15:1 "I am the genuine vine, and my LORD is the farmer.
15:2 Each branch in me that bears no fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so it will bear more fruit.
15:3 Now you have been purified through the teachings I have spoken to you.
15:4 Remain with me and I will stay with you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is connected to the vine, neither can you unless you remain with me.
15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who remains with me and I with him will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
15:6 If one does not remain with me, they will be cast away like a branch that dries up. These are gathered up and cast into the fire where they will be burned.
15:7 If you remain with me, and my teachings remain with you, ask what you will and it will be done for you.
15:8 My LORD will be glorified by your bearing much fruit, and thus you will be my followers.
15:9 Just as the Creator has loved me, so have I loved you: Remain within my love.
15:10 If you follow my instructions, you will remain within my love; just as I have followed my LORD’s instructions and remain within His love.
15:11 These things I have said to you so my joy will be within you, and your joy may be complete.
15:12 This is my instruction: Love each other just as I have loved you.
15:13 There is no greater love than this: That one gives his life for his friends.
15:14 You are my friends and if you do what I instruct you,
15:15 I no longer call you servants, for the servant knows not what his master is doing. Rather, I call you friends, for everything I have heard from my LORD I have made known to you.
15:16 You did not choose me but I chose you and set you up so you would go and bear fruit, and your fruit would keep, so that whatever you ask of the Creator in my name He may give you.
15:17 This I instruct you: That you love each other.
15:18 If the material world hates you, you know it has hated me before you.
15:19 If you were of the material world, the material world would love its own. But because you are not of the material world – because I chose you from the material world - because of this the material world hates you.
15:20 Recall the teaching I told you, that a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my teaching they will keep yours as well.
15:21 But they will do all these things to you in my name – because they don’t know Him who sent me.
15:22 If I had not appeared and spoke to them they would not have offenses. But now they have no excuse for their offenses.
15:23 One who hates me also hates my LORD.
15:24 If I had not done among them the deeds no one else did, they would not have offenses. But now they have seen them and hate both me and my LORD.
15:25 But their actions confirm the Teachings written in the Scripture – ‘they hated me without a cause.’1
15:26 When the Counselor comes – whom I will summon to you from the Creator – this is the Spirit of Truth who expands from the Creator – He will testify for me.
15:27 And you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning."
Footnotes:
1. Verse 15:25. Derived from David’s praise to God in Psalm 35:
Also from Psalm 69:15:2 Each branch in me that bears no fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so it will bear more fruit.
15:3 Now you have been purified through the teachings I have spoken to you.
15:4 Remain with me and I will stay with you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is connected to the vine, neither can you unless you remain with me.
15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who remains with me and I with him will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
15:6 If one does not remain with me, they will be cast away like a branch that dries up. These are gathered up and cast into the fire where they will be burned.
15:7 If you remain with me, and my teachings remain with you, ask what you will and it will be done for you.
15:8 My LORD will be glorified by your bearing much fruit, and thus you will be my followers.
15:9 Just as the Creator has loved me, so have I loved you: Remain within my love.
15:10 If you follow my instructions, you will remain within my love; just as I have followed my LORD’s instructions and remain within His love.
15:11 These things I have said to you so my joy will be within you, and your joy may be complete.
15:12 This is my instruction: Love each other just as I have loved you.
15:13 There is no greater love than this: That one gives his life for his friends.
15:14 You are my friends and if you do what I instruct you,
15:15 I no longer call you servants, for the servant knows not what his master is doing. Rather, I call you friends, for everything I have heard from my LORD I have made known to you.
15:16 You did not choose me but I chose you and set you up so you would go and bear fruit, and your fruit would keep, so that whatever you ask of the Creator in my name He may give you.
15:17 This I instruct you: That you love each other.
15:18 If the material world hates you, you know it has hated me before you.
15:19 If you were of the material world, the material world would love its own. But because you are not of the material world – because I chose you from the material world - because of this the material world hates you.
15:20 Recall the teaching I told you, that a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my teaching they will keep yours as well.
15:21 But they will do all these things to you in my name – because they don’t know Him who sent me.
15:22 If I had not appeared and spoke to them they would not have offenses. But now they have no excuse for their offenses.
15:23 One who hates me also hates my LORD.
15:24 If I had not done among them the deeds no one else did, they would not have offenses. But now they have seen them and hate both me and my LORD.
15:25 But their actions confirm the Teachings written in the Scripture – ‘they hated me without a cause.’1
15:26 When the Counselor comes – whom I will summon to you from the Creator – this is the Spirit of Truth who expands from the Creator – He will testify for me.
15:27 And you will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning."
Footnotes:
1. Verse 15:25. Derived from David’s praise to God in Psalm 35:
I will give You thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise You. Do not let those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; do not let those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye. They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land. (Psalm 35:18-20 NIV)
For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of David. Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. (Psalm 69:1-4 NIV)
