John 15
J.B. Phillips New Testament
Jesus teaches union with himself
15 1-8 “I am the real vine, my Father is the vine-dresser. He removes any of my branches which are not bearing fruit and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit to increase its yield. Now, you have already been pruned by my words. You must go on growing in me and I will grow in you. For just as the branch cannot bear any fruit unless it shares the life of the vine, so you can produce nothing unless you go on growing in me. I am the vine itself, you are the branches. It is the man who shares my life and whose life I share who proves fruitful. For the plain fact is that apart from me you can do nothing at all. The man who does not share my life is like a branch that is broken off and withers away. He becomes just like the dry sticks that men pick up and use for the firewood. But if you live your life in me, and my words live in your hearts, you can ask for whatever you like and it will come true for you. This is how my Father will be glorified—in your becoming fruitful and being my disciples.
9-15 “I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must go on living in my love. If you keep my commandments you will live in my love just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and live in his love. I have told you this so that you can share my joy, and that your happiness may be complete. This is my commandment: that you love each other as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this—that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. I shall not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not share his master’s confidence. No, I call you friends, now, because I have told you everything that I have heard from the Father.
16 “It is not that you have chosen me; but it is I who have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and bear fruit that will be lasting; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
Jesus speaks of the world’s hatred
17-25 “This I command you, love one another! If the world hates you, you know that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world will hate you. Do you remember what I said to you, ‘The servant is not greater than his master’? If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you as well, but if they have followed my teaching, they will also follow yours. They will do all these things to you as my disciples because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. The man who hates me, hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them things that no other man has ever done, they would not have been guilty of sin, but as it is they have seen and they have hated both me and my Father. Yet this only fulfils what is written in their Law—‘They hated me without a cause’.
26-27 But when the helper comes, that is, the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father and whom I myself will send to you from the Father, he will speak plainly about me. And you yourselves will also speak plainly about me for you have been with me from the first.
John 15
Worldwide English (New Testament)
15 I am the real fruit tree. My Father is the One who takes care of the tree.
2 He takes away from me every branch that does not bear fruit. And he cleans every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.
3 What I said to you has made you clean already.
4 But you must be in me and I will be in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It must be joined to the tree. And you cannot do any good thing if you are not joined to me.
5 I am the fruit tree and you are the branches. I will be in the person who is in me. That person will have a fruitful life. But you can do nothing without me.
6 If any person is not in me, he is cut off like a branch and dies. People gather the dry branches and throw them into the fire to be burned.
7 If you are in me and obey me, you may ask me for anything you want and I will give it to you.
8 If you do much good and become my disciples, you will make my Father's name great.
9 `I have loved you just as my Father has loved you. So let me love you always.
10 If you obey me, I will love you always. That is what I have done. I have obeyed my Father. And he will love me always.
11 `I have told you these things so that you may be glad in the same way I am glad. Then you will be very glad always.
12 `I am telling you to love each other as I have loved you.
13 The strongest love anyone can have is this. He will die to save his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do.
15 I do not call you servants anymore, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because you know everything that my Father has told me.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. I gave you a big work to do. That work is to go out and do good things and to make the good things that you do remain strong. If you do that, my Father will do anything you ask in my name.
17 `Here is the law I gave you. Love each other.'
18 `If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If you belonged to this world, the world would love you. But you do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20 Remember what I told you. I said, "The servant is not better than his master." If the people in the world have troubled me, they will also trouble you. If they obey me, they will also obey you.
21 They will do all these things to you because you are true to me. They do not know the one who sent me.
22 `I came and spoke to them. If I had not done that, then what they did would not have been a wrong thing. But now they have no excuse for doing it.
23 The person who hates me hates my Father also.
24 No other person has ever done the work that I have done. If they had, then what they did would not be a wrong thing. But now they have seen me and hated me and my Father also.
25 This has happened in order to make the words of their law book come true. It says, "They hated me for no reason."
26 `I will send the true Spirit to comfort you. He will come from my Father. When he comes, then he will talk about me.
27 You also will talk about me because you have been with me from the time I began my work.'
The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.
© 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications