John 15
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
17 This is my command: Love each other.
The World Hates the Disciples
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for 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 as well.
24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Hello everyone, I am kiki. Chinese name of our second phase of the program is “读经大讲堂”. The English name is “Bible study”.
We will adopt a relaxed also enjoyable learning mode to take you into a new learning world. Each time I will make a personal summary and analysis from the perspective of a learner, and then Sister Ingrid will help me conduct in-depth learning and problem discussions with everybody.
I hope that such an interesting and interactive process can bring new knowledge experience to you all. The following is my interview with my sister on related issues. Today is the twenty-fifth lecture on the Gospel of John.
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!
My summary of John twenty-fifth-time study:
Well, everybody! First, is still my today’s personal study summary.
In this passage, Jesus explains that He is the “true vine,” and God is the gardener who takes care of the vine. Jesus compares His followers to branches that need to stay connected to the vine to grow and produce fruit. If a branch (I guess it means a person) doesn’t stay connected to Jesus, it won’t bear fruit and will eventually wither away.
But if we remain close to Him, we will be fruitful and do good things.
Jesus also talks about love. He says that just like God loves Him, He loves us, and we should remain in His love by following His commands.
The most important command He gives is to love each other, just as He loves us. He even says that the greatest love is when someone lays down their life for their friends.
Jesus calls His disciples “friends” instead of servants because He has shared everything with them, just as friends do.
He chose them to go out and do good things, showing that they are His followers by bearing lasting fruit.
The second part of the passage explains that the world may hate Jesus’ followers because it hated Him first.
People who don’t believe in God or follow Jesus might treat Christians badly. But Jesus reminds them that even though the world might be harsh, they have the Spirit of truth (or we could use the Holy Spirit) who will help them and testify about Jesus.
Now let Ingrid sister make a go further summary.
Sister’s comment from my studying summary:
Jesus said he is the true vine, you already mentioned it. When there is a true vine, there must be a false vine, too.
Since vine is often the symbol for love, Jesus is the true love and every other kind of love is not true.
If we stay in the love of Jesus, we will bring Fruit. I think, Jesus is taking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is mentioned in Galatians 9 and consists in:
love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Then Jesus warns us to stay in him, because out of him, we cannot do anything.
Well, unfortunately many Christians do things without Jesus. The result are separations in the churches, slander and defamation. Jesus talks about the spiritual consequences for those who don t stay in him: They will be cut off and thrown into the fire.
There is always a big discussion if we can lose salvation. If we are in Christ and bring fruit in him, we will not be cut off and will not lose salvation. If we are not in Christ and just confess to be a Christian, we never had a salvation.
If we are in Jesus we may pray and it will be. This is a bit difficult to understand, because often we pray and it is not happening. But if we are in Jesus, we know how to pray and for what to pray and these things will happen.
At last, we glorify the father if we bear much fruit as a disciple in Jesus.
Further Jesus explains the same thing again without using the picture of the wine: We should stay in his love. We stay in his love through holding his commandments in the same way as Jesus holds the commandments of the father.
If we do this, our joy is complete.
Then Jesus referees to the commandment of loving one another as before and he refers with the sentence “nobody has greater love than whom who gives his life for his friends” to the work that he will do the same day on the cross for us who believe in him.
At the end, he tells them, that they will be hated by the world, but the Holy Spirit who will come, will be our councilor.
Q list part: base on John 15th items:
Okay. Base on above bible study content, now let me ask sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.
What does Jesus mean when He calls Himself the “true vine”?
He is the true love. If we stay in him, we bring good fruit. There are a lot of things, who seem to be a vine, too, but they are faIn this passage, Jesus explains that He is the “true vine,” and God is the gardener who takes care of the vine.lse, they don t bring good fruit, but lead to the broad way which go to hell.
Why is it important to stay connected to Jesus like a branch to a vine?
Without Jesus we cannot do anything. If we would like to have a fruit as love, peace and joy, it is necessary to stay in him.
What happens to a branch (person) that is not connected to Jesus?
It will be cut off and thrown into the fire.
How do we show that we love Jesus according to this passage?
By holding his commandments.
What is the greatest love according to Jesus?
The greatest love is to give one’s life to his friends. Jesus does exactly this for us, because no one has greater love than he for us.
Why does Jesus call His disciples friends instead of servants?
His friends know now what Jesus is doing. A servant does not know what his master is doing.
What does it mean to bear “fruit” as a follower of Jesus? It does not appear exactly here in the text, but Paul explains in the letter to Galata the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatensis 5
Why does Jesus say the world might hate His disciples?
The world hated him and so they will hate his disciples, too, because they are not greater than him.
How does Jesus explain the relationship between hating Him and hating the Father?
He says the people hate him, because they don t know his father and by the same way, they hate him, they hate his father, too.
Who is the “Advocate” Jesus mentions, and what is His role?
It is the Holy Spirit. He has various roles: To comfort us, when we are persecuted by the world, to teach us when we don t know what to say or how to behave and to take from Jesus to remember us at the word, that Jesus has spoken.
