John 15–16

15TH CHAPTER

Jesus, the True Vine

¹⸤Then Jesus said,⸥ “I am the true vine, and my Father takes care of the vineyard. ²He removes every one of my branches that doesn’t produce fruit. He also prunes every branch that does produce fruit to make it produce more fruit. 

³“You are already clean^abecause of what I have told you. ⁴Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me. 

⁵“I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who live in me while I live in them will produce a lot of fruit. But you can’t produce anything without me. ⁶Whoever doesn’t live in me is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Branches like this are gathered, thrown into a fire, and burned. ⁷If you live in me and what I say lives in you, then ask for anything you want, and it will be yours. ⁸You give glory to my Father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you are my disciples. 

⁹“I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live in my love. ¹⁰If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my Father’s commandments, and in that way I live in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete. ¹²Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do. ¹³The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you obey my commandments. ¹⁵I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. ¹⁶You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for. ¹⁷Love each other. This is what I’m commanding you to do. 

¹⁸“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you had anything in common with the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But you don’t have anything in common with the world. I chose you from the world, and that’s why the world hates you. ²⁰Remember what I told you: ‘A servant isn’t greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they did what I said, they will also do what you say. ²¹Indeed, they will do all this to you because you are committed to me, since they don’t know the one who sent me. ²²If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³The person who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴If I hadn’t done among them what no one else has done, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵In this way what is written in their Scriptures has come true: ‘They hate me for no reason.’ 

²⁶“The helper whom I will send to you from the Father will come. This helper, the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, will declare the truth about me. ²⁷You will declare the truth, too, because you have been with me from the beginning.” 

16TH CHAPTER

Sadness Will Turn to Joy

¹⸤Jesus continued,⸥ “I have said these things to you so that you won’t lose your faith. ²You will be thrown out of synagogues. Certainly, the time is coming when people who murder you will think that they are serving God. ³They will do these things to you because they haven’t known the Father or me. ⁴But I’ve told you this so that when it happens you’ll remember what I’ve told you. I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you. 

⁵“Now I’m going to the one who sent me. Yet, none of you asks me where I’m going. ⁶But because I’ve told you this, you’re filled with sadness. ⁷However, I am telling you the truth: It’s good for you that I’m going away. If I don’t go away, the helper won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸He will come to convict the world of sin, to show the world what has God’s approval, and to convince the world that God judges it. ⁹He will convict the world of sin, because people don’t believe in me. ¹⁰He will show the world what has God’s approval, because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. ¹¹He will convince the world that God judges it, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 

¹²“I have a lot more to tell you, but that would be too much for you now. ¹³When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come. ¹⁴He will give me glory, because he will tell you what I say. ¹⁵Everything the Father says is also what I say. That is why I said, ‘He will take what I say and tell it to you.’ 

¹⁶“In a little while you won’t see me anymore. Then in a little while you will see me again.” 

¹⁷Some of his disciples said to each other, “What does he mean? He tells us that in a little while we won’t see him. Then he tells us that in a little while we will see him again and that he’s going to the Father.” ¹⁸So they were asking each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.” 

¹⁹Jesus knew they wanted to ask him something. So he said to them, “Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, and in a little while you will see me again’? ²⁰I can guarantee this truth: You will cry because you are sad, but the world will be happy. You will feel pain, but your pain will turn to happiness. ²¹A woman has pain when her time to give birth comes. But after the child is born, she doesn’t remember the pain anymore because she’s happy that a child has been brought into the world. 

²²“Now you’re in a painful situation. But I will see you again. Then you will be happy, and no one will take that happiness away from you. ²³When that day comes, you won’t ask me any more questions. I can guarantee this truth: If you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴So far you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that you can be completely happy. 

²⁵“I have used examples to illustrate these things. The time is coming when I won’t use examples to speak to you. Rather, I will speak to you about the Father in plain words. ²⁶When that day comes, you will ask for what you want in my name. I’m telling you that I won’t have to ask the Father for you. ²⁷The Father loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸I left the Father and came into the world. Again, ⸤as I’ve said,⸥ I’m going to leave the world and go back to the Father.” 

²⁹His disciples said, “Now you’re talking in plain words and not using examples. ³⁰Now we know that you know everything. You don’t need to wait for questions to be asked. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God.” 

³¹Jesus replied to them, “Now you believe. ³²The time is coming, and is already here, when all of you will be scattered. Each of you will go your own way and leave me all alone. Yet, I’m not all alone, because the Father is with me. ³³I’ve told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you’ll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world.”