It is generally agreed that Christ's discourse in
this and the next chapter was at the close of the last supper, the
night in which he was betrayed, and it is a continued discourse,
not interrupted as that in the foregoing chapter was; and what he
chooses to discourse of is very pertinent to the present sad
occasion of a farewell sermon. Now that he was about to leave them,
I. They would be tempted to leave him, and return to Moses again;
and therefore he tells them how necessary it was that they should
by faith adhere to him and abide in him. II. They would be tempted
to grow strange one to another; and therefore he presses it upon
them to love one another, and to keep up that communion when he was
gone which had hitherto been their comfort. III. They would be
tempted to shrink from their apostleship when they met with
hardships; and therefore he prepared them to bear the shock of the
world's ill will. There are four words to which his discourse in
this chapter may be reduced; 1. Fruit,
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 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. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Here Christ discourses concerning the fruit, the fruits of the Spirit, which his disciples were to bring forth, under the similitude of a vine. Observe here,
I. The doctrine of this similitude; what notion we ought to have of it.
1. That Jesus Christ is the vine, the
true vine. It is an instance of the humility of Christ that he
is pleased to speak of himself under low and humble comparisons. He
that is the Sun of righteousness, and the bright and
morning Star, compares himself to a vine. The church,
which is Christ mystical, is a vine (
2. That believers are branches of this
vine, which supposes that Christ is the root of the vine. The root
is unseen, and our life is hid with Christ; the root bears
the tree (
3. That the Father is the
husbandman, georgos—the land-worker.
Though the earth is the Lord's, it yields him no fruit
unless he work it. God has not only a propriety in, but a care of,
the vine and all the branches. He hath planted, and watered, and
gives the increase; for we are God's husbandry,
II. The duty taught us by this similitude, which is to bring forth fruit, and, in order to this, to abide in Christ.
1. We must be fruitful. From a vine we look
for grapes (
(1.) The doom of the unfruitful (
(2.) The promise made to the fruitful: He purgeth them, that they may bring forth more fruit. Note, [1.] Further fruitfulness is the blessed reward of forward fruitfulness. The first blessing was, Be fruitful; and it is still a great blessing. [2.] Even fruitful branches, in order to their further fruitfulness, have need of purging or pruning; kathairei—he taketh away that which is superfluous and luxuriant, which hinders its growth and fruitfulness. The best have that in them which is peccant, aliquid amputandum—something which should be taken away; some notions, passions, or humours, that want to be purged away, which Christ has promised to do by his word, and Spirit, and providence; and these shall be taken off by degrees in the proper season. [3.] The purging of fruitful branches, in order to their greater fruitfulness, is the care and work of the great husbandman, for his own glory.
(3.) The benefits which believers have by
the doctrine of Christ, the power of which they should labour to
exemplify in a fruitful conversation: Now you are clean,
(4.) The glory that will redound to God by
our fruitfulness, with the comfort and honour that will come to
ourselves by it,
2. In order to our fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ, must keep up our union with him by faith, and do all we do in religion in the virtue of that union. Here is,
(1.) The duty enjoined (
(2.) The necessity of our abiding in
Christ, in order to our fruitfulness (
(3.) The fatal consequences of forsaking
Christ (
(4.) The blessed privilege which those have
that abide in Christ (
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Christ, who is love itself, is here discoursing concerning love, a fourfold love.
I. Concerning the Father's love to him; and
concerning this he here tells us, 1. That the Father did love him
(
II. Concerning his own love to his disciples. Though he leaves them, he loves them. And observe here,
1. The pattern of this love: As the
Father has loved me, so have I loved you. A strange expression
of the condescending grace of Christ! As the Father loved him, who
was most worthy, he loved them, who were most unworthy. The Father
loved him as his Son, and he loves them as his children. The
Father gave all things into his hand; so, with himself, he
freely giveth us all things. The Father loved him as Mediator,
as head of the church, and the great trustee of divine grace and
favour, which he had not for himself only, but for the benefit of
those for whom he was entrusted; and, says he, "I have been a
faithful trustee. As the Father has committed his love to me, so I
transmit it to you." Therefore the Father was well pleased with
him, that he might be well pleased with us in him; and loved him,
that in him, as beloved, he might make us accepted,
2. The proofs and products of this love, which are four:—
(1.) Christ loved his disciples, for he
laid down his life for them (
(2.) Christ loved his disciples, for he
took them into a covenant of friendship with himself,
(3.) Christ loved his disciples, for he was
very free in communicating his mind to them (
(4.) Christ loved his disciples, for he
chose and ordained them to be the prime instruments of his glory
and honour in the world (
[1.] In their election, their election to
their apostleship (
[2.] In their ordination: I have
ordained you; hetheka hymas—"I have put
you into the ministry (
[3.] His love to them appeared in the interest they had at the throne of grace: Whatsoever you shall ask of my Father, in my name, he will give it you. Probably this refers in the first place to the power of working miracles which the apostles were clothed with, which was to be drawn out by prayer. "Whatever gifts are necessary to the furtherance of your labours, whatever help from heaven you have occasion for at any time, it is but ask and have." Three things are here hinted to us for our encouragement in prayer, and very encouraging they are. First, That we have a God to go to who is a Father; Christ here calls him the Father, both mine and yours; and the Spirit in the word and in the heart teaches us to cry, Abba, Father. Secondly, That we come in a good name. Whatever errand we come upon to the throne of grace according to God's will, we may with a humble boldness mention Christ's name in it, and plead that we are related to him, and he is concerned for us. Thirdly, That an answer of peace is promised us. What you come for shall be given you. This great promise made to that great duty keeps up a comfortable and gainful intercourse between heaven and earth.
III. Concerning the disciples' love to Christ, enjoined in consideration of the great love wherewith he had loved them. Three things he exhorts them to:—
1. To continue in his love,
2. To let his joy remain in them, and fill
them,
(1.) That his joy might remain in them. The
words are so placed, in the original, that they may be read either,
[1.] That my joy in you may remain. If they bring forth much
fruit, and continue in his love, he will continue to rejoice in
them as he had done. Note, Fruitful and faithful disciples are the
joy of the Lord Jesus; he rests in his love to them,
(2.) That your joy might be full;
not only that you might be full of joy, but that your joy in me and
in my love may rise higher and higher, till it come to perfection,
when you enter into the joy of your Lord." Note, [1.] Those
and those only that have Christ's joy remaining in them have their
joy full; worldly joys are empty, soon surfeit but never satisfy.
It is only wisdom's joy that will fill the soul,
3. To evidence their love to him by keeping
his commandments: "If you keep my commandments, you shall abide
in my love,
To induce them to keep his commandments, he
urges, [1.] His own example: As I have kept my Father's
commandments, and abide in his love. Christ submitted to the
law of mediation, and so preserved the honour and comfort of it, to
teach us to submit to the laws of the Mediator, for we cannot
otherwise preserve the honour and comfort of our relation to him.
[2.] The necessity of it to their interest in him (
IV. Concerning the disciples' love one
to another, enjoined as an evidence of their love to Christ,
and a grateful return for his love to them. We must keep his
commandments, and this is his commandment, that we love one
another,
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto 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. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 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. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Here Christ discourses concerning hatred, which is the character and genius of the devil's kingdom, as love is of the kingdom of Christ. Observe here,
I. Who they are in whom this hatred is
found—the world, the children of this world, as distinguished from
the children of God; those who are in the interests of the god of
this world, whose image they bear, and whose power they are subject
to; all those, whether Jews or Gentiles, who would not come into
the church of Christ, which he audibly called, and visibly
separates from this evil world. The calling of these the
world intimates, 1. Their number; there were a world of people
that opposed Christ and Christianity. Lord, how were they increased
that troubled the Son of David! I fear, if we should put it to the
vote between Christ and Satan, Satan would out-poll us quite. 2.
Their confederacy and combination; these numerous hosts are
embodied, and are as one,
II. Who are they against whom this hatred is levelled-against the disciples of Christ, against Christ himself, and against the Father.
1. The world hates the disciples of Christ:
The world hateth you (
(1.) Observe how this comes in here. [1.]
Christ had expressed the great kindness he had for them as friends;
but, lest they should be puffed up with this, there was given them,
as there was to Paul, a thorn in the flesh, that is, as it
is explained there, reproaches and persecutions for Christ's sake,
(2.) Observe what is here included.
[1.] The world's enmity against the followers of Christ: it hateth them. Note, Whom Christ blesseth the world curseth. The favourites and heirs of heaven have never been the darlings of this world, since the old enmity was put between the seed of the woman and of the serpent. Why did Cain hate Abel, but because his works were righteous? Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing; Joseph's brethren hated him because his father loved him; Saul hated David because the Lord was with him; Ahab hated Micaiah because of his prophecies; such are the causeless causes of the world's hatred.
[2.] The fruits of that enmity, two of
which we have here,
[3.] The causes of that enmity. The world will hate them,
First, Because they do not belong to
it (
Much more may those hug themselves whom the world hates, but whom Christ loves.
Secondly, "Another cause of the
world's hating you will be because you do belong to Christ
(
Thirdly, After all, it is the
world's ignorance that is the true cause of its enmity to the
disciples of Christ (
2. The world hates Christ himself. And this is spoken of here for two ends:—
(1.) To mitigate the trouble of his
followers, arising from the world's hatred, and to make it the less
strange, and the less grievous (
(2.) To aggravate the wickedness of this unbelieving world, and to discover its exceeding sinfulness; to hate and persecute the apostles was bad enough, but in them to hate and persecute Christ himself was much worse. The world is generally in an ill name in scripture, and nothing can put it into a worse name than this, that it hated Jesus Christ. There is a world of people that are haters of Christ. Two things he insists upon to aggravate the wickedness of those that hated him:—
[1.] That there was the greatest reason imaginable why they should love him; men's good words and good works usually recommend them; now as to Christ,
First, His words were such as
merited their love (
Secondly, His works were such as
merited their love, as well as his words (
[2.] That there was no reason at all why
they should hate him. Some that at one time will say and do that
which is recommending, yet at another time will say and do that
which is provoking and disobliging; but our Lord Jesus not only did
much to merit men's esteem and good-will, but never did any thing
justly to incur their displeasure; this he pleads by quoting a
scripture for it (
3. In Christ the world hates God himself;
this is twice said here (
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
Christ having spoken of the great
opposition which his gospel was likely to meet with in the world,
and the hardships that would be put upon the preachers of it, lest
any should fear that they and it would be run down by that violent
torrent, he here intimates to all those that were well-wishers to
his cause and interest what effectual provision was made for
supporting it, both by the principal testimony of the Spirit
(
I. It is here promised that the blessed
Spirit shall maintain the cause of Christ in the world,
notwithstanding the opposition it should meet with. Christ, when he
was reviled, committed his injured cause to his Father, and did not
lose by his silence, for the Comforter came, pleaded it powerfully,
and carried it triumphantly. "When the Comforter or Advocate
is come, who proceedeth from the Father, and whom I will
send to supply the want of my bodily presence, he shall
testify of me against those that hate me without cause."
We have more in
1. Here is an account of him in his
essence, or subsistence rather. He is the Spirit of truth, who
proceedeth from the Father. Here, (1.) He is spoken of as a
distinct person; not a quality or property, but a person under the
proper name of a Spirit, and proper title of the Spirit
of truth, a title fitly given him where he is brought in
testifying. (2.) As a divine person, that proceedeth from the
Father, by out-goings that were of old, from
everlasting. The spirit or breath of man, called the breath
of life, proceeds from the man, and by it modified he delivers
his mind, by it invigorated he sometimes exerts his strength to
blow out what he would extinguish, and blow up what
he would excite. Thus the blessed Spirit is the emanation of divine
light, and the energy of divine power. The rays of the sun, by
which it dispenses and diffuses its light, heat, and influence,
proceed from the sun, and yet are one with it. The Nicene
Creed says, The Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the
Son, for he is called the Spirit of the Son,
2. In his mission. (1.) He will come in a
more plentiful effusion of his gifts, graces, and powers, than had
ever yet been. Christ had been long the ho
erchomenos—he that should come; now the blessed
Spirit is so. (2.) I will send him to you from the Father.
He had said (
3. In his office and operations, which are
two:—(1.) One implied in the title given to him; he is the
Comforter, or Advocate. An advocate for Christ, to
maintain his cause against the world's infidelity, a comforter to
the saints against the world's hatred. (2.) Another expressed:
He shall testify of me. He is not only an advocate, but a
witness for Jesus Christ; he is one of the three that bear
record in heaven, and the first of the three that bear
witness on earth.
II. It is here promised that the apostles
also, by the Spirit's assistance, should have the honour of being
Christ's witnesses (
1. That the apostles were appointed to be
witnesses for Christ in the world. When he had said, The Spirit
shall testify, he adds, And you also shall bear witness.
Note, The Spirit's working is not to supersede, but to engage and
encourage ours. Though the Spirit testify, ministers also must bear
their testimony, and people attend to it; for the Spirit of grace
witnesses and works by the means of grace. The apostles were the
first witnesses that were called in the famous trial between Christ
and the prince of this world, which issued in the ejectment of the
intruder. This intimates, (1.) The work cut out for them; they were
to attest the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
concerning Christ, for the recovering of his just right, and the
maintaining of his crown and dignity. Though Christ's disciples
fled when they should have been witnesses for him upon his trial
before the high priest and Pilate, yet after the Spirit was poured
out upon them they appeared courageous in vindication of the cause
of Christ against the accusations it was loaded with. The truth of
the Christian religion was to be proved very much by the evidence
of matter of fact, especially Christ's resurrection, of which the
apostles were in a particular manner chosen witnesses (
2. That they were qualified to be so:
You have been with me from the beginning. They not only
heard his public sermons, but had constant private converse with
him. He went about doing good, and, while others saw the
wonderful and merciful works that he did in their own town and
country only, those that went about with him were witnesses of them
all. They had likewise opportunity of observing the unspotted
purity of his conversation, and could witness for him that they
never saw in him, nor heard from him, any thing that had the least
tincture of human frailty. Note. (1.) We have great reason to
receive the record which the apostles gave of Christ, for they did
not speak by hearsay, but what they had the greatest assurance of
imaginable,