John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser.
[Jesus talked to us as we were walking along. Speaking figuratively of the need for us to live in a way that God wants us to, he said], “I am like [MET] a genuine vine, [not like those Jewish leaders who do not teach the truth]. My father is like [MET] a gardener who [works to] take care of a vineyard.
2 Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
[Just like a gardener] cuts off the branches that bear no grapes [MET], [God gets rid of those who do not please him even though they say that they belong to him]. Those branches that bear fruit, [the gardener] trims so that they may bear more grapes. [Similarly, my Father disciplines/corrects those who live as he wants them to live].
3 Now are you pure, through the word which I have spoken to you.
You are already [like] the branches [that a gardener] trims because [you have believed] the message that I have told you.
4 Abide in me, and I will abide in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Remain having a close relationship with me. [If you do that], I will remain having a close relationship with you. A branch [of a vine] cannot bear fruit [if it is cut off and left] by itself. To bear fruit, it must remain attached to the vine. Similarly, you cannot [live the way that God wants you to] if you do not remain united to me [MET].
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
I am [like] [MET] a vine. You are [like] [MET] the branches. All those who have a close relationship with me and with whom I have a close relationship will [do much that pleases God, like] [MET] [a vine that] bears much fruit. [Remember that] you can do nothing [HYP] [that truly pleases God] without my [help].
6 If any one abide not in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and withers; and such are gathered, and thrown into the fire, and burned.
[A gardener cuts off and] throws away useless branches. Then, after they dry up, [he] picks them up and throws them into a fire and burns them [SIM]. Similarly, everyone who does not remain having a close relationship with me, [God] will get rid of.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done for you.
If you remain having a close relationship with me and you keep [living in accordance with] my message, you can ask [God to do] anything for you, and he will do it.
8 In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and in this you will be my disciples.
The way my Father is honored is by your {The way you honor my Father is by} doing much that pleases him [MET], and by doing that, you will show that you are my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.
I have loved you just as [my] Father has loved me. Now keep living in [a way that is appropriate for those whom] I love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
If you obey what I have commanded you, you will be acting in [a way that is appropriate for those whom] I love, just like I have obeyed what my Father has commanded me and I act [in a way that is appropriate for someone] whom he loves.
11 These things have I spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
I have told you these things so that you may be joyful as I [am joyful], and that you may be completely joyful.
12 This is my commandment: That you love one another, as I have loved you.
What I am commanding you is this: Love each other just like I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no man than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends.
The best way that people can show that they love someone is to die for that person. There is no way that you can love someone in a greater way than that.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
You [show that you] are my friends if you keep doing what I have commanded you.
15 I no longer call you servants, because the servant knows not what his master does. But I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
I will no longer call you my servants, because servants do not know [why] their masters [want them to] do things. Instead, I have said that you are my friends, because I, [acting like a friend], have revealed to you everything that my Father told me.
16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you, that you may go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit may remain; that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give you.
You did not decide to become my [disciples]. Instead, I chose you, so that you would do many things that please him [MET]. The results of what you do will last [forever]. I also chose you so that [my] Father will do for you whatever you, using my authority, ask him to do [MTY].
17 These things I command you, that you may love one another.
[I repeat what] I have commanded you: Love each other.”
18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
“The people who are opposed to God will hate you. When that happens, remember that they hated me first.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
If you belonged to those who are opposed to God [MTY], they would love [you like they love] those who belong to them. But you do not belong to those who are opposed to God [MTY]. Instead, I chose you so that you would separate yourselves from [MTY] them. That is why those who are opposed to God [MTY] hate you.
20 Remember the word which I spoke to you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also.
Remember these words that I told you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ [That means that you, who are like my servants, cannot expect people to treat you better than they treat me]. So, since they have (persecuted me/caused me to suffer), they will (persecute you/cause you to suffer) also. If they had paid attention to the things I taught them, they would pay attention to what you teach them.
21 But all these things they will do to you on my account, because they know not him that sent me.
They will treat you like that because you [belong to] me [MTY], and because they do not know the one who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
If I had not come and spoken [God’s message] to them, they would not be guilty [of rejecting me and my message]. But now [I have come and told them God’s message, so] they will have no excuse [when God judges them] for their sin.
23 He that hates me, hates my Father also.
All those who hate me, [it is as though] they hate my Father as well.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no other man has done, they would have had no sin; but now they have both seen, and hated both me and my Father.
If I had not done among them the [miracles] that no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of the sin [of rejecting me]. But now, [although] they have seen [those miracles], they have hated both me and my Father.
25 But this is so, that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
But this has happened in order that these words that have been written in their Scriptures might be fulfilled {to fulfill this that [(someone/the Psalmist]) wrote in their Scriptures}: ‘They hated me for no reason.’
26 But when the Paraclete has come, whom I will send to you from my Father, the Spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me;
[Later] I will send to you from [my] Father the one who will (encourage/be like a legal counsel for) you. He is the Spirit [who will teach you God’s] truth. He will come from my Father. He will tell people about me.
27 and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
But you [disciples] must also tell people [about me], because you have been with me from the time when I started [my ministry] [MTY].”
