66 lines
9.2 KiB
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66 lines
9.2 KiB
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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Title = 'The Gospel According to John';
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<p id="Chapter15" align="center">Commentary by DAVID BROWN<br>CHAPTER 15
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<p id="Joh15_1"><a onclick="return mV('Jhn',15,'1-27');">Jhn 15:1-27</a>. DISCOURSE AT THE SUPPER TABLE CONTINUED.
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<p><b>1-8.</b> <i>The spiritual oneness of Christ and His people, and His relation to them as the Source of all their spiritual life and fruitfulness,</i> are here beautifully set forth by a figure familiar to Jewish ears (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',5,1);">Isa 5:1</a>, etc.).
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<br><br><b>I am the true vine</b>—of whom the vine of <i>nature</i> is but a shadow.
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<br><br><b>my Father is the husbandman</b>—the great Proprietor of the vineyard, the Lord of the spiritual kingdom. (It is surely unnecessary to point out the claim to <i>supreme divinity</i> involved in this).
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<p id="Joh15_2"><b>2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit...every branch that beareth fruit</b>—As in a fruit tree, some branches may be <i>fruitful,</i> others quite <i>barren,</i> according as there is a <i>vital connection</i> between the branch and the stock, or <i>no vital connection;</i> so the disciples of Christ may be spiritually fruitful or the reverse, according as they are <i>vitally</i> and <i>spiritually connected</i> with Christ, or but <i>externally</i> and <i>mechanically attached</i> to Him. The fruitless He "taketh away" (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn015.html#Joh15_6">Joh 15:6</a>); the fruitful He "purgeth" (cleanseth, pruneth)—<i>stripping it,</i> as the husbandman does, <i>of what is rank</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Mar',4,19);">Mar 4:19</a>), "that it may bring forth more fruit"; a process often painful, but no less needful and beneficial than in the natural husbandry.
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<p id="Joh15_3"><b>3. Now</b>—rather, "Already."
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<br><br><b>ye are clean through</b>—by reason of.
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<br><br><b>the word I have spoken to you</b>—already in a purified, fruitful condition, in consequence of the long action upon them of that searching "word" which was "as a refiner's fire" (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,2,3);">Mal 3:2-3</a>).
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<p id="Joh15_4"><b>4. Abide in me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine,</b> etc.—As all spiritual fruitfulness had been ascribed to the mutual <i>inhabitation,</i> and living, active <i>interpenetration</i> (so to speak) of Christ and His disciples, so here the keeping up of this vital connection is made essential to continued fruitfulness.
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<p id="Joh15_5"><b>5. without me</b>—apart, or vitally disconnected from Me.
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<br><br><b>ye can do nothing</b>—spiritually, acceptably.
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<p id="Joh15_6"><b>6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch ...withered...cast into the fire...burned</b>—The one proper use of the vine is to <i>bear fruit;</i> failing this, it is good for one other thing—<i>fuel.</i> (See <a onclick="return mV('Eze',15,'1-5');">Eze 15:1-5</a>). How awfully striking the figure, in this view of it!
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<p id="Joh15_7"><b>7. If ye abide in me, and my words...in you</b>—Mark the change from the inhabitation of <i>Himself</i> to that of His <i>words,</i> paving the way for the subsequent exhortations (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',15,9,10);">Jhn 15:9-10</a>).
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<br><br><b>ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you</b>—because this indwelling of His words in them would secure the harmony of their askings with the divine will.
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<p id="Joh15_8"><b>8. glorified that ye bear much fruit</b>—not only from His delight in it for its own sake, but as from "the juices of the Living Vine."
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<br><br><b>so shall ye be my disciples</b>—<i>evidence</i> your discipleship.
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<p id="Joh15_9"><b>9-11. continue ye in my love</b>—not, "Continue to love Me," but, "Continue in the possession and enjoyment of My love to you"; as is evident from the next words.
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<p id="Joh15_10"><b>10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love</b>—the obedient spirit of true discipleship cherishing and attracting the continuance and increase of Christ's love; and this, He adds, was the secret even of His own abiding in His Father's love!
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<p id="Joh15_12"><b>12-16. That ye love one another,</b> etc.—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn013.html#Joh13_34">Joh 13:34</a>, JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn013.html#Joh13_35">Joh 13:35</a>).
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<p id="Joh15_13"><b>13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends</b>—The emphasis lies not on "friends," but on "<i>laying down his life</i>" for them; that is, "One can show no greater regard for those dear to him than to give his life for them, and this is the love ye shall find in Me."
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<p id="Joh15_14"><b>14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you</b>—hold yourselves in absolute subjection to Me.
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<p id="Joh15_15"><b>15. Henceforth I call you not servants</b>—that is, <i>in the sense explained</i> in the next words; for servants He still calls them (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',15,20);">Jhn 15:20</a>), and they delight to call themselves so, in the sense of being "under law to Christ" (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',9,20);">1Cr 9:20</a>).
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<br><br><b>the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth</b>—knows nothing of his master's <i>plans</i> and <i>reasons,</i> but simply receives and executes his orders.
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<br><br><b>but...friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you</b>—admitted you to free, unrestrained fellowship, keeping back nothing from you which I have received to communicate. (Compare <a onclick="return mV('Gen',18,17);">Gen 18:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',25,14);">Psa 25:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',50,4);">Isa 50:4</a>).
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<p id="Joh15_16"><b>16. Ye have not chosen me, but I...you</b>—a wholesale memento after the lofty things He had just said about their mutual indwelling, and the unreservedness of the friendship they had been admitted to.
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<br><br><b>ordained</b>—appointed.
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<br><br><b>you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit</b>—that is, give yourselves to it.
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<br><br><b>and that your fruit should remain</b>—showing itself to be an imperishable and ever growing principle. (Compare <a onclick="return mV('Pro',4,18);">Pro 4:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Jo',1,8);">2Jo 1:8</a>).
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<br><br><b>that whatsoever ye shall ask,</b> etc.—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn015.html#Joh15_7">Joh 15:7</a>).
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<p id="Joh15_17"><b>17-21.</b> The substance of these important verses has occurred more than once before. (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mat/Mat010.html#Mt10_34">Mat 10:34-36</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',12,'49-53');">Luk 12:49-53</a>, etc.).
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<p id="Joh15_22"><b>22-25.</b> (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn009.html#Joh9_39">Joh 9:39-41</a>).
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<br><br><b>If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin</b>—<i>comparatively</i> none; all other sins being light compared with the rejection of the Son of God.
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<br><br><b>now they have no cloak for their sin</b>—rather, "pretext."
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<p id="Joh15_24"><b>24. If I had not done...the works which none other ...did</b>—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn012.html#Joh12_37">Joh 12:37</a>).
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<p id="Joh15_25"><b>25. that the word might be fulfilled...They hated me without a cause</b>—quoted from the Messianic <a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,4);">Psa 69:4</a>, applied also in the same sense in <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',2,17);">Jhn 2:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Act',1,20);">Act 1:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,9,10);">Rom 11:9-10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',15,3);">15:3</a>.
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<p id="Joh15_26"><b>26, 27.</b> (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn014.html#Joh14_15">Joh 14:15</a>; JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn014.html#Joh14_17">Joh 14:17</a>).
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<p id="Joh15_27"><b>27. ye also shall bear witness</b>—rather, "are witnesses"; with reference indeed to their <i>future</i> witness-bearing, but putting the emphasis upon their <i>present</i> ample opportunities for acquiring their qualifications for that great office, inasmuch as they had been "with Him from the beginning." (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Luk/Luk001.html#Lu1_2">Luk 1:2</a>).
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