Jesus Is Like a Vine

15 “I am the ·true vine [^Ccontrast Israel, the unreliable vine; Ps. 80:8–18; Is. 5:1–7]; my Father is the ·gardener [farmer; vinedresser]. ² He ·cuts off [or takes away] every branch ·of mine [^Lin me] that does not produce fruit [^Cwhose lives bear no indication of a relationship with Christ]. And he ·trims and cleans [prunes; ^Cthe verb implies both trimming and cleaning] every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit [Heb. 12:4–11]. ³ You are already ·clean [or pruned] because of the words I have spoken to you. ⁴ ·Remain [Abide] in me, and I will ·remain [abide] in you. A branch cannot produce fruit ·alone [by itself] but must ·remain [abide] in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must ·remain [abide] in me.

⁵ “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any ·remain [abide] in me and I ·remain [abide] in them, they produce much fruit. But ·without [apart from] me they can do nothing. ⁶ If any do not ·remain [abide] in me, they are like a branch that is thrown away and then ·dies [withers; dries up]. People ·pick up [gather together] dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them. ⁷ If you ·remain [abide] in me and ·follow my teachings [^Lmy words abide/remain in you], you can ask anything you want, and it will ·be given to [be done for; come to] you. ⁸ You should produce much fruit and ·show that you are [or become] my ·followers [disciples], which ·brings glory to [glorifies] my Father. ⁹ I loved you as the Father loved me. Now ·remain [abide] in my love. ¹⁰ I have ·obeyed [kept] my Father’s commands, and I ·remain [abide] in his love. In the same way, if you ·obey [keep] my commands, you will ·remain [abide] in my love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that ·you can have the same joy I have [^Lmy joy may be in you] and so that your joy ·will be the fullest possible joy [^Lmight be complete].

¹² “This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ ·The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends [^LNo one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends; ^CJesus’ death is the ultimate expression of this principle]. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I no longer call you ·servants [slaves; bond-servants], because a ·servant [slave; bond-servant] does not know what his ·master [lord] is doing. But I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me; I chose you. And I ·gave you this work: [appointed you] to go and produce fruit, fruit that will ·last [remain; abide]. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name [see 14:13]. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus Warns His Followers

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me ·first [before you]. ¹⁹ If you ·belonged to [^Lwere of] the world, it would love you as it loves its own. But I have chosen you out of the world, ·so [because] you don’t belong to it. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember ·what [the word] I told you: A ·servant [slave; bond-servant] is not greater than his ·master [lord; see 13:16]. If people ·did wrong to [persecuted] me, they will ·do wrong to [persecute] you, too. And if they ·obeyed my teaching [^Lkept my word], they will ·obey [keep] yours, too. ²¹ [^LBut] They will do all this to you on account of ·me [^Lmy name; 14:13], because they do not know the One who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ I did works among them that no one else has ever done. If I had not done these works, they would not be guilty of sin. [^CJesus’ words and actions resulted in their guilt because they rejected him despite the evidence (the “signs”) that God was working through him; see Matt. 11:20–24; Luke 11:31–32.] But now they have seen what I have done, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this happened so that what is written in their law ·would be true [^Lmight be fulfilled]: ‘They hated me for no reason [^Cthe quote could be from Ps. 35:19 or Ps. 69:4].’

²⁶ “I will send you the ·Helper [Counselor; Advocate; ^Cthe Holy Spirit] from the Father; he is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will ·tell [testify; witness] about me, ²⁷ and you also must ·tell people [testify; witness] about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.