Jesus the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vintner. ² He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit in me, and he cuts back every branch that does produce fruit, so that it might produce more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of what I’ve spoken to you.

⁴ “Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him^[a] produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a pruned^[b] branch and dries up. People gather such branches,^[c] throw them into a fire, and they are burned up.

⁷ “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and you’ll receive it. ⁸ This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. So abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you’ll abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ I’ve told you this, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

¹² “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one shows^[d] greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends, because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father.

¹⁶ “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last,^[e] so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another.”

The World’s Hatred

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you should realize that it hated me before you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it,^[f] the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ They will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

²² “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The person who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ If I hadn’t done among them the actions that no one else did, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this happened so that^[g] what has been written in their Law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’^[h]

²⁶ “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father— the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father—he will testify on my behalf. ²⁷ You will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.