Chapter Fifteen

¹ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken to you. Since, having discoursed much concerning the Passion, He had pressed down their souls, and perceived them in dread as about to be quickly taken, and out of much fear not even attending to the things spoken, He makes as though to lead them away to a hidden place where they should not be taken; and indeed He removes them from that spot where they were, that, having settled the trouble of their soul, He might deliver to them the more mystical doctrines. And He leads them, as we shall learn further on, into the garden which Judas knew; so that in appearance the matter was a withdrawal, but in truth a voluntary giving-up of Himself, withdrawing into such a place as Judas knew. What, then, mystical does He deliver to them? “I am,” He says, “the vine”—that is, the root; “and you are the branches; and my Father is the husbandman.” And about what does the Father busy Himself? About the root? “No,” He says, “but about the branches. For every branch,” He says, “that bears not fruit, he takes it away”—that is, every man who through faith has become a part of the root, and been united to the Lord, and become of one body with Him, must also bear fruit, that is, have a virtuous life; for if a man have only the bare profession of faith, but bear no fruit through the keeping of the commandments, he becomes a dead branch; for faith without works is dead. Every believer, then, seems to be in Christ, inasmuch as he believes. “For every branch in me,” He says, “if it bear not fruit, the Father takes it away”—that is, sets it outside the fellowship with the Son; but the fruit-bearing one He purges. Here we learn this, that even though one be exceedingly virtuous, he needs the care that is from God. For the fruitless cannot even be in the vine; but the fruit-bearing one the Father makes more fruitful. And understand these things as spoken also because of the afflictions of the disciples. For since afflictions seem to be a kind of pruning, such as the husbandmen speak of, the Lord shows them that through the afflictions they shall become more fruitful, even as the branches through the pruning; for the trials rather showed them stronger. Then, lest they should say, “Concerning whom do you say these things?” “You,” He says, “are clean through the word which I have spoken to you.” Observe: above He said the Father was the one purging; now again He brings in Himself as the one caring. One, then, is the energy of the Father and of the Son. “I,” He says, “have cleansed you through my teaching; you must therefore henceforth display the things that are yours”; wherefore also He adds:

² Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. “I,” He says, “have cleansed you also through my word and teaching, and nothing on my part was lacking. But henceforth there must be present also the things on your part. Abide in me,” He says. For lest from fear they should be torn away from Him, He braces their soul, which had grown slack, and glues it to Himself, and henceforth holds out good hopes, that “Whatever you shall ask, you shall receive, if you abide in me.” And from the example of the branch He plainly sets before us the quality and life given by Him to those that are well-pleasing to Him. For as the branch bears fruit while it abides in the vine, and receives from it the co-operation toward living, so also you, if you abide in me through the keeping of the commandments, then shall you bring forth more fruit. But he that abides not is withered—that is, if he had anything from the root, he casts it off; if he received any spiritual grace, he is stripped of it, and is deprived of the help and life from thence. And what is the end? He is cast into the fire, and is burned. And from hence He gives them no small comfort, showing that they who plot against Him, such as Judas, shall be burned up; but they themselves, abiding in Him, shall bear fruit. For without the quality and life-giving that is from Him, they shall be able to do nothing.

³ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. Here the Lord interprets to us what is the “If you abide in me”—that is, “If you keep my commandments”; for the “And my words abide in you” signifies this. He seeks the cleaving that is through works. For each of those who live in a manner pleasing to God abides in the vine by his own choice, being united to it through love and the keeping of the commandments, and cleaving to it in spirit; even as, on the contrary, he that withdraws from the working of the commandments alienates himself willingly from the Lord. “And herein is my Father glorified,” He says, “in your bearing much fruit.” For the glory of God and the Father is the good repute of His disciples. For when the light of the apostles shone before men, the heavenly Father was glorified. And the fruit of the apostles is also the Gentiles, brought through their teaching to the faith, and become to the glory of God. If, then, herein the Father is glorified, in your bearing fruit, He will not neglect His own glory, but will also co-operate with you that you may bear more fruit, that He may be more glorified. “For herein,” He says, “is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and become my disciples.” Do you see how he that bears fruit, that one is in truth a disciple, and the Father is herein glorified—that is, rejoices, and accounts this His own glory?

⁴ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love. 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.” He urges them to take courage by saying, “I have loved you, and so have I loved you, as the Father has loved me.” But this He said after a more human manner. “Continue you, then, in my love. For of this you are lords. Despise it not because you have heard, ‘I have loved you,’ but be earnest to abide in my love.” Then He teaches them how they shall be able to abide—if they keep His commandments. For, as has often been said, he it is that loves Him who keeps His commandments. And through all these things He shows that then shall they be in safety, when they display a clean life.

⁵ As I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. This too He says by way of condescension, because of the weakness of the hearers. For surely He who is the lawgiver of all was not Himself subject to commandments, nor was He unable, apart from the Father’s commandments, to pass His own life; for this is most absurd to conceive. He says this, wishing the more to console them. For since He said to them, “I love you,” and they were afterward about to wrestle with afflictions, that they might not be offended, as though His love availed them nothing, He says, “Be not troubled; since the Father loves me too, yet nevertheless gives me up to suffer for the world. As, then, the Father’s love is not lessened by my suffering, [so neither shall mine fail you], though you fall into afflictions.”

⁶ These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. “These things,” He says, “have I spoken to you, that I might not cut off your joy.” For they rejoiced while they were with Him, as He worked wonders and was glorified; and indeed they rejoiced when they themselves cast out demons, as He also says, “Rejoice not that the demons are subject to you.” But since the Passion came in between, and the gloomy things cut off their joy, He says, “These comforting words have I spoken to you, that always and to the end your joy may remain undivided and full and complete. For the present things are not of grief, but of joy, even though the cross, even though shame and dishonour be added.” And since above He said, “If you keep my commandments, then shall you abide in me,” now He shows what commandments they must keep, and sets before them love. “For,” He says, “that you love one another, as I have loved you.” For He wishes us to love one another not simply and at random, but as He Himself loved us. And observe how above He spoke of the commandments in the plural, but here He says, “This is my commandment,” in the singular number. And I think it is because love is the comprehension and head of all the commandments, that it is called both commandments and commandment. And at the same time He shows us a way how we shall keep the commandments—namely, by keeping one commandment, that concerning love. And since He said, “As I have loved you, love you also one another,” He shows the measure of love and its height. “For greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So that you also lay down your lives for one another, since I too die for you. Suppose not, then, that this my withdrawal, whereby I now withdraw from you, comes of hatred toward you; for rather it comes of love, and that more perfect.”

⁷ You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you. “...for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” Up and down He turns the things concerning love, showing us through these many words that this commandment is more worthy than the others, and more deserving of earnestness. And He sets before them also a very great token of His love: “For so much,” He says, “do I love you, that I have revealed to you the things unspeakable. For the servant knows not the mysteries of his master; but you, as my friends, have been counted worthy of mysteries. For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.” How then does He elsewhere say, “I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now”? He made known to them all things, so far as it was possible for them to hear, and so far as was at once within their capacity. And when He says, “The things that I have heard of my Father,” suppose not that the Son needs teaching, but He shows this, that He utters nothing alien, but the things of the Father, and whatever He says are His. And having said that “I make a proof of my love toward you in the making known to you the mysteries,” He adds also another token of love: “For I,” He says, “have chosen you”—that is, “Not you ran to my friendship, but I to yours, and first loved you. How then shall I forsake you for the time to come? But I have also ordained you—that is, I have planted you, that you should go—that is, that you should grow and be enlarged and spread abroad and extended, and bear fruit.” And here He plainly brings in Himself also as husbandman. For above, when He said, “You are clean through the word which I have spoken to you,” He showed Himself the one purging; but now yet more manifestly, by saying that...

⁸ I have chosen you, and ordained you... For the husbandman, of course, chooses and sets the branches in the ground. Do you see the equality of the Father and of the Son? The Father is husbandman; the Son is now shown to be husbandman. Clothe yourself with shame, Arius, together with those who with you were flung headlong into impiety. And observe also another thing: “that whatever you shall ask of the Father, he may give it you”—that is, “I will give it you.” And yet, according to consistency, He ought to have said thus: “Whatever you shall ask of the Father, he will give it you”; but He said, “I will give it you,” because of the entire equality of power. Since the Father too, when He gives, gives in His right hand; and His right hand is the Son. And consider to me this also, that when, being planted, we bear fruit, then also, whatever we ask, He will give us; but if we bear not fruit, we shall not receive. For he that bears not fruit asks not even things profitable and beneficial to the soul, but altogether worldly and unprofitable things; wherefore neither does he receive. “For you ask,” He says, “and receive not, because you ask amiss.”

⁹ These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Lest the apostles should think that the Lord, by way of reproach, brings forward to them His laying down of His life for them and His choosing of them, for this cause He says, “These things I command you, not that I may reproach, nor that I may boast as of some good deed, but that I may make your souls more steadfast in the love one toward another; for this cause I reckon up the good deeds of my love toward you. For these things I command you, that you love one another.” And since it is a grievous thing, and exceeding painful, to be persecuted and hated, He consoles them, saying, “Even if they hate you, it is nothing new; for me first they have hated. So that you ought to use the fellowship in being hated as a great comfort.” And He adds also another manner of consolation, more constraining. “For on the contrary,” He says, “you ought to grieve, if the world hated you not”—that is, the wicked men. For you would have shown, by not being hated, that you also share in the same wickedness and evil with them. But now, since the wicked hate you, rejoice. For because of your virtue they hate you; for assuredly, if you had not virtue, the world would love its own. But since I have chosen you out of the wickedness of the world, for this cause the world hates you, as not partaking in its works.

¹⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do to you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. That which He said above, “Me first they have hated,” this He now enlarges upon, and instils into them more comfort. “For remember,” He says, “my word, that the servant is not greater than his lord; neither, then, are you greater than I. See, then, how they treated me. If they persecuted the Master, much more you the servants; and if they did not persecute, but kept my word, they will keep yours also.” But this is not the case; for neither mine nor yours will they keep. “But all these things will they do to you for my sake.” So that, if you love me, bear the things you suffer for my sake, the beloved one, as you say. And there is yet another thing toward comfort, that they insult also Him that sent me together with you. If, then, nothing else, let this be to you for consolation, that the same men are enemies both of you, and of me, and of my Father.

¹¹ If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. Is it, then, justly that they do these things, and hate both me and my Father and you? Was it on account of anything said or done that they displayed such a mind? “No,” He says; “for their sin is unpardonable. For did I not come and teach? If I had not come, if I had not spoken, they might have been able to say, ‘We heard not’; but now their wickedness is without excuse.” Then, since they put forward everywhere no other pretext save that of avenging the Father (“For this man,” they said, “is not of God,” and such like), for this cause He adds, “He that hates me hates my Father also”; so that neither is this left them for a defence. “And not only did I furnish teaching, but I added also works, such as none other did”—as the miracle of the blind man, that of Lazarus, and the rest in like manner. What defence, then, have they? “The teaching that is from words I furnished; that which is from works I added”; even as Moses also enjoins us to obey him who both works signs and teaches the things that pertain to godliness. But now they have both seen such works, and nevertheless have hated both me and my Father. Then He brings in also the prophet as witness, that “They hated me without a cause.” For out of their wickedness alone, He says, was the hatred born, [and] not out of any other cause. And by “law,” as we have often said, He means not only the Mosaic, but also the books of the prophets; even as here too He named the [psalm] of David “law.” David, then, by the Holy Spirit foretold what their wickedness was about to do; and they, altogether as wicked men, fulfilled what was foretold by the prophet, and showed the prophecy to be true.

¹² But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me: and you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. He said to the disciples, “They will persecute you, because they will not keep your word.” Lest, then, they should be able to say, “And henceforth, O Lord, where do you send us? how shall we be worthy of credit? who will give heed to us? who will be persuaded?”—for this cause He adds, “But when the Comforter is come, he shall testify of me. A trustworthy witness,” He says, “is that one. So that, being reproved by the Spirit that they sin without excuse, they will receive the preaching. And you also bear witness, being from the beginning with me, that both by words and by works I made them without excuse. Take courage, then; for the preaching shall not be without witness, but the Spirit also shall bear witness together with signs and wonders, and shall be a trustworthy witness; for he is the Spirit of truth. As, then, the Spirit of truth, he shall testify the things that are true; and as proceeding from the Father, he knows all things exactly; for he is from thence whence is the knowledge of all things.” And the “whom I will send” signifies His equality with Him. For elsewhere He said the Father sends the Spirit; but here, saying that He Himself sends it, He signifies nothing else than the equality. But that He might not seem to set Himself in opposition to the Father, as though sending the Spirit from an authority of His own, He added, “from the Father.” “For I send indeed, but from the Father”—that is, the Father being well-pleased and sending it forth together. For not from my own bosom do I send forth the Spirit, but from the Father it is supplied through me. And when you hear, “proceeds,” understand not the procession to be a sending, such as the ministering spirits are sent; but the procession is the natural existence of the Spirit. For if we understand not the procession thus, but as some sending that takes place outwardly, it will be uncertain concerning what spirit He speaks. For countless are the spirits sent forth to ministry for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation. But here He speaks of the “proceeding” as a choice and separate property, set apart beforehand for the one Spirit who is properly so called. We shall not, then, understand the “proceeding” as a being sent, but as having from the Father His natural existence. This Spirit, then, shall be witness of the preaching; and you too bear witness, because not from others have you heard, but you yourselves are present from the beginning. And no small witness is this, given by those who were present from the beginning; which the apostles themselves also afterward said, when haranguing, “We who did eat and drink with him.” Twofold, then, is the witness; [lest one say that] you seem to witness out of favour, yet not so [the Spirit, nor] Jesus, who foretells the things about to befall the disciples. [Headings of what follows:] Concerning the “A little while, and you shall see me.” Concerning the Father’s giving whatever they shall ask.