John 15
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
[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 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
[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 You are already clean because of the word 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 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain 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 and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, 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 anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, 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 remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will 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 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to 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. Remain 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 will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain 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 I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
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 one than this, that he 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 what I command you.
You [show that you] are my friends if you keep doing what I have commanded you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned 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 did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will 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 This is My command to you: Love one another.
[I repeat what] I have commanded you: Love each other.”
18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
“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, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
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 that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
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 they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who 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 be guilty of sin. Now, however, 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 Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.
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 one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have 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 to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
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 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about 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 must 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].”
