John 15–16

The Vine and the Branches

15“I am ^ythe true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. ²Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, ^zand He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. ³You are already ^•clean ^abecause of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. ^b

⁵“I am the vine; ^cyou are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, ^dbecause you can do nothing without Me. ⁶If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside ^elike a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, ^fand they are burned. ^g7If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. ^h8My Father is glorified ⁱby this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be ^jMy disciples.

Christlike Love

⁹“As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love. ^k10If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. ^l

¹¹“I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. ^m12This is My command: Love one another as I have loved ⁿyou. ¹³No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life ^ofor his friends. ¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you ^•slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master ^pqis doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father. ¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you. ^rI appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask ^sthe Father in My name, ^tHe will give you. ^u17This is what I command you: Love one another.

Persecutions Predicted

¹⁸“If the ^•world hates ^vyou, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen ^wyou out of it, the world hates you. ²⁰Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ ^xIf they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, ^ythey will also keep yours. ²¹But they will do all these things to you on account of My name, ^zbecause they don’t know ^athe One who sent Me. ²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. ^bcNow they have no excuse for their sin. ²³The one who hates Me also hates My Father. ^d24If I had not done the works ^eamong them that no one else has done, ^fthey would not have sin. ^gNow they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. ²⁵But this happened so that the statement written in their scripture might be fulfilled: ^hThey hated Me for no reason. ^ij

Coming Testimony and Rejection

²⁶“When the ^•Counselor ^kcomes, the One I will send to you from the Father ^l—the Spirit of truth ^mwho proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me. ²⁷You also will testify, ⁿbecause you have been with Me from the beginning.

16“I have told you these things to keep you from ^•stumbling. ²They will ban you from the ^•synagogues. ^oIn fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service ^pto God. ³They will do these things because they haven’t known ^qthe Father or Me. ⁴But I have told you these things so that when their time ^rcomes you may remember ^sI told them to you. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

The Counselor’s Ministry

⁵“But now I am going away ^tto Him who sent Me, and not one of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ^u6Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. ^vIt is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the ^•Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you. ^w8When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: ⁹About sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father ^xand you will no longer see Me; ¹¹and about judgment, ^ybecause the ruler of this ^•world ^zhas been judged. ^a

¹²“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. ^b13When the Spirit of truth ^ccomes, He will guide you into all the truth. ^dFor He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. ¹⁴He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵Everything the Father ^ehas is Mine. ^fThis is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you. ^g

Sorrow Turned to Joy

¹⁶“A little while ^hand you will no longer see Me; ⁱagain a little while and you will see Me.” ^j

¹⁷Therefore some of His disciples said to one another, “What is this He tells us: ‘A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’ ^k?” ¹⁸They said, “What is this He is saying, ^l‘A little while’? We don’t know what He’s talking about!”

¹⁹Jesus knew they wanted to question Him, so He said to them, “Are you asking one another about what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see Me; again a little while and you will see Me’?

²⁰“^•I assure you: You will weep and wail, ^mbut the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, ⁿbut your sorrow will turn to joy. ²¹When a woman is in labor she has pain ^obecause her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, ^pshe no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. ²²So you also have sorrow ^qnow. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, ^rand no one will rob you of your joy. ^s23In that day you will not ask Me anything.

“I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. ^t24Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. ^uAsk and you will receive, ^vso that your joy may be complete. ^w

Jesus the Victor

²⁵“I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask ^xin My name. ^yI am not telling you that I will make requests to the Father on your behalf. ²⁷For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved ^zMe and have believed that I came from God. ^ab28I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” ^c

²⁹“Ah!” His disciples said. “Now You’re speaking plainly and not using any figurative language. ³⁰Now we know that You know everything ^dand don’t need anyone to question You. By this we believe that You came from God.” ^e

³¹Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? ³²Look: An hour is coming, and has come, ^fwhen each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ^g33I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”