Ch. 15:1-27. CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH.--CHRIST ABIDES IN THE SOUL.--THE
SOUL IS SAFE ONLY AS IT ABIDES IN CHRIST.--THIS ABIDING IS THE
CONDITION OF SUCCESSFUL PRAYER; OF PRACTICAL GODLINESS; OF
SELF-SACRIFICING LOVE; OF SPIRITUAL JOY.--CHRIST A REVEALER, NOT A
LAW-GIVER.--THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH.--THE PERSECUTION OF THE WORLD;
THE WITNESSING POWER OF THE CHURCH.
PRELIMINARY NOTE.--Some scholars suppose that Christ, at the close of
the preceding discourse, arose with his disciples and passed out of
the room where they had been at supper into the valley of the Kedron,
the vicinity of the garden of Gethsemane, and that the discourse was
continued there, in or near one of the vineyards which abound in the
neighborhood of the city. Others suppose that they arose to go; that,
the heart of the Master being surcharged with the truth which he was
endeavoring to express to them, the Divine Immanence, he broke forth
afresh with the same truth in a new form, and that the discourse
recorded in this and the next chapter, and the prayer recorded in ch.
17, were uttered in the same room in which the preceding discourse was
uttered. Both suppositions are purely conjectural; the latter appears
to me the more rational, because: (1) The truths embodied in this and
the succeeding chapter are the same as the one embodied in the
preceding one; the form alone varies. The structure and the fibre of
the discourse is that of one which flows from a heart burdened with
a profound truth which can be expressed only by reiteration, and even
then only inadequately. (2) It is hardly credible that such a
conversation could have been uttered, as some have imagined, while
Jesus and his disciples were on their way out of the city; and no
reason is offered for the hypothesis that it was abruptly broken off
and transferred to another and apparently less convenient place. (3)
Ch. 18:1 plainly implies that Jesus did not _go forth_, _i. e._, from
the room where they were gathered, till the end of this conversation
with them and after the prayer with which it was closed. Various
hypotheses have also been proffered respecting the probable
circumstance that suggested to Christ the metaphor which underlies the
first part of this chapter: Vineyards on the way to Gethsemane
(_Lampe_), the carved vine on the great doors of the temple
(_Rosenmuller_), a vine trained about the window of the great chamber
(_Knapp_), the cup so lately partaken (_Meyer_, _Stier_), O. T.
symbolism of the vineyard and the vine (_Alford_). These are also all
conjectural; it is enough to say that the parable here must be studied
in the light of the teachings both of nature and of the O. T. use of
nature in the passages below referred to. The use of the vine as a
symbol by O. T. prophets was so familiar that it could hardly have
been absent from the minds of both Christ and the apostles. Examine
with care Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 15:2, 6; and especially Psalm 80:8-19, and
Isaiah 5:1-7. The truth taught here by a metaphor is the same as that
taught in the preceding chapter unmetaphorically, and in other
passages by other metaphors. (1) The vine and its branches are a
perpetual parable of Christ and his church. It is not enough to learn
of Christ as from a teacher, to follow him as an example, or to accept
forgiveness through him as both priest and sacrifice; we must be
personally united to him, and from him draw our spiritual life, and so
grow into his image. As the branch draws its sap by a continuous flow
from the vine, and becomes identified with it in character, and bears
its fruit, and dies when separated from it, so we must abide in a
living Christ, draw our spiritual sustenance from him, become more and
more Christlike in our nature, and bear his fruit in our lives. See
John 6:56-58, note, and refs. there cited. (2) In the O. T. imagery
the vine planted by the husbandman was the house of Israel. But
despite the divine cultivator it brought forth wild grapes; it proved
to be no _true_ vine. Wherefore it was broken down, laid waste,
burned, and a new vine was planted in its place. This _true_ vine is
Christ; not the man Christ Jesus, but the living, abiding Christ, the
Christ who is with his people alway, even unto the end of the world
(Matt. 28:20), the Christ whose true body is his church (1 Cor.
12:27), who is the head from which they all draw their life (Ephes.
4:15; Col. 1:18), who reproduces himself in every true disciple, since
only they in whom is the spirit of Christ are truly his (Rom. 8:9),
and who is thus far more widely and potently in the earth to-day than
he ever was or could be in the flesh. This living and perpetually
incarnate Christ is in a sense identical with his living church, as
the vine is identical with its branches; for as there could be no vine
without branches, so neither could this Christ be without the church
which he animates. This Christ incarnate, not in the body of a single
man, but in the church universal which is now his body, is the true
Israel of God, the nation to whom the kingdom of God has been given,
that was taken from the old Israel because it brought not forth the
fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43). This _true_ vine is contrasted with the
old Israel which proved to be no true vine. No longer is there any
possibility that the vine shall be broken down and destroyed with fire
as the old vine was (Isa. 5:5; Ps. 80:16); but each branch that abides
not in this everlasting vine, this living, perpetually incarnate and
ever extending Christ, is broken off from the vine and destroyed. In
brief, in studying this parable, the student must not forget, what the
commentators have often forgotten, that throughout this last discourse
with his disciples Christ speaks of himself not as a man about to die,
but as a living Christ, forever incarnate in the hearts and lives of
his own, living on in the world with mightier and wider influence, and
in more intimate communion and companionship with his disciples after
his crucifixion than before. It is this ever-living Christ, reproduced
in all his members, and spreading over the whole earth, that is the
true vine, in contrast with the old Israel, which proved to be no true
vine; of this vine the Father is the husbandman; in this vine each
individual disciple is a branch or shoot.
1 I am the true vine,[571] and my Father is the
husbandman.[572]
[571] Isa. 4:2.
[572] Cant. 8:12.
2 Every branch[573] in me that beareth not fruit he taketh
away: and every _branch_ that beareth[574] fruit, he
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
[573] Matt. 15:13.
[574] Heb. 12:15; Rev. 3:19.
=1, 2. I am the true vine.= So he is the _true_ light (ch. 1:9) and
_true_ bread (ch. 6:32, 33), the spiritual being the true, the
external and material being the shadows that are “figures of the true”
(Heb. 9:24). The images of the Bible, especially those employed by
Christ, are not merely poetic figures. The outward world is a real
symbol of the invisible world, physical growths are a parable of
spiritual growths, the kingdom of nature a picture of the kingdom of
grace, because both come from the same creative hand, are made
subject to the same great laws, and are under the same great King. The
physical vine is the shadow; Christ is the true, real vine, whom the
shadow symbolizes; and it will last when the shadow has passed away;
as he is the true priest and sacrifice, outlasting the apparent
priest and sacrifice of the O. T. dispensation.--=My Father is the
husbandman.= Cultivating the vine, and superintending its growth. This
cultivation has been going on through the centuries, in all the growth
of that invisible but perpetually incarnated Christ whose body is the
church, and who dwells in and is therefore represented by all his
members. The language shows clearly that it is not of the man Christ
Jesus about to die upon the cross, but of the ever-living Christ,
immanent in the Holy Catholic Church, that he here speaks.--=Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit.= How can a branch be in Christ
and bear no fruit? Calvin’s explanation that _in me_ is equivalent to
_supposed to be in me_ is inadmissible. It does not explain Christ’s
words, but substitutes others for them. Alford’s explanation is
better, but it labors under the serious disadvantage of substituting
for Christ’s declaration “I am the vine,” the very different
declaration, The visible church is the vine. “The vine is the visible
church here, of which Christ is the _inclusive_ head; the vine
_contains_ the branches, hence the unfruitful as well as the fruitful
are _in me_.” But to be in the visible church and to be in living
communion with Christ are very different things. I should rather say
that Christ here lays down, in a simile, the general law that to him
that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken
away even that which he hath. If the soul, in the measure in which it
has knowledge of Christ, bears Christian fruit, it will grow more and
more into oneness with and likeness of Christ; if, on the other hand,
it does not realize the fruits of its knowledge in a life fruitful in
Christian works, it will gradually lose its knowledge and become
separated from Christ. Thus both the grafting into and the separating
from the vine are in the spiritual experience gradual processes, and
they depend on the fidelity with which the conscious branch avails
itself of its privilege, and shows itself worthy of larger privilege.
Thus Christ gives grace for grace (ch. 1:16).--=He taketh away.= The
same word (αἴρω) is used in 1 Cor. 5:2 of excommunication; that
indicates the meaning here. It is not declared that the fruitless
Christian shall be destroyed, though later, in ver. 6, destruction
is declared to be the final result of cutting off from Christ.
Fruitlessness cuts off (excommunicates) the soul from communion with
and drawing life from Christ; this ends in spiritual withering, death,
and destruction (ver. 6). Thus this declaration is the converse of
that of ch. 14:23, “If a man love me he will keep my words (bear my
fruit), and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and
make our abode with him.” If he keep not Christ’s words (bear not
Christ’s fruit), he will not have the abiding of the Father and the
Son. The fruit of Christ is the same as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.
5:22, 23); and in the measure in which this fruit is borne in the
life, is the soul enriched in the spiritual knowledge of Christ which
enables it to bear still more fruit. Thus fruitfulness in the
life develops the consciousness of Christ’s indwelling, and the
consciousness of Christ’s indwelling in the soul develops Christian
fruitfulness in the life. The whole truth is well illustrated by 2
Pet. 1:5-9.--=And every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it
that it may bring forth more fruit.= The word rendered in ver. 2
_purgeth_ and that rendered in ver. 3 _clean_ are radically the same.
Christ cleanseth the soul (1) by the operation of the law that right
doing develops right feeling and opens the heart to higher influences
(ch. 7:17); (2) by the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit,
which is given to each soul in the measure in which each proves itself
worthy of and willing to receive him; (3) by the discipline of life,
which is the manifestation of God’s special love to the soul (Heb.
12:6). The object of all this redemptive work is in order that (ἵνα)
the soul may bring forth more fruit. Thus Christian fruitfulness in
the life is both the condition and the final result of the divine
purifying process in the life of the soul.
3 Now ye[575] are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you.
[575] ch. 17:17; Ephes. 5:26; 1 Pet. 1:22.
4 Abide[576] in me, and I in you. As[577] the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more
can ye, except ye abide in me.
[576] 1 John 2:6.
[577] Hosea 14:8; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:11.
=3, 4. Already ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you.= Ver. 3 must be read in connection with ver. 4, to which it is
introductory. _Through_ (δὶα) always indicates the instrument, never
the cause. The spoken word is the instrument in God’s hand for the
cleansing of the soul (ch. 17:17); and when received by an obedient
faith, becomes the means of regeneration (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23) and
the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). This word is not any
particular utterance of Christ, but his whole ministry, both of
promise and teaching, including his gift of pardon and peace, and his
call to Christian activity. The meaning, then, is this: You are
already cleansed from past sin through your acceptance of and
obedience to my word. But you are not to imagine that my work is done
when I depart and cease to be visibly present with you. You are still
to abide in me spiritually; for without this spiritual abiding all
your past cleansing can accomplish nothing; without me as a living and
life-giving Saviour you can bear no Christ-like fruit in your lives.
The lesson for us is that Christ’s work was not finished (though his
sacrifice was) on the cross, that our work is not finished in
accepting forgiveness through him and consecrating ourselves to
obedience to his will, but that the finished work of his death was
only preparatory for the entire work of his life in us (Rom. 5:10),
and that our acceptance of pardon is only a preparation for a life
continually hid with Christ in God (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3).--=Abide in
me and I in you.= This is not a direction and a promise, equivalent
to, If you abide in me I will abide in you; it is a twofold direction:
Abide in me; see to it that I abide in you. It thus implies that
Christ’s indwelling in us is dependent upon ourselves. If any man hear
Christ’s voice and opens the door, Christ comes in to him and sups
with him (Rev. 3:20). He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness
is filled (Matt. 5:6). By fidelity and obedience we abide in Christ;
by docility and spiritual obedience we open the door that Christ may
abide with us.--=As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself= (ἀφ
ἑαυτοῦ) =except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide
in me=. So the Son can do nothing of _himself_ (ch. 5:19, note), but
does all things abiding in and through the power of the Father. The
disciple abiding in Christ comes at last to abide with Christ in the
Father; and this is the consummation, when the Father becomes all in
all (ch. 17:21, 24; 1 Cor. 15:28). Thus all spiritual life comes from
the Father by Christ, through the instrumentality of the word, to the
soul that abides in and with Christ as Christ abides in and with the
Father.
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[578] 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.
[578] Matt. 3:10; 7:19.
=5, 6. I am the vine, ye are the branches.= Note the contrast. No mere
teacher or prophet could have spoken thus to his fellow-creatures.--=He
that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.=
This mystical dwelling with a living and present Christ is the
condition of a fruitful Christian character.--=Because apart from me
ye can do nothing.= Rather _severed_, as a branch from the vine; and
the negation is intense, a double negative: _ye can by no means do
anything_. All Christless activity counts for nothing; it harvests
“nothing but leaves.” Thus moral excellence is not the preparation for
and the condition of spiritual life; spiritual life is the preparation
for and the condition of moral excellence. Though each promotes the
other, the first step for the reforming soul should be to seek union
with Christ, without whom we can do nothing. Contrast with Christ’s
declaration here Paul’s in Phil. 4:13, “I can do all things through
Him (Christ) that strengtheneth me.” No conclusion can be drawn from
this utterance respecting the vexed question of the natural ability of
the soul to repent of sin and accept Christ by faith. For Christ is
here speaking to those who have thus accepted him, and he declares
simply the condition of fruitful Christian activity for all those who
are, at least in avowed purpose, already his.--=In case any one shall
not have abided in me he has been cast out like the branch that is
withered, and they gather them together and they are burned.= This
translation is Meyer’s, who thus comments on the significance of the
change in the tenses: “Jesus places himself at the point of time of
the execution of the last judgment, when those who have fallen away
from him are gathered together and cast into the fire, after they have
been previously cast out of his communion and become withered, having
completely lost the true life.” They that gather the withered branches
for the fire are not _men_, but the angels (Matt. 13:49, 50). The
metaphorical language ought not, however, to be too far pressed. The
parable ends in a tragic consummation, but Christ pictures only the
end of the fruitless and severed branches, as a warning to the
disciples; he does not declare that this fate actually impends over
any truly new-born soul. Hence we cannot deduce from his language the
conclusion of Meyer and Alford that the verse involves the possibility
of falling from grace. The whole teaching is full of warning to every
one to make his calling and election sure, not to rest in a “finished
salvation;” and in this it corresponds with the uniform teaching of
the N. T. (Phil. 2:12, 13; Heb. 4:11; 12:15; 2 Pet. 1:10). The
admonition is somewhat analogous to and may be interpreted by that of
Paul in Ephes. 5:6, 7, and Col. 3:5, an admonition pertinent to all
who substitute a supposed faith in Christ’s perfect work for practical
obedience, a faith that works by love. Alford’s interpretation
“_burneth_, not is burned in any sense of being consumed,” is a
striking illustration, such as Alford does not often afford, of
modifying the text to escape an unwelcome conclusion. The verb
(καίεται) is in the passive tense, and the figure is certainly one of
destruction, not of torment. But it is not to be taken literally. The
essential truth which underlies the metaphor is simply this, that the
soul which is separated from Christ is separated from the source of
spiritual life, withers away, and is eventually destroyed. What is
soul destruction is a question not here considered.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye[579]
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
[579] ch. 16:23.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;
so shall ye be my disciples.
=7, 8. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Therein is my Father
glorified; so that ye shall bear much fruit and shall become my
disciples.= The _words_ of Christ are his whole teaching, his
commandments, revelations, promises; to be accepted by obedience,
faith, hope. They are said to abide in the soul only as they spring up
and bear fruit in the life (Matt. 13:8, 23). Thus to have Christ’s
words abiding in us is the same as to bear Christian fruit. To him who
thus abides in Christ and bears his fruit this promise is made,
analogous to and interpreted by that of ch. 14:13, 14. The prayers of
those who are thus pervaded by the spirit of Christ are, like their
Master’s, those of not merely a humble submission to, but a supreme
desire for, the will of God (Matt. 6:9, 10; 26:39).--Hence in
answering them the Father is glorified. For the prayer of him in whom
Christ’s words abide will always embrace a supreme desire for the
Father’s glory. Comp. Christ’s prayer in ch. 17. Answer to such
prayers is given that the praying Christian may both bear much fruit
and become a disciple; both fruit-bearing in the life and docility of
spirit, _i. e._, both practical obedience to Christ and the spiritual
capacity to appreciate Christ’s instructions, are the result of this
life of prayer, and are a divine answer to prayer. The translation
given in the English version, _so shall ye be my disciples_, is
possibly legitimate, but it reverses the true order of the spiritual
life, by representing that fruit-bearing is the condition of becoming
a disciple of Christ; and the other construction is both more in
harmony with the general teaching of the N. T. and also with the
original here. _That_ (ἵνα is _telic_) is equivalent to _in order
that_, but the meaning is not that God is glorified for the purpose of
perfecting Christian character, but that prayer in the name and spirit
of Christ is answered for that purpose.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you:
continue ye in my love.
10 If ye[580] keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my
love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and
abide in his love.
[580] ch. 14:21, 23.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you, and _that_ your[581] joy might be full.
[581] ch. 16:24; 17:13.
=9-11. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Abide ye in
my love.= _As_ indicates the quality and character of the love.
Christ’s love for the disciples is, like the Father’s love for Christ,
a love personal, warm, strong; but one that does not shield from all
temptation, suffering, or even injustice. The word rendered _continue_
in ver. 9 is the same rendered _abide_ in ver. 7. _My_ love is
Christ’s love for us, not our love for him. The meaning then is, I
have loved you with the love which the Father has for me; so live as
to retain this love. And the next sentence indicates how this is to be
done.--=If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love, even
as=, etc. On the meaning of the word _keep_, see ch. 14:21, note. The
commandments are all summed up in the one command, “Follow me,” and
this again is interpreted by the command, “That ye love one another as
I have loved you.” Love is the key to Christ’s character; to love is
to follow Christ. A life of asceticism or of retirement and meditation
is not the way to this indwelling with Christ. The condition is love
in activity of service; a love and life like that of Christ, which was
neither one of asceticism nor one of repose.--=These things have I
spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and your joy might be
full.= One object of his address (comp. ver. 17; ch. 16:1, 4, 33) is
that he may perfect in them and in us that Christian joy which is one
of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22; Rom. 14:17), joy in the Lord,
_i. e._, in his companionship, in fulfilling his will, in suffering
with and for him, in doing his service (Acts 5:41; Phil. 2:17, 18;
4:4); the joy which Christ sets before himself, and for which he
endured the cross, despising the shame (Luke 24:26; Heb. 12:2). By _my
joy_ is meant, not joy concerning Christ, nor joy derived from Christ,
nor joy of Christ himself in us, his disciples, though this last is a
possible interpretation, but his own joy, _i. e._, joy like his,
having the same source in God and the same quality, enduring and
invincible. And if this joy is in the soul, the soul is _full_; it
leaves nothing to be desired. In words there is, in experience there
is not, a contradiction in the implication that he who was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief was also one possessing the most
radiant joyfulness. This promise of joy, uttered by Christ just before
Gethsemane and Calvary, is itself a song in the night, and a promise
of one to every Christian soul in its own passion hour.
12 This[582] is my commandment, That ye love one another,
as I have loved you.
[582] ch. 13:34.
13 Greater love[583] hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends.
[583] Rom. 5:7, 8.
14 Ye[584] are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command
you.
[584] verse 10.
=12-14. This is my commandment, that=, etc. Comp. ch. 13:34, note.
Christ reiterates the commandment which he has before given, and
points to his own life as the true interpreter of that commandment, in
order that he may guard them and us against that Pharisaic obedience
of external rules which selfishness and earthliness are continually
substituting for a spiritual obedience to the one interior law of
Christian character, self-sacrificing love.--=Greater love hath no one
than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.= Beware of
reading this as though laying down the life were equivalent to dying.
To die for a friend is not the greatest manifestation of love; to live
for him, by consecrating the whole life to him, is far greater. See
ch. 10:11, 17, notes.--As Christ consecrates not only his earthly
life, but, in his intercession with us and for us, his eternal life,
to his friends, so, if we are his friends, we shall lay down our lives
for him, not necessarily by dying for him, but by doing whatsoever he
commands us, that is, by living for him. Thus Christ points out at
once both the perfection of his love for his disciples and the
perfection of that love which he desires from his disciples. He does
not here say, however, that to lay down one’s life for one’s friends
is the highest manifestation of love; still higher is that
manifestation made by laying down the life for enemies. (Rom. 5:8; 1
John 4:10.)
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you
friends:[585] for all things that I have heard of my Father
I have made known unto you.
[585] James 2:23.
=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.= There is a
verbal but not a spiritual inconsistency between the language here and
that of ver. 20. The service which Christ expects of his disciples is
that of love. His declaration here explains his previous language,
which is that of authority. He has said, “I am your Lord and Master”
(ch. 13:13), and has reiterated again and again that the condition of
their spiritual life is obedience to his commandments (ch. 14:15, 23;
15:10). He now explains the sense in which he is a lawgiver. He does
not issue an imperial ukase and demand of his disciples a blind and
unquestioning obedience; he speaks as a divine friend, interpreting to
his disciples those laws of the spiritual life which he has himself
learned in the indwelling of the Father.
16 Ye[586] have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained[587] you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit,
and _that_ your fruit should remain: that whatsoever[588]
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
[586] 1 John 4:10, 19.
[587] Ephes. 2:10.
[588] verse 7; ch. 14:13.
=16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you.=
Primarily the reference is to the choice of the twelve from among the
disciples of Christ to be witnesses and apostles (Luke 6:13; John
6:70; Acts 9:15); and this choice did not prevent one of them from
becoming an apostate. It is Christ who chooses for each one of us his
place and work in life. That this is the primary meaning is evident,
not only from the parallel language employed in the passages above
cited, but also from the second clause of the verse here. The word
rendered _ordained_ is literally _placed_; and that is the meaning in
this passage: I have chosen you and appointed you your place in life.
So in Acts 13:47; 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:12. But it is also clear from the
language of ver. 19, _I have chosen you out of the world_, that Christ
refers not merely to a choice of the twelve from among the whole
discipleship for a particular work, but also to a choice of them from
the world to be followers of him. And as an historic fact, so far as
we know the history of the twelve, each one was first called by
Christ. See for example Matt. 9:9; Mark 1:16-20; John 1:43. The vine
precedes the branches; the first life flows from the vine into the
branches; the first choice is the choice of the dead soul by the
living Christ, not the choice of the living Christ by the dead soul.
We love him because he first loves us (1 John 4:10, 19; Ephes. 2:4,
5), and choose him because he first chooses us. And, however difficult
it may be for us to reconcile this truth with our _a priori_
conceptions of divine impartiality, rightly held it is an inspiration
to Christian activity and a source of Christian humility. “Even when
this doctrine of election has taken a narrow form--even when it has
been recognized chiefly as exclusive--it has had a mighty power over
the hearts of men. They have given themselves up, as they never could
do when they thought they had selected their own destiny, or were
going on errands of their own. But when it takes the form it has
here * * * there cannot be any principle which is at once so humbling
and so elevating, which so takes away all notion from the disciple
that there is any worth in his own deeds or words, which gives him so
confident an assurance that God’s word, spoken through him or through
any man, will not return to Him void.”--(_Maurice._)--=That you should
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.= They
were chosen that they should go forth as apostles, everywhere carrying
the gospel of reconciliation, and bringing back to their Master the
fruits, in sinners converted and saints edified. So every Christian is
chosen that he may go forth out of himself, out of a life of mere
personal enjoyment of religion, and bring forth fruit that shall abide
in other lives after his life comes to its close. And he is bound to
take heed that both in his life (2 John, ver. 8), and in other lives
(Rev. 14:13), there is fruit that abides unto life eternal.--=That
whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.=
Both clauses of the verse are dependent on the general declaration, “I
have chosen you.” For analogous construction, see ch. 13:34. Christ
chooses his disciples that they may go out into the world and bring
forth much fruit, and also that they may ask of the Father in his name
what they need; that is, both for a life of Christian activity and of
Christian devotion. And the one is necessary to the other. The
Christian brings forth much fruit only as he has power in prayer, the
power of a faith that God is able to do much in and through him (Phil.
4:13); and he has power in prayer only as he brings forth much fruit
(ch. 9:31; 14:7). Besser notes an evidence of emphasis which Christ
lays upon prayer in the fact that prayer in the name of Jesus is urged
in all three chapters of this farewell discourse.
17 These things[589] I command you, that ye love one
another.
[589] verse 12.
=17. These things I command you that ye love one another.= _These
things_ are all the precepts which have preceded from the beginning of
this interview, ch. 13:12. The whole object of Christ’s precepts is to
produce a loving spirit and a loving life in his followers. See Matt.
22:37-40; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14; 1 Tim. 1:5.
18 If the world[590] hate you, ye know that it hated me
before _it hated_ you.
[590] 1 John 3:13.
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[591] the world hateth you.
[591] ch. 17:14.
20 Remember[592] 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[593] have kept my
saying, they will keep yours also.
[592] ch. 13:16; Matt. 10:24; Luke 6:40.
[593] Ezek. 3:7.
21 But all[594] these things will they do unto you for my
name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
[594] ch. 16:3; Matt. 10:22; 24:9.
=18-21.= From this point to the end of the chapter Christ passes to
speak of the relation of the disciples to the world, and continuing
the theme in the next chapter, points out (ch. 16:1-4) the
particular manifestation of the world’s enmity which the disciples may
expect.--=If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you.=
_The world_, in John’s use of the term, signifies the unspiritual
portion of mankind, those who have not been taken out of an animal and
sensual condition by being born from above. See for illustration of
his meaning ch. 1:10, 29; 3:16; 4:42; 12:31, etc. Many in the visible
church may be of the world; some without the visible church may not be
of the world. It was the church which most bitterly hated Christ; the
publicans and sinners were drawn to him, and their enthusiasm for him
was his protection against the machinations of the hierarchy (Mark
12:12; Luke 20:19; 22:2). Christ does not assert that the world will
necessarily hate the disciples. The disciple’s life may be so ordered
of God that it is never brought into direct collision with the
self-interest, the pride, and the ambition of the world. But if the
collision does arise, and the disciple suffers the world’s enmity, he
is to be strengthened and comforted by the reflection that that has
befallen him which previously befel his Master. Comp. ch. 7:7, where
Christ declares that the world cannot hate those that act in
accordance with worldly policies and principles, and 1 Pet. 4:12, 13;
1 John 3:13, 14; 4:4, 5, where the apostles employ the same
consideration employed by Christ here, and for the same purpose. It is
better to take _know_ as an imperative than as an indicative, as an
exhortation than as a mere statement of a fact. It is thus analogous
to _remember_ in ver. 20.--=If ye were of the world * * * because ye
are not of the world.= The Christian is _in_ but not _of_ the world,
because he is born from above (John 3:3), and so is made a member of a
kingdom which, like its king, is not of this world (ch. 8:23;
18:36).--=Therefore the world hateth you.= Not merely because the
disciple is chosen by Christ, but because he is chosen out of the
world, and by his life of nonconformity bears a perpetual testimony
against the world. This enmity is illustrated by the case of Daniel
(Dan. 6:1-5), Peter and John (Acts 4:21), and Christ himself (John
11:49, 50). It is aroused whenever Christian principle comes into
collision with worldly interests.--=Be mindful of the word which I
said unto you.= Bear it in mind as a talisman in time of persecution.
See marg. ref. This truth, employed here and in Matt. 10:24 for
encouragement, is assigned in ch. 13:16 as a reason for humility.--=If
they have kept my saying they will keep yours also.= This is not to be
regarded as ironical, as rendered by Grotius, nor is the word _keep_
to be rendered _watch_ with a hostile intent, a forced meaning given
to it by Bengel, nor is the language merely general and hypothetical,
which is apparently Meyer’s interpretation. Some will persecute,
others will accept and carefully keep, the gospel. The disciple must
anticipate both results, persecution and glad reception. So it was in
Paul’s experience (Acts 13:42, 45, 48, 50; 14:4; 17:4, 5, etc.). The
most popular preachers are also the most reviled and persecuted, from
the days of Christ down through those of Luther and Whitefield, to the
present day.--=They will do unto you for my name’s sake.= As the name
of Christ inspires the Christian with peculiar courage and devotion,
so it incites in his enemies peculiar hostility. The fact that this
hostility is directed against Christ, and that in enduring it the
disciples are suffering for Christ and in his stead, gives them
peculiar strength and joy in their sufferings (Acts 5:41; 21:13; Rom.
5:3; 2 Cor. 11:23; 12:10, 11; Phil. 2:17, 18; Gal. 6:14; 1 Pet. 4:12,
13). Thus the declaration here interprets the promise of Matt. 5:11,
12.--=Because they know not him that sent me.= See ver. 23; ch. 8:42.
22 If I[595] had not come and spoken unto them, they had
not had sin: but[596] now they have no cloke for their sin.
[595] ch. 9:41.
[596] James 4:17.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works[597] which none
other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both
seen and hated both me and my Father.
[597] ch. 7:31.
25 But _this cometh to pass_, that the word might be
fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated[598] me
without a cause.
[598] Ps. 35:19; 69:4.
=22-25. If I had not come * * * they had not known sin.= The meaning
is not, They would not have had _the_ sin of hating me without a
cause; there is no definite article attached to the word _sin_; the
declaration is general, as it is rendered by our English version.
Moreover, to say that men would not have been guilty of the sin of
hating Christ if Christ had never come to their knowledge is to utter
the merest truism. This, though it is the common interpretation, and
is adopted, though not defended, by such scholars as Meyer and Alford,
seems to me utterly untenable. Nor is the meaning, They would not have
had so great sin; Christ often uses metaphor, _but he never
exaggerates_. By his death the Lamb of God has taken away, not some
sins from the world, but _the sin of the world_. See ch. 1:29, note.
Hence the only sin for which men are condemned is that of deliberately
rejecting the offer of free forgiveness and a new life through Jesus
Christ (ch. 3:18, 19, notes). Other sins are not reckoned against them
(Acts 17:30; Rom. 3:25). They are judged by Christ, because they are
judged worthy of life if they accept his free offer of it, and
unworthy of life if they put it away when it is offered to them (Acts
13:46). Hence those to whom Christ has been offered are not condemned
because of their past sins, which are freely forgiven; they are
measured by their acceptance or rejection of Him. “No man shall die in
his sins, except him who through unbelief thrusts from him the
forgiveness of sin, which in the name of Jesus is offered to him. This
is the real sin which contains all others. For if the word of Christ
was received every sin would be forgiven and remitted; but since men
will not receive it, this constitutes a sin which is not to be
forgiven.”--(_Luther._)--=But now they have no cloak for their sin.=
No cover or excuse. Ignorance is an excuse; but when the offer of
pardon and a new life is refused, the sin is shown to be deliberately
chosen. Every man naturally seeks an excuse for his sin (Gen. 3:12,
13). Christ takes away every excuse and leaves the sinner, at the
judgment day, to the sentence of condemnation. “I would * * * but ye
would not” (Matt. 23:37).--=He that hateth me hateth my Father also.=
Because Christ is the manifestation of the Father, therefore
anti-Christ is anti-God. See ch. 8:42.--=If I had not done among them
works which none other did.= Not merely _miracles_; the whole
life-work of beneficent activity is that which attested to the Jews
Christ’s character; and the whole work of beneficent activity wrought
by him in the church universal is the ever-living testimony to the
divine nature and authority of Christianity. The evidence of a divine
redemption through Jesus Christ is cumulative; and the sin of hating
Christ, as embodied in Christian principles, truths, and lives, is
consequently continually enhanced.--=They have both seen and hated
both me and my Father.= This was literally true in respect to the
hierarchy at Jerusalem, who even as these words were spoken were
plotting with Judas for the arrest and execution of Christ. They
determined to slay him, because in no other way could they countervail
his wonderful works (ch. 11:47-50).--=They hated me without a
cause.= See marg. ref. The language was employed by the original
author--whether David or not is not quite certain--not with any
distinct understanding of its prophetic significance. It is here
applied by Christ to himself, not by an accommodation, but because all
godly suffering in the O. T. was itself a type of the great sacrifice
for God and man consummated by the cross of Christ, as all suffering
in the Christian church fills up what is lacking of that sacrifice to
perfect the world’s redemption (Col. 1:24). “These (verses 21-25)
are perhaps the most terrible words in the O. T. or the N. T. No
descriptions of divine punishment which are written anywhere can come
the least into comparison with them for awfulness and horror. This
gratuitous hatred, this hatred of Christ by men because they hate God,
this hatred of God because he has manifested and proved himself to be
love, is something which passes all our conception, and yet which
would not mean anything to us if our conscience did not bear witness
that the possibility of it lies in ourselves. Do not let us put away
that thought, brethren, or the one which is closely akin to it, that
such hatred is only possible in a nation which, like the Jewish, is
full of religious knowledge and of religious profession.”--(_Maurice._)
26 But when the Comforter[599] is come, whom I will send
unto you from the Father, _even_ the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he[600] shall testify of me:
[599] ch. 14:17.
[600] 1 John 5:6.
27 And ye[601] also shall bear witness, because ye[602]
have been with me from the beginning.
[601] Luke 24:48; Acts 2:32; 4:20, 33; 2 Pet. 1:16.
[602] 1 John 1:2.
=26, 27. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from
the presence of= (παρὰ) =the Father= (ch. 14:16), =even the Spirit of
truth= (ch. 14:17, note), =which proceedeth from the presence= (παρὰ)
=of the Father=. On the meaning of the particle here rendered _from_,
see ch. 5:34, note. These two clauses are not repetitions; the one
defines the other. The Comforter whom Jesus sent at the day of
Pentecost to the church is that Spirit of truth who ever proceeds from
the Father. Christ attributes all blessed redemptive influences in the
last instance to his Father; as he is himself from the Father, so the
Spirit is from the Father (ch. 7:29; 8:26, 38; 10:18; Gal. 4:6), and
is sometimes called his (Christ’s) Spirit (Rom. 8:9; Gal. 4:6; Phil.
1:19; 1 Pet. 1:11). To trace out from this verse the eternal relations
between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is to import into this
spiritual converse the unspiritual metaphysics of the scholastic
period of theology.--=He shall testify of me= (ch. 16:13-15). =And ye
also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the
beginning= (Luke 1:2; Acts 1:22). A double testimony to the truth of
Christianity, the spiritual and the historical. After Christ’s death
and resurrection the Spirit made clear to the apostles the meaning of
the enigma, interpreted the prophets to them, and opened unto them the
true nature of Christ’s spiritual kingdom, that they might testify
unto others (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 2:9, 10; comp. Matt. 10:20; Mark 13:11).
The apostles also testified to the facts which they had themselves
witnessed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, as evidences
of his Messiahship (Acts 1:22; 3:15). But, secondarily, every
Christian is a witness of Christ by his own life and conversation,
testifying things which in his own experience he has both seen and
heard; and the Spirit of truth bears witness both in him and through
him to the power of God in a devout life (Rom. 8:16; 9:1; 1 Cor.
12:8-11; 1 Pet. 1:11; 1 John 3:24).