their basic conscience approves, but let those good men in some way disturb their consciences and they will immediately turn against them. This hatred arises because they are ‘not of the world’. They do not have the same aims, the aims of self-indulgence, of self-aggrandisement, of self-advancement. Thus they are a constant rebuke to the world.

The world likes a little bit of goodness, but not too much, for then it becomes a nuisance and interferes with their plans. So the disciples should not be surprised to find themselves hated. Those who hated the One Who chose them, will also hate those who are chosen. They are hated because they are Christ’s representatives. For to the fact that Jesus was hated John bears constant testimony (1.5, 10, 11; 3.11; 5.16, 18, 43; 6.66; 7.1, 30, 32, 47-52; 8.40, 44, 45, 48, 52, 57, 59; 9.22; 10.31, 33, 39; 11.50, 57;12.37-43).

‘The world’ here refers to the society of men who live apart from the teachings of Christ and of the Father. They are not under His rule, or in His Kingdom. Rather they are ruled by their own suppositions and ideas and ambitions. This is the common use of ‘the world’ in John.

But again notice that the disciples are not of the world because Jesus has chosen them out of the world. This was a particular choosing as witnessed in verse 16, but now it is clear it is more than that. It connects with that mysterious divine choice which is spoken of elsewhere in Scripture. In the end those who are His are so because He has chosen them and given them to His Son (John 6.37, 44; 10.26-27 compare Romans 8.28-30,33; 11.5; 1 Corinthians 1.9; Ephesians 1.4; James 2.5; 1 Peter 1.1-2). And as everything they do and are goes beyond what the world aims for, in the end they will be hated, especially by the authorities.

15.20-21 “Remember the word that I spoke to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his lord’ (John 13.16). If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake, because they do not know him who sent me.”

The world is consistent. Where it hates the Master, it hates those who are like the Master. As the disciples are Christ-like so they must expect the treatment meted out to Jesus. Those who would respond in hatred to Jesus will respond to them in the same way. Those who would hate and persecute Him, will hate and persecute them. But in the end this is because they do not know ‘Him Who sent Me’. It is because they do not really know God the Father. If they had they would have recognised the Father in the Son, and then the whole world would have been changed.

We must of course ensure that that hatred is not caused because we are awkward, or deliberately difficult, or unwilling to consider other people’s point of view. Jesus was guilty of none of these, although no doubt He was told that He was. (People who tell you that you have an attitude problem are regularly those who do have an attitude problem). But where we stand for what is right, and for right teaching and right behaviour, in a firm but loving way, we will be hated for His sake.

15.22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.”

This is the crux of the matter. Jesus has come as a light into the world. His words have shone like a searchlight piercing into men’s innermost being (compare 7.7). But men shy from the light, for it reveals what they are. They love darkness rather than light because by it what they do is shown to be evil in God’s eyes (John 3.19). Previously such men had been living in a self-satisfied state, not fully aware of the inadequacy of what they believed. They were not aware of how sinful they were. But by His words Jesus has brought home to them that inadequacy, undermining much that they cherished, especially their sense of their own spiritual achievements. Thus they no longer have any excuse, and if they are unwilling to admit it, and change, they will hate Him for what He has done. It is always difficult to admit that we have been wrong and begin again.

15.23-24 “He who hates me, hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works like no other has done, they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.”

There must be no doubt about this. He who hates the true revealer of God also hates God. Jesus has revealed the Father. Therefore to hate Him is to hate the Father as He really is. And He has revealed the Father in a life lived, in teaching given, in works of compassion and healing, in raising the dead, in a way that no other has ever done. Thus they are without excuse. It is only by deliberately closing their eyes to the truth that they can refuse to hear Him, and in doing so they make themselves more sinful, and more resentful, because underneath something warns them they are wrong. And this must result in either repentance or hatred. This will always be man’s reaction to God’s truth. (But we must be sure it is God’s truth that they hate, and not our arrogance or our lack of consideration).

We note again how closely Jesus links Himself with the Father. To have known Him is to know the Father (14.7). To have seen Him is to have seen the Father (14.9). Those who are loved by the Father are equally loved by Him (14.21). If a man loves Jesus, the Father will love him, and both Jesus and the Father will come to dwell in them (14.23). And now men hate both Him and His Father. There can be no question that this continual linking puts Jesus ‘on the divine side of reality’. No one but an equal could so have associated Himself with the Father.

15.25 “But this is so that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause’ (Psalm 35.19; 69.4).”

This is the continual testimony of sacred history. That those who are truly righteous are continually hated. So the very hatred of Jesus by His contemporaries bears testimony to the truth of the essential message of Scripture. (In both Psalms the LXX has ‘the haters of me without a cause’).

4). The Spirit of Truth and the Disciples Must Bear Witness Together (15.26-27)

15.26-27 “But when the Paraclete is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness of me. And you also bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Previously the Paraclete has been seen as the One Who is the perfect divine companion and helper (14.16-17), the One Who will teach all things and brings to memory the words of Jesus (14.26). Now He is seen as a witness and testifier, the perfect advocate. Previously He was the gift of the Father (14.16), sent by the Father in Jesus’ name (14.26). Now it is Jesus Who sends Him from the Father. So the coming of the Spirit of truth in new measure will also be as a witness to the world, revealing the truth and revealing Christ.

But this will not make the disciples redundant, for it is through them that He will speak. And from an earthly point of view they are in a unique position to testify of Jesus, for they have been with Him from the beginning of His ministry. How carefully He has planned His strategy for the future (compare 2 Peter 1.16 - ‘we were eyewitnesses of His majesty’).

Note that the Spirit ‘proceeds from the Father’. The present tense emphasises a continual process. This has always been so and will always be so. This stresses His divinity. But He is here sent from the Son as well as from the Father. The members of the Godhead are at One in Their work. This is why the creed can say ‘He proceeds from the Father and the Son’.