◄ John 15 Devotional Commentary ►
John 15:1
In the Old Testament, there are many references to Israel as a vine planted by God, but she was an empty vine, a fruitless vine. Isaiah calls her a worthless vine that was to be made desolate for her unbelief. But God planted a second Vine; a true Vine, a Vine that will bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit. For unless a grain falls onto the ground and dies, it remains alone. But through Christ's death and Resurrection, He qualifies Himself as the true Vine Who will read more...
John 15:2
The picture of Christ as the true Vine is a very precious concept to most believers. All Christians are branches of the true Vine, for all are taken out of Adam and placed into Christ. All are in union with Him from the point of rebirth, and as branches we share His life, both on earth and in the eternal ages to come.
All branches are commanded to abide in Him, and so our privileged position becomes an important day-by-day read more...
John 15:3
Jesus had just made an important announcement to His disciples, "I am the Vine," He declared, "and My Father is the Vinedresser." In the Old Testament, it was Israel who was called the vine. Israel was to trust the Lord in loving obedience and humility of heart. They were to be a people who cultivated righteousness and justice. But they proved unfaithful to their covenant promise. They disobeyed God and produced fruit that was read more...
John 15:4
Jesus knew how important it was for His disciples to be clear about their relationship to Himself. And using the familiar symbol of a vine He identified Himself as the True Vine. For centuries, Israel had been an unfruitful vine, and only days before His crucifixion, Jesus taught the parable of the tenant farmers who killed the son of the vineyard owner - prophesying His own rejection and death which would be instigated by the priests and Pharisees who were looking read more...
John 15:4
Remaining in Christ or abiding in Him, was a theme that the Lord Jesus introduced to His disciples just before His death and Resurrection, and it is a subject that is picked up by Paul and is evident within each of his letters. Christ is fully God and fully Man, uniting holy deity with perfect humanity; and fruitfulness in the life of a believer results from the very life of the Son being reproduced within the life of the Christian.
Throughout His read more...
John 15:5
The image of a branch gaining all its sustenance and strength from the parent vine is a beautiful description of man's total dependence upon God, without Whom we can do nothing, for in Him we live and move and have our being.
When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, walked the earth, He demonstrated this truth, for He lived His entire life in utter dependence upon the Father: "I can do nothing of Myself," He said, read more...
John 15:6
All born-again believers are united with Christ at the point of salvation, and having been made one with Him, we are instructed to abide in Christ. To abide in Christ simply means that we are to mature in our spiritual life, to grow in grace, and to maintain a close and increasingly intimate fellowship with our heavenly Father. We are to love as Christ loved and to live as Christ lived; in total dependence upon the Father and not trying to do things in our own read more...
John 15:7
In a few short verses, the believer is called and challenged to abide in Christ; to abide in the Vine; to abide in His love; to abide in Him. The vine was an important symbol which ran through Old Testament Scripture, and Israel was the one whom Isaiah described as 'the choicest vine.' Israel was chosen by God to be a fruitful vine, and they were expected to bring forth good fruit for His glory, but Israel brought forth wild grapes and had to be trampled down and read more...
John 15:8
As believers, we are positioned in Christ, born into the family of God, made members of the Body of Christ, and placed in eternal union with our Lord Jesus. As such, we are called upon to glorify our Father Who is in heaven.
As Christians, there are many beautiful descriptions of our precious relationship with our Lord: He is our Shepherd and we are His sheep. He is our Father and we are His children. He is the Vine and we are the read more...
John 15:9
Christ Jesus is the eternal, uncreated Son of God Who was in the bosom of the Father from before the foundation of the world, and Who has been loved by the Father from eternity past.
The love that the Father has for the Son is a deep, abiding, immeasurable, and eternal love. It is a love that passes the understanding of our limited human minds. It is a love that can never be comprehended by human understanding.
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John 15:9
Despite the simplicity of His statement and the brevity of His instruction, the command Christ gave His disciples, just before His walk to the cross, is one of the most profound pronouncements ever voiced in the history of the human race. "Just as the Father has loved Me," He told them, "so I have also loved you - abide in My love." The apparent simplicity of the text, only serves to magnify its transcendent significance.
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John 15:10
The Lord Jesus told us that if we keep His commandments, we would abide in His love – we would remain in His love – we would rest in His love. But did He then give us a long list of commandments to keep? Did He point us to the Law of Moses or deliver us a set of rules and regulations that all worthy Christians ought to keep? NO! He gave us one commandment – a new commandment – a commandment that incorporates every other godly command and gracious act – read more...
John 15:11
This much-loved passage gives real insight into our position in Christ and reminds us that because we are united to Him by faith, we are to love one another as Christ loved us. We are also to abide in His love and trust His wise purpose for our lives. But we must also realise that we will be hated of all men, because we are His children, but praise God that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to read more...
John 15:12
God Himself, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, set aside His heavenly glory and came to earth as the Son of Man. He did this in order to live His life as a perfect pattern of the way God desires that all His children live.
He was the exact example of a life that was set apart unto God. A life that walked in spirit and truth, a life that set aside His own will to do the will of the Father in heaven.
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John 15:13
In those final hours just prior to His crucifixion on a cruel Roman cross, the Lord Jesus was with those that were his dearest and closest friends. Friends that had given up all to walk with Him; friends that had eaten, slept, and marched with Him for three and a half years; friends that had been given apostolic power to heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead.
And yet these same friends would abandon Him, deny Him, or read more...
John 15:14
As Jesus prepared His disciples for the fast approaching crucifixion, He was also preparing them for the difficult future they must all face: a world of hatred against God and themselves, and a world where the physical presence of their master is absent. The Lord Jesus knew that these men whom He loved so dearly would be easy prey to the enemy who, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. How important it was therefore, that they listened carefully read more...
John 15:15
The Lord Jesus, Who is the eternal Son of God and high King of heaven, chose us to become intimately related to Himself. We did not choose Him, for we were dead in our trespasses, slaves to sin, and eternally estranged from His Father. And yet, in grace and love He stooped down from His high kingly throne to raise us up and seat us together with Himself in heavenly places, and open up His Word to us.
When we start to consider the read more...
John 15:16
Many misquote the first part of this verse as referring to initial salvation: "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you." But these words were spoken to men who had already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were being chosen and appointed to produce good and lasting fruit, to the praise of God the Father.
The Lord Jesus was only hours away from His crucifixion when He spoke these words to His read more...
John 15:18
Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel in fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Partway through His ministry however, the Lord Jesus started to give hints that God's plans and purposes for Israel were to be postponed for an undisclosed length of time. This "dispensation of the grace of God," as Paul called it, was to be a season during which the Lord would carry out His plans and purposes for the redemption of mankind, through a read more...
John 15:19
In the beginning when Adam disobeyed the Lord, our relationship with God was broken. From the moment that sin entered the world, Adam died spiritually, and every one of his descendants has been born with a sinful nature, dead in trespasses and sins, and in bitter conflict with God and all that is holy. Instead of walking in the light of our Creator God, we came into the world as sons of disobedience, walking according to the course of this demonic world system, read more...
John 15:25
If we trust in the person and work of Jesus, we are saved by faith in Him, and saved unto eternal life as a free gift of God's grace. We are forgiven of our sin and clothed in His own perfect righteousness. But disciples are believers who move to the next level of faith, living life by faith, through a process of progressive sanctification. This can often be uncomfortable, because we are not OF the world but are living IN this fallen read more...
John 15:26
The emotions of the disciples were in disarray. They were deeply troubled as Christ continued to urgently unfold many profound truths as to His Person, His Work (on the Cross), and the shocking disclosure of His imminent departure. He promised that He would send a Helper from the Father: "The Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father." He told them that the Holy Spirit would testify about Himself and will confirm to them all that He had read more...