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John 15

Jesus joins dependence on him with fruitful love, then prepares his disciples to bear witness amid the world’s hatred.

Jesus speaks to his disciples about their dependence on him, calling himself the vine and his Father the farmer. Branches that remain in him bear fruit; branches that fail to remain wither and face burning. He commands his disciples to love one another with the love he has shown them, and calls them friends. He then prepares them for the world’s hatred and promises the Spirit of truth, who will testify about him alongside those who have been with him.

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1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.
2Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
5I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
7If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8“In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
9Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.
10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
11I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.
15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
16You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
18If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
21But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23He who hates me, hates my Father also.
24If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
27You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
John 15:4The branch’s dependence on the vine establishes why remaining in Jesus is essential to every form of fruitfulness.
John 15:7Jesus connects answered prayer with remaining in him and having his words remain in his disciples.
John 15:16Jesus grounds the disciples’ calling in his choice and appointment, directing them toward lasting fruit and prayer in his name.
Where this chapter reaches

The commands to remain in Jesus and love one another share themes with 1 John, while Matthew also records Jesus preparing disciples for persecution. Jesus’ quotation about hatred without cause comes from Psalm, linking the opposition he faces with the suffering described there.

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After reading the whole chapter

What does the vine image help you recognize about your dependence on Jesus?

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How does Jesus’ command to love one another shape your reading of his warning about hatred?

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Questions people ask about John 15

What does it mean to remain in Jesus in John 15?

Remaining in Jesus means continuing in dependence on him, as a branch depends on its vine for life and fruit. Jesus connects this with his words remaining in his disciples, keeping his commands, and remaining in his love. Love for one another receives special emphasis.

Does John 15:7 promise that God will give anything someone asks for?

The promise is addressed to disciples who remain in Jesus and whose lives hold his words. Verse 16 also speaks of asking the Father in Jesus’ name. These conditions shape the promise: prayer belongs within dependence on Jesus, obedience to his teaching, and the calling to bear lasting fruit.

What does pruning mean in John 15?

The Father’s pruning describes his work in branches that bear fruit so they bear more. Jesus then says his disciples are pruned clean because of his spoken word. The image points to cleansing for greater fruitfulness, though the passage does not identify every hardship as a specific act of pruning.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).