Lange Commentary - John 15:1

Lange Commentary - John 15:1 - 16:15

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Lange Commentary - John 15:1 - 16:15

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III

GLORIFICATION OF THIS PRESENT WORLD. BROUGHT ABOUT BY MEANS OF JUDGMENT, BY THE CONTINUING OF THE DISCIPLES IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST, AND BY THEIR INFLUENCE UPON THE WORLD, IN ORDER TO WHICH HE WILL SEND THEM HIS SPIRIT. AMID THE BURNING VINEYARD-FIRES IN THE VALLEY OF KIDRON. CHRIST THE VINE. GLORIFICATION OF THE NOBLE PLANT, AND OF HUBANDRY. GLORIFICATION OF FRIENDSHIP AND JOY. THE HOLY EXCOMMUNICATEDNESS (BANISHMENT) OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD. CONFIRMATION OF THEIR SPIRITUAL LIFE IN FACE OF THE HATRED OF THE WORLD. THE HOLY SPIRIT‘S VICTORY IN THEM OVER THE WORLD. DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIANITY THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Joh_15:1–Joh_16:15

(Pericope for Exaudi Sunday Joh_15:26–Joh_16:4; Joh_16:5-15 Pericope for Cantate Sunday)

1. The love of Jesus as the source of love to Him (Joh_15:1-10)

¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ²Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away [ áἴñåé , cutteth off]: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth [ ÷áèáéñåé , cutteth partially, pruneth, cleanseth] it, that it may bring forth [bear] more fruit. ³Now ye are clean through [Ye are clean already because of, by reason of] the word which I have spoken unto you. ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more [so neither] can ye, except ye abide in me. ⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth ⁶[beareth] much fruit; for without [apart from] me ye can do nothing. If a man [any one] abide not in me, he is cast forth as a [the] branch, and is withered; and men [they] gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned [they burn (quickly and readily). ⁷If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall [may] ask what [whatsoever] ye will, and it shall [will] be done unto you. ⁸Herein [Therein] is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be [and ye will become (thus for the first time truly)] my disciples.

⁹As the Father hath loved me, so [thus also] have I loved you: continue [abide] ye in my love. ¹⁰If ye keep my commandments, ye shall [will] abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

2. Joy (Joh_15:11-17)

¹¹These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain [may be] in you, and that your joy might be full [may be made full, filled up]. ¹²This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have [omit have] loved you. ¹³Greater love hath no man [no one] than this, that a man [he] lay down his life for his 14,15 friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever [what] I command you. Henceforth I call you not [No longer do I call you] servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of [which I heard from] my Father I have [omit have] made known unto you. ¹⁶Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you [Ye did not choose me, but I chose you], and ordained [appointed] you, that ye should [may] go and bring forth [bear] fruit, and that your fruit should [may] remain; [in order] that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. ¹⁷These things I command you, [in order] that ye [may] love one another.

3. Steadfastness in view of the hatred of the world (Joh_15:18-25)

¹⁸If the world hate you, ye [omit ye] know that it [hath] hated me before it hated ¹⁹[omit it hated] you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his [its] own [in you]; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have [omit have] persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying [if they kept my word] they will keep yours also. ²¹But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin [would have no sin]; but now they have no cloak [pretext, excuse] for their sin. ²³He that hateth me hateth my Father also. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works which none [no] other man did, they had not had [they would have no] sin: but now have they [they have] ²⁵both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that [But in order that] the word might [may] be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause (Psa_35:19; Psa_69:4).

4. Promise of the Holy Ghost as the strength of martyrdom (Joh_15:26 to Joh_16:6)

²⁶But when the Comforter. [Paraclete] is come, whom I will [shall] send unto you from the Father, even [omit even] the Spirit of truth, which [who] proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify [will bear witness, ìáñôõñÞóåé ] of me: ²⁷And ye also shall bear witness [But ye also bear witness, or, are witnesses, ÷áὶ ýìåῖò äὲ ìáñôõñåῖôå ] Joh_16:1 because [for] ye have been [are] with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should [may] not be offended [fall ²through offence]. They shall [will] put you out of the synagogues [excommunicate you]: yea the time [hour] cometh, that whosoever [when every man that] killeth you will think that he doeth God service [a sacrificial service, or, that he is offering service to God]. ³And these things will they do unto you [omit unto you], because they have not known the Father, nor me [they neither know the Father nor me]. ⁴But these things have I told you [But I have spoken these things unto you], that when the time shall come [when the (their) hour cometh], ye may remember that I told you of them [ye may remember them as I told you, or, ye may remember that I myself told you of them]. And these things I said not unto you [I told you not] at the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I go my way [ ὑðÜãù , see Joh_15:7] to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? ⁶But [Yet] because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.

5. The Holy Ghost as the strength of the victory over the world (Joh_15:7-11)

⁷Nevertheless [But] I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away [depart, ἀðÝëèù ]; for if I go not away [do not depart], the Comforter [the Paraclete] will not come unto you; but if I depart [go, shall have gone, ðïñåõèῶ ], I will send him unto you. ⁸And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment [he will convince and convict the world, or, bring conviction to the world concerning, or, in regard to sin, and to righteousness, and to judgment, ἐëÝãîåé ôὸí êüóìïí ðåñὶ ἁìáñôßáò êáὶ ðåñὶ äéêáéïóýíçò êáὶ ðåñὶ êñßóåùò ]. ⁹Of [In regard to] sin (that it is rooted and essentially consists in the fact), because ¹⁰[that] they believe not on me; Of [In regard to] righteousness (that it becomes manifest in the fact), because [that] I (glorified) go to my [the] Father, and ye see ¹¹me no more (whereby grace and judgment are indicated); Of [In regard to] judgment, because [that] the prince of this world is [hath been] judged (in the work of redemption).

6. Promise of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of the glorification of Christ, and the revelation of the future (Joh_15:12-15.)

^{12, 13}I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. How beit [But] when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth [all the truth, or, the whole truth, åἰò ôὴí ἀëÞèåéáí ðᾶóáí ]: for he shall [will] not speak of [from] himself; but whatsoever he shall hear [he heareth], that shall he speak [he will speak about]: and he will shew you [tell you, proclaim to you] things to ¹⁴come. He shall [will] glorify me: for he shall receive of mine [he will take of what is mine, ἐê ôïῦ ἐìïῦ ëÞìøåôáé ], and shall shew [will tell, proclaim] it unto you. ¹⁵All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I [for this cause I said], that he shall take of mine [he taketh of what is mine, ἐê ôïῦ ἐìïῦ ëáìâἀíåé ], and shall shew [will tell, proclaim] it unto you.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

[The parabolic discourse or allegory of the Vine and the Branches is the second of the two ðáñïéìßáé recorded in the Gospel of John; the other being the parable of the Good Shepherd, John 10. See the remarks p. 317 f. It illustrates, under the figure of the noblest of fruit-bearing plants, the precious truth of the organic life-union of Christ with believers: He is the only source of their spiritual life and fruitfulness; they live in Him and of Him; and apart from Him they must inevitably wither and die, like the branches cut off from the parent stem, although they may retain for a little while a deceitful greenness and appearance of life. The same truth is set forth by Paul under the similitude of the head and the members, Eph_5:30; Col_1:23; Col_2:19; Rom_12:5; 1Co_10:17; 1Co_12:20; 1Co_12:27. In Archbishop Trench’s Studies on the Gospels, pp. 273–286, there is a suggestive exegetical essay on Joh_15:1-6.—P. S.]

Joh_15:1. I am the true vine, etc. [ Ἐãþ åἰìé ἡ ἄìðåëïò ἡ ἀëçèéíÞ , êáὶ ὁ ðáôÞñ ìïõ ὁ ãåùñãüò ἐóôé ].—The new meditation takes for granted a preceding pause; the figure chosen by the Lord presupposes a particular inducement to its selection. Various conjectures as to the inducement:

1. It was presented by the golden vine on the door of the temple (Josephus Ant. XV. 11, 3; De bello Jud. V. 5, 4), viewed during a stay in the temple (Jerome, Rosenmüller), or seen from a distance in the moonlight (Lampe). [This golden vine was one of the chief ornaments of Herod’s temple and no doubt a symbol of the theocracy which is called ‘a noble vine’ (Jer_2:21; comp. Isa_5:1 ff.; Eze_19:10 ff.; Psa_80:8-19); yet Christ would scarcely set Himself over against a dead image of man’s workmanship.—P. S.]

2. The sight of the wine-cup at the Lord’s supper (see Mat_26:28; Grotius, Nösselt, Meyer). [Ewald, Trench. The Communion wine, the ãÝííçìá ôïῦ ἀìðÝëïõ (Mat_26:28), which He had declared to be the symbol of His blood shed for the remission of sins, presented undoubtedly the nearest motive for this discourse on the closest union between Christ and His people, which is embodied in the sacrament of union with Christ and His people. Yet this does not exclude an external occasion such as is suggested by Lange, sub 6.—P. S.]

3. A vine which, from the house, had shot its tendrils into the guest-chamber (Knapp, Tholuck).

4. The view of vineyards reposing outside in the full moon (Storr).

5. Only the mental recollection of the Old Testament figure (Isa_5:1; Jer_2:21; Eze_15:2; Eze_19:10; Psa_80:8; Lücke, Baumg. -Crusius. [Alford who, however, combines with this the second conjecture] considered as relating to Christ and the disciples who were about Him (Hofmann).

6. The walk down to Kedron through the vineyards (Lampe, Lange) [in his Leben Jesu, followed by Godet (II. 406), who supposes that Christ, seeing a vine with branches, stopped on the way, gathered His disciples around Him and spoke this parable.—P. S.]

We, however, in upholding this latter view, proceed from the supposition that there were burning along the sides of the valley of Kedron nocturnal vineyard-fires,—for the burning of the cut-off branches is a principal point of consideration. It was 1. the time of year for the vineyard-fires, 2. for the cleansing of the vine, 3. for the burning of the offal from the Paschal lamb; this last was strictly commanded (Exo_12:10; Num_9:12) and might easily have been performed in connection with the duties appertaining to vine-dressing (see Leben Jesu II. 3, p. 1425). The Easter-fires which the Gallic and British Churches caused to be kindled in the night following Maundy-Thursday, point to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper as obtaining in Asia Minor and, through this, back to the Jewish Paschal-fires.

Jesus’ discourse concerning the vine is neither an allegory nor a parable, but a parabolic discourse, and that a symbolical one (see chap. 10).

The essential Vine, not the “real.” [Comp. on ἀëçèéíüò the first Textual Note.—P. S.] That which the earthly vine is figuratively as a symbol, that which the people of Israel was as a type (Psa_80:8; Jer. ii. 21), Christ is in radical essentiality; He is the trunk-root and stem of the kingdom of love, of its invigorating and inspiriting fruit and effect: festive joy doth the vine represent in an earthly figure, more a child of the heavenly sun than of earthly soil. [The comparison with the O. T. theocracy (defended also by Ebrard and Hengstenberg who find in ἀëçèéíÞ an antithesis to the unfruitful vine of the Jewish theocracy) is not so natural here, since Christ represents Himself, and not His Church, as the true Vine, i.e. the reality of the idea which is figuratively represented in the natural vine.—P.S.]

Ye the branches [ ὑìåῖò ôὰ êëÞìáôá , Joh_15:5.—P. S.] 1. Christ the principle of discipleship, bearing and quickening all through His Spirit; 2. they an organic whole with Him, through the communion of His Spirit.

The husbandman. [ ãåùñãïßò , the owner of the vineyard as well as the laborer, is a more dignified term than ἀìðåëïõñãüò , i.e. the vine dresser or actual cultivator of the vine. King Uzziah is called ãåùñãïßò , 2Ch_26:10, and the leaders of the Jewish theocracy ãåùñãïß , Mat_21:31-41. Trench: “Not that the ãåùñãïßò need be assumed to ‘purge’ or prune only by the hand of others. The labor of the vineyard is exactly of that lighter kind, in which the proprietor might be well pleased himself to take a share.” Wordsworth: “He tills our hearts with the ploughshare of His word, and scatters the seeds of His precepts there, and sends us the dew and rain of the Spirit, that He may reap the fruits of holiness.”—P. S.] God’s rule over the world Isaiah 1. a personal government; 2. a teleological government: establishment, culture, perfection of the kingdom of love; 3. a government exercised upon Christ as the centre of the world and upon His disciples as His organs; a strict and wise government corresponding with the noble nature of the Vine; a government realizing the destiny of the Vine, partly through a cutting off of the useless, partly through a pruning of the serviceable, branches (judgments and purifyings). [Arians used this passage, as implying that the Son was a creature and entirely subordinated to the Father. But Christ calls Himself the true Vine, not in His eternal divine nature, but in His historical mediatorial character and work. Augustine: Quamvis autem Christus vitis non esset, nisi homo esset, tamen istam gratiam palmitibus non præberet, nisi etiam Deus esset.—P. S.]

Joh_15:2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away [ ÉÉᾶí êëῆìá ἐí ἐìïὶ ìὴ öÝñïí êáñðüí , áἳñåé áὐôó ́].—In Me; namely in organic intimacy, ἐí ἐìïß . Antithesis of the non-fruit-bearing and fruit-bearing branches. The circumstance that the fruit-bearing branches are not placed in the fore-ground, is indicative of the occasion which suggested the figure: the view of the vineyard-fires. The ground of unfruitfulness is declared in the following, Joh_15:4. The natural degeneracy of the proud shoots (Luther) which are not governed by the noble impulse of the vine, but are common, useless wood, is made a figure of the moral misconduct of such of Christ’s members as stand in the external connection of discipleship, without, however, remaining internally connected with Him. [The fruits of the Spirit are enumerated Gal_5:22.—P. S.]

Every (branch) that beareth fruit, he pruneth (cleanseth) it [ êáèáßñåé áὐôü ].—Seeming to attack their lives also with the knife, as is indicated by the similarity of sound: áἴñåé , êáèáßñåé . The purgings here mentioned are to be referred to the providences of the Father. Chrysostom calls them ðåéñáóìïß ; Augustine: castigationes dei (“sunt emendatoriæ, non interfectoriæ”). [Bengel: afflictiointerna et externa; Trench and others refer the purging to the whole process of sanctification which includes temptations and afflictions.—P. S.] The purging itself is not, indeed, accomplished without the co-operation of the internal judgment of the Spirit (Gal_2:19); here, however, Christ has in view those divine judgments, such as overtook the disciples in the Passion-night.—That it may bear more fruit [ ἳíá êáñðï ͂ í ðëåßïíá öÝñῃ ].—The relation between Christ and His disciples is here indicated in such general terms as to render it impossible for the branches to denote only the Apostles, or the fruits official fruits merely. The general fruits of spiritual fellowship with Christ, particularly as fruits of love, constitute the meaning. Such fruits were, doubtless, to make their first appearance as results of the ministry of the Apostles, there being, indeed no true official fruits independent of the fruits of their labors.

Joh_15:3. Ye are clean already [ Ἤäç ὑìåῖò êáèáñïß ἐóôå , clean by virtue of your connection with the root and stem, and yet in need of being cleansed as branches, Joh_15:2 ( êáèáßñåé ); mundi atque mundandi…quis enim in hac vita sic mundus, ut non sit magis magisque mundandus? (Augustine). Clean objectively, as being justified in Christ, in need of cleansing subjectively, as to sanctifieation.—P. S.]—See Joh_13:10. It is a question whether the idea presented is that of men already purified in antithesis to those whose purification is yet future (Meyer), or that of an internal principial purification, which they already possess, in antithesis to the external purification which they still lack and must now receive (Leben Jesu, Tholuck). We regard the latter antithesis as the one intended and agreeing with the context.—The noble vine-branch is clean in respect of its inward vitality, but, nevertheless, it must be purged from wild outgrowths, shoots and appendicles. The purifying word of Jesus that made the disciples clean from within (see Joh_6:57), must be supplemented from without by the Father’s school of suffering; the latter, however, was not to give them the principle of purity, but to strengthen it and free it from the danger of degeneration. In this school of suffering their purification must be rendered complete through their abiding in Him.

[By reason of the word which I have spoken to you, äéὰ ôὸí ëüãïí — äéὰ indicates the ground or reason, as Joh_6:57. The living word of Christ received by faith into the heart and dwelling there (comp. Joh_15:7, ôᾶ ῥÞìáôÜ ìïõ ἐí ὑìῖí ìåßíïíôá ) is the principle of regeneration and purification (Joh_17:17; Jam_1:18; 1Pe_1:23; Eph_5:26). It is not said by reason of baptism; the apostles were not baptized (except with the preparatory baptism of John), and regeneration is possible still without water baptism, which receives its force and efficacy only from the word and power of the Spirit present with it and working through it. Augustine who otherwise, as most of the fathers, has an exaggerated view of the efficacy and necessity of water baptism, remarks: “Why did Ho not say: ‘Ye are clean by baptism?’ Because it is the word which cleanses in the water. Take away the word, and what is the water? Add the word to the element, and it becomes a sacrament. Whence is this power of the water that it touches the body and the heart is cleansed? Whence, but because the word operates not merely in being spoken, but in being believed.”—P. S.]

Joh_15:4. Abide in Me and I in you [ Ìåßíáôå ἐí ἐìïß , êἀãὼ ἐí ὑìῖí ].—Not “on Me” (Meyer) but “in Me,” i e. in the true internal vital connection of spiritual communion with Christ. The abiding in Him is the condition whereon depends His ability to abide in them. The interpretation: “Take heed that I may abide in you” (Grotius), likewise converts the promise into a condition, and that the one already declared: “Abide in Me.” [Meyer supplies to êἀãὼ å ̇ í ὑìῖí , with Lange, ìåíῶ , I shall abide; but Bengel, Godet, Trench supply, with Grotius, ìåßíù , I abide. Bengel: Facite ut maneatis in me, et ut ego maneam in vobis. Trench: “Take heed that ye abide in Me, and that I abide in you.” This is supported by Joh_15:7 ( ìåßíῃ ), but it is grammatically less natural than the usual interpretation, which makes the second clause a promise.—P. S.]

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself [ êáèὼò ôὸ êëῆìá ïὐ äýíáôáé êáñðὸí öÝñåéí ἀö ’ ἑáõôïῦ ].—The thing treated of here is, manifestly, the abiding of the branch as a noble branch in the vine, not merely as a shoot on the vine. This is the condition of fruit-bearing. The same law applies to the disciples: so neither can ye [ ïὔôùò ïὐäὲ ὑìåῖò , ἐὰí ìὴ ἐí ἐìïὶ ìÝíçôå ].—It is no question here of the natural inability of the old man (Augustine), but of the simple organic dependence of the believer on Christ; though with this dependence, the effect of such inability, or the constant danger of turning into a proud shoot again, is taken for granted also. The sort of synergism expressed under the supposition of abiding in Christ is explained by the figure itself; nothing without Him, everything in connection with Him. This is fulfilled, in the case of the branch, in organic vitality; in the case of the disciples, in free personality.

Joh_15:5. I am the Vine, ye are the branches [ Ἐãþ åἰìé ἡ ἄìðåëïò ôὰ êëÞìáôá ].—The positive antithesis to the negative declaration Joh_15:4. At the same time, however, an emphasizing of the organic contrast: I the Vine=principle; ye the branches=organs entirely conditional upon the Vine and dependent upon it.—And I in him, abide, namely.—For apart from Me.—Without fellowship with Me [ ÷ùñὶò ἐìïῦ = ÷ùñéóèÝíôåò ἀð ’ ἐìïῦ , separate from Me, which is more than without Me.—P. S.]—Ye can do nothing [ ïὐ äýíáóèå ðïéåῖí ïὐäÝí ].—Properly, ye cannot be productive and creative as vine-branches. Hence, Christ is speaking of specifically Christian labors and achievements. Christian vital activity is entirely dependent upon vital communion with Christ. Even such noble things as precede conversion are, so far as they are noble, done in the truth of the Logos (Olshausen); but it is only through communion with the Christ of history that a man attains to the performance of Christian acts, new works, deeds of faith, God-like deeds,—or, in fine, that a man brings forth fruit. Luther: “He doth not here speak of a natural or worldly life and conduct, but of fruits of the Gospel.”

[The passage plainly asserts the total spiritual inability and unfruitfulness of man without vital connection with Christ, and so far is a strong proof-text for Augustinian and against Pelagian views. Augustine says that Christ spoke thus “ut respondent futuro Pelagio.” Calvin: “Non tantum co-operantis suæ gratiæ auxilium hic commendat, sed nos penitus privat omni virtute nisi quam suppeditat ipse nobis.” Yet the passage has frequently been applied without proper discrimination. Christ speaks here not of natural morality and civil righteousness, which has nothing to do with man’s salvation, but of spiritual righteousness and fruits of the gospel; nor does He speak of unconverted men, but of Christians who even after their conversion are in constant need of His grace for the performance of any Christian work. Christ is the beginning, middle and end of spiritual life; we can do nothing without Him, but much, yea, every thing with Him. Trench says: “It is a poor and inadequate interpretation of the words ‘Without Me’ to make them to mean, ‘Ye can do nothing until ye are in Me and have My grace.’ It is rather, ‘After ye are in Me, ye can even then accomplish nothing except ye draw life and strength from Me. . . . From first to last it is I that must work in and through you.’ We have a warning here to the regenerate man that he never seek to do aught of himself; not a declaration that the unregenerate is unable to do aught.”—P. S.]

Joh_15:6. If any one abide not in Me [ ἐὰí ìÞ ôéò ìÝíῃ ἐí ἐìïß ].—Properly, shall not have abode.—He is cast forth [ ἐâëÞèç ἔîù ὡò ôὸ êëῆìá êáὶ ἐîáñÜíèç , êáὶ óõíÜãïõóéí áὐôὰ êáὶ åἰò ôὸ ðῦñ âÜëëïõóéí , êáὶ êáßåôáé ].—I.e. already cast forth (or cast out, ἔîù , viz. from the vineyard, i.e. the true Church), like the branch [ ôὸ êëç ̇ ìá , sc. ôὸ ἄ÷ñçóôïí (Euthym.), the useless branch.—P. S.] The article, as well as what follows, very distinctly intimates that Jesus and His disciples are viewing the burning up of withered branches. He is cast forth and is withered, and is now, in company with other similar branches, gathered for the fire. Interpretations of the Aorists [ ἐâëÞèç and ÝîáñÜíèç ]:

1. As is the custom (Grotius);

2. They have a Future signification (Kuinoel, Baumg.-Crusius);

3. They are expressive of what is immediately to happen: very soon, etc. (Beza, Lücke, etc.);

4. The events described are things past as viewed in presence of the Last Day. The fire, therefore, meaning the fire of the final judgment (Meyer).

But we should not permit our interpretation to be biased by this allusion t ï the last fiery judgment, since fiery judgments manifold in their nature precede that final one, and every trial is directly converted into a fiery judgment to him who has not stoo d the test, Mal_3:3; Mat_3:12. Therefore the Aorists are indicative of time past, because the things which they denote are viewed from the stand-point of judgments already present in time. When we see branches gathered together and blazing up, we know that these were withered because they were cut off, and they were cut off because they had not abode in the vine. Jesus is induced to select this tense: 1. by the sight of the burning branches; 2. by proximate reference to Judas who but now is being gathered up together with the withered branches of the Sanhedrin. Hence the fire is, primarily, only a prelude to the fire of Gehenna, though, at the same time, it points towards it; and the gatherers are all divinely ordained instruments of judgment, and not merely the angels at the end of the world, Mat_13:41 (Mat_24:31; Rev. 19:24); see Psa_104:4. Similarly Tholuck in reference to Heb_6:8.

And they burn [ êáὶ êáßåôáé , sc. ôὰ êëÞìáôá ].—Emphatic. Like dry brush they flame up quickly and are speedily consumed. Indicative of the conspicuous, rapid and shocking ruin of apostates, or, in general, of dead members of Christ.

[They burn, is more graphic and terrible than the E. V., they are burned; comp. the Pass. part. êáéüìåíïò , burning, flaming, and Eze_15:5, where it is said of the wood of the vine-tree:

‘Lo, to the fire it hath been given for fuel,

Its two ends have the fire eaten,

And its midst has been scorched!’

Bengel: “Magna vi positum eximia cum majestate.” Trench: “All which is here expressed or implied, of ‘the fire’ (Mat_3:10), ‘the flame’ (Luk_16:24), ‘the flaming fire’ (2Th_1:8), ‘the furnace of fire’ (Mat_13:42; Mat_13:50), ‘the gehenna of fire’ (Mat_5:22; Mar_9:43), ‘the lake of fire’ (Rev_20:15; Rev_21:8), ‘the everlasting fire’ (Mat_25:41; Judges 7), with all the secrets of anguish which words like these, if there be any truth in words, must involve, demands rather to be trembled at than needs to be expounded.”—P. S.]

Joh_15:7. If ye abide in Me, etc. [ Ἐὰí ìåßíçôå ἐí ἐìïὶ êáὶ ôὰ ῥÞìáôÜ ìïõ ἐí ὑìῖí ìåßíç , ὅ ἐὰí èÝëçôå áἰôÞóáóèå (imperative, which some MSS. have changed into the future tense êáὶ ãåíÞóåôáé ὑìῖí ]. The shocking judgment of the withered branches inspires them with the ardent wish that they may be preserved from a like catastrophe. The Lord’s answer anticipates the expression of this wish. Ye shall not only be preserved, but the most glorious gain shall accrue to you; but ye must pray a right. Â ut in order to pray aright, ye must retain my words within you,—and for this end, again, ye must steadfastly continue in the true fellowship of love with Me, 1Jn_5:14 .— What ye will ( ὅ ἐὰí èÝëçôå , emphatically put first).—I.e. not in the sense of arbitrary choice, but in the way of love and of Christ’s word [or “in the way of God’s will and as tending to ðïëὺí êáñðὸí öÝñåéí ” (Alford) ]. In this direction (in His name) no request which they may venture, can be too bold. How far did their deliverance and exaltation by means of the night of the Passion exceed all that they could ask or understand! [They who abide in Christ, can only pray in conformity or at least in entire submission to His will, and for things which tend to His glory and the salvation of souls. Such prayers must be heard, as to their true spiritual intent, although very often they are heard at a time and in a manner which differs widely from our short-sighted vision. God sometimes hears the substance of our prayers best by denying their form. On prayer in Christ’s name, see notes on Joh_14:13 f.—P. S.]

Joh_15:8. Therein is My Father glorified [ Ἐí ôïýôῳ ἐäïîÜóèç ὁ ðáôÞñ ìïõ ).—We agree with Meyer in considering ἐí ôïýôῳ as relating not to the ἴíá following it (Lücke), but to the verse preceding it: “by this granting of prayer, conceded to the fulfilling of the condition,—the ìÝíåéí ἐí ἐìïß .” The first object to be accomplished by the granting of the disciples’ prayers is the glorification of the Father, in pursuance of the glorification of the Son,—the latter being accomplished subsequently to the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples. This, the Father’s glorification, should, however, react upon the disciples, causing them to bear much fruit and to become, more thoroughly than ever, the disciples of Jesus. The bearing of much fruit was not to be the means of their entering into new discipleship with Him; the two things were to appear simultaneously.—So shall ye grow up to be true disciples to Me.—[ êáὶ ãåíÞóåóèå (Codd. Sin. and A., text. rec., Tischend. 8, Mey., etc.), or ãÝíçóèå (B. D., etc., Lachm., Treg., Alf., Westcott and Hort) ἐìïὶ ìáèçôáß .—P. S.]. It is most fitting to interpret ãåíÞóåóèå as a consecutive promise, not as a further demand; hence it is independent of ἴíá . [This is preferable. ÔåòÞóåóèå expresses the results of ðïëýí êáñðὸí ( öÝñåéí ) with the additional idea of a gradual process of growth. Discipleship of Christ is the beginning and the end, or, as Bengel has it, the foundation and top (fundamentum et fastigium), of Christianity. Ìáèçôáß here is, of course, pregnant, such as are worthy of Me and worthy of the name of Christians which means followers or imitators of Christ.—P. S.]

Joh_15:9. As My Father hath loved Me. [K áèὼò ἠãÜðçóÝí ìå ὁ ðáôÞñ , êἀãὼ õìᾶò ἡãÜðçóá ].—The apodosis commences, not at ìåßíáôå (Grotius) but at êἀôþ , as is demonstrated by the distinction Joh_15:10. Aside from this fact, the construction of Grotius would certainly afford a good sense. According as My Father hath loved Me, i.e. in accordance with the mystery of the Trinity,—and as I have loved you, i.e. in accordance with the mystery of redemption. Continue in My love [ ìåßíáôå ἐí ôῇ ἀãÜðῃ ôῇ ἐìῆ ]. Thus the whole weight would rest in the modification of the continuing. The continuing, however, has already been the subject of discourse; this continuing in Christ is modified here as a continuing in His love. It is a question whether the Aorists are employed because Jesus is standing upon the boundary of His life and looking back (Meyer), or whether the meaning of the expression is not: recognized in love, conceived a love for, as, similarly, the term ðåðἰóôåõêá means: I have become a believer. We take the latter for granted; in this view of the case, the Aorists mark the love of God and Jesus as an accomplished fact, not simply from the boundary of Jesus’ life, but from the whole future of the disciples. In the glorification of Jesus they should contemplate the fact of the Father’s love to the Son; also, however, the measure of the Son’s love to them—a love which was analogously to glorify them. They must continue, must take root in the contemplation of this love; their regeneration, their fruits, their discipleship, shall all spring from their thus abiding (i.e. it shall be the source of their justification). The ἀãÜðç ἡ ἐìÞ not love to Jesus (Grotius and others), though grammatically the expression might have this signification, but the love of Jesus to them, as is proved by the foregoing (Joh_15:11 ἡ ÷áñὰ ἡ ἐìÞ ). Love to Jesus is here, as throughout the section, expressed by the continuing in Him.

Joh_15:10. If ye keep My commandments.—The commandments of Jesus are, in this place as elsewhere, the provisions that He has made for the spiritual regulation of men’s lives: precepts, promises, instructions, consolations and warnings in a mass. The warmth and sincerity of vital communion is conditioned by fidelity in “will-oneness” (Tholuck). But, again, the singleness of our view of the life of Christ is conditioned by our faithful perception of His word in detail. True unity is conditioned by the plenitude of manifoldness, true synthesis by analysis, fidelity in great things by fidelity in small things.—Even as I have kept My Father’s commandments.—The obedience of Jesus even to the death upon the cross; the conservation of the love the Father bore His human form and conduct.

Joh_15:11. These things have I spoken unto you.—Now follows the section bearing upon the joy that the new life in brotherly love and friendship with Jesus brings. The discourse upon the love of Christ was to be the means of developing joy within them. Thus it is written of the fruit of the Spirit, Gal_5:22 : love, joy.—That My joy might be in you [ ἵíá ἡ ÷áñὰ ἡ ἐìὴ ἐí ὑìῖí ᾖ . Observe the collocation of ἡ ἐìÞ and ἐí ὑìῖí ].—Interpretations:

1. My joy in you [mea de vobis lætitia] ( ÷áßñåéí ἐí ; Augustine, Lampe: the joy inspired by His viewing their life as pictured in predestination,—which joy was always perfect). That I may rejoice in you,—that ye may be a cause and subject for my joy (Luthardt).

2. Your joy over Me [gaudium vestrum de me] (Euth. Zigab., Grotius, Piscator; over Christ’s merit).

3. That the joyfulness occasioned by Me may be in you (Calvin, De Wette).

4. The joy experienced by Christ Himself, the joy of His own Spirit (Cyril, Lücke, Meyer [Alford]). Doubtless this is the meaning of the passage. The holy joyfulness of Christ, the untrammeled, glad upsoaring of His soul in the midst of all His tribulations shall, through the Spirit, by means of the communication and awakening of love, devolve upon the disciples themselves (see 1Jn_3:21; 1Jn_4:17; Gosp. Joh_16:22; Php_2:17; Php_4:4 and many passages in the epistles of St. Paul). It is impossible to maintain the distinction of a joy that Christ tastes in Himself (Chrysostom, Bengel), and of one which He occasions (Calvin, Hofmann, Tholuck); for Christ communicates to, and occasions in, His people precisely that which He possesses in Himself. That, moreover, Christ’s joy itself was first made humanly complete in His exaltation and communication of salvation to the world, is certainly a fact to be insisted upon, in accordance with Chrysostom and Bengel, although they specialize individual considerations too much. From the following it also results that Christ’s joy in the redeemed is likewise particularly treated of. “And good pleasure in men.”—In you, i.e. as a new and resident vital principle. They have not this perfect joyfulness yet; it must come to them from Christ; and for this reason also the reading ῇ is better than [ ìÝéíç .—And your joy may be made perfect [ êáὶ ἡ ÷áñὰ ὑìῶí ðëçñùèῇ ].—Man’s natural impulse to joy has, even in the disciples, already developed into the beginnings of a sacred joy; these beginnings are, however, as yet imperfect; through Christ’s joy, their joy shall be made complete [“uplifted and ennobled even to fulness—to the extreme of their capability and satisfaction” (Alford)]. And, again, the joy shall be theirs, existing under a peculiar phase in each one. For the dominion of Christ’s personality in the hearts of His people does not destroy, but quicken, develop and glorify their own personality, 1Jn_1:4; 2Jn_1:12.

Joh_15:12. This is My commandment, That ye love one another.—Christ does not here pass to another exhortation (Tholuck, Meyer); He does but declare the vital law whose aim is the perfection of their joy. It must be grounded on His love, developed in mutual brotherly love. As the 14th chapter is an exposition of the words Joh_13:33 : “whither I go, ye cannot come,”—i.e. an exposition of the heaven beyond this present world, so here the exposition of the saying Joh_13:34 appears as the full explanation of the heaven upon earth treated of in John 15 : that earthly heaven, with its heavenly joy, is to be revealed in mutual brotherly love. This ἐíôïëÞ is the sum of the ἐíôïëáß Joh_15:10; comp. Rom_13:8.—As I have loved you.— É . e. first qualitatively: as personalities destined for salvation they must love one another sub specie, æterni; for only such loving constitutes true love; thus doing, however, they will always be quantitatively approaching the true sacrificial joyfulness of His love.

Joh_15:13. Greater love hath no man than this, etc. [ Ìåßæïíá ôáýôçò ἀãÜðçí ïὐäåὶò ἔ÷ ̇ åé , ἵíá ôéò ôὴí øõ÷ὴí áὐôïῦ èῇ ὑðὲñ ôῶí ößëùí áõ ̇ ôïῦ ],—Difficulty is here occasioned by the ἵíá , and the different construction of this leads to a different interpretation of the verse. The ordinary explanation considers it an exposition of ôáýôçò . This makes the whole verse a generalized description of the love of Christ. “A greater love than I bear to you hath no man, namely, that he layeth down his life for his friends.” Meyer, on the other hand, maintains that ἵíá is expressive of purpose even in this place; he interprets thus: Greater love than My love to you. hath no man: the divine purpose ( ἴíá ) which My love is destined to accomplish, is, that a man shall surrender his life for his friends. Opposed to this view is, however, the grammatical objection that ἴíá would then in reality be the beginning of a new sentence; another objection is the logical one that the love of Christ would then be cited merely as an example. Moreover, in the subsequent verse the Lord calls the disciples His friends, after having given utterance to the idea of a man’s dying for his friends. Hence we must doubtless assume, with De Wette, that ἀãÜðç , in conjunction with its meaning of love, contains the idea of an impulse of the will, a law; and in like manner we must accept the supposition of Lücke, that the case of a sacrificing of life is put to express the ideal of love. The proper meaning of the saying is this: greater love hath no man than that which goes to the point of causing him to lay down his life for his friends. It is a picture of the love of Christ—generalized, however, because this love, after the pattern of Christ, should be to His people a law of their lives, and because foretokens of this love may make their appearance in the realm of the noble, even amongst the unchristianized of mankind.

Yet another interpretation were this: a love, great like this, hath no man beside,—in order that One there might be to give proof of such by laying down His life, etc. The dearth of love in all others renders the great love-sacrifice of the One necessary. Still, it is the intention of Christ to represent His self-sacrificing love as a pattern for the disciples, and therefore the usual interpretation seems advisable.

The passage Rom_5:6 is apparently acquainted with a still higher degree of love. But dying for men who have been sinners and enemies is a dying for men who shall be friends; Christ dies for sinners who are to be friends; or, again, He dies in a special sense for sinners who have already become friends, in a general sense for friends who are still sinners. Be it observed, moreover, that He is not delineating His death under its unique form of an expiatory death, but under its representative form as a death of self-sacrificing friendly love.

Joh_15:14. Ye are My friends [ ὐ ìåῖò ößëïé ìïõ ἐóôÝ , ἐὰí ðïéῆôå ἅ ἐãὼ ἐíôÝëëïìáé ὑìῖí ],—Christ, with these words, applies the general proposition of the preceding verse to His relation to the disciples. I look upon you as friends for whom I die; but ye too must prove yourselves My friends by doing after My commandment, i.e. loving one another according to the degree set forth by My sacrificial love, in so far as that is designed as a pattern for you. And hence the idea of ößëïé is not merely that of “passive recipients of love”—and indeed the word must always, from the nature of the case, mean something more than that.

Joh_15:15. Now no more—servants.—Neither did He officially call them servants before, but they were such in accordance with the conception of Rabbinical discipleship, and but a short time previous to this He had expressly brought out this characteristic of their relation. This is now at an end; but their emancipation and conversion into freedmen does not estrange them from Him; on the contrary, it elevates them into the category of friends. As, however, the idea of disciple is connected with that of servant, so the condition of friends is implicative of that of apostles. What Christ understands by the term friends, He explains by the antithesis of servants. A distinction must undoubtedly be made between the stricter and the broader sense of friend as well as of servant. Friends though they were before (Luk_12:4; Joh_11:11), from this time forth they become such in a higher sense; and though now ceasing to be His servants in a legal sense, yet, in the sense of free obedience, they do now become servants of His more truly than ever (Joh_15:20; Act_4:29; Rom_1:1, etc.); just as the Son of God was, as such, also the Servant of God êáô ’ ἐîï÷ã ́ í . In what respect, then, do they cease to be His servants in the former sense?

The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, etc.—The servant executes the individual orders of his master but is not privy to the whole idea which informs his government; moreover he executes the individual order simply as under authority, without being in full unison with it, because it is not instilled into him as an idea and a motive,—and in respect of this fact, it is his master that does such and such things through him; still less does he understand what his master does personally, or through the medium of other servants. He, with his unfree individual performances, does not understand the free doings of his lord, Rom_7:15. The friend, on the other hand, is the confidant of the thought of his friend and exerts himself in harmony with him. And so the exaltation of the disciples from Christ’s service to friendship is accomplished by His confiding to them the fundamental idea of His life, His sacrificial death of love in accordance with the loving counsel of God; it was by this confidence that He sought to arouse them to a loving activity that should rejoice in sacrifice. They are initiated into His foundation of the personal kingdom of love and consecrated to assist in the extension of the same.—And in this respect He has made known to them all ( ðÜíôá ) that He has heard from the Father,—not extensively (see Joh_16:12), but intensively; in the Father’s counsel of love all lies enfolded. Lücke makes this distinction: All that I have heard that was meant to be communicated to you; Meyer distinguishes the will of salvation and the further instructions connected with it. The distinction between a principle and its development is also intimated, Eph_1:17 ff. Be it observed that also in Luk_12:4 as well as in Joh_11:11, the name of friend is placed in connection with joyfulness in death. Friendship with Christ is co-partnery in His loving, self-sacrificing dying-courage in the strength of the thought of self-sacrificing love.

Joh_15:16. Ye did not choose Me, etc.[ Ïὐ÷ ὑìåῖò ìå ἐîåëÝîáóèå , ἀëë ’