1. Against the Old Testament background of Israel as the vine that failed to produce good fruit (see esp. Isa. 5:1–7), Jesus said: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. This is the last of seven different ‘I am’ sayings with predicates in the Gospel of John (6:35, 48, 51; 8:12; 10:7, 9; 10:11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5). Jesus used the word true (alēthinos) several times to denote what is true or genuine (4:23: ‘true worshippers’; 6:32: ‘true bread’; 15:1: ‘true vine’; 17:3: ‘the … true
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