John 15
New Catholic Bible
The Community of the Witnesses to Christ[a]
Chapter 15
Union with Jesus[b]
1 “I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vinegrower.
2 He removes every branch
that does not bear fruit,
and every branch that does
he prunes to make it bear even more.
3 You have already been cleansed
by the word I have spoken to you.
4 “Abide in me,
as I abide in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself
unless it abides in the vine,
so you cannot bear fruit
unless you abide in me.
5 “I am the vine,
you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me, and I in him,
will bear much fruit.
Apart from me you can do nothing.
6 Whoever does not abide in me
will be thrown away like a withered branch.
Such branches are gathered up,
thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 “If you abide in me
and my words abide in you,
you may ask for whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you.
8 By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit
and become my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me,
so have I loved you.
Remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments,
you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
11 “I have told you these things
so that my joy may be in you
and your joy may be complete.
Love as Jesus Does[c]
12 “This is my commandment:
love one another
as I have loved you.
13 No one can have greater love
than to lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends
if you do what I command you.
15 “I shall no longer call you servants,
because a servant does not know
what his master is doing.
I have called you friends
because I have revealed to you
everything that I have heard from my Father.
16 “You did not choose me.
Rather, I chose you.
And I appointed you
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will remain,
so that the Father may give you
whatever you ask him in my name.
17 The command I give you is this:
love one another.
Witnesses to Jesus in the Face of the World’s Hatred[d]
18 “If the world hates you,
be aware that it hated me
before it hated you.
19 If you belonged to the world,
the world would love you as its own.
But you do not belong to the world
because I have chosen you out of the world,
and therefore the world hates you.
20 “Remember the word that I said to you:
‘a servant is not greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me,
they will persecute you.
If they kept my word,
they will keep yours as well.
21 But 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 be guilty of sin,
but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates me
hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done works among them
that no one else had ever done,
they would not be guilty of sin.
But now they have seen and hated
both me and my Father.
25 All this was to fulfill the word
that is inscribed in their Law:
‘They hated me without cause.’
26 “When the Advocate comes
whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father,
he will testify on my behalf.
27 And you also are my witnesses
because you have been with me from the beginning.
Footnotes
- John 15:1 To the Lord’s testament (farewell discourse) were added new instructions, as though to complete it. No doubt people did not want to lose other words of the Master, often meditated on, to explain the condition of the Christian community.
It is the life of the community on which these chapters throw light. In this group of texts, chs. 13 to 17, none of our usual words are pronounced; People of God, Body of Christ, Church, congregation. The words preferred are: to abide in, to love, to testify. In ch. 16, an image is used that suggests this mystery: the image of the vine and the branches. In these texts, love is above all a characteristic of the community itself. It is the Spirit who gives these groups the strength to exist as people of love and as witnesses of Christ. - John 15:1 Every reader of the Bible knows that the image of the vine suggests not only the union but also the tragic relationship between God and Israel. The Prophets rebuked the people of the Old Testament for not producing the fruit God expected of them, for being a spouse often unfaithful to her calling to bear witness to God among the nations (see Isa 5:1-7; Jer 2:21; Ezek 19:10-14; Hos 10:1). Jesus is the new Israel, the only vine that the Father has planted. This means that the radical, constitutive reality of the Church is her inclusion in Christ through Baptism, grace, and close attachment, and that any fruitfulness the disciple may have depends on this union with Christ.
- John 15:12 There are many reasons for people to regroup: affinity, interest, defense. But the Christian community has only one reason: Christ and his choice of us. It also has only one way of life: to love like Christ, who went so far as to give his life. To have Christ’s love is a gift. Then prayer is not a delusion; then the Christian community’s mission can bear fruit. The fruit has already been given: God’s love for us. In Christianity all is a gift.
- John 15:18 The trial of Jesus, which the fourth Gospel unveils all through its pages, will not cease until the Father, to whom he is going, will have rendered justice to him in glorifying him. This drama, which people sometimes would like to conceal through reassuring words and sentiments, will not cease until the end of time. Persecution awaits Jesus, not because of some fatal error but because Christianity is different from what we want and claim it to be.
The early Christians were excluded from the synagogue; hatred and violence were stirred up against them under the guise of religion. Blindness and stubbornness: this is the world in the Johannine sense, the world of the persecutors. The Spirit is the strength and the light that assists the persecuted to hold fast in this affront, which no doubt also comes to pass in the heart of every believer.
John 15
King James Version
15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
Ioan 15
Cornilescu 1924 - Revised 2010, 2014
Isus, Viţa
15 „Eu sunt adevărata viţă şi Tatăl Meu este vierul. 2 Pe orice(A) mlădiţă care este în Mine şi n-aduce rod, El o taie, şi pe orice mlădiţă care aduce rod, o curăţă, ca să aducă şi mai mult rod. 3 Acum voi(B) sunteţi curaţi din pricina cuvântului pe care vi l-am spus. 4 Rămâneţi(C) în Mine, şi Eu voi rămâne în voi. După cum mlădiţa nu poate aduce rod de la sine, dacă nu rămâne în viţă, tot aşa nici voi nu puteţi aduce rod dacă nu rămâneţi în Mine. 5 Eu sunt Viţa, voi sunteţi mlădiţele. Cine rămâne în Mine şi în cine rămân Eu aduce multă roadă(D), căci, despărţiţi de Mine, nu puteţi face nimic. 6 Dacă nu rămâne cineva în Mine, este(E)aruncat afară, ca mlădiţa neroditoare, şi se usucă, apoi mlădiţele uscate sunt strânse, aruncate în foc şi ard. 7 Dacă rămâneţi în Mine şi dacă rămân în voi cuvintele Mele, cereţi orice(F)veţi vrea, şi vi se va da. 8 Dacă aduceţi multă roadă, prin aceasta(G) Tatăl Meu va fi proslăvit şi voi(H) veţi fi astfel ucenicii Mei. 9 Cum M-a iubit pe Mine Tatăl, aşa v-am iubit şi Eu pe voi. Rămâneţi în dragostea Mea. 10 Dacă(I) păziţi poruncile Mele, veţi rămâne în dragostea Mea, după cum şi Eu am păzit poruncile Tatălui Meu şi rămân în dragostea Lui. 11 V-am spus aceste lucruri pentru ca bucuria Mea să rămână în voi şi bucuria(J)voastră să fie deplină.
Dragostea frăţească
12 Aceasta(K) este porunca Mea: Să vă iubiţi unii pe alţii cum v-am iubit Eu. 13 Nu este mai(L) mare dragoste decât să-şi dea cineva viaţa pentru prietenii săi. 14 Voi(M) sunteţi prietenii Mei dacă faceţi ce vă poruncesc Eu. 15 Nu vă mai numesc robi, pentru că robul nu ştie ce face stăpânul său, ci v-am numit prieteni, pentru că(N) v-am făcut cunoscut tot ce am auzit de la Tatăl Meu. 16 Nu(O) voi M-aţi ales pe Mine, ci Eu v-am ales pe voi şi v-am(P)rânduit să mergeţi şi să aduceţi roadă, şi roada voastră să rămână, pentru ca orice(Q) veţi cere de la Tatăl, în Numele Meu, să vă dea. 17 Vă poruncesc(R) aceste lucruri, ca să vă iubiţi unii pe alţii.
Ura din partea lumii
18 Dacă(S) vă urăşte lumea, ştiţi că pe Mine M-a urât înaintea voastră. 19 Dacă(T) aţi fi din lume, lumea ar iubi ce este al ei, dar, pentru că(U) nu sunteţi din lume şi pentru că Eu v-am ales din mijlocul lumii, de aceea vă urăşte lumea. 20 Aduceţi-vă aminte de vorba pe care v-am spus-o: ‘robul(V) nu este mai mare decât stăpânul său’. Dacă(W) M-au prigonit pe Mine, şi pe voi vă vor prigoni; dacă au păzit cuvântul Meu, şi pe al vostru îl vor păzi. 21 Dar(X) vă vor face toate aceste lucruri pentru Numele Meu, pentru că ei nu cunosc pe Cel ce M-a trimis. 22 Dacă(Y) n-aş fi venit şi nu le-aş fi vorbit, n-ar avea păcat, dar(Z) acum n-au nicio dezvinovăţire pentru păcatul lor. 23 Cine(AA) Mă urăşte pe Mine urăşte şi pe Tatăl Meu. 24 Dacă n-aş fi făcut între ei lucrări(AB) pe care nimeni altul nu le-a făcut, n-ar avea păcat, dar acum le-au şi văzut şi M-au urât şi pe Mine, şi pe Tatăl Meu. 25 Dar lucrul acesta s-a întâmplat ca să se împlinească vorba scrisă în Legea lor: ‘M-au(AC) urât fără temei’. 26 Când(AD)va veni Mângâietorul, pe care-L voi trimite de la Tatăl, adică Duhul adevărului, care purcede de la Tatăl, El(AE) va mărturisi despre Mine. 27 Şi voi(AF) de asemenea veţi mărturisi, pentru că aţi(AG) fost cu Mine de la început.”
Copyright of the Cornilescu Bible © 1924 belongs to British and Foreign Bible Society. Copyright © 2010, 2014 of the revised edition in Romanian language belongs to the Interconfessional Bible Society of Romania, with the approval of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
