Jesus’ Love and the World’s Hatred: Just as it is possible to imagine a stage of the tradition when the only farewell discourse was 13:31–35, so it is possible to imagine a stage when the discourse extended to 14:31 but no further. There is a smooth transition from that verse’s summons to “leave” to the statement in 18:1 that Jesus “left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.” At the end of chapter 14, the reader expects the group to leave and the discourse to end. Instead, the discourse continues, as Jesus seems to make a new beginning.
In a manner reminiscent of the public ministry, he combines a particularly vivid and concrete metaphor with an “I am” formula (cf. “I am the bread of life,” 6:35, 48; “I am the gate for the sheep,” 10:7, 9; “I am the good shepherd,” 10:11, 14). As in each previous example, the key pronouncement occurs twice: I am the true vine (v. 1) and I am the vine (v. 5). But unlike the previous examples, the pronouncements here add a second identification to each of the “I am” formulas (my Father is the gardener, v. 1; you are the branches, v. 5). The result is not a full-blown parable (both 10:1–5 and 10:12–13 are more like parables in the sense of telling a real story), but something similar to the interpretations attached in the synoptic Gospels to the parables of the sower (Mark 4:13–20 and parallels) and of the weeds in the field (Matt. 13:36–43). Jesus identifies himself in relation to the Father in verses 1–4, and in relation to the disciples in verses 5–8.
The vine or vineyard metaphor is an ancient one for describing the people of Israel under God’s care (cf. Ps. 80:14–18; Isa. 5:1–7). Though the identification with Israel remains implicit and undeveloped (cf. 1:43–51), the metaphor calls attention not only to Jesus himself but to the disciples and their relationship to him. Even in verses 1–4, where Jesus defines his identity first in relation to the Father (vv. 1–2), the disciples are quickly brought into the picture (you, vv. 3–4), whereas verses 5–8 center almost entirely on them, the branches, and how they bear fruit. Most of the other “I am” sayings in this Gospel are accompanied by an invitation to “come” to Jesus or “believe” in him (e.g., 6:35; 8:12; 10:9; 11:25–26; 14:6), but I am the vine focuses instead on those who have already come and has as its corollary the command to “remain in” (or “united to”) him in whom they have believed. The vine metaphor seems, in fact, to have been introduced at this point in the discourses primarily to dramatize the single imperative of “remaining” (Gr.: menein) spiritually united to Jesus in a life-sustaining relationship.
The first “I am” sequence (vv. 1–4) provides a kind of metaphorical history of the disciples’ experience. The care of the branches is in the hands of the Father, who cuts off (Gr.: airei) fruitless branches and prunes (Gr.: kathairei) those that are productive (v. 2). This summary of the Father’s work serves as an interpretation of chapter 13: Judas, the fruitless branch, has been “broken off” (cf. 13:21–30), while the rest of the disciples are clean (Gr.: katharoi) as a result of Jesus’ teaching (v. 3; cf. 13:10) and are ready to be even more fruitful (v. 2).
The end of the first sequence (v. 4) anticipates the second. The key to “bearing fruit” is remaining united to Jesus, the source of all life, yet this “remaining” is not a passive thing. It consists of more than simply allowing Jesus to rule in one’s heart by default. It begins to take shape in the second “I am” sequence (vv. 5–8), and it comes to concrete expression in the summons to love and mission that immediately follows (vv. 9–17). After the heading, I am the vine; you are the branches (v. 5a), the second sequence falls into a chiastic (a b b’ a’) pattern:
a If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;
b apart from me you can do nothing (v. 5).
b’ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are … burned (v. 6).
a’ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (vv. 7–8).
The point of the sentence as a whole is that when branches remain with the vine they bear fruit, and when they do not they die. Clearly, a and a’ are promises, while b and b’ are warnings or threats. In b the negative point is made briefly; in b’ it is developed at some length. Similarly, in a, the positive point is made briefly, and in a’ more elaborately. A saying about answered prayer has been woven into a’ as a specific example of fruit-bearing (v. 7; cf. 14:13–14), and at the end Jesus’ thought circles back to the Father, with the Father’s glory as the ultimate reason for bearing much fruit and so becoming disciples (v. 8).
What do these words and images mean concretely in human experience? Christian discipleship, a clear enough notion in itself, seems confusing in the present context because Jesus, instead of assuming that his disciples are disciples, speaks of the possibility of them becoming disciples (showing yourselves to be is, lit., “that you might become,” v. 8). It is helpful to remember a clue dropped much earlier when Jesus was addressing a group of “believers” who turned out not to be believers at all: “If you hold to [lit., “If you remain in”] my teaching, you are really my disciples” (8:31). The clue was that discipleship involved more than just believing (i.e., establishing a relationship to Jesus); it demanded also remaining (i.e., maintaining and nurturing that relationship). This had to be done by hearing and obeying Jesus’ “teaching” (8:31), which was exactly what the counterfeit “believers” of 8:30–59 refused to do. In the present passage, discipleship is similarly defined in terms of remaining in Jesus, and in verse 7 he significantly adds the condition that my words remain in you. It is the “teaching,” after all, that has made them clean (v. 3), and one dimension, at least, of remaining in (or united to) Jesus is remembering his teaching and continuing to obey it (cf. the many biblical injunctions to Israel to remember and obey the words of the Lord; e.g., Deut. 6:4–9).
The familiar triangular pattern of chapter 13 is reaffirmed in verses 9–17. Remaining in Jesus and reflecting on his words are first defined more precisely as remaining in his love, a command based on the Father’s love for Jesus as well as Jesus’ love for the disciples (v. 9). Remaining in Jesus’ love is equated with obeying his commands, based on the precedent of Jesus remaining in his Father’s love by obeying his Father’s commands (v. 10; cf. the references to Jesus’ obedience in 10:18; 12:49–50; and 14:31). Such a precedent proves that the obedience of which Jesus speaks is not the obedience of a slave (cf. v. 15), for its motivation is love and its purpose is joy (v. 11). Jesus’ commands come to a focus in the one great command to love each other as I have loved you (v. 12; cf. v. 17). Here the triangular pattern becomes explicit, and for the moment Jesus and his disciples are back in the world of chapter 13, especially 13:12–17. “Remaining” is at last defined concretely as “doing” something (v. 14; cf. 13:15, 17), specifically, loving one’s friends (i.e., one’s brothers and sisters in the community of disciples) and giving one’s life for them (v. 13). This is the example Jesus sets, symbolically in the footwashing and literally in his death on the cross. To remain in him is to follow his example of servanthood by loving others, even at the cost of one’s own life (cf. 1 John 3:16–18). Verses 9–17 simultaneously interpret the vine imagery of verses 1–8 and reinforce the interpretation already given of the footwashing two chapters earlier.
Here, ironically, just at the point in the Gospel where servanthood is given its most profound expression, servanthood is transcended. Jesus has referred to the disciples as his servants (12:26, 13:16), and, despite what he says in verse 15, he will do so again almost immediately (v. 20, citing 13:16 verbatim). Yet the term “servant” (Gr.: doulos, sometimes translated “slave” in NIV) has its limitations. “A slave [or servant] has no permanent place in the family,” Jesus had once said, “but a son belongs to it forever” (8:35). Though a servant might be loved by his master, Jesus selects another word, friend (Gr.: philos, vv. 13–15), to call particular attention to his love for the disciples (v. 12) and to keep that love ever before them (cf. 13:1; also 13:23, the disciple “whom Jesus loved”). But the distinction goes deeper. A master’s love for his servants does not involve telling them his business (except what they need to know to do their jobs), but shared knowledge and insight is an important part of true friendship (v. 15).
Friendship is here defined in terms of both revelation and imitation. Almost at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus had said: “Whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves [Gr.: philei] the Son and shows him all he does” (5:19b–20). Now that Jesus has told his disciples everything he has heard from the Father (v. 15b), they in turn know what Jesus is doing (v. 15a), and must do what he commands (v. 14). This means doing what Jesus himself has done, for Jesus’ commands are based on his example (love each other as I have loved you, v. 12; cf. 13:15). At this point, Jesus’ words powerfully reinforce what he had said in 13:17: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Friendship finds its realization in loving service. Friendship and servanthood are not set against each other as contradicting ideals, for the contrast is used solely to highlight the importance of revelation. The unfulfilled promise of 8:32 is at last coming true—though not for those who first heard it—“you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
In chapter 15 as in chapter 13, mutual love among Jesus’ disciples does not stay within the community of disciples but inevitably results in mission to the world (cf. 13:18–20). The brief positive glimpse of this mission in 15:16–17 serves as the transition to a longer and largely negative portrayal of its difficulties and dangers in 15:18–16:4a. Verses 16–17 are linked to what follows by the notion that the disciples are chosen for their task (vv. 16, 19; cf. 13:18), but even more closely to what precedes by a last reference to fruit-bearing (go and bear fruit, v. 16) and a last repetition of the command to love each other (v. 17). If remaining in Jesus is defined concretely as loving one another, the consequent bearing of fruit must be defined as reproducing oneself and one’s relationship to Jesus spiritually in the lives of others—that is, as what later, and more ecclesiastically minded, Christians have called evangelism (cf. 12:24: a single grain of wheat “dies” in order to produce “many seeds,” lit., “much fruit”). The evangelization of the world in this Gospel does not arise out of the disciples’ conscious love or compassion for the world itself, or the masses of people in it, but out of their “in-house,” familial love for each other. “If you have love for one another,” Jesus is still saying, “then everyone will know that you are my disciples” (cf. 13:35). The entire section from verses 9 to 17 is best understood not only as an interpretation of the vine metaphor in its immediate context, but as a crucial exposition in retrospect of Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet two chapters earlier.
The prospect that “everyone will know” Jesus’ disciples by their love for one another does not mean that everyone will believe. In the first discourse the “world” was defined as those who did not love Jesus (14:22–24). Here the indictment of the world is even sharper. If the disciples are known by their love, the world is defined by its hatred—for Jesus first and then for those who belong to him. The root of this hatred is alienation. Jesus is “from above” (3:31), and those who “are of this world” cannot begin to understand him (8:23). Because the disciples did not “come from heaven” as Jesus did (3:13; cf. 6:32–42), it might appear that they, unlike Jesus, in some sense belong to the world. But this is not the case; the fact that Jesus chose them to be his messengers alienates them from the world just as surely as if they had literally come down from above (v. 19; cf 17:14).
Building on pronouncements similar to two that he had used in connection with the footwashing (i.e., 13:16 and 20), as well as similar sayings found in the synoptic Gospels (e.g., Matt. 10:24–25, 40; Luke 10:16), Jesus predicts that the disciples will face persecution (vv. 18–21).
It is difficult to tell whether Jesus’ self-citation in verse 20 stops with no servant is greater than his master (and is therefore based entirely on 13:16a) or whether it includes the rest of verse 20 as well. His point is that if he has been hated and persecuted by his contemporaries, his followers should not be surprised that the same fate awaits them. Verse 20 is probably the citation of a saying to that effect not found verbatim in any of our Gospels but represented in variant forms in John 13:16 and in Matthew 10:24–25 (the “if” clauses with which v. 20 concludes find their parallel in Matt. 10:24b). Jesus’ point is therefore not the same as in 13:20 or in Matthew 10:40 or Luke 10:16. His mission is seen here as the historical precedent for that of his disciples, not as something identical with it or embodied in it. Though the disciples’ mission is seen as a continuation of Jesus’ own, Jesus does not blur the distinction between them or superimpose one upon the other. Instead, he focuses the disciples’ attention first on his own mission and its consequences (vv. 22–25), and then, more specifically than before, on what lies ahead for them (15:26–16:4b).
The summary of his public ministry (vv. 22–25) recalls Jesus’ indictment of the Pharisees in 9:39–41. Directed not against a particular group of questioners but against the world itself, it is the universal indictment of which 9:39–41 was a particular instance. In the entire Gospel, only 1:10–11 and 3:19 are comparable in scope. The solemn verdict is formally repeated in two stanzas of parallel structure:
a if I had not come and spoken to them
a’ if I had not done among them what no one else did
b They would not be guilty of sin.
b’ They would not be guilty of sin.
c Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
c’ But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father (v. 24).
He who hates me hates my Father as well (vv. 22–23).
In each stanza, the world’s sin is understood concretely in relation to the coming of Jesus into the world. If Jesus had not come, there would have been no sin (cf. 9:41), for sin is defined solely as hatred of Jesus and, consequently, as hatred of the Father who sent him. Drawing once more on the experience of the psalmists of Israel, Jesus adds a supporting Scripture quotation: “They hated me without reason” (Pss. 35:19; 69:5; cf. Ps. Sol. 7.1). If the one great commandment is love, the one great transgression is hatred.
Now that the precedent of hatred has been set, the disciples can be under no illusions about what their own mission entails. Whereas 13:18–20 dealt with the experience of betrayal by members of one’s own community, 15:26–16:4a alludes to a much wider range of troubles. Jesus’ disciples will be expelled from their synagogues, just as the blind man was (9:34), or even killed by religious zealots intent on murder as a sacred duty (16:2; cf. the example of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9:1–5). Like Jesus before them, they will be mistreated by people who have not known the Father or me (16:3).
The unspoken assumption of all these prophecies is the departure of Jesus, which will be made explicit in 16:5 (cf. 13:36–14:31). Though Jesus’ coming was decisive in bringing to light the world’s sin, there is yet another “coming” that affects—even determines—the disciples’ situation in the world after he has gone: the coming of the Counselor (v. 26; cf. 14:16–17, 26). Jesus’ absence is clearly indicated by the promise that he will send the Spirit to the disciples from the Father (v. 26). Even more than in the first discourse, the Spirit’s presence with the disciples is promised especially in situations of persecution, when they would feel Jesus’ absence most keenly. To this extent the Spirit’s function is the same as it is in the synoptic Gospels: to enable the disciples to stand firm under hostile questioning and to testify faithfully about Jesus to their persecutors (vv. 26–27; cf. Mark 13:11; Matt. 10:19; Luke 12:11–12).
Though this is the main import of the promise of the Spirit in its historical and literary context, it is likely that the first readers of the Gospel (like many readers today) regarded it as the conferral of authority in a more general sense on those who had been with Jesus from the beginning (v. 27; cf. 1 John 1:1–3). Those who had witnessed his words and deeds on earth were the ones uniquely qualified to be the vehicles of the Spirit’s witness from heaven. But if Jesus, or the Gospel writer, has in mind here a justification of apostolic authority, he keeps it strictly subordinate to the more immediate purpose of encouraging Christians in the face of persecution. His primary concern, he tells the disciples, as well as the primary object of the Spirit’s ministry, is that you will not go astray (or “give up your faith”) at the prospect of expulsion from the synagogue or even death (16:1–2). The expression go astray or “give up one’s faith” (lit., “be scandalized”) was used earlier when the disciples drew back in horror at the thought of sharing in Jesus’ violent death (6:60–61). The possibility of martyrdom continued to be present through much of the Gospel (cf. 12:24–26; 13:36–38), and now Jesus refers explicitly to the danger of being killed for his sake (v. 2)—even as he had bluntly charged his enemies all along with trying to kill him (7:19; 8:37, 40). The thrust of Jesus’ prophetic vision is that all the hatred directed against him from the beginning of his ministry, expressing itself in persecution (5:16) with the intent to kill (5:18), will be redirected at his disciples after his departure. His hope is that the disciples will remember that I warned you (v. 4a) and be reassured by two things: first, by knowing why the religious authorities are persecuting them (because they have not known the Father or me, v. 3); and second, by knowing that Jesus was not taken by surprise, but saw beforehand what was in store for them as clearly as he saw his own calling and destiny (cf. 13:19; 14:29).
Additional Notes
15:6 Like a branch that is thrown away: What was stated in v. 2 as a metaphor (“He cuts off every branch in me”) appears here in the form of a simile. The description in v. 6b of the gathering and burning of the dried-up branches is not a theological statement but is drawn from observation of everyday life. But does the imagery imply that those who belong to Jesus can lose the salvation they have by virtue of their relationship to him? The answer depends on one’s assessment of the spiritual condition of Judas the betrayer. If Judas was at first a true disciple of Jesus, one may conclude that a genuine believer may in fact be like a branch that is thrown away. But if Judas was never truly a child of God, then his case is not that of a believer losing his salvation. Such terms as “a devil” (used of Judas as early as 6:70) and “the one doomed to destruction” (17:12) suggest that the latter alternative is the correct one. Judas was a “fruitless branch” because he had no life-giving connection with Jesus in the first place. His exclusion simply made visible (to the beloved disciple at least) what was already the case in his heart. It is fair to draw the tentative conclusion that the same is true of whatever other “fruitless branches” the Gospel writer may have in mind in his own congregations.
15:16 Fruit that will last: lit., “that your fruit might remain” (Gr.: menēi, the word used throughout the chapter for “remaining” in Jesus). The hope expressed is that the disciples’ converts will be firmly established in their new faith and will realize among themselves the same mutual love that Jesus desires for the first generation of believers (cf. 17:20).
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask. This expression of Jesus’ intent is probably to be taken as synonymous with the immediately preceding intent that the disciples go and bear fruit (cf. vv. 7–8). Prayer is an integral part of the disciples’ mission; they will fulfill their mission precisely by asking the Father for a rich “harvest” of new believers (cf. Matt. 9:37–38/Luke 10:2; also perhaps Ps. 2:8). The supreme example of prayer as the key to mission is Jesus’ own prayer in 17:9–23.
15:20 If they obeyed my teaching: The context (v. 21 in particular) makes it clear that Jesus is using irony here: If they obeyed my teaching—which they did not—they will obey yours also. Though some will respond positively to the disciples’ mission (cf. 17:20), Jesus is not looking at that possibility here.
15:21 Because of my name: i.e., “because of me” or “for my sake.”
15:25 Their Law: The terminology indicates that Jesus’ indictment is directed against the same Jewish religious establishment that has been persecuting him and seeking his life. See note on 8:17.
15:26 I will send: In the second discourse (here and in 16:7), Jesus is the one who sends the Spirit from the Father. Contrast the terminology of the first discourse in which the Father himself sends the Spirit, though in response to Jesus’ request (14:16, 26).
16:2 Put you out of the synagogues: Cf. 9:22; 12:42, where expulsion from the synagogue was viewed as a possibility even within Jesus’ earthly ministry. Here the experience is placed in a prophetic context, pointing to the experience of Christians in the decades after Jesus’ resurrection. At least for the last decade of the first century, there is Jewish evidence that such expulsions actually took place. See note on 9:22.
Offering a service to God: lit., “worship.” Even as good deeds such as prayer, almsgiving, and fasting were regarded by Jews after the destruction of the temple as equivalent to sacrifice, so would the “good deed” of ridding the world of heretics be counted as an act of sacred worship.
16:4a When the time comes: lit., “when their hour comes.” This could mean “when the hour comes for these things [of which Jesus had just spoken] to be fulfilled” or “when the persecutors’ hour comes” to do what they have to do. The second alternative is the more likely (see GNB, and cf. Luke 22:53b: “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns”).
