John 15 commentary

Jesus Christ is the Vine, the true Vine. The union of the human and Divine natures, and the fulness of the Spirit that is in him, resemble the root of the vine made fruitful by the moisture from a rich soil. Believers are branches of this Vine. The root is unseen, and our life is hid with Christ; the root bears the tree, diffuses sap to it, and in Christ are all supports and supplies. The branches of the vine are many, yet, meeting in the root, are all but one vine; thus all true Christians, though in place and opinion distant from each other, meet in Christ. Believers, like the branches of the vine, are weak, and unable to stand but as they are borne up. The Father is the Husbandman. Never was any husbandman so wise, so watchful, about his vineyard, as God is about his church, which therefore must prosper. We must be fruitful. From a vine we look for grapes, and from a Christian we look for a Christian temper, disposition, and life. We must honour God, and do good; this is bearing fruit. The unfruitful are taken away. And even fruitful branches need pruning; for the best have notions, passions, and humours, that require to be taken away, which Christ has promised to forward the sanctification of believers, they will be thankful, for them. The word of Christ is spoken to all believers; and there is a cleansing virtue in that word, as it works grace, and works out corruption. And the more fruit we bring forth, the more we abound in what is good, the more our Lord is glorified. In order to fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ, must have union with him by faith. It is the great concern of all Christ's disciples, constantly to keep up dependence upon Christ, and communion with him. True Christians find by experience, that any interruption in the exercise of their faith, causes holy affections to decline, their corruptions to revive, and their comforts to droop. Those who abide not in Christ, though they may flourish for awhile in outward profession, yet come to nothing. The fire is the fittest place for withered branches; they are good for nothing else. Let us seek to live more simply on the fulness of Christ, and to grow more fruitful in every good word and work, so may our joy in Him and in his salvation be full.

Those whom God loves as a Father, may despise the hatred of all the world. As the Father loved Christ, who was most worthy, so he loved his disciples, who were unworthy. All that love the Saviour should continue in their love to him, and take all occasions to show it. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. They are to show their love to him by keeping his commandments. If the same power that first shed abroad the love of Christ's in our hearts, did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it. Christ's love to us should direct us to love each other. He speaks as about to give many things in charge, yet names this only; it includes many duties.

How little do many persons think, that in opposing the doctrine of Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, they prove themselves ignorant of the one living and true God, whom they profess to worship! The name into which Christ's disciples were baptized, is that which they will live and die by. It is a comfort to the greatest sufferers, if they suffer for Christ's name's sake. The world's ignorance is the true cause of its hatred to the disciples of Jesus. The clearer and fuller the discoveries of the grace and truth of Christ, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him.

The blessed Spirit will maintain the cause of Christ in the world, notwithstanding the opposition it meets with. Believers taught and encouraged by his influences, would bear testimony to Christ and his salvation.

1. I am the true Vine. The general meaning of this comparison is, that we are, by nature, barren and dry, except in so far as we have been engrafted into Christ, and draw from him a power which is new, and which does not proceed from ourselves. I have followed other commentators in rendering ἄμπελος by vitis, (a vine,) and κλήματα by palmites, (branches.) Now, vitis (a vine) strictly denotes the plant itself, and not a field planted with vines, which the Latin writers call vinea, (a vineyard;) although it is sometimes taken for vinea a vineyard; as, for example, when Cicero mentions in the same breath, pauperum agellos et vlticulas, the small fields and small vineyards of the poor Palmites (branches) are what may be called the arms of the tree, which it sends out above the ground. But as the Greek word κλὢμα sometimes denotes a vine, and ἄμπελος, a vineyard, I am more disposed to adopt the opinion, that Christ compares himself to a field planted with vines, and compares us to the plants themselves. On that point, however, I will not enter into a debate with any person; only I wish to remind the reader, that he ought to adopt that view which appears to him to derive greater probability from the context.

First, let him remember the rule which ought to be observed in all parables; that we ought not to examine minutely every property of the vine, but only to take a general view of the object to which Christ applies that comparison. Now, there are three principal parts; first, that we have no power of doing good but what comes from himself; secondly, that we, having a root in him, are dressed and pruned by the Father; thirdly, that he removes the unfruitful branches, that they may be thrown into the fire and burned.

There is scarcely any one who is ashamed to acknowledge that every thing good which he possesses comes from God; but, after making this acknowledgment, they imagine that universal grace has been given to them, as if it had been implanted in them by nature. But Christ dwells principally on this, that the vital sap — that is, all life and strength “C’est a dire, toute la vie et vigueur.” — proceeds from himself alone. Hence it follows, that the nature of man is unfruitful and destitute of everything good; because no man has the nature of a vine, till he be implanted in him. But this is given to the elect alone by special grace. So then, the Father is the first Author of all blessings, who plants us with his hand; but the commencement of life is in Christ, since we begin to take root in him. When he calls himself the true vine the meaning is, I am truly the vine, and therefore men toil to no purpose in seeking strength anywhere else, for from none will useful fruit proceed but from the branches which shall be produced by me.

2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit As some men corrupt the grace of God, others suppress it maliciously, and others choke it by carelessness, Christ intends by these words to awaken anxious inquiry, by declaring that all the branches which shall be unfruitful will be cut off from the vine But here comes a question. Can any one who is engrafted into Christ be without fruit? I answer, many are supposed to be in the vine, according to the opinion of men, who actually have no root in the vine Thus, in the writings of the prophets, the Lord calls the people of Israel his vine, because, by outward profession, they had the name of The Church.

And every branch that beareth, fruit he pruneth. By these words, he shows that believers need incessant culture that they may be prevented from degenerating; and that they produce nothing good, unless God continually apply his hand; for it will not be enough to have been once made partakers of adoption, if God do not continue the work of his grace in us. He speaks of pruning or cleansing, “Il parle de tailler ou purger.” because our flesh abounds in superfluities and destructive vices, and is too fertile in producing them, and because they grow and multiply without end, if we are not cleansed or pruned “Repurgez et taillez.” by the hand of God. When he says that vines are pruned, that they may yield more abundant fruit, he shows what ought to be the progress of believers in the course of true religion? “Des fideles au cours de la vraye religion.”

3. You are already clean, on account of the word. He reminds them that they have already experienced in themselves what he had said; that they have been planted in him, and have also been cleansed or pruned He points out the means of pruning, namely, doctrine; and there can be no doubt that he speaks of outward preaching, for he expressly mentions the word, which they had heard from his mouth. Not that the word proceeding from the mouth of a man has so great efficacy, but, so far as Christ works in the heart by the Spirit, the word itself is the instrument of cleansing Yet Christ does not mean that the apostles are pure from all sin, but he holds out to them their experience, that they may learn from it that the continuance of grace is absolutely necessary. Besides, he commends to them the doctrine of the gospel from the fruit which it produces, that they may be more powerfully excited to meditate on it continually, since it resembles the vine-dresser’s knife to take away what is useless.

4. Abide in me. He again exhorts them to be earnest and careful in keeping the grace which they had received, for the carelessness of the flesh can never be sufficiently aroused. And, indeed, Christ has no other object in view than to keep us

as a hen keepeth her chickens under her wings, (Matthew 23:37)

lest our indifference should carry us away, and make us fly to our destruction. In order to prove that he did not begin the work of our salvation for the purpose of leaving it imperfect in the middle of the course, he promises that his Spirit will always be efficacious in us, if we do not prevent him. Abide in me, says he; for I am ready to abide in you And again, He who abideth in me beareth much fruit. By these words he declares that all who have a living root in him are fruit-bearing branches

5. Without me you can do nothing. This is the conclusion and application of the whole parable. So long as we are separate from him, we bear no fruit that is good and acceptable to God, for we are unable to do anything good. The Papists not only extenuate this statement, but destroy its substance, and, indeed, they altogether evade it; for, though in words they acknowledge that we can do nothing without Christ, yet they foolishly imagine that they possess some power, which is not sufficient in itself, but, being aided by the grace of God, co-operates (as they say,) that is, works along with it; “Cooperent, (comme ils disent,) c’est a dire, besongne avec icelle.” for they cannot endure that man should be so much annihilated as to do nothing of himself. But these words of Christ are too plain to be evaded so easily as they suppose. The doctrine invented by the Papists is, that we can do nothing without Christ, but that, aided by him, we have something of ourselves in addition to his grace. But Christ, on the other hand, declares that we can do nothing of ourselves. The branch, he says, beareth not fruit of itself; and, therefore, he not only extols the aid of his co-operating grace, but deprives us entirely of all power but what he imparts to us. Accordingly, this phrase, without me, must be explained as meaning, except from me.

Next follows another sophism; for they allege that the branch has something from nature, for if another branch, which is not fruit-bearing, be engrafted in the vine, it will produce nothing. But this is easily answered; for Christ does not explain what the branch has naturally, before it become united to the vine, but rather means that we begin to become branches at the time when we are united to him. And, indeed, Scripture elsewhere shows that, before we are in him, we are dry and useless wood.

6. If any one abide not in me. He again lays before them the punishment of ingratitude, and, by doing so, excites and urges them to perseverance. It is indeed the gift of God, but the exhortation to fear is not uncalled for, lest our flesh, through too great indulgence, should root us out.

He is cast out, and withered, like a branch. Those who are cut off from Christ are said to wither like a dead branch; because, as the commencement of strength is from him, so also is its uninterrupted continuance. Not that it ever happens that any one of the elect is dried up, but because there are many hypocrites who, in outward appearance, flourish and are green for a time, but who afterwards, when they ought to yield fruit, show the very opposite of that which the Lord expects and demands from his people. “Lesquels puls apres quand il faut rendre le fruict, monstrent tout le contraire de ce que le Seigneur attend et requicrt des siens.”

John 15:7-11

7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, “Demandez tout ce que vous voudrez;” — “ask whatever you will.” and it shall be done for you. 8. In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and become my disciples. 9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. 10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, as I also have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may abide in you, and that your joy may be full.

7. If you abide in me. Believers often feel that they are starved, and are very far from that rich fatness which is necessary for yielding abundant fruit. For this reason it is expressly added, whatever those who are in Christ may need, there is a remedy provided for their poverty, as soon as they ask it from God. This is a very useful admonition; for the Lord often suffers us to hunger, in order to train us to earnestness in prayer. But if we fly to him, we shall never want what we ask, but, out of his inexhaustible abundance, he will supply us with every thing that we need, (1 Corinthians 1:5.)

If my words abide in you. He means that we take root in him by faith; for as soon as we have departed from the doctrine of the Gospel, we seek Christ separately from himself. When he promises that he will grant whatever we wish, he does not give us leave to form wishes according to our own fancy. God would do what was ill fitted to promote our welfare, if he were so indulgent and so ready to yield to us; for we know well that men often indulge in foolish and extravagant desires. But here he limits the wishes of his people to the rule of praying in a right manner, and that rule subjects, to the good pleasure of God, all our affections. This is confirmed by the connection in which the words stand; for he means that his people will or desire not riches, or honors, or any thing of that nature, which the flesh foolishly desires, but the vital sap of the Holy Spirit, Which enables them to bear fruit.

8. In this my Father is glorified This is a confirmation of the former statement; for he shows that we ought not to doubt that God will listen to the prayers of his people, when they desire to be rendered fruitful; for this contributes very greatly to his glory. But by this end or effect he likewise kindles in them the desire of doing good; for there is nothing which we ought to value more highly than that the name of God may be glorified by us. To the same effect is the latter clause, that you may become my disciples; for he declares that he has no one in his flock who does not bear fruit to the glory of God.

9. As the Father hath loved me. He intended to express something far greater than is commonly supposed; for they who think that he now speaks of the sacred love of God the Father, which he always had towards the Son, philosophize away from the subject; for it was rather the design of Christ to lay, as it were, in our bosom a sure pledge of God’s love towards us. That abstruse inquiry, as to the manner in which the Father always loved himself in the Son, has nothing to do with the present passage. But the love which is here mentioned must be understood as referring to us, because Christ testifies that the Father loves him, as he is the Head of the Church. And this is highly necessary for us; for he who without a Mediator, inquires how he is loved by God, involves him in a labyrinth, in which he will neither discover the entrance, nor the means of extricating himself. We ought therefore to cast our eyes on Christ, in whom will be found the testimony and pledge of the love of God; for the love of God was fully poured out on him, that from him it might flow to his members. He is distinguished by this title, that he is the beloved Son, in whom the will of the Father is satisfied, (Matthew 3:17.) But we ought to observe the end, which is, that God may accept us in him. So, then, we may contemplate in him, as in a mirror, God’s paternal love towards us all; because he is not loved apart, or for his own private advantage, but that he may unite us with him to the Father.

Abide in my love. Some explain this to mean, that Christ demands from his disciples mutual love; but others explain it better, who understand it to mean the love of Christ towards us. He means that we should continually enjoy that love with which he once loved us, and, therefore, that we ought to take care not to deprive ourselves of it; for many reject the grace which is offered to them, and many throw away what they once had in their hands. So, then, since we have been once received into the grace of Christ, we must see that we do not fall from it through our own fault.

The conclusion which some draw from these words, that there is no efficacy in the grace of God. unless it be aided by our steadfastness, is frivolous. For I do not admit that the Spirit demands from us no more than what is in our own power, but he shows us what we ought to do, that, if our strength be deficient, we may seek it from some other quarter. In like manner, when Christ exhorts us, in this passage, to perseverance, we must; not rely on our own strength and industry, but we ought to pray to him who commands us, that he would confirm us in his love.

10. If you keep my commandments. He points out to us the method of perseverance. his, to follow where he calls, for, as Paul says,

They who are in Christ walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, (Romans 8:1.)

For these two things are continually united, that faith which perceives the undeserved love of Christ toward us, and a good conscience and newness of life. And, indeed, Christ does not reconcile believers to the Father, that they may indulge in wickedness without reserve, and without punishment; but that, governing them by his Spirit, he may keep them under the authority and dominion of his Father. Hence it follows, that the love of Christ is rejected by those who do not prove, by true obedience, that they are his disciples.

If any one object that, in that case, the security of our salvation depends on ourselves, I reply, it is wrong to give such a meaning to Christ’s words; for the obedience which believers render to him is not the cause why he continues his love toward us, but is rather the effect of his love. For whence comes it that they answer to their calling, but because they are led by the Spirit of adoption of free grace?

But again, it may be thought that the condition imposed on us is too difficult, that we should keep the commandments of Christ, which contain the absolute perfection of righteousness, — a perfection which far exceeds our capacity, — for hence it follows, that the love of Christ will be useless, if we be not endued with angelical purity. The answer is easy; for when Christ speaks of the desire of living a good and holy life, he does not exclude what is the chief article in his doctrine, namely, that which alludes to righteousness being freely imputed, in consequence of which, through a free pardon, our duties are acceptable to God, which in themselves deserved to be rejected as imperfect and unholy. Believers, therefore, are reckoned as keeping the commandments of Christ when they apply their earnest attention to them, though they be far distant from the object at which they aim; for they are delivered from that rigorous sentence of the law,

Cursed be he that hath not confirmed all the words of this law to do them, (Deuteronomy 27:26).

As I also have kept my Father’s commandments. As we have been elected in Christ, so in him the image of our calling is exhibited to us in a lively manner; and therefore he justly holds himself out to us as a pattern, to the imitation of which all the godly ought to be conformed. “In me,” says he, “is brightly displayed the resemblance of those things which I demand from you; for you see how sincerely I am devoted to obedience to my Father, and how I persevere in this course. My Father, too, hath loved me, not for a moment, or for a short time, but his love toward me is constant.” This conformity between the Head and the members ought to be always placed before our eyes, not only that believers may form themselves after the example of Christ, but that, they may entertain a confident hope that his Spirit will every day form them anew to be better and better, that they may walk to the end in newness of life.

11. These things I have spoken to you. He adds, that his love is far from being unknown to the godly, but that it is perceived by faith, so that they enjoy blessed peace of conscience; for the joy which he mentions springs from that peace with God which is possessed by all that have been justified by free grace. As often, then, as God’s fatherly love towards us is preached, let us know that there is given to us ground for true joy, that, with peaceable consciences, we may be certain of our salvation.

My joy and your joy. It is called Christ’s joy and our joy in various respects. It is Christ’s, because it is given to us by him; for he is both the Author and the Cause of it. I say that he is the Cause of it, because we were freed from guilt, when

the chastisement of our peace was laid on him, (Isaiah 53:5.)

I call him also the Author of it, because by his Spirit he drives away dread and anxiety in our hearts, and then arises that calm cheerfulness. It is said to be ours for a different reason; because we enjoy it since it has been given to us. Now since Christ declares that he spake these things, that the disciples might have joy, we conclude from these words, that all who have duly profited by this sermon have something on which they can rest.

That my joy may abide in you. By the word abide he means, that it is not a fleeting or temporary joy of which he speaks, but a joy which never fails or passes away. Let us therefore learn that we ought to seek in the doctrine of Christ the assurance of salvation, which retains its vigor both in life and in death.

That your joy may be full. He adds, that this joy will be solid and full; not that believers will be entirely free from all sadness, but that the ground for joy will be far greater, so that no dread, no anxiety, no grief, will swallow them up; for those to whom it has been given to glory in Christ will not be prevented, either by life, or by death, or by any distresses, from bidding defiance to sadness.

John 15:12-15

12. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13. Greater love hath no one than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends. 14. You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. “Tout ce que je vous commande;” — “all that I command you.” 15. Henceforth I will not call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you all things that I have heard from my Father.

12. This is my commandment. Since it is proper that we regulate our life according to the commandment of Christ, it is necessary, first of all, that we should understand what it is that he wills or commands He now therefore repeats what he had formerly said, that it is his will, above all things, that believers should cherish mutual love among themselves. True, the love and reverence for God comes first in order, but as the true proof of it is love toward our neighbors, he dwells chiefly on this point. Besides, as he formerly held himself out for a pattern in maintaining the general doctrine, so he now holds himself out for a pattern in a particular instance; for he loved all his people, that they may love each other. Of the reason why he lays down no express rule, in this passage, about loving unbelievers, we have spoken under the former chapter.

13. Greater love hath no one than this. Christ sometimes proclaims the greatness of his love to us, that he may more fully confirm our confidence in our salvation; but now he proceeds further, in order to inflame us, by his example, to love the brethren. Yet he joins both together; for he means that we should taste by faith how inestimably delightful his goodness is, and next he allures us, in this way, to cultivate brotherly love. Thus Paul writes:

Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savor, (Ephesians 5:2.)

God might have redeemed us by a single word, or by a mere act of his will, if he had not thought it better to do otherwise for our own benefit, that, by not sparing his own well-beloved Son, he might testify in his person how much he cares for our salvation. But now our hearts, if they are not softened by the inestimable sweetness of Divine love, must be harder than stone or iron.

But a question is put. How did Christ die for friends, since

we were enemies, before he reconciled us, (Romans 5:10;)

for, by expiating our sins through the sacrifice of his death, he destroyed the enmity that was between God and us? The answer to this question will be found under the third chapter, where we said that, in reference to us, there is a state of variance between us and God, till our sins are blotted out by the death of Christ; but that the cause of this grace, which has been manifested in Christ, was the See volume 1. In this way, too, Christ laid down his life for those who were strangers, but whom, even while they were strangers, he loved, otherwise he would not have died for them.

14. You are my friends. He does not mean that we obtain so great an honor by our own merit, but only reminds them of the condition on which he receives us into favor, and deigns to reckon us among his friends; as he said a little before,

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, (John 15:10.)

For the grace of God our Savior hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and righteously, and piously, in this world, (Titus 2:11.)

But ungodly men, who, through wicked contempt of the Gospel, want only oppose Christ, renounce his friendship.

15. Henceforth I will not call you servants. By another argument he shows his love toward the disciples, which was, that he opened his mind fully to them, as familiar communication is maintained among friends. “I have condescended,” he says, “far more to you than a mortal man is wont to condescend to his servants Let this be regarded by you, therefore, as a pledge of my love toward you, that I have, in a kind and friendly manner, explained to you the secrets of heavenly wisdom which I had heard from the Father.” It is indeed a noble commendation of the Gospel, that we have the heart of Christ opened (so to speak) in it, so that we can no longer doubt of it or perceive it slightly. We have no reason for desiring to rise above the clouds, or to penetrate into the deep, (Romans 10:6, 7) to obtain the certainty of our salvation. Let us be satisfied with this testimony of his love toward us which is contained in the Gospel, for it will never deceive us. Moses said to the ancient people,

What nation under heaven is so highly favored as to have God near to them, as God talked, with you this day? (Deuteronomy 4:7.)

But far higher is the distinction which God hath conferred on us, since God hath entirely conveyed himself to us in his Son. So much the greater is the ingratitude and wickedness of those who, not satisfied with the admirable wisdom of the Gospel, fly with proud eagerness to new speculations.

All that I have heard from my Father. It is certain that the disciples did not know all that Christ knew, and indeed it was impossible that they should attain to so great a height; and because the wisdom of God is incomprehensible, he distributed to each of them a certain measure of knowledge, according as he judged to be necessary. Why then does he say that he revealed all things? I answer, this is limited to the person and office of the Mediator. He places himself between God and us, having received out of the secret sanctuary of God those things which he should deliver to us — as the phrase is — from hand to hand. Not one of those things, therefore, which related to our salvation, and which it was of importance for us to know was omitted by Christ in the instructions given to his disciples. Thus, so far as he was appointed to be the Master and Teacher of the Church, he heard nothing from the Father which he did not faithfully teach his disciples. Let us only have an humble desire and readiness to learn, and we shall feel that Paul has justly called the Gospel wisdom to make men perfect, (Colossians 1:28.)

John 15:16-21

16. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you; and I have ordained you to go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should continue; that whatever you shall ask from the Father in my name he may give you. 17. These things I command you, that you may love another. 18. If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love what was its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20. Remember the word which I said 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. 21. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they know not him who sent me.

16. You have not chosen me. He declares still more clearly that it must not be ascribed to their own merit, but to his grace, that they have arrived at so great an honor; for when he says that he was not chosen by them, it is as if he had said, that whatever they have they did not obtain by their own skill or industry. Men commonly imagine some kind of concurrence to take place between the grace of God and the will of man; but that contrast, I chose you, I was not chosen by you, claims, exclusively, for Christ alone what is usually divided between Christ and man; as if he had said, that a man is not moved of his own accord to seek Christ, until he has been sought by him.

True, the subject now in hand is not the ordinary election of believers, by which they are adopted to be the children of God, but that special election, by which he set apart his disciples to the office of preaching the Gospel. But if it was by free gift, and not by their own merit, that they were chosen to the apostolic office, much more is it certain that the election, by which, from being the children of wrath and an accursed seed, we become the children of God, is of free grace. Besides, in this passage Christ magnifies his grace, by which they had been chosen to be Apostles, so as to join with it that former election by which they had been engrafted into the body of the Church; or rather, he includes in these words all the dignity and honor which he had conferred on them. Yet I acknowledge that Christ treats expressly of the apostleship; for his design is, to excite the disciples to execute their office diligently and faithfully. “Diligemment et fidelement.”

He takes, as the ground of his exhortation, the undeserved favor which he had bestowed on them; for the greater our obligations to the Lord, the more earnest ought we to be in performing the duties which he demands from us; otherwise it will be impossible for us to avoid the charge of base ingratitude. Hence it appears that there is nothing which ought more powerfully to kindle in us the desire of a holy and religious life, than when we acknowledge that we owe every thing to God, and that we have nothing that is our own; that both the commencement of our salvation, and all the parts which follow from it, flow from his undeserved mercy. Besides, how true this statement of Christ is, may be clearly perceived from the fact, that Christ chose to be his apostles those who might have been thought to be the most unfit of all for the office; though in their person he intended to preserve an enduring monument of his grace. For, as Paul says, (1 Corinthians 2:16,) who among men shall be found fit for discharging the embassy by which God reconciles mankind to himself? Or rather, what mortal is able to represent the person of God? It is Christ alone who makes them fit by his election. Thus Paul ascribes his apostleship to grace, (Romans 1:5,) and again mentions that

he had been separated from his mother’s womb, (Galatians 1:15.)

Nay more, since we are altogether useless servants, those who appear to be the most excellent of all will not be fit for the smallest calling, till they have been chosen. Yet the higher the degree of honor to which any one has been raised, let him remember that he is under the deeper obligations to God.

And I have appointed you. The election is hidden till it is actually made known, when a man receives an office to which he had been appointed; as Paul, in the passage which I quoted a little ago, where he says that he had been separated from his mother’s womb, adds, that he was created an apostle, because it so pleased God His words are:

When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, (Galatians 1:15.)

Thus also the Lord testifies that he knew Jeremiah before he was in his mother’s womb, (Jeremiah 1:5,) though he calls him to the prophetical office at the proper and appointed time. It may happen, no doubt, that one who is duly qualified enters into the office of teaching; or rather, it usually happens in the Church that no one is called till he be endued and furnished with the necessary qualifications. That Christ declares himself to be the Author of both is not wonderful; since it is only by him that God acts, and he acts along with the Father. So then, both election and ordination belong equally to both.

That you may go. He now points out the reason why he mentioned his grace. It was, to make them apply more earnestly to the work. The apostleship was not a place of honor without toil, but they had to contend with very great difficulties; and therefore Christ encourages them not to shrink from labors, and annoyances, and dangers. This argument is drawn from the end which they ought to have in view; but Christ reasons from the effect, when he says,

That you may bear fruit; for it is hardly possible that any one would devote himself earnestly and diligently to the work, if he did not expect that the labor would bring some advantage. Christ, therefore, declares that their efforts will not be useless or unsuccessful, provided that they are ready to obey and follow when he calls them. “A obeir et suyvre ou il les appellcra.” For he not only enjoins on the apostles what their calling involves and demands, but promises to them also prosperity and success, that they may not be cold or indifferent. It is hardly possible to tell how great is the value of this consolation against those numerous temptations which daily befall the ministers of Christ. Whenever, then, we see that we are losing our pains, let us call to remembrance that Christ will, at length, prevent our exertions from being vain or unproductive; for the chief accomplishment of this promise is at the very time when there is no appearance of fruit. Scorners, and those whom the world looks upon as wise men, ridicule our attempts as foolish, and tell us that it is in vain for us to attempt to mingle heaven and earth; because the fruit does not yet correspond to our wishes. But since Christ, on the contrary, has promised that the happy result, though concealed for a time, will follow, let us labor diligently in the discharge of our duty amidst the mockeries of the world.

And that your fruit may abide. A question now arises, why does Christ say that this fruit will be perpetual? As the doctrine of the Gospel obtains souls to Christ for eternal salvation, many think that this is the perpetuity of the fruit But I extend the statement much farther, as meaning that the Church will last to the very end of the world; for the labor of the apostles yields fruit even in the present day, and our preaching is not for a single age only, but will enlarge the Church, so that new fruit will be seen to spring up after our death.

When he says, your fruit, he speaks as if it had been obtained by their own industry, though Paul teaches that they who plant or water are nothing, (1 Corinthians 3:7.) And, indeed, the formation of the Church is so excellent a work of God, that the glory of it ought not to be ascribed to men. But as the Lord displays his power by the agency of men, that they may not labor in vain, he is wont to transfer to them even that which belongs peculiarly to himself. Yet let us remember that, when he so graciously commends his disciples, it is to encourage, and not to puff them up.

That your Father may give you all that you ask in my name. This clause was not added abruptly, as many might suppose; for, since the office of teaching far exceeds the power of men, there are added to it innumerable attacks of Satan, which never could be warded off but by the power of God. That the apostles may not be discouraged, Christ meets them with the most valuable aid; as if he had said, “If the work assigned to you be so great that you are unable to fulfill the duties of your office, my Father will not forsake you; for I have appointed you to be ministers of the Gospel on this condition, that my Father will have his hand stretched out to assist you, whenever you pray to him, in my name, to grant you assistance.” And, indeed, that the greater part of teachers either languish through indolence, or utterly give way through despair, arises from nothing else than that they are sluggish in the duty of prayer.

This promise of Christ, therefore, arouses us to call upon God; for whoever acknowledges that the success of his work depends on God alone, will offer his labor to him with fear and trembling. On the other hand, if any one, relying on his own industry, disregard the assistance of God, he will either throw away his spear and shield, when he comes to the trial, or he will be busily employed, but without any advantage. Now, we must here guard against two faults, pride and distrust; for, as the assistance of God is fearlessly disregarded by those who think that the matter is already in their own power, so many yield to difficulties, because they do not consider that they fight through the power and protection of God, under whose banner they go forth to war.

17. These things I command you. This too, was appropriately added, that the Apostles might know that mutual love among ministers is demanded above all things, that they may be employed, with one accord, in building up the Church of God; for there is no greater hindrance than when every one labors apart, and when all do not direct their exertions to the common good. If, then, ministers do not maintain brotherly intercourse with each other, they may possibly erect some large heaps, but latterly disjointed and confused; and, all the while, there will be no building of a Church.

18. If the world hate you. After having armed the Apostles for the battle, Christ exhorts them likewise to patience; for the Gospel cannot be published without instantly driving the world to rage. Consequently, it will never be possible for godly teachers to avoid the hatred of the world. Christ gives them early information of this, that they may not be instances of what usually happens to raw recruits, who, from wont of experience, are valiant before they have seen their enemies, but who tremble as soon as the battle is commenced. And not only does Christ forewarn his disciples, that nothing may happen to them which is new and unexpected, but likewise confirms them by his example; for it is not reasonable that Christ should be hated by the world, and that we, who represent his person, should have the world on our side, which is always like itself.

You know. I have translated the verb γινώσκετε in the indicative mood, you know; but if any one prefer to translate it in the imperative mood, know ye, I have no objection, for it makes no change in the meaning. There is greater difficulty in the phrase which immediately follows, πρῶτον ὑμῶν, before you; for when he says that he is before the disciples, this may be referred either to time or to rank The former exposition has been more generally received, namely, that Christ was hated by the world before the Apostles were hated But I prefer the second exposition, namely, that Christ, who is far exalted above them, was not exempted from the hatred of the world, and therefore his ministers ought not to refuse the same condition; for the phraseology is the same as that which we have seen twice before, in John 1:27 and 30, He who cometh after me is preferred to me, (ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν,) for he was before me

19. If you were of the world. This is another consolation, that the reason why they are hated by the world is, that they have been separated from it. Now, this is their true happiness and glory, for in this manner they have been rescued from destruction.

But I have chosen you out of the world. To choose means here to separate Now, if they were chosen out of the world, it follows that they were a part of the world, and that it is only by the mercy of God that they are distinguished from the rest who perish. Again, by the term, the world, Christ describes, in this passage, all who have not been regenerated by the Spirit of God; for he contrasts the Church with the world, as we shall see more fully under the seventeenth chapter. And yet this doctrine does not contradict the exhortation of Paul,

Be at peace with all men, as far as lieth in you, (Romans 12:18;)

for the exception which he adds amounts to saying, that we ought to see what is right and proper for us to do that no man, by seeking to please the world, may give himself up to its corruptions.

But there is still another objection that may be urged; for we see that it commonly happens that wicked men, who are of the world, are not only hated, but accursed by others. In this respect, certainly, the world loveth not what is its own. I reply, earthly men, who are regulated by the perception of their flesh, never have a true hatred of sin, but only so far as they are affected by the consideration of their own convenience or injury. And yet the intention of Christ was not to deny that the world foams and rages within itself by internal quarrels. He only intended to show, that the world hates nothing in believers but what is of God. And hence, too, it plainly appears how foolish are the dreams of the Anabaptists, who conclude, from this single argument that they are the servants of God, because they displease the greater part of men. For it is easy to reply, that many who are of the world favor their doctrine, because they are delighted at the thought of having every thing in shameful confusion; while many who are out of the world hate it, because they are desirous that the good order of the state should remain unbroken.

20. Remember the word. It might also be read in the indicative mood, You remember the word, and the meaning is not very different; but I think that it is more suitable to read it in the imperative mood, Remember the word. It is a confirmation of what Christ had spoken immediately before, when he said that he was hated by the world, though he was far more excellent than his disciples; for it is unreasonable that the condition of the servant should be better than that of his master Having spoken of persons, he likewise makes mention of doctrine.

If they have heard my word, they will keep yours also. Nothing gives greater uneasiness to the godly than when they see the doctrine, which is of God, haughtily despised by men; for it is truly shocking and dreadful, and the sight of it might shake the stoutest heart. But when we remember on the other hand, that not less obstinate resistance was manifested against the Son of God himself, we need not wonder that the doctrine of God is so little reverenced among men. When he calls it his doctrine and their doctrine, this refers to the ministry. Christ is the only Teacher of the Church; but he intended that his doctrine, of which he had been the first Teacher, should be afterwards preached by the apostles.

21. But all these things they will do to you. As the fury of the world is monstrous, when it is so enraged against the doctrine of its own salvation, Christ assigns the reason to be, that it is hurried on by blind ignorance to its own destruction; for no man would deliberately engage in battle against God. It is blindness and ignorance of God, therefore, that hurries on the world, so that it does not hesitate to make war with Christ. We ought, then, always to observe the cause of this conduct, and the true consolation consists in nothing else than the testimony of a good conscience. It should also excite gratitude in our minds, that, while the world perishes in its blindness, God hath given to us his light. Yet let it be understood that hatred of Christ arises from stupidity of mind, when God is not known; for, as I have often said, unbelief is blind; not that wicked men do not understand or know anything, but because all the knowledge that they have is confused, and quickly vanishes away. On this subject I have elsewhere treated more largely.

John 15:22-27

22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23. He who hateth me hateth my Father also. 24. If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25. But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law. They have hated me without a cause. 26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, will testify of me: 27. And you also will bear testimony, (or, are witnesses) because from the beginning you are with me.

22. If I had not come. He had said that the Jews regarded the Gospel with hatred, because they did not know God. Lest any one should think that this tended to alleviate their guilt, he adds, that it is through malice that they are blind, just as if one were to shut his eyes, that he might not be compelled to see the light. For otherwise it might have been brought as an objection against Christ. “If they do not know thy Father, how comes it that thou dost not cure their ignorance? Why didst thou not at least make trial whether they were altogether incapable of being taught, or not?” He replies, that he has performed the duty of a good and faithful Teacher, but without success, because their malice would not suffer them to acquire soundness of mind. In the person of those men he intended to strike terror into all who reject the truth of God, when it is offered to them, or intentionally fight against it, when it is known. And though a dreadful vengeance awaits them, still Christ, in this passage, looks chiefly to his own disciples, to animate them by the confident and well-grounded expectation of victory, lest, at any time, they should yield to the malice of wicked men; for when we learn that such will be the issue, we may already triumph, as if we were in the midst of the battle.

They would not have sin. It may be thought that Christ intended by these words to say, that there is no other sin but unbelief; and there are some who think so. Augustine speaks more soberly, but he approaches to that opinion; for, since faith forgives and blots out all sins, he says, that the only sin that damns a man is unbelief. This is true, for unbelief not only hinders men from being delivered from the condemnation of death, but is the source and cause of all evils. But the whole of that reasoning is inapplicable to the present passage; for the word sin is not taken in a general sense, but as related to the subject which is now under consideration; as if Christ had said, that their ignorance is utterly inexcusable, because in his person they maliciously rejected God; just as if we were to pronounce a person to be innocent, just, and pure, when we wished merely to acquit him of a single crime of which he had been accused. Christ’s acquittal of them, therefore, is confined to one kind of sin, because it takes away from the Jews every pretense of ignorance in this sin, “En ce peche.” of despising and hating the Gospel.

But there is still another question that arises: “Was not unbelief sufficient to condemn men before the coming of Christ?” There are fanatics who reason inconclusively from this passage, that all who died before the coming of Christ died without faith, and remained in a state of doubt and suspense till Christ manifested himself to them; as if there were not many passages of Scripture which testify that their conscience alone was sufficient to condemn them. Death, says Paul, reigned in the world even to Moses, (Romans 5:14.) And again he declares, that

they who have sinned without law shall perish without law, (Romans 2:12.)

What, then, does Christ mean? There is undoubtedly an admission made in these words, by which he means that the Jews have nothing more to offer in extenuation of their guilt, since they knowingly and willfully rejected the life which was offered to them. Thus the excuse which he makes for them does not free them from all blame, but only extenuates the heinousness of their crime, according to that saying, The servant, who knoweth the will of his master, and despiseth it, shall be severely punished? The Author quotes, as he often does, from memory; but the passage stands thus:

“That servant, who knew his master’s will, and did not make himself ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes, (Luke 12:47.)

— Ed. For it was not the intention of Christ here to promise pardon to any, but to hold his enemies convicted, who had obstinately rejected the grace of God, that it might be fully evident that they were unworthy of all pardon and mercy.

If I had not come and SPOKEN TO THEM. It ought to be observed, that he does not speak of his coming, as viewed by itself, but as connected with his doctrine, for they would not have been held guilty of so great a crime on account of his bodily presence alone, but the contempt of the doctrine made them utterly inexcusable.

23. He who hateth me hateth my Father also. This is a remarkable passage, which teaches us that no man can hate the doctrine of the Gospel without manifesting his impiety against God. There are many, indeed, who profess differently in words; for, though they abhor the Gospel, still they wish to be thought very good servants of God; but it is false, for a contempt of God is concealed within. In this manner Christ discovers the hypocrisy of many by the light of his doctrine; and on this subject we have spoken more largely under that passage,

Whosoever doeth what is evil hateth the light See vol. 1, p. 128. (John 3:20,)

and under that passage,

He who honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father, See vol. 1, p. 199.

(John 5:23.)

24. If I had not done among them the works Under the word works he includes, in my opinion, all the proofs which he gave of his Divine glory; for by miracles, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, and by other demonstrations, he clearly proved that he was the Son of God, so that in him was plainly seen the majesty of the Only-begotten Son, as we have seen under John 1:14 See vol. 1, p. 47. It is commonly objected, that he did not perform more miracles or greater miracles than Moses and the Prophets. The answer is well known, that Christ is more eminent in miracles in this respect, that he was not merely a minister, like the rest, but was strictly the Author of them; for he employed his own name, his own authority, and his own power, in performing miracles. But, as I have said, he includes in general all the testimonies of heavenly and spiritual power by which his Divinity was displayed.

They have seen and hated. He concludes that his enemies cannot escape by any shifts to which they may have recourse, since they despised his power, which evidently was altogether Divine; for God had openly manifested his Divinity in the Son; and therefore it would serve no purpose for them to say that they had only to do with a mortal man. This passage reminds us to consider attentively the works of God, in which, by displaying his power, he wishes us to render the honor which is due to him. Hence it follows, that all who obscure the gifts of God, or who contemptuously overlook them, are ungrateful to God, and malicious.

25. But that the word may be fulfilled. What is contrary to nature appears to be incredible. But nothing is more contrary to reason than to hate God; and, therefore, Christ says that so great was the malice with which their minds were envenomed, that they hated him without a cause Christ quotes a passage from Psalm 35:19, which, he says, is now fulfilled Not that the same thing did not happen, formerly, to David, but to reprove the obstinate malice of the nation, which reigned perpetually from age to age, being continued from grandfathers to grandchildren in unbroken succession; as if he had said, that they were in no respect better than their fathers, who hated David without a cause.

Which is written in their Law. By the word Law, he means the Psalms; for the whole doctrine of the Prophets was nothing else than an appendage to the Law; and we know that the ministry of Moses lasted till the time of Christ. He calls it their Law, not as an expression of respect for them, but to wound them more deeply by a designation which was well known among them; as if he had said, “They have a Law transmitted to them by hereditary right, in which they see their morals painted to the life.”

26. But when the Comforter is come. After having explained to the apostles that the Gospel ought not to be less highly valued by them, because it has many adversaries, even within the Church itself; Christ now, in opposition to the wicked fury of those men, produces the testimony of the Spirit, and if their consciences rest on this testimony, they will never be shaken; as if he had said, “True, the world will rage against you; some will mock, and others will curse your doctrine; but none of their attacks will be so violent as to shake the firmness of your faith, when the Holy Spirit shall have been given to you to establish you by his testimony.” And, indeed, when the world rages on all sides, our only protection is, that the truth of God, scaled by the Holy Spirit on our hearts, despises and defies all that is in the world; for, if it were subject to the opinions of men, our faith would be overwhelmed a hundred times in a day.

We ought, therefore, to observe carefully in what manner we ought to remain firm among so many storms. It is because

we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which have been given to us by God, (1 Corinthians 2:12.)

This single witness powerfully drives away, scatters, and overturns, all that the world rears up to obscure or crush the truth of God. All who are endued with this Spirit are so far from being in danger of falling into despondency on account of the hatred or contempt of the world, that every one of them will obtain glorious victory over the whole world. Yet we must beware of relying on the good opinion of men; for so long as faith shall wonder in this manner, or rather, as soon as it shall have gone out of the sanctuary of God, it must become involved in miserable uncertainty. It must, therefore, be brought back to the inward and secret testimony of the Spirit, which, believers know, has been given to them from heaven.

The Spirit is said to testify of Christ, because he retains and fixes our faith on him alone, that we may not seek elsewhere any part of our salvation. He calls him also the Comforter, that, relying on his protection, we may never be alarmed; for by this title Christ intended to fortify our faith, that it may not yield to any temptations. When he calls him the Spirit of truth, we must apply the term to the matter in hand; for we must presuppose a contrast to this effect, that, when they have not this Witness, men are carried about in various ways, and have no firm resting-place, but, wherever he speaks, he delivers the minds of men from all doubt and fear of being deceived.

When he says that he will send him from the Father, and, again, that he proceedeth from the Father, he does so in order to increase the weight of his authority; for the testimony of the Spirit would not be sufficient against attacks so powerful, and against efforts so numerous and fierce, if we were not convinced that he proceedeth from God So then it is Christ who sends the Spirit, but it is from the heavenly glory, that we may know that it is not a gift of men, but a sure pledge of Divine grace. Hence it appears how idle was the subtlety of the Greeks, when they argued, on the ground of these words, that the Spirit does not proceed from the Son; for here Christ, according to his custom, mentions the Father in order to raise our eyes to the contemplation of his Divinity.

27. And you also bear testimony. Christ means that the testimony of the Spirit will not be of such a nature that the apostles shall have it for their private advantage, or that they alone shall enjoy it, but that by them it will be widely diffused, because they will be organs of the Holy Spirit, as indeed, he spoke by their mouth. We now see in what way faith is by hearing, (Romans 10:17,) and yet it derives its certainty from the seal and earnest of the Spirit, (Ephesians 1:13, 14.) Those who do not sufficiently know the darkness of the human mind imagine that faith is formed naturally by hearing and preaching alone; “De la seule ouye et predication.” and there are many fanatics who disdain the outward preaching, and talk in lofty terms about secret revelations and inspirations, (ἐνθουσιασμοὺς) But we see how Christ joins these two things together; and, therefore, though there is no faith till the Spirit of God seal our minds and hearts, still we must not go to seek visions or oracles in the clouds; but the word,

which is near us, in our mouth and heart, (Romans 10:8,)

must keep all our senses bound and fixed on itself, as Isaiah says beautifully:

My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever, (Isaiah 59:21.)

Because you are with me from the beginning. This clause was added in order to inform us that so much the greater credit is due to the apostles on this ground, that they were eye-witnesses of what they relate; as John says,

what we have heard, what we have seen, what our hands have handled, we declare to you; (1 John 1:1)

for thus the Lord intended to provide for our welfare in every possible way, that nothing might be wanting for a full confirmation of the Gospel.

CHAPTER 16

John 16:1-7

1. These things I have spoken to you, that you may not be offended. 2. They will drive you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever shall kill you will think that he offereth service to God. 3. And they will do these things to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4. But these things I have spoken to you, that, when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And I told you not these things at the beginning, because I was with you. 5. And now I go to him who sent me, and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6. But because I have told you these things, sorrow hath filled your hearts. 7. But I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but shall go away, I will send him to you.

CHAPTER 15

Joh 15:1-27. Discourse at the Supper Table Continued.

1-8. The spiritual oneness of Christ and His people, and His relation to them as the Source of all their spiritual life and fruitfulness, are here beautifully set forth by a figure familiar to Jewish ears (Is 5:1, &c.).

I am the true vine--of whom the vine of nature is but a shadow.

my Father is the husbandman--the great Proprietor of the vineyard, the Lord of the spiritual kingdom. (It is surely unnecessary to point out the claim to supreme divinity involved in this).

9-11. continue ye in my love--not, "Continue to love Me," but, "Continue in the possession and enjoyment of My love to you"; as is evident from the next words.

12-16. That ye love one another, &c.--(See on Joh 13:34, 35).

17-21. The substance of these important verses has occurred more than once before. (See on Mt 10:34-36; Lu 12:49-53, &c.).

22-25. (See on Joh 9:39-41).

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin--comparatively none; all other sins being light compared with the rejection of the Son of God.

now they have no cloak for their sin--rather, "pretext."

26-27. (See on Joh 14:15; Joh 14:17).

I am the true vine - Perhaps the vines which they met with, on their road from Bethany to Gethsemane, might have given rise to this discourse. Some of the disciples were probably making remarks on the different kinds of them, and our Lord took the opportunity of improving the conversation, according to his usual manner, to the instruction of their souls. He might here term himself the true vine, or vine of the right sort, in opposition to the wild and barren vine. Some MSS. and several of the fathers read the verse thus: I am the true vine, ye are the branches, and my Father is the husbandman. Some think that, as this discourse followed the celebration of the Eucharist, our Lord took occasion from the fruit of the vine, used in that ordinance, to introduce this similitude.

Every branch in me - I stand in the same relation to my followers, and they to me, as the vine to the branches, and the branches to the vine.

He taketh away - As the vine-dresser will remove every unfruitful branch from the vine, so will my Father remove every unfruitful member from my mystical body - such as Judas, the unbelieving Jews, the apostatizing disciples, and all false and merely nominal Christians, who are attached to the vine by faith in the word and Divine mission of Christ, while they live not in his life and Spirit, and bring forth no fruit to the glory of God; and also every branch which has been in him by true faith - such as have given way to iniquity, and made shipwreck of their faith and of their good conscience: all these he taketh away.

He purgeth it - He pruneth. The branch which bears not fruit, the husbandman αερει αυτο, taketh It away; but the branch that beareth fruit, καθαιρει αυτο, he taketh away From it, i.e. he prunes away excrescences, and removes every thing that might hinder its increasing fruitfulness. The verb καθαιρω; from κατα, intens. and αιρω, I take away, signifies ordinarily to cleanse, purge, purify, but is certainly to be taken in the sense of pruning, or cutting off, in this text, as the verb purgare is used by Horace, Epist. lib. i. ep. vii. v. 51.

Cultello proprios purgantem leniter ungues. "Composedly Paring his own nails with a penknife."

He who brings forth fruit to God's glory, according to his light and power, will have the hinderances taken away from his heart; for his very thoughts shall be cleansed by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

Now ye are clean - Καθαροι εστε, Ye are pruned. As our Lord has not changed the metaphor, it would be wrong to change the expression.

Through the word - Δια τον λογον, Through that word - that doctrine of holiness which I have incessantly preached unto you, and which ye have received. Perhaps our Lord more immediately refers here to the words which he had spoken concerning Judas, Joh 13:21-30, in consequence of which Judas went out and finished his bargain with the chief priests; he being gone off, the body of the apostles was purified; and thus he might say, Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me - Hold fast faith and a good conscience; and let no trials turn you aside from the truth. And I will abide in you - ye shall receive every help and influence from me that your souls can require, in order to preserve and save them to eternal life.

These two things are absolutely necessary to our salvation:

1. That we continue closely united to Christ by faith and love, and live in and to him.

2. That we continually receive from him the power to do good; for as the branch, however good in itself, cannot bear fruit from itself, through its own juice, which it has already derived from the tree, and can be no longer supported than it continues in union with the parent stock, neither can ye, unless ye abide in me. As the branch partakes of the nature of the tree, is nourished by its juice, and lives by its life, so ye must be made partakers of my Divine nature, be wise in my wisdom, powerful in my might, and pure through my holiness.

Without me ye can do nothing - Χωρις εμου ου δυνασθε ποιειν ουδεν - Separated from me, ye can do nothing at all. God can do without man, but man cannot do without God. Following the metaphor of our Lord, it would be just as possible to do any good without him, as for a branch to live, thrive, and bring forth fruit, while cut off from that tree from which it not only derives its juices, but its very existence also.

Nearly similar to this saying of our Lord, is that of Creeshna (the incarnate God of the Hindoos) to his disciple Arjoon: "God is the gift of charity; God is the offering: God is the fire of the altar; by God the sacrifice is performed; and God is to be obtained by him who maketh God alone the object of his works." And again: "I am the sacrifice; I am the worship; I am the spices; I am the invocation; I am the fire; and I am the victim. I am the Father and Mother of this world, and the Preserver. I am the Holy One, worthy to be known; the mystic figure Om; (see on Joh 1:14 (note)) I am the journey of the good; the Comforter; the Creator; the Witness; the resting-place; the asylum, and the Friend. I am the place of all things; and the inexhaustible seed of nature; I am sunshine, and I am rain; I now draw in, and now let forth." See Bhagvat Geeta, pp. 54 and 80. Could such sentiments as these ever come from any other source than Divine revelation? There is a saying in Theophilus very similar to one of those above: Θεος ου χωρειται, αλλα αυτος εστι τοπος των ὁλων. - God is not comprehended, but he is the place of all things.

If a man abide not in me - Our Lord in the plainest manner intimates that a person may as truly be united to him as the branch is to the tree that produces it, and yet be afterwards cut off and cast into the fire; because he has not brought forth fruit to the glory of his God. No man can cut off a branch from a tree to which that branch was never united: it is absurd, and contrary to the letter and spirit of the metaphor, to talk of being seemingly in Christ - because this means nothing. If there was only a seeming union, there could be only a seeming excision: so the matter is just where it began; nothing is done on either side, and nothing said to any purpose.

He is cast forth - Observe, that person who abides not in Christ, in a believing loving, obedient spirit, is -

1. Cut off from Jesus, having no longer any right or title to him or to his salvation.

2. He is withered - deprived of all the influences of God's grace and Spirit; loses all his heavenly unction; becomes indifferent, cold, and dead to every holy and spiritual word and work.

3. He is gathered - becomes (through the judgment of God) again united with backsliders like himself and other workers of iniquity; and, being abandoned to his own heart and Satan, he is,

4. Cast into the fire - separated from God's people, from God himself, and from the glory of his power. And,

5. He is burned - is eternally tormented with the devil and his angels, and with all those who have lived and died in their iniquity. Reader! pray God that this may never be thy portion.

If ye abide in me, etc. - "Those," says Creeshna, "whose understandings are in him, (God), whose souls are in him, whose confidence is in him, whose asylum is in him, are by the inspired wisdom purified from all their offenses, and go from whence they shall never return." Geeta, p. 59.

Observe, in order to have influence with God, we must -

1. Be united to Christ - if ye abide in me.

2. That in order to be preserved in this union, we must have our lives regulated by the doctrine of Christ - and my words abide in you.

3. That to profit by this union and doctrine, we must pray - ye shall ask.

4. That every heavenly blessing shall be given to those who continue in this union, with a loving, obedient, praying spirit: - ye shall ask what ye will, etc.

Herein is my Father glorified - Or, honored. It is the honor of the husbandman to have good, strong, vigorous vines, plentifully laden with fruit: so it is the honor of God to have strong, vigorous, holy children, entirely freed from sin, and perfectly filled with his love.

If ye keep my commandments, etc. - Hence we learn that it is impossible to retain a sense of God's pardoning love, without continuing in the obedience of faith.

That my joy may remain in you - That the joy which I now feel, on account of your steady, affectionate attachment to me, may be lasting, I give you both warnings and directions, that ye may abide in the faith.

That your joy might be full - Or, complete - πληρωθη, filled up: a metaphor taken from a vessel, into which water or any other thing is poured, till it is full to the brim. The religion of Christ expels all misery from the hearts of those who receive it in its fullness. It was to drive wretchedness out of the world that Jesus came into it.

Bishop Pearce, by joining εν εμοι to χαρα, and not to μεινῃ, translates the verse thus: These things have I spoken, that my joy in you may remain - which is according to the meaning given to the first clause.

That ye love one another - See on Joh 13:34 (note). So deeply was thus commandment engraved on the heart of this evangelist that St. Jerome says, lib. iii. c. 6, Com. ad Galat., that in his extreme old age, when he used to be carried to the public assemblies of the believers, his constant saying was, Little children, love one another. His disciples, wearied at last with the constant repetition of the same words, asked him, Why he constantly said the same thing? "Because (said he) it is the commandment of the Lord, and the observation of it alone is sufficient." Quia praeceptum Domini est, et, si solum fiat, sufficit.

That a man lay down his life for his friends - No man can carry his love for his friend farther than this: for, when he gives up his life, he gives up all that he has. This proof of my love for you I shall give in a few hours; and the doctrine which I recommend to you I am just going to exemplify myself. There are several remarkable cases, in heathen antiquity, where one friend offered his life for another. The two following will not stand dishonorably even in the book of God; became every thing loving and pure, in heathen, Jew, or Christian, must come from the God of love and purity.

When Cyrus had made war on the king of Armenia, and had taken him, his wife, and children, with Tigranes his son, and his wife, prisoners; treating with the old king concerning his ransom, he said, How much money wilt thou give me to have thy wife again? All that I have, replied the king. And how much wilt thou advance to enjoy thy children again? All that I can produce, answered the king. By reckoning thus, said Cyrus, you prize these at twice as much as you possess. Then, turning to Tigranes, he said, How much wilt thou give as a ransom, that thou mayest have thy wife? (Now Tigranes had been but lately married, και ὑπερφιλων την γυναικα, and loved his wife exceedingly.) He answered, I will indeed, O Cyrus, και της ψυχης πριαιμην, ransom her even with My Life, that she may be no longer in thraldom. See Xenoph. Cyrop. lib. iii. c.

The second example, which is too long to be inserted, is that affecting account of the friendship of Nisus and Euryalus, given by Virgil, in the ninth book of the Aeneis. These two friends, leagued together, had slain many of the Rutulians in a night attack: at last Euryalus was taken prisoner. Nisus, concealed in a thicket, slew several of the enemy's chiefs with his javelins: Volscens, their general, not seeing the hand by which his officers were slain, determines to wreak his vengeance upon his prisoner. Nisus, seeing his friend about to be transfixed with the sword, rushing out of the wood where he lay hidden, suddenly cries: -

Me! Me! adsum qui Feci! in Me convertite ferrum,

O Rutuli! MeA fraus omnis: - nihil Iste - nec ausus,

Nec potuit - Caelum hoc, et conscia sidera testor!

Tantum infelicem Nimium Dilexit Amicum.

Aen. lib. ix. l. 427, etc. "Me! Me! he cried, turn all your swords alone

On Me! - the fact confess'd, the fault my own.

He neither could, nor durst, the guiltless youth;

Ye moon and stars, bear witness to the truth!

His only crime (if friendship can offend)

Is too much love to his unhappy friend."

Dryden.

Those who understand the beautiful original will at once perceive that the earnestness, confusion, disorder, impatience, and burning love of the Friend, are poorly imitated in the above tame translation.

The friendship of David and Jonathan is well known: the latter cheerfully gave up his crown to his friend, though himself was every way worthy to wear it. But when all these instances of rare friendship and affection are seen, read, and admired, let the affected reader turn his astonished eyes to Jesus, pouring out his blood, not for his friends, but for his Enemies; and, in the agonies of death, making supplication for his murderers, with, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! - and then let him help exclaiming, if he can, "O Lamb of God, was ever pain,

Was ever Love like Thine!"

Henceforth I call you not servants - Which he at least indirectly had done, Joh 13:16; Mat 10:24, Mat 10:25; Luk 17:10.

I have called you friends - I have admitted you into a state of the most intimate fellowship with myself; and have made known unto you whatsoever I have heard from the Father, which, in your present circumstances, it was necessary for you to be instructed in.

Ye have not chosen me - Ye have not elected me as your Teacher: I have called you to be my disciples; witnesses and depositories of the truth. It was customary among the Jews for every person to choose his own teacher.

And ordained you - Rather, I have appointed you: the word is εθηκα, I have Put or placed you, i.e. in the vine.

Theodorus Mopsuensis, as quoted by Wetstein, observes that εθηκα is here used for εφυτευσα; (I have planted); "and, in saying this, our Lord still makes use of the metaphor of the vine; as if he had said: I have not only planted you, but I have given you the greatest benefits, causing your branches to extend every where through the habitable world."

The first ministers of the Gospel were the choice of Jesus Christ; no wonder, then, that they were so successful. Those whom men have since sent, without the appointment of God, have done no good. The choice should still continue with God, who, knowing the heart, knows best who is most proper for the Gospel ministry.

To be a genuine preacher of the Gospel, a man must -

1. Be chosen of God to the work.

2. He must be placed in the true vine - united to Christ by faith.

3. He must not think to lead an idle life, but labor.

4. He must not wait till work be brought to him, but he must go and seek it.

5. He must labor so as to bring forth fruit, i.e. to get souls converted to the Lord.

6. He must refer all his fruit to God, who gave him the power to labor, and blessed him in his work.

7. He must take care to water what he has planted, that his fruit may remain - that the souls whom he has gathered in be not scattered from the flock.

8. He must continue instant in prayer, that his labors may be accompanied with the presence and blessing of God - Whatsoever ye shall Ask.

9. He must consider Jesus Christ as the great Mediator between God and man, proclaim his salvation, and pray in his name. - Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, etc. See Quesnel.

If the world hate you - As the followers of Christ were to be exposed to the hatred of the world, it was no small consolation to them to know that that hatred would be only in proportion to their faith and holiness; and that, consequently, instead of being troubled at the prospect of persecution, they should rejoice, because that should always be a proof to them that they were in the very path in which Jesus himself had trod. Dr. Lardner thinks that πρωτον is a substantive, or at least an adjective used substantively, and this clause of the text should be translated thus: If the world hate you, know that it hated me, your Chief. It is no wonder that the world should hate you, when it hated me, your Lord and Master, whose lips were without guile, and whose conduct was irreproachable. See the doctor's vindication of this translation, Works, vol. i. p. 306.

Ye are not of the world - therefore, etc. - On this very account, because ye do not join in fellowship with those who know not God, therefore they hate you. How true is that saying: - "The laws of Christ condemn a vicious world,

And goad it to revenge!"

Gambold.

If they have kept my saying - Or, doctrine. Whosoever acknowledges me for the Christ will acknowledge you for my ministers.

Some translate the passage thus: If they have Watched my sayings, i.e. with an intent to accuse me for something which I have said, they will Watch yours also: therefore be on your guard. Παρατηρειν has this sense, as we have had occasion to observe before; and perhaps τηρειν has the same sense here, as it is much more agreeable to the context.

Because they know not him that sent me - This is the foundation of all religious persecution: those who are guilty of it, whether in Church or state, know nothing about God. If God tolerates a worship which professes to have him for its object, and which does not disturb the quiet or peace of society, no man has the smallest right to meddle with it; and he that does fights against God. His letting it pass is at least a tacit command that all should treat it as he has done.

But now they have no cloke for their sin - (margin: Or, excuse) They are without excuse. See the note on Joh 9:41. Christ had done such works as demonstrated him to be the Messiah - yet they rejected him: here lay their sin; and this sin, and the punishment to which it exposed them, still remain; for they still continue to reject the Lord that bought them.

Written in their law - See on Joh 10:34 (note). These words are taken from Psa 69:4. This psalm is applied to Christ, Joh 2:17; Joh 19:28; to the vengeance of God against Judea, Act 1:20. The psalm seems entirely prophetic of Christ. His deep abasement is referred to, Psa 69:2-5; his prayer for his disciples and followers, Psa 69:6; that for himself, in the garden of Gethsemane, Psa 69:15-19; his crucifixion, Psa 69:20-22; the vengeance of God against the Jews, from Psa 69:23-29; the glorious manner in which he gets out of all his sufferings, Psa 69:30; the abolition of the Mosaic rites and ceremonies, Psa 69:31, compared with Isa 66:3; and, finally, the establishment of the Gospel through the whole world, in Psa 69:33 and following verses. The reader will do well to consult the psalm before he proceeds.

But when the Comforter is come - See on Joh 14:16 (note).

He shall testify and ye also shall bear witness - He shall bear his testimony in your souls, and ye shall bear this testimony to the world. And so they did, by their miracles, their preaching, their writings, their lives, and by their deaths. Our Lord appears to reason thus: In every respect the unbelief of the Jews is inexcusable. They believe not my doctrine, notwithstanding its purity and holiness. They believe not in the Father who sent me, notwithstanding I have confirmed my mission by the most astonishing miracles. One thing only remains now to be done, i.e. to send them the Holy Spirit, to convince them of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and this he shall do, not only by his influence upon their hearts, but also by your words: and when they shall have resisted this Spirit, then the cup of their iniquity shall be filled up, and wrath shall come upon them to the uttermost.

But in what sense can it be said that Christ wrought more miracles than any other had done, Joh 15:24? - for Elijah and Elisha raised the dead; cured diseases; and made fire to come down from heaven. Did Christ do greater miracles than Moses did in Egypt - at the Red Sea - at the rock of Horeb, and at the rock of Kadesh? Did Christ do greater miracles than Joshua did, in the destruction of Jericho - in the passage of Jordan - in causing the sun and moon to stand still? To all this it may be answered, Christ's miracles were greater:

1. As to their number.

2. As to their utility - they were wrought to comfort the distressed, and to save the lost.

3. Christ wrought all his miracles by his own power alone; and they wrought theirs through his power only.

4. Christ wrought his numerous miracles in the space of three or four years, and in the presence of the same people; and the others mere wrought from time to time in different centuries.

Some critics have confined the whole of this chapter to the apostles of our Lord, and the work of propagating Christianity to which they had been called. The whole comment of Rosenmuller on this chapter proceeds on this plan; and at once shows how nugatory it is. What learned labor has there been in the world, to banish the spirit of Christianity from the earth, while the letter was professed to be scrupulously regarded!

1. The spiritual union spoken of by Christ is not merely necessary for his primitive disciples, but also for all who would be Christians on earth, and beatified spirits in heaven.

2. The brotherly love here inculcated is the duty and interest of every Christian soul on the face of the earth.

3. The necessity of adorning the Christian profession, by bringing forth corresponding fruits, is the duty of all who name the name of the Lord Jesus.

4. The appointment to, and preparation for, the work of the sacred ministry, must ever be primarily with Christ: for those who have no higher authority than that which they derive from man are never likely to be useful in Christianizing the world.

5. The persecution to which the apostles were exposed has been the common lot of Christians from the foundation of Christianity.

6. The consolations and influences of Christ's Spirit have not been the exclusive privileges of the apostles; they are the birthright of all the sons and daughters of God.

I am the true vine - So the true bread, John 6:32; that is, the most excellent.

Every one that beareth fruit, he purifieth - by obeying the truth, 1Pet 1:22; and by inward or outward sufferings, Heb 12:10,11. So purity and fruitfulness help each other. That it may bear more fruit - For this is one of the noblest rewards God can bestow on former acts of obedience, to make us yet more holy, and fit for farther and more eminent service.

Ye are clean - All of you, to whom I now speak, are purged from the guilt and power of sin; by the word - Which, applied by the Spirit, is the grand instrument of purifying the soul.

Abide in me - Ye who are now pure by living faith, producing all holiness; by which alone ye can be in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches - Our Lord in this whole passage speaks of no branches but such as are, or at least were once, united to him by living faith.

If any one abide not in me - By living faith; not by Church communion only. He may thus abide in Christ, and be withered all the time, and cast into the fire at last. He is cast out - Of the vineyard, the invisible Church. Therefore he was in it once.

If ye abide in me, ye shall ask - Prayers themselves are a fruit of faith, and they produce more fruit.

So shall ye be my disciples - Worthy of the name. To be a disciple of Christ is both the foundation and height of Christianity.

Abide ye in my love - Keep your place in my affection. See that ye do not forfeit that invaluable blessing. How needless a caution, if it were impossible for them not to abide therein?

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love - On these terms, and no other, ye shall remain the objects of my special affection.

That my joy might remain in you - The same joy which I feel in loving the Father, and keeping his commandments.

Your joy will be full, if ye so love one another.

Greater love - To his friends. He here speaks of them only.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you - On this condition, not otherwise. A thunderbolt for Antinomianism! Who then dares assert that God's love does not at all depend on man's works?

All things - Which might be of service to you.

Ye - My apostles, have not chosen me, but I have chosen you - As clearly appears from the sacred history: and appointed you, that ye may go and bear fruit - I have chosen and appointed you for this end, that ye may go and convert sinners: and that your fruit may remain - That the fruit of your labours may remain to the end of the world; yea, to eternity; that whatsoever ye shall ask - The consequence of your going and bearing fruit will be, that all your prayers will he heard.

Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you - Because your maxims, tempers, actions, are quite opposite to theirs. For the very same reason must the world in all ages hate those who are not of the world.

John 13:16; Mt 10:24; Lu 6:40.

All these things will they do to you, because they know not him that sent me - And in all ages and nations they who know not God will, for this cause, hate and persecute those that do.

They had not had sin - Not in this respect.

He that hateth me - As every unbeliever doth, For as the love of God is inseparable from faith, so is the hatred of God from unbelief.

Psa 69:4.

When the Comforter is come, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me - The Spirit's coming, and being sent by our Lord from the Father, to testify of him, are personal characters, and plainly distinguish him from the Father and the Son; and his title as the Spirit of truth, together with his proceeding from the Father, can agree to none but a Divine person. And that he proceeds from the Son, as well as from the Father, may be fairly argued from his being called the Spirit of Christ, 1Pet 1:11; and from his being here said to be sent by Christ from the Father, as well as sent by the Father in his name.

I Am the true vine , and my Father is the husbandman b.

Christ had but newly come from his last Supper, wherein he had sanctified the fruit of the Vine, by setting it apart, as one of the Elements in that holy Sacrament, and told them, ver. 18. of the 22d Chapter of Luke, That he would no more drink of the fruit of the Vine, until the Kingdom of God should c me. This (as some suppose) gave occasion to this Parable, or Discourse about the Vine: Others think, that in his passage from the Guest-chamber to the Mount Olivet, he saw a Vine, which gave occasion to this discourse, it being with him very ordinary to graft spiritual Discourses upon sensible Objects occasionally occurring, as Chap. 4 he raised a Discourse of living water upon the sight of the water at Iacob's Well, and the womans discourse about it; and Chap. 8. he founded another discourse concerning the bread of life, upon the Loaves that were multiplied. Whatever the occasion was (of which we can affirm nothing certainly), certain it is, that the Notion of a V[illegible: 2 letters]e, with respect to the Root and Body of it (for he calls his Disciples the Branches), excellently agreeth to Christ, whether in respect of his present low condition, and mean appearance to the World (as a Vine hath less beauty than most Plants); or in respect of its exceeding fruitfulness; or as it is the Basis and Foundation of the Branches, in which they are, and thrive, and are fruitful, which seemeth here to be chiefly intended As all the Branches are united to the Vine, in it they live, bud, bear fruit. There are Three principal things which our Saviour teacheth us by this Similitude, 1. That we have no ability to do good but from Christ. 2. That believers have a true and real Vnion with the Lord Iesus, which while they uphold by faith and holiness, they shall not want his influence upon them, nor his Father's care over them, in purging them, that they may bring forth much fruit. 3. That if any prefessing him, prove unfruitful, God will take them away; they shall wither, be cast into the fire, and burned He calls himself the true Vine, to shew them, that their fruit was not in themselves, but must be found in him; or that their fruit could not proceed from Moses, the Observance of the Ritual or Moral Law given them by him; but it must flow from their spiritual Union with him, and that influence of Grace which should flow from that Union. Or else true (as sometimes it doth in Scripture) may signifie excellent. As he compareth himself to the true Vine, by which he signifieth to us, that he is the true root and support of our spiritual life and fruit; so he compareth his Father to the Husbandman, to let us know, that his people are not onely under his, but under his Father's care, which he afterwards more particularly openeth. He also, ver. 2. compareth Believers, or Members of the Church, to Branches in a Vine.

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 .

And concerning his Father's care, he tells us, That as the good Vine-dresser cutteth off those branches in the Vine which bring forth no fruit; so his Father will take away such branches in him as bring forth no fruit. But here ariseth a Question, viz. Whether, or how any can be branches in Christ, and yet bring forth no fruit? Ans. Some say, there is no need of translating the words so, which may as well be translated, Every branch not bringing forth fruit in me. Indeed no true fruit can be brought forth but in Christ; but yet much that looks like fruit, much that men may call fruit, may be brought forth without any true spiritual Union with Christ. All acts of moral Discipline ▪ or any acts of formal Profession in Religion, may be brought forth without any true Root and Foundation in Christ; and God will in the end discover, and c[illegible: 1 letter]t o[illegible: 1 letter]f those who b[illegible: 1 letter]ing forth no other fruit. But 2dly, Men may be said to be branches in him, by a Sacramental implantation, being baptized into him, Rom. 6.3. and are hereby Members of the Visible Church, and make a visible profession of adhering to him, with respect to their own good opinion and perswasion of themselves, tho they be not so in respect of any true, spiritual, and real implantation. But those who in the la[illegible: 2 letters] sense, are not in him, bring forth no fruit unto perfection, and God will cut them off, either by withdrawing his restraining Grace, and giving them up to strong delusions to believe lies; or to a reprobate mind, and vile lusts and affections; or by taking away their gifts; or some way or other, so as they shall never have any eternal Communion with God in glory.

But if any man bringeth forth true spiritual fruit in Christ, him God the Father will purge by the [illegible: 1 word] of Christ's Blood yet further upon his Conscience, Heb 10.22. and by his holy Spirit working on [illegible: 1 letter]im like [illegible: 1 word] to purge away his dross, and like water, to p[illegible: 2 letters]g[illegible: 1 letter] away his fi[illegible: 1 letter]th; and by his Word, 1 Pet 1.22. by Faith. Acts 15.9. by Crosses, and Trials, Isaiah 1.25. and [illegible: 1 letter]7.9 that he may be more fruitful in works of Ho[illegible: 2 letters]ness and Righteo sness.

Marginal references: Matt. 15.13.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you e.

Now that the Traitor is gone out from you, ye are all clean, not by any works which you do, much less upon the account of any legal and ceremonial rites and purifyings; but through my Word, you believing and obeying, Eph. 5 26. 1 Pet. 1.22. Our cleansing is in Holy Writ attributed sometimes to the Blood of Christ, sometimes to the Spirit, sometimes to the Word By the Blood of Christ we are made clean as to Iustification; washed; but yet we had need wash our feet, contracting soil every day in a sinf[illegible: 2 letters] World, from which we are cleansed by the purifying Vertue of the Holy Spirit, working by, and together with the Word▪ which purgeth us of our dross, and maketh us obedient to the Will of God.

Marginal references: Chap. 13.10▪

4 Abide in me, and I in you : As the branch cannot bear fruit of it self, except it abide in the vine: no more can ye, except ye abide in me .

This our abiding in Christ is expounded, ver. 7. by an abiding in his words, ver. 10. by abiding in his love, an abiding in his Spirit, 1 Iohn 2.27. a walking as Christ walked, 1 Iohn 2 6. ver. 10. an abiding in the light; nor sinning, 1 Iohn 3.6. The Exhortation is without doubt to an holiness of Life and Conversation, by which our Union and Communion with Christ is upheld and maintained, and which is in it self an abiding in the love of Christ: Nor is there a want of sufficient Reason for this Exhortation, tho our Vnion with Christ cannot be dissolved, nor our Communion with him wholly interrupted, because. (1). it must be upheld and maintained on our part by the exercises of Faith and Holiness. (2). The sense of it in our souls may be eclipsed, and wholly fail, Psal. 22.1. (3). We may fall away foully, tho neither totally (as Lutherans say), because the Seed of God abideth in the Believer; nor yet finally (as Papists say). We had need therefore of all Exhortations and Arguments imaginable, to perswade us to do what in us lieth, that we may abide in him.

We have a great encouragement to the use of all possib[illegible: 1 letter]e endeavours to abide in the love of God, from the promise annexed, and I in you; that is, I will abide in you; do you strive, and I will help you to perfect; do you [illegible: 1 letter]ight, and I will help you to overcome; I will continue to you such gradual influences of Grace, as shall be sufficient for you; Grace wherein, and whereby you shall stand, Rom. 5.2,▪ You shall be kept by the power of God through faith to salvation.

But look, as it is with the Branch, it cannot bear fruit of it self; but if it be once separated from the influences of the Stock, it dies and withereth; so it will be with you; you can bring forth no fruit unless 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 k, for without me ye can do nothing .

That is, I am as the Vine, you are as the Branches; without the continual influence of the Vine upon the branches, they bring forth no fruit; but that influence continuing, no Plant is more fruitful than a Vine is: So without the continual influence of my Spirit of Grace upon you, you will be altogether barren and unfruitful; but if you have that influence, you will not be fruitful only, but very fruitful:

[illegible: 1 letter]or without my such continuing influence, you will not only be able to do little, but you will be able to do nothing that is truly and spiritually good and acceptable in the sight of God.

Marginal references: Or, severed from me.; Hos. 14.8. Phil. 1.11.

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 n.

Our Lord yet pursueth the Metaphor of the Vine, the Branches, and the Husbandman: Look (saith he), as it is with a Vine, when the time of pruning the Vine cometh, the Vine-dresser cutteth off the fruitless luxuriant branches, and throweth them by, which being done, their greenness presently abateth, and they wither,

and after a time, some come and gather them up, and cast them into some fire, where they are burned: so it will be with you; if you do not bring forth fruit, God will take from you his common influences, which have for a while made you to look speciously, and your Profession, or your Parts and Gifts will wither and decay, and in the day of Judgment the Angels, Mat. 13 40, 41. shall gather you up, and God shall cast you i[illegible: 1 letter]to Hell, where you shall perish as miserably, nay, infi [illegible: 2 letters]tely more miserably than if you were burned with [illegible: 1 word].

Marginal references: Mat. 3.10. and 7.19.

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 p:

Here our Lord expounds what he meaneth by that abiding in him which he before mentioned by another phrase [and my words abide in you], my precepts and promises, so as you by faith embrace the promises, and by obedience live up to the precepts which I have given you: for without these, tho the words of Christ may come unto men in the preaching of the Gospel, their ears may receive the sound of them, yet the Word doth not dwell and abide in the soul: but if the Word abides in the souls of men and women,

then they may in prayer ask of God what they will, keeping to the conditions and limitations elsewhere required in holy Writ, according to God's Will, 1 Iohn 5.14. believing, Matth. 21.22. in the Name of Christ, Chap. 14.13, 14. for the honour and glory of God (to which end all our actions must be directed), and they shall be granted to us.

Marginal references: Ver. 16.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit q, so shall ye be my Disciples .

And tho men must be Christ's Disciples before they bring forth any fruit, yet their bringing forth much fruit is that which alone can evidence and make them appear to be the Disciples of Christ. And often in Scripture being signifieth appearing, as Iohn 8.31. Rom. 3.4.

Here are Two Arguments to press his Disciples abiding in him, that so they might bring forth much fruit. 1. Herein (saith our Saviour) is my Father glorified. The glorifying of God is the great end of our lives, 1 Cor. 10.31. God is glorified by men and womens bringing forth much fruit, Matth. 5.16. the fruit unto holinese, Rom. 6.22. fruit in the product of the Plant, from the natural moisture that is in it, nourished and augmented by the fatness of the Earth in which it stands, and by the warmth of the Sun drawn out to the producing of such effects, according to the nature of the Plant. According to the different nature of Plants they bring forth various fruits, Matth. 7.16, 17, 18. Hence we read of the fruit of sin unto death, and the fruit of righteousness unto life. The first is every man's natural fruit, until he be ingrafted into Christ: being ingrafted into him, the soul having a new Nature given to it, being regenerated and renewed by the Holy Ghost, it no longer bringeth forth fruit from its old Principle, and according to its old nature, but from its new Principle, and according to its new nature; as the cultivated Earth that is plowed and harrowed, doth not bring forth Weeds and ordinary Grass, according to its nature, but bringeth forth fruit according to the Seed that is cast into it, yet not without the influence of Heaven, both with respect to the dew of it, and the warmth which it hath from the Sun; so the soul being regenerated, the fallow ground of it being plowed up, and the seed of righteousness being sown in it, it no more brings forth the weeds of lusts and corruptions, or onely ordinary acts of humane nature, but it brings forth fruits according to its new nature, and the new seed of the Word now sown in it, and dwelling in it. And look, as it tendeth to the honour of the Husbandman, when the ground by him plowed and manured, brings forth much fruit; so it tendeth to the honour and glory of God, when t[illegible: 1 letter]e souls renewed, manured, and influenced by him, bring forth much of the fruit of righteousness and holiness.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love .

What our Saviour before called an abiding in him, and his words abiding in us, and a bearing and bringing forth much fruit, he here calleth a [illegible: 1 letter]ontinuing in his love, tho indeed this phrase also may be interpreted by a continuance in the favour of God and Christ, in that state of love into which God hath put the souls of those who are his true Disciples: But I had rather interpret it of that love wherewith they loved Christ, than that wherewith Christ loved them. So the former words are an Argument to perswade perseverance, or a continuance in those acts of holiness by which men alone can shew their true love to Jesus Christ, from Christs love to them which he there expresseth; As the Father hath loved me, so I have loved you; where the particle as, is onely a note of comparison, but doth not denote an equality; onely signifieth truth and greatness; As truly and sincerely as the Father loveth me; Or I have loved you with a great love, bearing some proportion to the love wherewith my Father loveth me; the Fathers love to Christ is Eternal, Immutable, Constant, full, and perfect, Wise, and Iust, free in all these respects; Christ loveth his people as the Father loveth him: this ought to ingage them again to love him, and so to walk, as they may continue in that state of favour into which his goodness hath advanced them.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love , even as I have kept my Fathers commandments, and abide in his love n.

Abiding in Christs love in this verse, may be interpreted as before, either actively; you shall continue your love to me according to what we had, Chap 14.15. Obedience to the commandments of Christ, being the onely way to shew and declare the truth of our love to Christ. Or else passively, you shall keep your selves in my favour, I will love you:

Thus I abide in my Fathers love; I do not shew love to my Father by my words and expressions onely, nor by performance of some ceremonial ritual services, which he hath required; but by fulfilling his whole Will and Counsel, by yeilding an Obedience to him in all things. I love you as my Father loveth me: and you must abide in my love, by the same ways and means that I abide in my Fathers love The Disciple is not above his Master, nor the Servant above his Lord.

Marginal references: Chap. 14.21, 25.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you , and that your joy might be full .

The end of my pressing so much the duty of holiness upon you, under the notions of abiding in me, abiding in my love, in my words, bringing forth much fruit, &c. is, that I might have a continual cause to rejoice in you. Joy is nothing else but the satisfaction of the reasonable Soul in its union with an object which it loved and desired. Christ willing and desiring the perfection of his Disciples, according to the rational workings of human nature; is properly said to rejoice in the satisfaction of his will, in which sense joy and rejoicing, are often in Scripture attributed to God.

Nor doth Christ press them to this, that he might rejoice in them, but also that their joy might be full: That Ioy and Peace which attends and follows believing, Rom. 15.13. Called the peace of God. Colos. 3.15. A peace which passeth all understanding, Philip. 4.7. No man maketh Christ to rejoice over him, but he thereby also procureth unspeakable joy and peace to himself. As no man grieveth his Spirit, but also purchaseth grief and sadness to himself in the latter end.

Marginal references: Chap. 16.24.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you .

This is that which our Lord called the new commandment, Chap. 13.34. (see the notes there.) He had before pressed the keeping of his words, continuing, and abiding in his wo[illegible: 1 letter]ds, keeping his commandments, &c. Here he tells them what was his commandment: not his onely commandment, but that which he laid a very great st[illegible: 1 letter]ess upon; a commandment most necessary to be pressed, because so necessary to keep up and uphold his Church in the World; (love being the very ligament of that Society) and because there was a greater failure in obedience to this, than in some others, as may be learned from our Saviours correction of the Pharisees interpretation of that Law, Matth. 5. This he presseth to an higher degree, as he had loved them; not that it is possible that our love to our Brethren, can rise up in any proportion to that love wherewith Christ hath loved us; but to mind us to eye him, to press forward toward this mark. As here again doth not signifie equality, but a comparison; as truly and sincerely as I have loved you, and pressing after the highest degree of love.

Marginal references: 1 Thes. 4.9. 1 Pet. 4 8. 1 John 3.23. and 4.21.

13 Greater love hath no man then this, that a man lay down his life for his friends .

The reason of this is, because Life is the greatest Earthly good to men under ordinary circumstances; Skin for skin and all a man hath, for his life. Now it is impossible that a man should shew a greater love to another, than by parting with the greatest good he is in possession of for his sake. Hence our Saviour proves, that he loved them with the greatest love, because he for their sake was about to part with, what in the common judgment of men is the greatest good. The greatness of the love of Christ to us, is from hence often commended to us in Scripture; and our mutual love to our Brethren is pressed upon this argument, Eph. 5.2. 1 Iohn 3.16. But how did Christ lay down his life for his friends? when the Scripture tells us, That the just died for the unjust, 1 Pet 3.18. and that while we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son, Rom. 5.10. Ans. Friends must not here be taken as a name of Relation, but onely as it signifieth the objects of love; persons we have set our love upon, whither they mutually love us or no, as the World was the object of that love in God, which moved him to send his onely begotten Son, Iohn 3.16. Tho they for whom Christ dyed, were enemies by their wicked works, yet by his death they were reconciled; but possibly the first answer is best, for by Christs Death they were onely meritoriously reconciled, and after this enemies to God, till they received the word of reconciliation, and believed in Christ.

Marginal references: Rom. 5.7▪ [illegible: 1 letter] ▪

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you .

Our Lord presseth obedience to his commandments as a means, and indeed the onely means by which we can declare our love to Christ, and also useth a new argument to press their obedience, from his assuming them into the state and dignity of his friends.

Marginal references: Chap. 14.15. See Matth. 12.50.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth : but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you .

By his saying, I call you not servants, he doth not discharge them of that duty and service which they owed to him; for in pressing them to obey his commandments, he declareth that duty they owed to him; he onely sheweth that they were no ordinary servants, but taken into a state of dignity, favour, and familiarity, beyond that of servants, and that he had not treated them like servants, but like intimate familiar friends.

For look as ordinary masters in the World, communicate their counsels, and whole heart to their friends, especially in things which are of any concern, or may be of any advantage for them to know and understand: whereas they keep themselves at distance from servants, and they onely know so much of their minds as is by them to be done in their masters service: so he had not onely revealed to them their duty, what was to be by them done in his service, but had been more free, giving to them to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; as he told them, Matth. 13.11. as well telling them his Fathers counsels on the behalf of them, and whatsoever he might communicate to them, as his Fathers Will; what he would have them to do in obedience to his commandments.

16 Ye 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 whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my Name, he may give it you .

You have not chosen me to be your Lord, Master, Saviour,

for this end, to bring forth fruit amongst the Gentiles, turning many to Righteousness, and that they might bring forth the fruit of holiness, in obedience to the Gospel of Christ.

Yea, not onely to bring forth fruit, but that they might persevere in bringing forth fruit;

and that thus doing, they might have a freedom of access to the Throne of Grace, and obtain whatsoever they should ask of the Father, in the Name, for the merits, and through the Mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. See the notes on Chap. 14.13, 14.

but I have chosen and ordained you: so we have it in our translation: but the Greek is, [non-Latin text not transcribed], I have set you, or placed you in a station What chusing Christ here speaks of, is doubted amongst various Divines. Some think that our Saviour here speaks of his choice of them to the Apostleship, as Luke 6.13. Chap 6. ver. 70. those who thus understand it, understand it by going, and bringing forth fruit; the Apostles going out, Preaching, and Baptizing all Nations, bringing forth fruit amongst the Gentiles. But others understand it, of election to eternal Life, and the means necessary to it; for our Saviour brings this as an argument of his greatest love: Iudas was in the first sense chosen, yet not beloved with any such love; and this seemeth to be favoured by Chap. 13.18. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen: and certain it is, Augustine, and others of the Ancients from hence proved the freedom of Election, and special Grace. Both senses may be united; for the Eleven ▪ (to whom Christ was now speaking) were chosen in both senses; they were chosen

Marginal references: 1 Jo. 4.10, 19.; Matth. 28.19. Mark 16.15. Colos. 1.6.; Ver. 7.

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another .

This is but the repetition of the same precept we before had, unless we will understand it as a more special charge upon them, considered as Ministers of the Gospel; the mutual love of Ministers, being highly necessary for the good and peace of the Church of God, over which God hath set them.

18 If the world hate you , ye know that it hated me before it hated you l.

In this latter part of this Chapter, our Lord cometh to comfort those who were his true Disciples, against that third trouble, from the prospect they had of that hatred which the World would pour out, and execute upon them, assoon as he should be withdrawn from them. Hatred is rooted, and originated in the heart, and is properly a displeasure that the mind taketh at a person, which fermenting, and boiling in the mind, breeds an abhorrence of that person, anger, and malice, and a desire to do him mischief, and root him out, and then breaks out at the lips, by lying, slanders, calumnies, cursings, wishing of evil, &c. and is executed by the hands, doing to such persons all the harm and mischief, within the power of him that hateth: All this is to be understood under the general term Hate. By the World here, must be meant wicked men, in opposition to good men, who are often in Scripture called the World, because they are of the earth earthly; they relish and savour nothing but worldly things, and pursue nothing but worldly designs. Against this our Saviour comforts them, first by telling them, That this part of the World hated him before it hated them, which must needs be so, because they hated them as his Disciples, and for that very reason.

Marginal references: 1 Joh. 3.13.

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 o.

Men and Women may be in the World, yet not of the World. Of the World, here signifies carnal men, such as are like to the men of the World in their studies, designs, counsels, affections; as of the Devil, and of God signifies, Chap. 8.44, 47. If you had affections, lusts, and dispositions like them, and drave no other designs than they drive, you might expect that as it is of the nature of all men to love such as are like to them in manners and studies; so they would love you, take a delight in you, be kind to you, and do you all offices of love:

but because you are not of such tempers, dispositions and inclinations, but that I having chosen you out of the World, have given you new hearts, new frames and dispositions, quite contrary to theirs; therefore the World disliking you, and seeing that your principles are quite opposite to theirs, abhor, and hate you, and will be ready to do you all that evil and mischief▪ which is the product of a rooted hatred and malice in the heart: This is a second argument by which our Lord comforts them. It is drawn from the cause and root of that hatred, which they would meet with: it was not for their faults or sins, but because they were the objects of Christs love, which being also shed abroad in their hearts by the holy Ghost, produced again in them holy affections and dispositions, making them wholly unlike to men in the World.

Marginal references: 1 John 4.5.; Chap. 17.14.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you , The servant is not greater then the lord: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you ▪ if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also .

The word that I said unto you, Chap. 13.16. to press you to humility, and a mutual serving of one another in love, and which I spake to you, Matth. 10.24. when I first sent you out, and I spake it then to you upon the very same account, that I now speak it.

You that are my servants, cannot look to fare better with the World, than I that am your Master, you know they have hated me, you must expect they should persecute you: if there be any of them whose hearts God shall incline to keep my sayings, they will also keep your words, which are but my sayings explained to them, and further pressed upon them.

Marginal references: Ezek. 3.7.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my Names sake , because they know not him that sent me .

For my Names sake, here signifies no more than for my sake, as Matth. 10.22. for your Preaching, owning, and professing me and my Gospel:

and this they would not do, if they had any true knowledge of faith in, or love for him that sent me: for knowing (as hath been often said) in holy Writ, and particularly in this Gospel, signifieth not the bare comprehension of the object by our understanding, but such a comprehension of it, as is operative and efficacious, to the bringing forth of all such effects, as are proper to such a knowledge and comprehension. So as this text containeth two arguments more, to arm them against the hatred of the World: The first, from the honourableness of the cause, for Christs Names sake. The second from the ignorance and blindness of the persons.

Marginal references: Matt. 24.9. Chap. 16.3.

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin : but now they have no cloak for their sin u.

The[illegible: 1 letter] had not had this particular sin, of not knowing him that sent me: Or they had not had such degrees of sin, as they now have; or they had had more to say in excuse, or for a cover for their sin. Ignorance of the Will of God will not excuse sinners wholly, but it will excuse them in part; and this last seemeth to be the sense of the words by the latter part of the Verse, because it is opposed to an having no cloak nor excuse for their sin. If Christ had not come in his Incarnation, in his Preaching the Gospel, &c. they could not have been guilty of that hatred, and malice which they shewed against him, which was their greatest guilt; and the[illegible: 1 letter] would have had this to say, Lord! we know not what Christ was, as Matth. 25.44. but now saith our Saviour, they have no cloak, no colour, no pretence, I am come, I have revealed my Fathers mind and will to them, yet they will not receive me: no, tho I have done those works before them, which no man ever did, nor could do but by a Divine Power.

Marginal references: Chap. 9 41.; Rom. 1.20.; Or, Excuse.

23 He that hateth me, hateth my Father also .

This agreeth with what we had, Chap. 5.23. It is a common error of the World, that many in it would pretend to love God, while yet they are manifest haters of Christ and his Gospel: Now saith our Saviour, This is impossible; whosoever hateth him who is sent, hateth also him that sent him. God the Father, and Christ are one, and no man can hate Christ, or be an enemy to Christ, but he must be an enemy to his Father: and as this is an aggravation of their sin, so it is a great argument of consolation to the Disciples of Christ, that those who should be their enemies, were such as were in reality Gods enemies.

Marginal references: 1 Joh. 2 23.

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 .

Our Saviour often appealeth to his works, both to own his Mission from God, and also to prove the Iews in excusable, in their not receiving and imbracing him: for which latter purpose he mentions them here, and saith, that he had done such works as no man did, and by his own Power and [illegible: 1 word] Christ did some works, as we do not read, that eve[illegible: 1 letter] man did; such as the multiplying of the loaves, the giving sight to those that were born blind, the healing of so many desperate diseases: And for such as he did, which God had also given men a power to do, he did them in a quite different manner from that in which men did them. Elisha raised the Shunamites child to life, but it was by Prayer▪ Peter cured the lame man, Acts 3.6. but it was in the Name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth. We read indeed of Christs praying at the raising of Lazarus; but his ordinary way, was by his word of command, which was a quite different way than that used by those men, by whom miracles had been wrought Besides, it is manifest, that the generality of the Iews did not look upon Christ as one sent from God, tho many of them did; and admit that there had been nothing in the miracles wrought by Christ, more than Elijah, or Elisha, or the Prophets had done; yet it had been sufficient for to have convinced them, that he acted by a Divine Power, and must be sent and Authoriz'd by and from God to do what he did. Now saith our Saviour, if I had not done before their faces, such works as no man could do but by a Power derived from God, and some such as God never authorized men to do; their sin had been nothing to what now it is:

but now they have understood, that I am sent from my Father; and knowing this, yet going on in their most malicious designs against me, they both declare an hatred and malice against my Father who sent me, and me as sent by him.

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law , They hated me without a cause.

The particle [that] here again denoteth not the final cause, but onely the consequent; and the Law here signifieth not strictly the Law of Moses, but the whole Scripture, (in which sense we have once and again met with the term) saith our Saviour, This is no more than was Prophecied of me, by the Prophet David; or no more than was fulfilled in me, being first done to David as my Type, which also hath the force of another Argument to uphold, and incourage his Disciples under their sufferings; that they were but the fulfilling of Prophecies, no more than was foretold in holy Writ.

Marginal references: Psal. 35.19. and 69.4.

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 testifie of me .

Concerning the Holy Ghost as a Comforter, we have spoken [illegible: 1 letter]argely, Chap. 14.16, 26. as also his mission from the Father and the Son, and in what sense he is called the Spirit of truth: see the notes on those Verse.

What proceeding from the Father, is here meant, is questioned amongst Divines: some understand it onely of his coming out from the Father, and being poured out upon the Disciples in the days of Pentecost: Others understand it of the holy Spirits Eternal proceeding. Those that Interpret it of the first, urge the use of the Greek word, here used to signifie Gods manifestation of himself, by some external sign, (as they say the Septuagint useth the same word.) They also urge the same use of a parallel word, Chap. 8.42. and 16.28. But the generality of the best Interpreters think, it is best understood of the Eternal procession of the holy Spirit. Because Christ here distinguisheth the Spirits proceeding from the Father, from his sending. 2. Having himself promised to send the Spirit, he seemeth further to describe him, as proceeding from the Father. 3. The word here used, is not any where used in the New Testament to signifie a Temporal mission, some will say, but doth not the Spirit proceed from the Son? Ans. The Greek Church in latter ages hath denied this, and this is the principal text they rest on; but those Churches that are more Orthodox have constantly affirmed it. 1. Because he here saith he would send it. 2. Because he is often called the Spirit of Christ, Rom 8.9. Gal. 4.6.3. Because otherwise there were no personal relation between Christ and the Spirit. Our Saviour here having first said he would send him, here onely nameth his proceeding from the Father; that they might not suspect his testimony, or think that he spake arrogantly.

The Spirit he saith should testifie of him, both by those gifts with which he was to fill the Apostles, and to the hearts of Gods people.

Marginal references: Luk. 24 49.

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning .

He adds also, They should testifie, &c. The Apostles and their Successors by the Preaching of the Gospel; but particularly the Apostles, Acts 10.39. 1 Iohn 1.2, 3. being chosen witnesses, Acts 10.41. And they were competent witnesses, because they had been with Christ from the beginning of his publick Ministry. We shall find the Testimony of his Apostles, and of the Holy Ghost, both joined together, Acts 5.32.

Marginal references: Acts 1.8, 22.; Luke 1.2.

Christ the True Vine.

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 (Ps. lxxx. 8), so is Christ, who is the church seminal. Christ and his church are thus set forth. (1.) He is the vine, planted in the vineyard, and not a spontaneous product; planted in the earth, for his is the Word made flesh. The vine has an unsightly unpromising outside; and Christ had no form nor comeliness, Isa. liii. 2. The vine is a spreading plant, and Christ will be known as salvation to the ends of the earth. The fruit of the vine honours God and cheers man (Judg. ix. 13), so does the fruit of Christ's mediation; it is better than gold, Prov. viii. 19. (2.) He is the true vine, as truth is opposed to pretence and counterfeit; he is really a fruitful plant, a plant of renown. He is not like that wild vine which deceived those who gathered of it (2 Kings iv. 39), but a true vine. Unfruitful trees are said to lie (Hab. iii. 17. marg.), but Christ is a vine that will not deceive. Whatever excellency there is in any creature, serviceable to man, it is but a shadow of that grace which is in Christ for his people's good. He is that true vine typified by Judah's vine, which enriched him with the blood of the grape (Gen. xlix. 11), by Joseph's vine, the branches of which ran over the wall (Gen. xlix. 22), by Israel's vine, under which he dwelt safely, 1 Kings iv. 25.

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 (Rom. xi. 18), diffuses sap to it, and is all in all to its flourishing and fruitfulness; and in Christ are all supports and supplies. The branches of the vine are many, some on one side of the house or wall, others on the other side; yet, meeting in the root, are all but one vine; thus all good Christians, though in place and opinion distant from each other, yet meet in Christ, the centre of their unity. Believers, like the branches of the vine, are weak, and insufficient to stand of themselves, but as they are borne up. See Ezek. xv. 2.

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, 1 Cor. iii. 9. See Isa. v. 1, 2; xxvii. 2, 3. He had an eye upon Christ, the root, and upheld him, and made him to flourish out of a dry ground. He has an eye upon all the branches, and prunes them, and watches over them, that nothing hurt them. Never was any husbandman so wise, so watchful, about his vineyard, as God is about his church, which therefore must needs prosper.

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 (Isa. v. 2), and from a Christian we look for Christianity; this is the fruit, a Christian temper and disposition, a Christian life and conversation, Christian devotions and Christian designs. We must honour God, and do good, and exemplify the purity and power of the religion we profess; and this is bearing fruit. The disciples here must be fruitful, as Christians, in all the fruits of righteousness, and as apostles, in diffusing the savour of the knowledge of Christ. To persuade them to this, he urges,

(1.) The doom of the unfruitful (v. 2): They are taken away. [1.] It is here intimated that there are many who pass for branches in Christ who yet do not bear fruit. Were they really united to Christ by faith, they would bear fruit; but being only tied to him by the thread of an outward profession, though they seem to be branches, they will soon be seen to be dry ones. Unfruitful professors are unfaithful professors; professors, and no more. It might be read, Every branch that beareth not fruit in me, and it comes much to one; for those that do not bear fruit in Christ, and in his Spirit and grace, are as if they bore no fruit at all, Hos. x. 1. [2.] It is here threatened that they shall be taken away, in justice to them and in kindness to the rest of the branches. From him that has not real union with Christ, and fruit produced thereby, shall be taken away even that which he seemed to have, Luke viii. 18. Some think this refers primarily to Judas.

(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, v. 3. [1.] Their society was clean, now that Judas was expelled by that word of Christ, What thou doest, do quickly; and till they were got clear of him they were not all clean. The word of Christ is a distinguishing word, and separates between the precious and the vile; it will purify the church of the first-born in the great dividing day. [2.] They were each of them clean, that is, sanctified, by the truth of Christ (ch. xvii. 17); that faith by which they received the word of Christ purified their hearts, Acts xv. 9. The Spirit of grace by the word refined them from the dross of the world and the flesh, and purged out of them the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, from which, when they saw their inveterate rage and enmity against their Master, they were now pretty well cleansed. Apply it to all believers. The word of Christ is spoken to them; there is a cleansing virtue in that word, as it works grace, and works out corruption. It cleanses as fire cleanses the gold from its dross, and as physic cleanses the body from its disease. We then evidence that we are cleansed by the word when we bring forth fruit unto holiness. Perhaps here is an allusion to the law concerning vineyards in Canaan; the fruit of them was as unclean, and uncircumcised, the first three years after it was planted, and the fourth year it was to be holiness of praise unto the Lord; and then it was clean, Lev. xix. 23, 24. The disciples had now been three years under Christ's instruction; and 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, v. 8. If we bear much fruit, [1.] Herein our Father will be glorified. The fruitfulness of the apostles, as such, in the diligent discharge of their office, would be to the glory of God in the conversion of souls, and the offering of them up to him, Rom. xv. 9, 16. The fruitfulness of all Christians, in a lower or narrower sphere, is to the glory of God. By the eminent good works of Christians many are brought to glorify our Father who is in heaven. [2.] So shall we be Christ's disciples indeed, approving ourselves so, and making it to appear that we are really what we call ourselves. So shall we both evidence our discipleship and adorn it, and be to our Master for a name and a praise, and a glory, that is, disciples indeed, Jer. xiii. 11. So shall we be owned by our Master in the great day, and have the reward of disciples, a share in the joy of our Lord. And the more fruit we bring forth, the more we abound in that which is good, the more he is glorified.

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 (v. 4): Abide in me, and I in you. Note, It is the great concern of all Christ's disciples constantly to keep up a dependence upon Christ and communion with him, habitually to adhere to him, and actually to derive supplies from him. Those that are come to Christ must abide in him: "Abide in me, by faith; and I in you, by my Spirit; abide in me, and then fear not but I will abide in you;" for the communion between Christ and believers never fails on his side. We must abide in Christ's word by a regard to it, and it in us as a light to our feet. We must abide in Christ's merit as our righteousness and plea, and it in us as our support and comfort. The knot of the branch abides in the vine, and the sap of the vine abides in the branch, and so there is a constant communication between them.

(2.) The necessity of our abiding in Christ, in order to our fruitfulness (v. 4, 5): "You cannot bring forth fruit, except you abide in me; but, if you do, you bring forth much fruit; for, in short, without me, or separate from me, you can do nothing." So necessary is it to our comfort and happiness that we be fruitful, that the best argument to engage us to abide in Christ is, that otherwise we cannot be fruitful. [1.] Abiding in Christ is necessary in order to our doing much good. He that is constant in the exercise of faith in Christ and love to him, that lives upon his promises and is led by his Spirit, bringeth forth much fruit, he is very serviceable to God's glory, and his own account in the great day. Note, Union with Christ is a noble principle, productive of all good. A life of faith in the Son of God is incomparably the most excellent life a man can live in this world; it is regular and even, pure and heavenly; it is useful and comfortable, and all that answers the end of life. [2.] It is necessary to our doing any good. It is not only a means of cultivating ad increasing what good there is already in us, but it is the root and spring of all good: "Without me you can do nothing: not only no great thing, heal the sick, or raise the dead, but nothing." Note, We have as necessary and constant a dependence upon the grace of the Mediator for all the actions of the spiritual and divine life as we have upon the providence of the Creator for all the actions of the natural life; for, as to both, it is in the divine power that we live, move, and have our being. Abstracted from the merit of Christ, we can do nothing towards our justification; and from the Spirit of Christ nothing towards our sanctification. Without Christ we can do nothing aright, nothing that will be fruit pleasing to God or profitable to ourselves, 2 Cor. iii. 5. We depend upon Christ, not only as the vine upon the wall, for support; but, as the branch on the root, for sap.

(3.) The fatal consequences of forsaking Christ (v. 6): If any man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. This is a description of the fearful state of hypocrites that are not in Christ, and of apostates that abide not in Christ. [1.] They are cast forth as dry and withered branches, which are plucked off because they cumber the tree. It is just that those should have no benefit by Christ who think they have no need of him; and that those who reject him should be rejected by him. Those that abide not in Christ shall be abandoned by him; they are left to themselves, to fall into scandalous sin, and then are justly cast out of the communion of the faithful. [2.] They are withered, as a branch broken off from the tree. Those that abide not in Christ, though they may flourish awhile in a plausible, at least a passable profession, yet in a little time wither and come to nothing. Their parts and gifts wither; their zeal and devotion wither; their credit and reputation wither; their hopes and comforts wither, Job viii. 11-13. Note, Those that bear no fruit, after while will bear no leaves. How soon is that fig-tree withered away which Christ has cursed! [3.] Men gather them. Satan's agents and emissaries pick them up, and make an easy prey of them. Those that fall off from Christ presently fall in with sinners; and the sheep that wander from Christ's fold, the devil stands ready to seize them for himself. When the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, an evil spirit possessed him. [4.] They cast them into the fire, that is, they are cast into the fire; and those who seduce them and draw them to sin do in effect cast them there; for they make them children of hell. Fire is the fittest place for withered branches, for they are good for nothing else, Ezek. xv. 2-4. [5.] They are burned; this follows of course, but it is here added very emphatically, and makes the threatening very terrible. They will not be consumed in a moment, like thorns under a pot (Eccl. vii. 6), but kaietai, they are burning for ever in a fire, which not only cannot be quenched, but will never spend itself. This comes of quitting Christ, this is the end of barren trees. Apostates are twice dead (Jude 12), and when it is said, They are cast into the fire and are burned, it speaks as if they were twice damned. Some apply men's gathering them to the ministry of the angels in the great day, when they shall gather out of Christ's kingdom all things that offend, and shall bundle the tares for the fire.

(4.) The blessed privilege which those have that abide in Christ (v. 7): If my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will of my Father in my name, and it shall be done. See here, [1.] How our union with Christ is maintained—by the word: If you abide in me; he had said before, and I in you; here he explains himself, and my words abide in you; for it is in the word that Christ is set before us, and offered to us, Rom. x. 6-8. It is in the word that we receive and embrace him; and so where the word of Christ dwells richly there Christ dwells. If the word be our constant guide and monitor, if it be in us as at home, then we abide in Christ, and he in us. [2.] How our communion with Christ is maintained—by prayer: You shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you. And what can we desire more than to have what we will for the asking? Note, Those that abide in Christ as their heart's delight shall have, through Christ, their heart's desire. If we have Christ, we shall want nothing that is good for us. Two things are implied in this promise:—First, That if we abide in Christ, and his word in us, we shall not ask any thing but what is proper to be done for us. The promises abiding in us lie ready to be turned into prayers; and the prayers so regulated cannot but speed. Secondly, That if we abide in Christ and his word we shall have such an interest in God's favour and Christ's mediation that we shall have an answer of peace to all our prayers.

Christ's Love to His Disciples.

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 (v. 9): As the Father hath loved me. He loved him as Mediator: This is my beloved Son. He was the Son of his love. He loved him, and gave all things into his hand; and yet so loved the world as to deliver him up for us all. When Christ was entering upon his sufferings he comforted himself with this, that his Father loved him. Those whom God loves as a Father may despise the hatred of all the world. 2. That he abode in his Father's love, v. 10. He continually loved his Father, and was beloved of him. Even when he was made sin and a curse for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him, yet he abode in his Father's love. See Ps. lxxxix. 33. Because he continued to love his Father, he went cheerfully through his sufferings, and therefore his Father continued to love him. 3. That therefore he abode in his Father's love because he kept his Father's law: I have kept my Father's commandments, as Mediator, and so abide in his love. Hereby he showed that he continued to love his Father, that he went on, and went through, with his undertaking, and therefore the Father continued to love him. His soul delighted in him, because he did not fail, nor was discouraged, Isa. xlii. 1-4. We having broken the law of creation, and thereby thrown ourselves out of the love of God; Christ satisfied for us by obeying the law of redemption, and so he abode in his love, and restored us to it.

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, Eph. i. 6.

2. The proofs and products of this love, which are four:—

(1.) Christ loved his disciples, for he laid down his life for them (v. 13): Greater proof of love hath no man to show than this, to lay down his life for his friend. And this is the love wherewith Christ hath loved us, he is our antipsychos—bail for us, body for body, life for life, though he knew our insolvency, and foresaw how much the engagement would cost him. Observe here, [1.] The extent of the love of the children of men to one another. The highest proof of it is laying down one's life for a friend, to save his life, and perhaps there have been some such heroic achievements of love, more than plucking out one's own eyes, Gal. iv. 15. If all that a man has he will give for his life, he that gives this for his friend gives all, and can give no more; this may sometimes be our duty, 1 John iii. 16. Paul was ambitious of the honour (Phil. ii. 17); and for a good man some will even dare to die, Rom. v. 7. It is love in the highest degree, which is strong as death. [2.] The excellency of the love of Christ beyond all other love. He has not only equaled, but exceeded, the most illustrious lovers. Others have laid down their lives, content that they should be taken from them; but Christ gave up his, was not merely passive, but made it his own act and deed. The life which others have laid down has been but of equal value with the life for which it was laid down, and perhaps less valuable; but Christ is infinitely more worth than ten thousand of us. Others have thus laid down their lives for their friends, but Christ laid down his for us when we were enemies, Rom. v. 8, 10. Plusquam ferrea aut lapidea corda esse oportet, quæ non emolliet tam incomparabilis divini amoris suavitas—Those hearts must be harder than iron or stone which are not softened by such incomparable sweetness of divine love.—Calvin.

(2.) Christ loved his disciples, for he took them into a covenant of friendship with himself, v. 14, 15. "If you approve yourselves by your obedience my disciples indeed, you are my friends, and shall be treated as friends." Note, The followers of Christ are the friends of Christ, and he is graciously pleased to call and account them so. Those that do the duty of his servants are admitted and advanced to the dignity of his friends. David had one servant in his court, and Solomon one in his, that was in a particular manner the king's friend (2 Sam. xv. 37; 1 Kings iv. 5); but this honour have all Christ's servants. We may in some particular instance befriend a stranger; but we espouse all the interests of a friend, and concern ourselves in all his cares: thus Christ takes believers to be his friends. He visits them and converses with them as his friends, bears with them and makes the best of them, is afflicted in their afflictions, and takes pleasure in their prosperity; he pleads for them in heaven and takes care of all their interests there. Have friends but one soul? He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17. Though they often show themselves unfriendly, he is a friend that loves at all times. Observe how endearingly this is expressed here. [1.] He will not call them servants, though they call him Master and Lord. Those that would be like Christ in humility must not take a pride in insisting upon all occasions on their authority and superiority, but remember that their servants are their fellow-servants. But, [2.] He will call them his friends; he will not only love them, but will let them know it; for in his tongue is the law of kindness. After his resurrection he seems to speak with more affectionate tenderness of and to his disciples than before. Go to my brethren, ch. xx. 17. Children, have you any meat? ch. xxi. 5. But observe, though Christ called them his friends, they called themselves his servants: Peter, a servant of Christ (1 Pet. i. 1), and so James, ch. i. 1. The more honour Christ puts upon us, the more honour we should study to do him; the higher in his eyes, the lower in our own.

(3.) Christ loved his disciples, for he was very free in communicating his mind to them (v. 15): "Henceforth you shall not be kept so much in the dark as you have been, like servants that are only told their present work; but, when the Spirit is poured out, you shall know your Master's designs as friends. All things that I have heard of my Father I have declared unto you." As to the secret will of God, there are many things which we must be content not to know; but, as to the revealed will of God, Jesus Christ has faithfully handed to us what he received of the Father, ch. i. 18; Matt. xi. 27. The great things relating to man's redemption Christ declared to his disciples, that they might declare them to others; they were the men of his counsel, Matt. xiii. 11.

(4.) Christ loved his disciples, for he chose and ordained them to be the prime instruments of his glory and honour in the world (v. 16): I have chosen you, and ordained you, His love to them appeared,

[1.] In their election, their election to their apostleship (ch. vi. 70): I have chosen you twelve. It did not begin on their side: You have not chosen me, but I first chose you. Why were they admitted to such an intimacy with him, employed in such an embassy for him, and endued with such power from on high? It was not owing to their wisdom and goodness in choosing him for their Master, but to his favour and grace in choosing them for his disciples. It is fit that Christ should have the choosing of his own ministers; still he does it by his providence and Spirit. Though ministers make that holy calling their own choice, Christ's choice is prior to theirs and directs and determines it. Of all that are chosen to grace and glory it may be said, They have not chosen Christ, but he had chosen them, Deut. vii. 7, 8.

[2.] In their ordination: I have ordained you; hetheka hymas—"I have put you into the ministry (1 Tim. i. 12), put you into commission." By this it appeared that he took them for his friends when he crowned their heads with such an honour, and filled their hands with such a trust. It was a mighty confidence he reposed in them, when he made them his ambassadors to negotiate the affairs of his kingdom in this lower world, and the prime ministers of state in the administration of it. The treasure of the gospel was committed to them, First, That it might be propagated: that you should go, hina hymeis hypagete—"that you should go as under a yoke or burden, for the ministry is a work, and you that go about it must resolve to undergo a great deal; that you may go from place to place all the world over, and bring forth fruit." They were ordained, not to sit still, but to go about, to be diligent in their work, and to lay out themselves unweariedly in doing good. They were ordained, not to beat the air, but to be instrumental in God's hand for the bringing of nations into obedience to Christ, Rom. i. 13. Note, Those whom Christ ordains should and shall be fruitful; should labour, and shall not labour in vain. Secondly, That it might be perpetuated; that the fruit may remain, that the good effect of their labours may continue in the world from generation to generation, to the end of time. The church of Christ was not to be a short-lived thing, as many of the sects of the philosophers, that were a nine days' wonder; it did not come up in a night, nor should it perish in a night, but be as the days of heaven. The sermons and writings of the apostles are transmitted to us, and we at this day are built upon that foundation, ever since the Christian church was first founded by the ministry of the apostles and seventy disciples; as one generation of ministers and Christians has passed away, still another has come. By virtue of that great charter (Matt. xxviii. 19), Christ has a church in the world, which, as our lawyers say of bodies corporate, does not die, but lives in a succession; and thus their fruit remains to this day, and shall do while the earth remains.

[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, v. 9. "Continue in your love to me, and in mine to you." Both may be taken in. We must place our happiness in the continuance of Christ's love to us, and make it our business to give continued proofs of our love to Christ, that nothing may tempt us to withdraw from him, or provoke him to withdraw from us. Note, All that love Christ should continue in their love to him, that is, be always loving him, and taking all occasions to show it, and love to the end. The disciples were to go out upon service for Christ, in which they would meet with many troubles; but, says Christ, "Continue in my love. Keep up your love to me, and then all the troubles you meet with will be easy; love made seven years' hard service easy to Jacob. Let not the troubles you meet with for Christ's sake quench your love to Christ, but rather quicken it.

2. To let his joy remain in them, and fill them, v. 11. This he designed in those precepts and promises given 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, Zeph. iii. 17. As there is a transport of joy in heaven in the conversion of sinners, so there is a remaining joy in the perseverance of saints. Or, [2.] That my joy, that is, your joy in me, may remain. It is the will of Christ that his disciples should constantly and continually rejoice in him, Phil. iv. 4. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. The word of the Lord enduring for ever, the joys that flow from it, and are founded on it, do so too.

(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, Ps. xxxvi. 8. [2.] The design of Christ in his world is to fill the joy of his people; see 1 John i. 4. This and the other he hath said, that our joy might be fuller and fuller, and perfect at last.

3. To evidence their love to him by keeping his commandments: "If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, v. 10. This will be an evidence of the fidelity and constancy of your love to me, and then you may be sure of the continuance of my love to you." Observe here, (1.) The promise "You shall abide in my love as in a dwelling place, at home in Christ's love; as in a resting place, at ease in Christ's love; as in a stronghold, safe in it. You shall abide in my love, you shall have grace and strength to persevere in loving me." If the same hand that first shed abroad the love of Christ in our hearts did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it, but, through the love of the world, should go out of love with Christ himself. (2.) The condition of the promise: If you keep my commandments. The disciples were to keep Christ's commandments, not only by a constant conformity to them themselves, but by a faithful delivery of them to others; they were to keep them as trustees, in whose hands that great depositum was lodged, for they were to teach all things that Christ had commanded, Matt. xxviii. 20. This commandment they must keep without spot (1 Tim. vi. 14), and thus they must show that they abide in his 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 (v. 14): "You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you and not otherwise." Note, First, Those only will be accounted Christ's faithful friends that approve themselves his obedient servants; for those that will not have him to reign over them shall be treated as his enemies. Idem velle et idem nolle ea demum vera est amicitia—Friendship involves a fellowship of aversions and attachments.—Sallust. Secondly, It is universal obedience to Christ that is the only acceptable obedience; to obey him in every thing that he commands us, not excepting, much less excepting against, any command.

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, v. 12, and again, v. 17. No one duty of religion is more frequently inculcated, nor more pathetically urged upon us, by our Lord Jesus, than that of mutual love, and for good reason. 1. It is here recommended by Christ's pattern (v. 12): as I have loved you. Christ's love to us should direct and engage our love to each other; in this manner, and from this motive, we should love one another, as, and because, Christ has loved us. He here specifies some of the expressions of his love to them; he called them friends, communicated his mind to them, was ready to give them what they asked. Go you and do likewise. 2. It is required by his precept. He interposes his authority, has made it one of the statute-laws of his kingdom. Observe how differently it is expressed in these two verses, and both very emphatic. (1.) This is my commandment (v. 12), as if this were the most necessary of all the commandments. As under the law the prohibition of idolatry was the commandment more insisted on than any other, foreseeing the people's addictedness to that sin, so Christ, foreseeing the addictedness of the Christian church to uncharitableness, has laid most stress upon this precept. (2.) These things I command you, v. 17. He speaks as if he were about to give them many things in charge, and yet names this only, that you love one another; not only because this includes many duties, but because it will have a good influence upon all.

Hatred and Persecution Foretold.

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, Ps. lxxxiii. 5. Jews and Gentiles, that could agree in nothing else, agreed to persecute Christ's minister. 3. Their spirit and disposition; they are men of the world (Ps. xvi. 13, 14), wholly devoted to this world and the things of it, and never thinking of another world. The people of God, though they are taught to hate the sins of sinners, yet not their persons, but to love and do good to all men. A malicious, spiteful, envious spirit, is not the spirit of Christ, but of the world.

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 (v. 19); and he speaks of it as that which they must expect and count upon, v. 18, as 1 John iii. 13.

(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 Cor. xii. 7, 10. [2.] He had appointed them their work, but tells them what hardships they should meet with in it, that it might not be a surprise to them, and that they might prepare accordingly. [3.] He had charged them to love one another, and need enough they had to love one another, for the world would hate them; to be kind to one another, for they would have a great deal of unkindness and ill-will from those that were without. "Keep peace among yourselves, and this will fortify you against the world's quarrels with you." Those that are in the midst of enemies are concerned to hold together.

(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, v. 20. First, They will persecute you, because they hate you, for hatred is a restless passion. It is the common lot of those who will live godly in Christ Jesus to suffer persecution, 2 Tim. iii. 12. Christ foresaw what ill usage his ambassadors would meet with in the world, and yet, for the sake of those few that by their ministry were to be called out of the world, he sent them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Secondly, Another fruit of their enmity is implied, that they would reject their doctrine. When Christ says, If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours, he means, They will keep yours, and regard yours, no more than they have regarded and kept mine. Note, The preachers of the gospel cannot but take the despising of their message to be the greatest injury that can be done to themselves; as it was a great affront to Jeremiah to say, Let us not give heed to any of his words, Jer. xviii. 18.

[3.] The causes of that enmity. The world will hate them,

First, Because they do not belong to it (v. 19): "If you were of the world, of its spirit, and in its interests, if you were carnal and worldly, the world would love you as its own; but, because you are called out of the world, it hates you, and ever will." Note, 1. We are not to wonder if those that are devoted to the world are caressed by it as its friends; most men bless the covetous, Ps. x. 3; xlix. 18. 2. Nor are we to wonder if those that are delivered from the world are maligned by it as its enemies; when Israel is rescued out of Egypt, the Egyptians will pursue them. Observe, The reason why Christ's disciples are not of the world is not because they have by their own wisdom and virtue distinguished themselves from the world, but because Christ hath chosen them out of it, to set them apart for himself; and this is the reason why the world hates them; for, (1.) The glory which by virtue of this choice they are designed for sets them above the world, and so makes them the objects of its envy. The saints shall judge the world, and the upright have dominion, and therefore they are hated. (2.) The grace which by virtue of this choice they are endued with sets them against the world; they swim against the stream of the world, and are not conformed to it; they witness against it, and are not conformed to it. This would support them under all the calamities which the world's hatred would bring upon them, that they were hated because they were the choice and the chosen ones of the Lord Jesus, and were not of the world. Now, [1.] This was no just cause for the world's hatred of them. If we do any thing to make ourselves hateful, we have reason to lament it; but, if men hate us for that for which they should love and value us, we have reason to pity them, but no reason to perplex ourselves. Nay, [2.] This was just cause for their own joy. He that is hated because he is rich and prospers cares not who has the vexation of it, while he has the satisfaction of it. —Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo Ipse domi— —Let them hiss on, he cries, While in my own opinion fully blessed. Timon in Hor. 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 (v. 21): For my name's sake." Here is the core of the controversy; whatever is pretended, this is the ground of the quarrel, they hate Christ's disciples because they bear his name, and bear up his name in the world. Note, 1. It is the character of Christ's disciples that they stand up for his name. The name into which they were baptized is that which they will live and die by. 2. It has commonly been the lot of those that appear for Christ's name to suffer for so doing, to suffer many things, and hard things, all these things. It is matter of comfort to the greatest sufferers if they suffer for Christ's name's sake. If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you (1 Pet. iv. 14), happy indeed, considering not only the honour that is imprinted upon those sufferings (Acts v. 41), but the comfort that is infused into them, and especially the crown of glory which those sufferings lead to. If we suffer with Christ, and for Christ, we shall reign with him.

Thirdly, After all, it is the world's ignorance that is the true cause of its enmity to the disciples of Christ (v. 21): Because they know not him that sent me. 1. They know not God. If men had but a due acquaintance with the very first principles of natural religion, and did but know God, though they did not embrace Christianity, yet they could not hate and persecute it. Those have no knowledge who eat up God's people, Ps. xiv. 4. 2. They know not God as he that sent our Lord Jesus, and authorized him to be the great Mediator of the peace. We do not rightly know God if we do not know him in Christ, and those who persecute those whom he sends make it to appear that they know not that he was sent of God. See 1 Cor. ii. 8.

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 (v. 18): You know that it hated me before you, proton hymon. We read it as signifying priority of time; he began in the bitter cup of suffering, and then left us to pledge him; but it may be read as expressing his superiority over them: "You know that it hated me, your first, your chief and captain, your leader and commander." [1.] If Christ, who excelled in goodness, and was perfectly innocent and universally beneficent, was hated, can we expect that any virtue or merit of ours should screen us from malice? [2.] If our Master, the founder of our religion, met with so much opposition in the planting of it, his servants and followers can look for no other in propagating and professing it. For this he refers them (v. 20) to his own word, at their admission into discipleship: Remember the word that I said unto you. It would help us to understand Christ's latter sayings to compare them with his former sayings. Nor would any thing contribute more to the making of us easy than remembering the words of Christ, which will expound his providences. Now in this word there is, First, A plain truth: The servant is not greater than his Lord. This he had said to them. Matt. x. 24. Christ is our Lord, and therefore we must diligently attend all his motions, and patiently acquiesce in all his disposals, for the servant is inferior to his lord. The plainest truths are sometimes the strongest arguments for the hardest duties; Elihu answers a multitude of Job's murmurings with this one self-evident truth, that God is greater than man, Job xxxiii. 12. So here is, Secondly, A proper inference drawn from it: "If they have persecuted men, as you have seen, and are likely to see much more, they will also persecute you; you may expect it and count upon it: for," 1. "You will do the same that I have done to provoke them; you will reprove them for their sins, and call them to repentance, and give them strict rules of holy living, which they will not bear." 2. "You cannot do more than I have done to oblige them; after so great an instance, let none wonder if they suffer ill for doing well." He adds, "If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also; as there have been a few, and but a few, that have been wrought upon by my preaching, so there will be by yours a few, and but a few." Some give another sense of this, making eteresan to be put for pareteresan. "If they have lain in wait for my sayings, with a design to ensnare me, they will in like manner lie in wait to entangle you in your talk."

(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 (v. 22): "If I had not spoken unto them, to court their love, they had not had sin, their opposition had not amounted to a hatred of me, their sin had been comparatively no sin. But now that I have said so much to them to recommend myself to their best affections they have no pretence, no excuse for their sin." Observe here, 1. The advantage which those have that enjoy the gospel; Christ in it comes and speaks to them; he spoke in person to the men of that generation, and is still speaking to us by our Bibles and ministers, and as one that has the most unquestionable authority over us, and affection for us. Every word of his is pure, carries with it a commanding majesty, and yet a condescending tenderness, able, one would think, to charm the deafest adder. 2. The excuse which those have that enjoy not the gospel: "If I had not spoken to them, if they had ever heard of Christ and of salvation by him, they had not had sin." (1.) Not this kind of sin. They had not been chargeable with a contempt of Christ if he had not come and made a tender of his grace to them. As sin is not imputed where there is no law, so unbelief is not imputed where there is no gospel; and, where it is imputed, it is thus far the only damning sin, that, being a sin against the remedy, other sin would not damn if the guilt of them were not bound on with this. (2.) Not such a degree of sin. If they had not had the gospel among them, their other sins had not been so bad; for the times of ignorance God winked at, Luke xii. 47, 48. 3. The aggravated guilt which those lie under to whom Christ has come and spoken in vain, whom he has called and invited in vain, with whom he has reasoned and pleaded in vain; They have no cloak for their sin; they are altogether inexcusable, and in the judgment day will be speechless, and will not have a word to say for themselves. Note, The clearer and fuller the discoveries are which are made to us of the grace and truth of Jesus Christ, the more is said to us that is convincing and endearing, the greater is our sin if we do not love him and believe in him. The word of Christ strips sin of its cloak, that it may appear sin.

Secondly, His works were such as merited their love, as well as his words (v. 24): "If I had not done among them, in their country, and before their eyes, such works as no other man ever did, they had not had sin; their unbelief and enmity had been excusable, and they might have had some colour to say that my word was not to be credited, if not otherwise confirmed;" but he produced satisfactory proofs of his divine mission, works which no other man did. Note, 1. As the Creator demonstrates his power and Godhead by his works (Rom. i. 20), so doth the Redeemer. His miracles, his mercies, works of wonder and works of grace, prove him sent of God, and sent on a kind errand. 2. Christ's works were such as no man ever did. No common person that had not a commission from heaven, and God with him, could work miracles, ch. iii. 2. And no prophet ever wrought such miracles, so many, so illustrious. Moses and Elias wrought miracles as servants, by a derived power; but Christ, as a Son, by his own power. This was it that amazed the people, that with authority he commanded diseases and devils (Mark i. 27); they owned they never saw the like, Mark ii. 12. They were all good works, works of mercy; and this seems especially intended here, for he is upbraiding them with this, that they hated him. One that was so universally useful, more than ever any man was, one would think, should have been universally beloved, and yet even he is hated. 3. The works of Christ enhance the guilt of sinners' infidelity and enmity to him, to the last degree of wickedness and absurdity. If they had only heard his words, and not seen his works,—if we had only his sermons upon record, and not his miracles, unbelief might have pleaded want of proof; but now it has no excuse. Nay, the rejecting of Christ, both by them and us, has in it the sin, not only of obstinate unbelief, but of base ingratitude. They saw Christ to be most amiable, and studious to do them a kindness; yet they hated him, and studied to do him mischief. And we see in his word that great love wherewith he loved us, and yet are not wrought upon by it.

[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 (v. 25): "This comes to pass, this unreasonable hatred of me, and of my disciples for my sake, that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law" (that is, in the Old Testament, which is a law, and was received by them as a law), "They hated me without a cause;" this David speaks of himself as a type of Christ, Ps. xxxv. 19; lxix. 4. Note, First, Those that hate Christ hate him without any just cause; enmity to Christ is unreasonable enmity. We think those deserve to be hated that are haughty and froward, but Christ is meek and lowly, compassionate and tender; those also that under colour of complaisance are malicious, envious, and revengeful, but Christ devoted himself to the service of those that used him, nay, and of those that abused him; toiled for others' ease, and impoverished himself to enrich us. Those we think hateful that are hurtful to kings and provinces, and disturbers of the public peace; but Christ, on the contrary, was the greatest blessing imaginable to his country, and yet was hated. He testified indeed that their works were evil, with a design to make them good, but to hate him for this cause was to hate him without cause. Secondly, Herein the scripture was fulfilled, and the antitype answered the type. Saul and his courtiers hated David without cause, for he had been serviceable to him with his harp, and with his sword; Absalom and his party hated him, though to him he had been an indulgent father, and to them a great benefactor. Thus was the Son of David hated, and hunted most unjustly. Those that hated Christ did not design there in to fulfil the scripture; but God, in permitting it, had that in his eye; and it confirms our faith in Christ as the Messiah that even this was foretold concerning him, and, being foretold, was accomplished in him. And we must not think it strange or hard if it have a further accomplishment in us. We are apt to justify our complaints of injuries done us with this, that they are causeless, whereas the more they are so the more they are like the sufferings of Christ, and may be the more easily borne.

3. In Christ the world hates God himself; this is twice said here (v. 23): He that hateth me, though he thinks his hatred goes no further, yet really he hates my Father also. And again, v. 24, They have seen and hated both me and my Father. Note, (1.) There are those that hate God, notwithstanding the beauty of his nature and the bounty of his providence; they are enraged at his justice, as the devils that believe it and tremble, are vexed at his dominion, and would gladly break his bands asunder. Those who cannot bring themselves to deny that there is a God, and yet wish there were none, they see and hate him. (2.) Hatred of Christ will be construed and adjudged hatred of God, for he is in his person his Father's express image, and in his office his great agent and ambassador. God will have all men to honour the Son as they honour the Father, and therefore what entertainment the Son has, that the Father has. Hence it is easy to infer that those who are enemies to the Christian religion, however they may cry up natural religion, are really enemies to all religion. Deists are in effect atheists, and those that ridicule the light of the gospel would, if they could, extinguish even natural light, and shake off all obligations of conscience and the fear of God. Let an unbelieving malignant world know that their enmity to the gospel of Christ will be looked upon in the great day as an enmity to the blessed God himself; and let all that suffer for righteousness' sake, according to the will of God, take comfort from this; if God himself be hated in them, and struck at through him, they need not be either ashamed of their cause or afraid of the issue.

The Comforter Announced.

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 (v. 26), and the subordinate testimony of the apostles (v. 27), and testimonies are the proper supports of truth.

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 this verse concerning the Holy Ghost than in any one verse besides in the Bible; and, being baptized into his name, we are concerned to acquaint ourselves with him as far as he is revealed.

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, Gal. iv. 6. And the Son is here said to send him. The Greek church chose rather to say, from the Father by 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 (ch. xiv. 16), I will pray the Father, and he shall send you the Comforter, which bespeaks the Spirit to be the fruit of the intercession Christ makes within the veil: here he says, I will send him, which bespeaks him to be the fruit of his dominion within the veil. The Spirit was sent, [1.] By Christ as Mediator, now ascended on high to give gifts unto men, and all power being given to him. [2.] From the Father: "Not only from heaven, my Father's house" (the Spirit was given in a sound from heaven, Acts ii. 2), "but according to my Father's will and appointment, and with his concurring power and authority." [3.] To the apostles to instruct them in their preaching, enable them for working, and carry them through their sufferings. He was given to them and their successors, both in Christianity and in the ministry; to them and their seed, and their seed's seed, according to that promise, Isa. lix. 21.

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. 1 John v. 7, 8. He instructed the apostles, and enabled them to work miracles; he indited the scriptures, which are the standing witnesses that testify of Christ, ch. v. 39. The power of the ministry is derived from the Spirit, for he qualifies ministers; and the power of Christianity too, for he sanctifies Christians, and in both testifies of Christ.

II. It is here promised that the apostles also, by the Spirit's assistance, should have the honour of being Christ's witnesses (v. 27): And you also shall bear witness of me, being competent witnesses, for you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry. Observe here,

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 (Acts x. 41), and they bore their testimony accordingly, Acts iii. 15; v. 32. Christ's ministers are his witnesses. (2.) The honour put upon them hereby—that they should be workers together with God. "The Spirit shall testify of me, and you also, under the conduct of the Spirit, and in concurrence with the Spirit (who will preserve you from mistaking in that which you relate on your own knowledge, and will inform you of that which you cannot know but by revelation), shall bear witness." This might encourage them against the hatred and contempt of the world, that Christ had honoured them, and would own them.

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, 2 Pet. i. 16; 1 John i. 1, 3. (2.) Those are best able to bear witness for Christ that have themselves been with him, by faith, hope, and love, and by living a life of communion with God in him. Ministers must first learn Christ, and then preach him. Those speak best of the things of God that speak experimentally. It is particularly a great advantage to have been acquainted with Christ from the beginning, to understand all things from the very first, Luke i. 3. To have been with him from the beginning of our days. An early acquaintance and constant converse with the gospel of Christ will make a man like a good householder.

CHAP. XV.

OVr Saviours way lying (as it is thought) by the vineyards, he takes that occaſion of comparing himſelf to a vine, as he doth elſewhere to many other creatures, every where obvious; that therein, as in ſo many optick glaſſes, we may ſee him, and be put in minde of him. Tam Christi meminiſſe opus est, quam respirare, ſaith a Father. A Bee can ſuck honey out of a flower, that a Flie cannot. Fire will be aſpiring: ſo will true grace.

Verſe 2. Every branch in me] That thinks himſelf to be in me, and is ſo thought to be by others, but proves not to be ſo. Theſe are ſaid to deny the Lord that bought them, to trample on the bloud of the Covenant, 2 Pet. 2.1. Heb. 10 20. 2 Pet. 2.28. wherewith they were ſanctified, to wallow in the mire from which they had been waſhed, &c. So here, to be branches in Chriſt, and yet unfruitfull. Not that they ever were in Chriſt, but ſeemed to be ſo: as a pole fixed in the earth, but not rooted: as a rotten leg cleaves to the body, but is no part of it: or, as wens and ulcers, which are taken away without loſſe to it.

He purgeth it.] [non-Latin text not transcribed], Am[illegible: 1 letter]utat. putat Of all poſſeſſions, ſaith Cato, none requires more pains about it, then that of vineyards. Corn comes up and grows without the husbandmans care, Mark 4.27. he knows not how. But vines muſt be dreſſed, ſupported, ſheltered, pruned every day almoſt: lopt they muſt be ever the anon, leſt the juyce be ſpent in leaves. And if it be painfull to bleed, 'tis worſe to wither. Better be pruned to grow, then cut up to burn.

Verſe 3. Vinitoris culteltus ad ſurdes purgan[illegible: 1 letter]as Cal. Through the word, &c.] Which is the pruning knife, to lop off our luxuriancies, rotten boughs, raw grapes, to pare off our gumme of pride, moſſe of formality, &c. The word hid in the heart keeps from ſin, as an amulet, Pſal. 119.11. and keeps youth from uncleaneſſe, ver. 9. mixt with faith, it purgeth upon corruption, Act, 15 9. and will not ſuffer men to reſt in ſin.

Verſe 4. As the branch cannot bear fruit, &c.] All our ſap and ſafety is from Chriſt. The bud of a good deſire, the bloſſome of a good reſolution, and the fruit of a good action, all comes from him, Gratia praevenie nos ut velimus, & ſubſequitur ne fruſtra velimus. Aug.

Verſe 5. The ſame bringeth forth much fruit.] Chriſt is a generous vine, a plant of renown, and all his, are filled with the fruits of righteouſneſſe, Phil. 1.11. have hearts full of goodneſſe, as thoſe, Rom. 15.14. and lives full of good works, as Tabitha, Act. 9.33. Melch. Ad. in vlia. In Bucholcero vivida omnia ficerunt; vivida vox, vividi oculi, vivida manus, geſtus omnes vividi, Nehemiah never reſted doing good for his people; he was good all over. Like the Aegyptian fig-tree, that bears fruit ſeven times a year: Solin. Polyhiſt. or the Lemmon-tree, which ever and anon ſendeth forth new Lemmons, as ſoon as the former are fallen off.

For without me ye can do nothing.] This is point blank againſt the doctrine of free-will, Sub laudibus natura latent inimici gratia, ſaith Auguſtine. Theſe will needs hammer out their own happineſſe, like the Spider, climbing by a threed of her own weaving, with Motto accordingly, Mihi ſoli debeo. Whereas the Apoſtle demandeth, Who made thee to differ? Greevinchovius the Arminian boldly anſwers, Ego meipſum diſcerno, I make my ſelf to differ. This he had learned from Heathens belike, That we live, Quòd vivamus deorum munu[illegible: 1 letter] eſt, quod bene vivamus, noſtrum. Iudiciū boc omnium mortalium eſt, &c Cic. de nat de Aug. de civit. Dei, l 5. is from God: but that we live well, is from our ſelves, ſaith Seneca. And this is the judgement of all men (ſaith Cicero) that proſperity is to be ſought of God, but wiſdome is to be taken up from our ſelves. St Auguſtine was of another judgement, and ſaith, Ciceronem, ut ſaceret homines liber[illegible: 1 letter]s, ficiſſe ſacrilegos.

Verſe 6. Caſt them into the fire, and they are burned] So they muſt needs be, may ſome ſay: but his meaning is, that temporaries, of all others, make the fierceſt, hotteſt fire, becauſe they are trees moſt ſeared, and fuell fully dry. Nahum tels us, that ſuch are but as ſtubble laid out in the Sun a drying, that it may burn the better, Chap. 1.10. or like grapes, let to hang in the Sunſhine, till they be ripe for the wine-preſſe of Gods wrath, Revel. 15.16.

Verſe 7. Aske what ye will, and it, &c.] Either in money, or monies-worth. If ye ask and miſſe, it is becauſe ye ask amiſſe. Vir iſte potuit quod voluit. One was wont to ſay of Luther, that he could have of God what he would. And being one time very earneſt with God for the recovery of a godly uſefull man, he cried out, Fiat voluntas mea, Mea voluntas, Domine, qu[illegible: 2 letters] tu[illegible: 1 letter]. let my will be done; and then he fals off ſweetly, My will, Lord, becauſe thy will.

Verſe 8. Herein is my Father glorified, &c.] There is not (ſaith one) ſo much of the glory of God in all his works of Creation, and Providence, as in one gracious action that a Chriſtian performs; how much more in a life full of good fruits? This makes others ſay, [illegible: 1 letter]erè magnus eſt D[illegible: 1 letter]us Chriſtianorum, ſaid one Calocenus, a Heathen. Surely God is in them. God alſo accounts that he receives a new being, as it were, by thoſe inward conceptions of his glory, and by thoſe outward honours that we do to him, eſpecially, when we ſtudy Gods ends more then our own, and drown all ſelf-reſpects in his glory. Surely, they that doe thus, may have what they will (ſaith one) and God even thinke himſelf beholden to them.

Verſe 9. Continue ye in my love] In the love wherewith I doe dearly love you. As who ſhould ſay, Suffer your ſelves to be loved by me: loe, the Lord Chriſt even makes love to the good ſoul, and wooes entertainment.

Verſe 10. Even as I have kept my Fathers.] Chriſts obedience muſt be our patern of imitation. All his actions were either Morall or Mediatory. In both we are to imitate him. In the former, by doing as he did, Matth. 11.29. 1 Pet. 2.23. In the later, by ſimilitude, tranſlating that to our ſpirituall life, which he did as Mediatour: as to die to ſinne, to riſe to righteouſneſſe.

Verſe 11. Theſe things have I ſpoken, that, &c.] Sound joy is wrought in the heart by the hearing of the Word, Make me to hear joy and gladneſſe, that the bones which thou haſt broken (with the ſenſe of ſinne, and fear of wrath) may rejoyce, Pſalm 51.8. And God creates the fruit of the lips to be peace, Iſai. 45.

That my joy may remain in you.] The temporaries joy, as it is groundleſſe, like weeds that grow on the top of the water, ſo is it but frothy and ſlaſhy, ſuch as may wet the mouth, but not warm the heart, ſmooth the brow but not fill the breaſt; like a ſlight daſh of rain, or an handfull of bruſh wood, &c. Eccleſ. 7.6. The true Chriſtians joy is full and firm, ſolid and ſubſtantiall, Gaudium in re, gaudium in ſpe, gaudium de poſſeſſione, gaudium de promiſſione. He hath ſtill enough to make him everlaſtingly merry, under whatſoever miſery. He can turn into his counting-houſe, and finde there ſufficient ot ſuſtain him, as David did, 1 Sam. 30.6.

Verſe 12. This is my Commandment] Love is the complement of the Law, and the ſupplement of the Goſpel.

Verſe 13. Greater love then this, &c.] Of any ſuch love, but in Chriſt, we ſhall hardly read. David in a paſſion may wiſh, Would God I had died for thee: but in cold bloud I doubt whether he would have done it. A certain Citizen of Toledo, B. Fulg [illegible: 1 letter]. 1. being condemned to die, his ſon ceaſed not by prayers and tears to entreat that he might die for his Father; which accordingly he did: but this is rare, for life is ſweet, and love is cold in this caſe. Every man is his own next-neighbour.

Verſe 14. If ye doe whatſoever, &c] In deſire and endeavour, lifting at the latch, though ye cannot open the door: and looking to both the magnalia & minutula of the Law: Boni Catholioi ſunt (ſaith Auguſtine) qui & fidem integram ſequuntur, & bonos mores. And they are written in the book of life, Qui quod poſſunt, ſaciunt, erſi quod deben[illegible: 1 letter], non poſſuns. (ſaith Bernard) that doe what they can, though they cannot do what they ſhould.

Verſe 15. I call you not ſervants] And yet it was the top of Davis titles to be the ſervant of the Lord; and the height of his ambition to be a door-keeper in his houſe. All his ſervants are ſons, and all his ſons, heirs.

But I have called you friends.] It was an high honour of old, to be the Kings friend. Such honour have all his Saints: Chriſt doth freely unboſome himſelf unto them.

Verſe 16. And ordained you, that you ſhould goe, &c.] Not that ye ſhould Lord it over your brethren (as the Pope ordains his Caterpillars) and get up the beſt of the land for your private uſe and pleaſure. The Pope when he maketh his Cardinals, uſeth theſe words, Eſtote confratres noſtri, & principes mundi. The Archbiſhoprick of Toledo is ſaid to be worth an hundred thouſand pounds a yeare: a greater revenue then ſome Kings have.

That whatſoever ye ſhall aske, &c.] Bernard in his Meditations giveth divers rules of ſtrictneſſe, of purging the heart, of being faithfull and fruitfull, Et cum talis fueris (ſaith he) memento mei: Intimating, that then they might have what they would of God, for themſelves or others, Meditat. de[illegible: 1 letter]et. cap. 5. that were ſo qualified.

Verſe 17. That ye love one another] That ye hold together, becauſe the world will hate you. A ſpirit of perverſities made way for the ruine of Aegypt, Iſai. 19.14, 16, 17. Si collidimur, frangimur, If we claſh, we break, Of the ancient Britains Tacitus tels us, that nothing was ſo deſtructory to them, as their diſſentions, Dum ſinguli pugnant, univerſi vincuncur. And of the Thracians, Herodotus ſaith, that if they had been all of one minde, they had been invincible. Keep therefore the ſtaff of binders unbroken, Zech. 11.7, 14. Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Epheſ. 4.3. In the cauſe of Religion every ſubdiviſion is a ſtrong weapon in the hand of the enemy; as in the diſagreement of Luther and Zuinglius. The Jeſuites have a practice of ruinning over to the Lutherans, pretending to be convers; but it is only to keep up that bitter contention that is between the Calviniſts and Lutherans; the virulency whereof is much fomented by theſe renegado Jeſuites.

Verſe 18. If the world hate you, &c.] As it will, becauſe it is condemned by your contrary practice, and is carried on by a contrary principle. Moab was irked becauſe of Iſrael, or, did fret and vex at them, Numb. 22.3, 4. Bats ſlie againſt the light. Some barbarous Nations curſe the Sun, when he ſhines hot upon them, and ſhoot up their arrows againſt it.

Ye know that it hated me firſt] Shall we thinke to ſpeed better then our betters? Elias is not better then his fathers. Luther was angry with thoſe that ſet forth his ſufferings, ſith they were nothing to the ſufferings of Chriſt. All our troubles are but as the ſlivers and chips of his croſſe.

Verſe 19. If ye were of the world, &c.] They jangle among themſelves, and intertear one another, as dogs fighting. For, though there be not a diſagreement in hell (being but the place of retribution, not of action) yet on earth there is no ſound peace among the wicked. Howbeit, let Ephraim be againſt Manaſſeh, and Manaſſeh againſt Ephraim, they'll ſoon be both againſt Judah: as if a Hare run by dogs that are fighting, they'll agree to purſue the Hare

Therefore the world hates you] As inhoſpitall ſalvages doe thoſe that land on their coaſts, as the Cyprians; for an old grudge, ſlay all Jews they meet with, though but caſt upon their coaſts by contrary windes, Tac. l. [illegible: 1 word]. Tami [illegible: 1 word] eſt [illegible: 1 letter]o[illegible: 1 letter]um, quanti eſt odium Chriſt innorum. Ter. Bodin. de rep. l. [illegible: 1 letter]. cap. 6. Odio humani generis, & per flagitia inviſi, ſaith Tacitus of Chriſtians, Davis adverſaries ſought not only his life, but his ſoul, his damnation too; as that monſter of Millain mentioned by Bodinus. Now we commit thy ſoul to the devil, ſaid the perſecutours to John Huſſe. And Hierom of Prague could hardly obtain a Confeſſour, being it ſeems conſcientious that way.

Verſe 20. Remember the Word, &c.] Elſe all is loſt, 1 Cor. 15.2. [non-Latin text not transcribed], H[illegible: 2 letters]. [illegible: 1 letter]. 1. Naturally the word runs thorow us as water thorow a riven veſſel: Pleni rimarum ſumus, huc at que illuc diffluimus. Our memories are as ſeives that retain the chaff, let goe the good corn: or as ners, that keep the pelf, let goe the clean water: or as hourglaſſes, that are no ſooner full, but running out again. Beſeech we God to put his finger upon the hole, and to make his Word an engraffed word unto us, to ſettle it upon our ſouls, &c.

If they have kept my ſaying, &c.] But they will doe neither. Holy Melancthon, being himſelf newly converted, thought it impoſſible for his hearers to withſtand the evidence of the Goſpel: But after he had been a preacher a while, 'tis ſaid he complained, that old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon.

Verſe 21. Becauſe they know not him, &c.] For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. St Paul thanks his ignorance for all his cruelties to Chriſtians. Ariſt Echie. l. 3. Ignorance is a breeder and great-bellied. Ariſtotle makes it the mother of all miſrule and miſchief.

Verſe 22. If I had not come, &c.] Here our Saviour ſhews that their ignorance was affected; as theirs is with us, Bern. Qui ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, they ſhut the windows leſt the light ſhould come in, Sic fit, Seneca Epiſt. ubi homines majorem vitae partem in tenebris agunt, ut noviſſimè ſolem quaſi ſupervacuum faſtidiant. This is the ignorance to which mercy is denied, Iſa. 27.11.

Verſe 23. He that hateth me] 'Tis wonder how any ſhould; Omne peccatum eſt Dercidium, Pſal. 18.46. yet we read of God-haters, Rom. 1.30. and all ſin is a kinde of God-ſlaughter: the wicked wiſh there were no God, when David cries out, vivat Deus, &c.

Verſe 24. Works, which none other man did] More ſtupendious, becauſe by mine own power, and all to the peoples profit. Theſe were of uſe in the Churches infancy, and Papiſts boaſt of them ſtill; but thoſe are the devils lying wonders, 2 Theſſ. 2.9. As for our Religion, Pudet diabolum Lutheri doctrinam miraculis conformare, ſaith Gretſer the Jeurite. But we anſwer with Augustine. Qui adbuc prodigia quaerit, magnum eſt ipſe prodigium. He that now looks for a miracle, is himſelf a great miracle. Chriſt was the onely Thaumaturgus, or Wonderworker. This is atteſted by Joſephus the Jew, and confeſſed by Mahomet.

Verſe 25. They hated me without a cauſe] So they dealt by David, ſo by Chriſt, and ſo ſtill by his members. There is but the ſame Pageant acted over again, as of old: In moribus compoſiti, & modeſti ſunt, was the worſt the perſecutours could ſay of the Waldenſes, B. Ʋſh[illegible: 1 letter]r. thoſe ancient Proteſtants: They are good in their lives, true in their ſpeeches, hearty in their affections, &c. Sed fides eorum eſt incorrigibilis & peſſima, Hiſt. of Coua. Trent 7, 8. Tanta eſt morii integritas, ut nee boſtes reperiant quo lealumnic tur. Eraſm. de Lu[illegible: 1 letter]h. ſaid the Dominican Inquiſitour concerning the Huſſites. So the Biſhop of Aliff in the Trent-councel ſaid, That as the faith of the Catholikes was better; ſo the Heretikes exceeded them in good life. Hominis vim magno omnium conſenſu probatur, ſaid Eraſmus of Luther: And yet a Fryer of Antwerp wiſhed that Luther were there, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth, as the ſame Eraſmus teſtifieth.

Verſe 26. Whom I will ſend you from, &c.] Chriſt hath ſatisfied the Wrath of the Father: and now the Father, and Chriſt both, as reconciled, ſend the Spirit, as the fruit of both their loves, and as an earneſt, which is part of the whole ſumme.

Verſe 27. And ye alſo ſhall bear witneſſe] Thus word and ſpirie go together, according to the promiſe, Iſa. 59.21. The Manna of the Spirit comes down from Heaven, in the dews of the Miniſtery of the Goſpel, Numb. 11.9. 1 Pet. 1.22.

I am the true vine. Some have supposed that this discourse was delivered in the room where the Lord's Supper was instituted, and that, as they had made use of wine, Jesus took occasion from that to say that he was the true vine, and to intimate that his blood was the real wine that was to give strength to the soul. Others have supposed that it was delivered in the temple, the entrance to which was adorned with a golden vine (Josephus), and that Jesus took occasion thence to say that he was the true vine; but it is most probable that it was spoken while they were going from the paschal supper to the Mount of Olives. Whether it was suggested by the sight of vines by the way, or by the wine of which they had just partaken, cannot now be determined. The comparison was frequent among Jews, for Palestine abounded in vineyards, and the illustration was very striking. Thus the Jewish people are compared to a vine which God had planted, Isa 5:1-7, Ps 80:8-16, Joel 1:7, Jer 2:21, Eze 19:10. When Jesus says he was the true vine, perhaps allusion is had to Jer 2:21. The word true, here, is used in the sense of real, genuine. He really and truly gives what is emblematically represented by a vine. The point of the comparison or the meaning of the figure is this: A vine yields proper juice and nourishment to all the branches, whether these are large or small. All the nourishment of each branch and tendril passes through the main stalk, or the vine, that springs from the earth. So Jesus is the source of all real strength and grace to his disciples. He is their leader and teacher, and imparts to them, as they need, grace and strength to bear the fruits of holiness.

And my Father is the husbandman. The word vine-dresser more properly expresses the sense of the original word than husbandman. It means one who has the care of a vineyard; whose office it is to nurture, trim, and defend the vine, and who of course feels a deep interest in its growth and welfare. Mt 21:33. The figure means that God gave, or appointed his Son to be, the source of blessings to man; that all grace descends through him; and that God takes care of all the branches of this vine--that is, of all who are by faith united to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus and all his church he feels the deepest interest, and it is an object of great solicitude that his church should receive these blessings and bear much fruit.

(a) "true vine" Isa 4:2 (b) "husbandman" Song 8:12

Every branch in me. Every one that is a true follower of me, that is united to me by faith, and that truly derives grace and strength from me, as the branch does from the vine. The word branch includes all the boughs, and the smallest tendrils that shoot out from the parent stalk. Jesus here says that he sustains the same relation to his disciples that a parent stalk does to the branches; but this does not denote any physical or incomprehensible union. It is a union formed by believing on him; resulting from our feeling our dependence on him and our need of him; from embracing him as our Saviour, Redeemer, and Friend. We become united to him in all our interests, and have common feelings, common desires, and a common destiny with him. We seek the same objects, are willing to encounter the same trials, contempt, persecution, and want, and are desirous that his God shall be ours, and his eternal abode ours. It is a union of friendship, of love, and of dependence; a union of weakness with strength; of imperfection with perfection; of a dying nature with a living Saviour; of a lost sinner with an unchanging Friend and Redeemer. It is the most tender and interesting of all relations, but not more mysterious or more physical than the union of parent and child, of husband and wife (Eph 5:23), or friend and friend.

That beareth not fruit. As the vinedresser will remove all branches that are dead or that bear no fruit, so will God take from his church all professed Christians who give no evidence by their lives that they are truly united to the Lord Jesus. He here refers to such cases as that of Judas, the apostatizing disciples, and all false and merely nominal Christians (Dr. Adam Clarke).

He taketh away. The vine-dresser cuts it off. God removes such in various ways:

1st. By the discipline of the church.

2nd. By suffering them to fall into temptation.

3rd. By persecution and tribulation, by the deceitfulness of riches, and by the cares of the world (Mt 13:21,22); by suffering the man to be placed in such circumstances as Judas, Achan, and Ananias were--such as to show what they were, to bring their characters fairly out, and to let it be seen that they had no true love to God.

4th. By death, for God has power thus at any moment to remove unprofitable branches from the church.

Every branch that beareth fruit. That is, all true Christians, for all such bear fruit. To bear fruit is to show by our lives that we are under the influence of the religion of Christ, and that that religion produces in us its appropriate effects, Gal 5:22,23. Mt 7:16-20. It is also to live so as to be useful to others. As a vineyard is worthless unless it bears fruit that may promote the happiness or subsistence of man, so the Christian principle would be worthless unless Christians should live so that others may be made holy and happy by their example and labours, and so that the world may be brought to the cross of the Saviour.

He purgeth it. Or rather he prunes it, or cleanses it by pruning. There is a use of words here --a paronomasia - in the original which cannot be retained in the translation. It may be imperfectly seen by retaining the Greek words--"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away (airei); every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it (kathairei); now ye are clean (katharoi)," &c. The same Greek word in different forms is still retained. God purifies all true Christians so that they may be more useful. He takes away that which hindered their usefulness; teaches them; quickens them; revives them; makes them more pure in motive and in life. This he does by the regular influences of his Spirit in sanctifying them, purifying their motives, teaching them the beauty of holiness, and inducing them to devote themselves more to him. He does it by taking away what opposes their usefulness, however much they may be attached to it, or however painful to part with it; as a vine-dresser will often feel himself compelled to lop off a branch that is large, apparently thrifty, and handsome, but which bears no fruit, and which shades or injures those which do. So God often takes away the property of his people, their children, or other idols. He removes the objects which bind their affections, and which render them inactive. He takes away the things around man, as he did the valued gourds of Jonah (Jn 4:5-11), so that he may feel his dependence, and live more to the honour of God, and bring forth more proof of humble and active piety.

(c) "Every branch" Mt 15:13 (d) "that beareth" Heb 12:15, Rev 3:19

Now ye are clean. Still keeping up the figure (katharoi). It does not mean that they were perfect, but that they had been under a process of purifying by his instructions all the time he had been with them. He had removed their erroneous notions of the Messiah; he had gradually reclaimed them from their fond and foolish views respecting earthly honours; he had taught them to be willing to forsake all things; and he had so trained and disciplined them that immediately after his death they would be ready to go and bear fruit among all nations to the honour of his name. In addition to this, Judas had been removed from their number, and they were now all true followers of the Saviour. Jn 13:10.

Through the word. By means of the teachings of Jesus while he had been with them.

(e) "Now, you are clean" Jn 17:17, Eph 5:26, 1Pet 1:22

Abide in me. Remain united to me by a living faith. Live a life of dependence on me, and obey my doctrines, imitate my example, and constantly exercise faith in me.

And I in you. That is, if you remain attached to me, I will remain with you, and will teach, guide, and comfort you. This he proceeds to illustrate by a reference to the vine. If the branch should be cut off an instant, it would die and be fruitless. As long as it is in the vine, from the nature of the case, the parent stock imparts its juices, and furnishes a constant circulation of sap adapted to the growth and fruitfulness of the branch. So our piety, if we should be separate from Christ, or if we cease to feel our union to him and dependence on him, withers and droops. While we are united to him by a living faith, from the nature of the case, strength flows from him to us, and we receive help as we need. Piety then, manifested in good works, in love, and self-denial, is as natural, as easy, as unconstrained, and as lovely as the vine covered with fruitful branches is at once useful and enticing.

(f) "abide in me" Jn 2:6 (g) "As the branch" Hoss 14:8, Gal 2:20, Php 1:11

I am the vine, Jn 15:1

Without me ye can do nothing. The expression "without me" denotes the same as separate from me. As the branches, if separated from the parent stock, could produce no fruit, but would immediately wither and die, so Christians, if separate from Christ, could do nothing. The expression is one, therefore, strongly implying dependence. The Son of God was the original source of life, Jn 1:4. He also, by his work as Mediator, gives life to the world (Jn 6:33), and it is by the same grace and agency that it is continued in the Christian. We see hence,

1st. That to him is due all the praise for all the good works the Christian performs.

2nd. That they will perform good works just in proportion as they feel their dependence on him and look to him. And

3rd. That the reason why others fail of being holy is because they are unwilling to look to him, and seek grace and strength from him who alone is able to give it.

(1) "without me", or "severed from me"

If a man abide not in me. See Jn 15:4. If a man is not truly united to him by faith, and does not live with a continual sense of his dependence on him. This doubtless refers to those who are professors of religion, but who have never known anything of true and real connection with him.

Is cast forth. Jn 15:2. Mt 8:12, Also Mt 22:13.

Is withered. Is dried up. A branch cut off withers. So of a soul unconnected with Christ, however fair it may have appeared, and however flourishing when a profession of religion was first made, yet when it is tried, and it is seen that there was no true grace, everything withers and dies. The zeal languishes, the professed love is gone, prayer is neglected, the sanctuary is forsaken, and the soul becomes like a withered branch reserved for the fire of the last great day. See a beautiful illustration of this in Eze 15:1-8.

Men gather them. The word men is not in the original, and should not have been in the translation. The Greek is "they gather them," a form of expression denoting simply they are gathered, without specifying by whom it is done. From Mt 13:40-42, it seems that it will be done by the angels. The expression means, as the withered and useless branches of trees are gathered for fuel, so shall it be with all hypocrites and false professors of religion.

Are burned. See Mt 13:42.

(h) "If a man abide" Mt 3:10, 7:19

Herein. In this--to wit, in your bearing much fruit.

Glorified. Honoured.

Bear much fruit. Are fruitful in good works; are faithful, zealous, humble, devoted, always abounding in the work of the Lord. This honours God,

1st. Because it shows the excellence of his law which requires it.

2nd. Because it shows the power of his gospel, and of that grace which can overcome the evil propensities of the heart and produce it.

3rd. Because the Christian is restored to the divine image, and it shows how excellent is the character after which they are formed. They imitate God, and the world sees that the whole tendency of the divine administration and character is to make man holy; to produce in us that which is lovely, and true, and honest, and of good report. Comp. Mt 7:20, Php 4:8.

So. That is, in doing this.

Shall ye be my disciples. This is a true test of character. It is not by profession, but it is by a holy life, that the character is tried. This is a test which it is easy to apply, and one which decides the case. It is worthy of remark that the Saviour says that those who bear MUCH fruit are they who are his disciples. The design and tendency of his religion is to excite men to do much good, and to call forth all their strength, and time, and talents in the work for which the Saviour laid down his life. Nor should anyone take comfort in the belief that he is a Christian who does not aim to do much good, and who does not devote to God all that he has in an honest effort to glorify his name, and to benefit a dying world. The apostles obeyed this command of the Saviour, and went forth preaching the gospel everywhere, and aiming to bring all men to the knowledge of the truth; and it is this spirit only, manifested in a proper manner, which can constitute any certain evidence of piety.

As the Father hath loved me. The love of the Father toward his only-begotten Son is the highest affection of which we can conceive. Comp. Mt 3:17, 17:5. It is the love of God toward his coequal Son, who is like him in all things, who always pleased him, and who was willing to endure the greatest sacrifices and toils to accomplish his purpose of mercy. Yet this love is adduced to illustrate the tender affection which the Lord Jesus has for all his friends.

So have I loved you. Not to the same degree, for this was impossible, but with the same kind of love--deep, tender, unchanging; love prompting to self-denials, toils, and sacrifices to secure their welfare.

Continue ye. The reason which he gives for their doing this is the strength of the love which he had shown for them. His love was so great for them that he was about to lay down his life. This constitutes a strong reason why we should continue in his love.

1st. Because the love which he shows for us is unchanging.

2nd. It is the love of our best friend--love whose strength was expressed by toils, and groans, and blood.

3rd. As he is unchanging in the character and strength of his affection, so should we be. Thus only can we properly express our gratitude; thus only show that we are his true friends.

4th. Our happiness here and for ever depends altogether on our continuing in the love of Christ. We have no source of permanent joy but in that love.

In my love. In love to me. Thus it is expressed in the Greek in the next verse. The connection also demands that we understand it of our love to him, and not of his love to us. The latter cannot be the subject of a command; the former may. See also Lk 11:42, 1Jn 2:5 Jude 1:21

See Jn 14:23,24

(k) "If ye keep my commandments" Jn 14:21,23

These things. The discourse in this and the previous chapter. This discourse was designed to comfort them by the promise of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life, and to direct them in the discharge of their duty.

My joy. This expression probably denotes the happiness which Jesus had, and would continue to have, by their obedience, love, and fidelity. Their obedience was to him a source of joy. It was that which he sought and for which he had laboured. He now clearly taught them the path of duty, and encouraged them to persevere, notwithstanding he was about to leave them. If they obeyed him, it would continue to him to be a source of joy. Christ rejoices in the obedience of all his friends; and, though his happiness is not dependent on them, yet their fidelity is an object which he desires and in which he finds delight. The same sentiment is expressed in Jn 17:13.

Your joy might be full. That you might be delivered from your despondency and grief at my departure; that you might see the reason why I leave you, be comforted by the Holy Spirit, and be sustained in the arduous trials of your ministry. See 1Jn 1:4, 2Jn 1:12. This promise of the Saviour was abundantly fulfilled. The apostles with great frequency speak of the fulness of their joy--joy produced in just the manner promised by the Saviour-- by the presence of the Holy Spirit. And it showed his great love, that he promised such joy; his infinite knowledge, that, in the midst of their many trials and persecutions, he knew that they would possess it; and the glorious power and loveliness of his gospel, that it could impart such joy amid so many tribulations. See instances of this joy in Acts 13:52; Rev 14:17, 2Cor 2:3, Gal 5:22, 1Thes 1:6, 2:19, 20, 3:9, 1Pet 1:8, Rom 5:11 2Cor 7:4.

(l) "that your joy" Jn 16:24, 17:13

This is my commandment. The peculiar law of Christianity, called hence the new commandment. Jn 13:34.

As I have loved you. That is, with the same tender affection, willing to endure trials, to practise self-denials, and, if need be, to lay down your lives for each other, 1Jn 3:16.

(m) "This is my commandment" Jn 13:24

Greater love hath, &c. No higher expression of love could be given. Life is the most valuable object we possess; and when a man is willing to lay that down for his friends or his country, it shows the utmost extent of love. Even this love for friends has been rarely witnessed. A very few cases--like that of Damon and Pythias--have occurred where a man was willing to save the life of his friend by giving his own. It greatly enhances the love of Christ, that while the instances of those who have been willing to die for friends have been so rare, he was willing to die for enemies--bitter foes, who rejected his reign, persecuted him, reviled him, scorned him, and sought his life, 1Jn 4:10, Rev 5:6,10. It also shows us the extent of his love that he gave himself up, not to common sufferings, but to the most bitter, painful, and protracted sorrows, not for himself, not for friends, but for a thoughtless and unbelieving world. "O Lamb of God, was ever pain, Was ever LOVE like thine!"

(n) "greater love" Rom 5:7,8

I call you not servants. This had been the common title by which he addressed them (Mt 10:24,25, Jn 12:26, 13:13); but he had also before this, on one occasion, called them friends (Lk 12:4), and on one occasion after this he called them servants, Jn 15:20. He here means that the ordinary title by which he would henceforth address them would be that of friends.

The servant knoweth not, &c. He receives the command of his master without knowing the reason why this or that thing is ordered. It is one of the conditions of slavery not to be let into the counsels and plans of the master. It is the privilege of friendship to be made acquainted with the plans, wishes, and wants of the friend. This instance of friendship Jesus had given them by making them acquainted with the reasons why he was about to leave them, and with his secret wishes in regard to them. As he had given them this proof of friendship, it was proper that he should not withhold from them the title of friends.

His lord. His master.

I have called you friends. I have given you the name of friends. He does not mean that the usual appellation which he had given them had been than of friends, but that such was the title which he had now given them.

For all things, &c. The reason why he called them friends was that he had now treated them as friends. He had opened to them his mind; made known his plans; acquainted them with the design of his coming, his death, his resurrection, and ascension; and, having thus given them the clearest proof of friendship, it was proper that he should give them the name.

That I have heard, &c. Jesus frequently represents himself as commissioned or sent by God to accomplish an important work, and as being instructed by him in regard to the nature of that work. Jn 5:30. By what he had heard of the Father, he doubtless refers to the design of God in his coming and his death. This he had made known to them.

(p) "friends" Jas 2:23

Ye have not chosen me. The word here translated chosen is that from which is derived the word elect, and means the same thing. It is frequently thus translated, Mk 13:20, Mt 24:22, 24, 31; Col 3:12. It refers here, doubtless, to his choosing or electing them to be apostles. He says that it was not because they had chosen him to be their teacher and guide, but because he had designated them to be his apostles. Jn 6:70; Mt 4:18, also Mt 4:19-22. He thus shows them that his love for them was pure and disinterested; that it commenced when they had no affection for him; that it was not a matter of obligation on his part, and that therefore it placed them under more tender and sacred obligations to be entirely devoted to his service. The same may be said of all who are endowed with talents of any kind, or raised to any office in the church or the state. It is not that they have originated these talents, or laid God under obligation. What they have they owe to his sovereign goodness, and they are bound to devote all to his service. Equally true is this of all Christians. It was not that by nature they were more inclined than others to seek God, or that they had any native goodness to recommend them to him, but it was because he graciously inclined them by his Holy Spirit to seek him; because, in the language of-the Episcopal and Methodist articles of religion, "The grace of Christ PREVENTED them;" that is, went before them, commenced the work of their personal salvation, and thus God in sovereign mercy chose them as his own. Whatever Christians, then, possess, they owe to God, and by the most tender and sacred ties they are bound to be his followers.

I have chosen you. To be apostles. Yet all whom he now addressed were true disciples. Judas had left them; and when Jesus says he had chosen them to bear fruit, it may mean, also, that he had "chosen them to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth," 2Thes 2:13.

Ordained you. Literally, I have placed you, appointed you, set you apart. It does not mean that he had done this by any formal public act of the imposition of hands, as we now use the word, but that he had designated or appointed them to this work, Lk 6:13-16; Mt 10:2-5.

Bring forth fruit. That you should be rich in good works; faithful and successful in spreading my gospel. This was the great business to which they were set apart, and this they faithfully accomplished. It may be added that this is the great end for which Christians are chosen. It is not to be idle, or useless, or simply to seek enjoyment. It is to do good, and to spread as far as possible the rich temporal and spiritual blessings which the gospel is fitted to confer on mankind.

Your fruit should remain This probably means,

1st. That the effect of their labours would be permanent on mankind. Their efforts were not to be like those of false teachers, the result of whose labours soon vanish away (Acts 5:38,39), but their gospel was to spread--was to take a deep and permanent hold on men, and was ultimately to fill the world, Mt 16:18. The Saviour knew this, and never was a prediction more cheering for man or more certain in its fulfillment.

2nd. There is included, also, in this declaration the idea that their labours were to be unremitted. They were sent forth to be diligent in their work, and untiring in their efforts to spread the gospel, until the day of their death. Thus their fruit, the continued product or growth of religion in their souls, was to remain, or to be continually produced, until God should call them from their work. The Christian, and especially the Christian minister, is devoted to the Saviour for life. He is to toil without intermission, and without being weary of his work, till God shall call him home. The Saviour never called a disciple to serve him merely for a part of his life, nor to feel himself at liberty to relax his endeavours, nor to suppose himself to be a Christian when his religion produced no fruit. He that enlists under the banners of the Son of God does it for life. He that expects or desires to grow weary and cease to serve him, has never yet put on the Christian armour, or known anything of the grace of God. See Lk 9:62.

That whosoever, &c. See Jn 15:7.

(q) "Ye have not chosen me" 1Jn 4:10,19 (r) "ordained you" Eph 2:10 (s) "whatsoever you shall ask" Jn 15:7, 14:13

If the world hate you. The friendship of the world they were not to expect, but they were not to be deterred from their work by its hatred. They had seen the example of Jesus. No opposition of the proud, the wealthy, the learned, or the men of power, no persecution or gibes, had deterred him from his work. Remembering this, and having his example steadily in the eye, they were to labour not less because wicked men should oppose and deride them. It is enough for the disciple to be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord, Mt 10:25.

(u) "If the world hate you" 1Jn 3:13

If ye were of the world. If you were actuated by the principles of the world. If, like them, you were vain, earthly, sensual, given to pleasure, wealth, ambition, they would not oppose you.

Because ye are not of the world. Because you are influenced by different principles from men of the world. You are actuated by the love of God and holiness; they by the love of sin.

I have chosen you out of the world. I have, by choosing you to be my followers, separated you from their society, and placed you under the government of my holy laws.

Therefore, &c. A Christian may esteem it as one evidence of his piety that he is hated by wicked men. Often most decided evidence is given that a man is the friend of God by the opposition excited against him by the profane, by Sabbath-breakers, and by the dissolute, 1Jn 3:13, Jn 7:7.

(v) "therefore the world hateth you" Jn 17:14

Remember the word that I said, &c. At their first appointment to the apostolic office. See Mt 10:24, 25.

(w) "Remember" Mt 10:24, Lk 6:40, Jn 13:16 (x) "if they have kept" Eze 3:7

My name's sake. On my account. Because you are my followers and possess my spirit. Jn 14:13.

Because they know not him that sent me. They will not believe that God has sent me. They do not so understand his character, his justice, or his law, as to see that it was fit that he should send his Son to die. They are so opposed to it, so filled with pride and opposition to a plan of salvation that is so humbling to men, as to be resolved not to believe it, and thus they persecute me, and will also you.

(y) "But all these things" Mt 10:22, 24:9

And spoken unto them. Declared unto them the will of God, and made known his requirements. Jesus had not less certainly shown by his own arguments that he was the Messiah than by his miracles. By both these kinds of proof their guilt was to be measured. See Jn 16:26. No small part of the gospel of John consists of arguments used by the Saviour to convince the Jews that he came from God. He here says if he had not used these arguments, and proved to them his divine mission, they had not had sin.

Had not had sin. This is evidently to be understood of the particular sin of persecuting and rejecting him. Of this he was speaking; and though, if he had not come, they would have been guilty of many other sins, yet of this, their great crowning sin, they would not have been guilty. We may understand this, then, as teaching,

1st. That they would not have been guilty of this kind of sin. They would not have been chargeable with rejecting the signal grace of God if Jesus had not come and made an offer of mercy to them.

2nd. They would not have been guilty of the same degree of sin. The rejection of the Messiah was the crowning act of rebellion which brought down the vengeance of God, and led on their peculiar national calamities. By way of eminence, therefore, this might be called the sin--the peculiar sin of their age and nation. Comp. Mt 23:34-39, 27:25. And this shows us, what is so often taught in the Scriptures, that our guilt will be in proportion to the light that we possess and the mercies that we reject, Mt 11:20-24, Lk 12:47,48. If it was such a crime to reject the Saviour then, it is a crime now; and if the rejection of the Son of God brought such calamities on the Jewish nation, the same rejection will involve the sinner now in woe, and vengeance, and despair.

No cloak. No covering, no excuse. The proof has been so clear that they cannot plead ignorance; it has been so often presented that they cannot allege that they had no opportunity of knowing it. It is still so with all sinners.

(z) "If I had not come" Jn 9:41 (a) "but now " Jas 4:17 (2) "cloak" or, "excuse"

He that hateth me, &c. To show them that this was no slight crime, he reminds them that a rejection of himself is also a rejection of God. Such is the union between them, that no one can hate the one without also hating the other. See Jn 5:19,20 Jn 14:7,9.

The works which none other man did. The miracles of Jesus surpassed those of Moses and the prophets--

1st. In their number. He healed great multitudes, and no small part of his life was occupied in doing good by miraculous power.

2nd. In their nature. They involved a greater exertion of power. He healed all forms of disease. He showed that his power was superior to all kinds of pain. He raised Lazarus after he had been four days dead. He probably refers also to the fact that he had performed miracles of a different kind from all the prophets.

3rd. He did all this by his own power; Moses and the prophets by the invoked power of God. Jesus spake and it was done, showing that he had power of himself to do more than all the ancient prophets had done. It may be added that his miracles were done in a short time. They were constant, rapid, continued, in all places. Wherever he was, he showed that he had this power, and in the short space of three years and a half it is probable that he wrought more miracles than are recorded of Moses and Elijah, and all the prophets put together.

(b) "the works" Jn 7:31

In their law, Ps 35:19. All the Old Testament was sometimes called the law. The meaning here is that the same thing happened to him which did to the psalmist. The same words which David used respecting his enemies would express, also, the conduct of the Jews and their treatment of the Messiah. In both cases it was without cause. Jesus had broken no law, he had done no injury to his country or to any individual. It is still true that sinners hate him in the same way. He injures no one, but, amid all their hatred, he seeks their welfare; and, while they reject him in a manner for which they can give no reason in the day of judgment, he still follows them with mercies and entreats them to return to him. Who has ever had any reason to hate the Lord Jesus? What injury has he ever done to any one of the human race? What evil has he ever said or thought of any one of them? What cause or reason had the Jews for putting him to death? What reason has the sinner for hating him now? What reason for neglecting him? No one can give a reason for it that will satisfy his own conscience, none that has the least show of plausibility. Yet no being on earth has ever been more hated, despised, or neglected, and in every instance it has been "without a cause." Reader, do you hate him? If so, I ask you WHY? Wherein has he injured you? or why should you think or speak reproachfully of the benevolent and pure Redeemer?

(c) "They hated me without cause" Ps 35:19, 69:4

Ye also shall bear witness. You shall be witnesses to the world to urge on them the evidences that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah.

Have been with me. They had for more than three years seen his works, and were therefore qualified to bear witness of his character and doctrines.

From the beginning. From his entrance on the public work of the ministry, Mt 4:17-22. Comp. Acts 1:21,22.

(f) "And ye also shall bear witness" Lk 24:48, Acts 2:32, 4:20,33 2Pet 1:16

(g) "ye have been with me from the beginning" 1Jn 1:2.

[I am the true vine.] We may take these words in opposition to what is spoken concerning Israel. Israel is called a vine, Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:7; Jeremiah 2:21, &c. In Vajicra Rabba, the parallel is drawn between Israel and a vine; and the similitude is carried on to sixteen particulars, for the most part improper and unsuitable enough.

But that which is principally to be regarded in this place is this, that hitherto, indeed, Israel had been the vine, into which every one that would betake himself to the worship of the true God was to be set and grafted in. But from henceforward they were to be planted no more into the Jewish religion, but into the profession of Christ. To which that in Acts 11:26 hath some reference, where the disciples were first called 'Christians,' that is, no longer Jews or Israelites.

Our Saviour, as we have said before, discoursed these things immediately after that he had instituted the holy eucharist: while he was ordaining that holy sacrament he had said, "This is the new testament in my blood"; and from thence immediately adds, I am the true vine: so that for the future the church is to be under the administration of a new testament, and not, as the Jewish church, under that of the old; and from henceforward I am the true vine, into which all the branches of the church must be ingrafted, and not into the Israelitish vine any more.

[Now ye are clean.] Christ having discoursed of the vine and of the branches, these words seem to have an allusion to that law concerning the circumcision of the tree when first planted, Leviticus 19:23. For the first three years the fruit was to be accounted as uncircumcised, unclean, and not to be eaten; "But you, O my branches, now are clean through my word; that word which I have been preaching to you for these three years."

[Abide in me.] Indeed, a true fixing and abiding in Christ is by a true faith. But may we not suppose our Saviour here more peculiarly warning them against apostasy, or falling back from the gospel into Judaism, a plague likely to rage exceedingly in the church?

[As a branch.] See Ezekiel 15:2, where D. Kimchi paraphrases in this manner: "O Son of man, I do not ask thee concerning the vine that beareth fruit (for so it ought to be accounted), but concerning the branch which is amongst the trees of the wood, unfruitful, even as the trees themselves are." Where, by branch (for so it is commonly rendered), we are to understand the wild vine. So R. Solomon in loc.: "I do not speak (saith God) of the vine in the vineyard that bears fruit, but of the branch of the wild vine that grows in the woods." So that the sense of the prophet is, "O son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree?" viz. a branch of the wild vine which grows amongst the trees of the forest, which is unfruitful, even as they are.

And this is our Saviour's meaning; "Every branch in me that bringeth not forth fruit is cast forth like the branch in the vine that grows wild in the forest, which is good for nothing but to be burned"...

[That ye love one another.] "Every sabbath they added that blessing towards that course of priests who, having performed their service the last week, were gone off. Let him who dwells in this house plant among you brotherhood, love, peace, and friendship."

Our Saviour once and again repeats that command, "Love one another": he calls it 'a new commandment,' chapter 13:34: for their traditions had in a great measure put that command of loving one another out of date; and that particularly by very impious vows they would be making. We have a little hint of it, Matthew 15:5, and more in the treatise Nedarim. See also Matthew 5:43, "Thou shalt hate thine enemy": this rule obtained in the Jewish schools. And upon that precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," let us see the mighty charitable Gloss in Chetubb. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," that is, decree him to an easy death: namely, when he is adjudged by the Sanhedrim to die.

When you consider the frequent repetition of this precept, "Love one another," consider also that passage, Matthew 10:34, "I came not to send peace, but a sword": and then having reflected on those horrid seditions and mutual slaughters, wherewith the Jewish nation, raging with itself in most bloody discords and intestine broils, was, even by itself, wasted and overwhelmed, you will more clearly see the necessity and reasonableness of this command of loving one another, as also the great truth of that expression, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

[But I have called you friends, for all things, &c.] Thus is it said of Abraham the 'friend of God,' Genesis 18:17.

[Ye have not chosen me.] For it was a custom amongst the Jews that the disciple should choose to himself his own master. "Joshua Ben Perachiah said, 'Choose to thyself a master, and get a colleague.'"

[They had not had sin.] So also verse 24: in both places the passage is to be understood of that peculiar sin of rejecting the Messiah: "If I had not spoken to them, and done those things that made it demonstrably evident that I was the Messiah, they had not had sin, that is, they had not been guilty of this sin of rejecting me. But when I have done such things amongst them, it is but too plain that they do what they do in mere hatred to me and to my Father." Our Saviour explains what sin he here meaneth in chapter 16:9.

Observe here, How our blessed Saviour, under the metaphor of a vine, elegantly sets forth himself in his relation to his visible church, shewing, under that similitude, what his Father meant to do with Judas, and with all unfruitful branches like unto him, even take them away, cut them off, and throw them into the fire: but such as are fruitful, he purges by his word and spirit, by ordinances and providences, by mercies and afflictions, that they may be more aboundingly and abidingly fruitful.

Learn hence, 1. That Jesus Christ in his offices for, and relation to, his people, doth most fitly resemble a vine. As the vine is weak, mean, and small, in outward appearance, not like the cedar for height, or like the oak for strength: so was Christ in his state of humiliation: there was no beauty in him, Isa 53:1

As the vine is a fruitful plant, though it has little pomp, yet it has much plenty, and is only useful for fruit bearing, and brings forth both plenty and variety of sweet fruit to make glad the heart of man: thus the fruits of Christ's death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession are many and great, delightful and sweet.

In a word, as the fruit of the vine is pressed, that it may be drink unto men, so Christ submitted to be trod in the wine-press of God's wrath, that thereby the sweetest fruit and benefit might redound to his people.

Finally, as the vine is the root from which all the branches derive their nourishment and fruitfulness, in like manner is Christ the stock into which all his members are ingrafted, the root in which they all subsist, and the fountain from whence their spiritual life and fruitfulness doth proceed and flow.

Learn, 2. That as Christ is the vine, so his Father is the husbandman: he ingrafts and implants all the branches into this vine: the plants of righteousness are of his own planting: he takes notice what store of fruti every branch doth bring forth: and it is his daily care to dress and dung, to purge and prune, to support and shelter, his vineyard, that it may bring forth fruit abundantly.

Learn, 3. That there are two sorts of branches in this vine, some fruitful, others unfruitful; some have the visibility, but not the reality, of branches; some are branches only by external profession, others are so by real implantation.

Learn, 4. That the true touch-stone whereby to discern one sort of branches from another, is not by the fair leaves of profession, but by the substantial proofs of an holy and righteous conversation.

Learn, 5. That in the most fruitful branches, in the best and holiest of christians, there remains much corruption to be purged out, in order to future and farther fruitfulness.

Learn, 6. That the husbandman's hand (God the Father's) manages the pruning knife of affliction, in order to his people's improvement in grace and holiness: he had rather see his vine bleed, than see it barren.

Lastly, That such branches as, after all the husbandman's care and cost, remain unfruitful, shall be finally cut off and cast away, as was Judas here; who, in this discourse of our Saviour, seems particularly and especially to be aimed at; he was a branch in him that bare no fruit, who was shortly after taken away, and went to his own place.

Our Saviour having in the former verses distinguished his disciples into two sorts; some that were members of his body the church, and branches of him the true vine, by outward shew and visible profession only: others that are spiritually ingrafted into him, and do bring forth much fruit: now in this third verse Christ tells his disciples which number they were of: Now (saith he) ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you; that is, now that Judas, the traitor, that dead, rotten, fruitless branch, is cut off, and cast out, ye are all clean through the cleansing power and virtue of my word and doctrine.

Learn hence, 1. That such as are justified by the blood, and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, are in Christ's account clean, notwithstanding their many spots and manifold imperfections: Now are ye clean.

2. That as the blood of Christ is the meritorious, and the Spirit of Christ the efficacious, so the word of Christ is the instrumental, cause of a believer's purification and cleansing; Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I will abide in you; that is, abide in me, not only by an outward and visible profession, but by a real and fiducial adherence, and I will abide in you by the influences and operations of my Holy Spirit. The union and conjunction between Christ and his members is mutual; they abide in him by faith and dependance, and he abideth in them by the indwelling presence of his grace and spirit: Abide in me, and I will abide in you.

Observe farther, The reason which Christ gives why they should thus abide in him; because without union with him, without interest in him, without influences of grace derived from him, they could bring forth no fruit for him, nor do any thing that is truly acceptable and well-pleasing to him: As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me, for without me ye can do nothing: That is, "As branches severed from the vine cannot live and bear fruit, so neither can Christians, separated from Christ, and without deriving virtue from him, do any thing spiritually good and well-pleasing in the sight of God."

Learn hence, That not only unregenerate men do labour under an impotency to that which is spiritually good, but even disciples themselves, wihtout daily dependance upon Christ, and without constant communications of grace from him, can do nothing in a lively and acceptable way and manner unto him: Without me ye can do nothing; you that are branches of me the true vine.

As Christians, without me, that is, without my Spirit, abiding in you, and uniting to me your head, you can do nothing acceptable, to me, or worthy of my gospel. Again: as apostles, it may denote, that without the gifts and powerful assistance of the Holy Spirit, they could do nothing to convert the world to Christianity: in both respects might Christ truly say, Without me ye can do nothing.

Here our holy Lord discovers the sad and deplorable condition of such professors, who pretending relation to Christ, do yet bring forth no fruit unto him: he calls them withered branches, fit only for the fire.

Learn hence, That such as have had a long standing in God's vineyard, and contented themselves with a withered profession, are in great danger of having God's blasting added to their barrenness. All their parts and gifts, and common graces, will wither, and their fair blossoms of profession will drop off, and at the great day the angels will gather these fruitless branches together, and cast them into hell-fire.

Observe here, 1. A glorious privilege declared: Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Not that we are hereby warranted to ask what we please at God's hand, but our will must be limited by the word and will of God; we must pray in faith, and in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ, and with a single eye at the glory of God.

Observe, 2. The condition upon which this privilege is attainable: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you; that is, practically and experimentally. If my doctrine and commands abide in your hearts, and dispose you to an holy fruitfulness in your lives, then shall all your just requests be granted.

Learn, that such as by faith embrace the promises, and by obedience live up to the precepts, of the gospel, may in prayer humbly ask of God what they will, with a due submission to the wisdom and will of God.

Our Lord here exhorts his followers to an holy fruitfulness in good works, by a double argument.

One drawn from the glory of God: Herein is my Father glorified.

The other from their own advantage: So shall ye be my disciples; that is, hereby ye shall evidence and prove yourselves to be my disciples.

Learn hence, That a Christian's abounding fruitfulness in good works will abundantly conduce to the honour and glory of God, and also to his own peace and comfort, by being the best evidence of his discipleship.

Lord, what a comparison is here! As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: he doth not say, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved him; but so have I loved you: nor doth he say, As God hath loved me, so have I loved you; but, As the Father! It is verbum dilectionis, a word importing dearness of affection: nor doth he say, The Father hath loved me, and I love you; but, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: nor doth he say, As the Father hath loved me, so will I love you; but, So have I loved you.

This shews the priority of Christ's love, that he loved us first, and also denotes the invincible constancy of his love, and the indubitable certainty thereof: I have loved you: follow me from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven again, and you will find that every step I have taken hath been in love.

Learn, 1. That the Lord Jesus Christ hath given full and ample demonstration of his great and wonderful love unto his church and people.

2. That it is the duty, and ought to be the singular care, of every Christian, to preserve the sweet sense and inward diffusions of Christ's love in their own souls: Continue ye in my love.

Christ had told his disciples in the foregoing verse, that he had loved them, even as the Father had loved him; that is, with an eternal love, with a real and operative love, with an immutable and constant love.

In this verse he directs them how they may continue in the sense of his love; namely, by their constant obedience to his commands, as his obedience to his Father's commands had secured him a continuance in his Father's love; If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love: that is, in the sense of my love, and under the sweet apprehensions of it.

Learn hence, That as our obedience to Christ is the best evidence of our love to him, so is it the best mean to preserve and keep us in the sense and assurance of his love to us.

In these words our Saviour declares the ground and reason why he did so earnestly press and urge the duty of being universally fruitful upon his disciples, and that was two-fold:

1. That his joy might remain in them; that is, that the joy which he had in their holiness and obedience might remain with him: nothing is more desired by Christ, than that he may have cause continually to rejoice in the faith and fruitfulness of his people.

2. That their joy in him might be full. This latter arises from the former; our joy in Christ results from Christ's joy in us; his delight in us causes us abundantly to delight in him.

Learn hence, That nothing is more desired by Christ, than that the joy of his people should be a full, solid, constant, and uninterrupted joy.

3. That the only way and mean, in order thereunto, is by an holy fruitfulness in good works; All these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

The observation of God's commandments does give a Christian here the fullest and most perfect joy.

Our Lord had often in this farewell sermon of his to his dear disciples, pressed upon them the duty of loving one another, chap. 13 and 14. And yet here he inforces it from his own example: As I have loved you, so love you one another; that is, as truly and as sincerely for the manner, though not in the same proportion and degree.

Learn hence, That for the disciples of Christ to love one another upon such grounds, and in such a way as he loved them, is that which his heart greatly desires, and is very much set upon.

2. That Christ's love unto believers is both an obligation unto mutual love, and also a pattern and example for it. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Here our Saviour gives his disciples an evidence of the greatness of his love unto them; namely, in his readiness to lay down his life for them, which is the highest expression of love to our dearest friends, because life is the greatest earthly blessing.

Learn hence, That Christ's love, in laying down his life for his people, was a matchless love; for whilst they were enemies to him, he had a friendly respect for them; and never ceased till he had brought them into a covenant of friendship with himself.

Here Christ invites his people to obedience, by the honourable title of friends: Ye are my friends.

1. Actively, you will declare and manifest yourselves to be my friends.-

2. Passively, I will declare myself to be your friend.

Learn hence, 1. How condescending is the love of Christ, in calling his servants by the name of friends.

2. How glorious is the believer's relation to Christ, in being one of his friends.

3. How grateful is obedience to Christ, seeing it dignifies the practisers of it with the title of his friends.

4. Our conformity to Christ consists not so much in imitation of what he did, as in obedience to what he prescribed. Some actions of Christ are inimitable, but all his commands are obeyable.

5. That nothing short of an humble, uniform, cheerful, and constant, obedience to the commands of Christ, will evidence the truth of our relation to him, and the sincerity of our friendship with him: Then only are ye my friends, when ye do whatsoever I command you.

By these words Christ declares the reason why he was pleased to change his stile, and call his disciples friends instead of servants: namely, because of his communication of secrets to them, which servants are not admitted to the knowledge of: Henceforth I call you not servants; that is, not mere servants: not that they were to be exempted from obedience: (for that is called for in the foregoing verse) but Christ treated them now with the kindness and familiarity of friends, being about to leave them, he unbosoms himself unto them, saying, All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.

Not as if Christ had communicated the infinite treasures of knowledge to them, which the Father had imparted to him: but he speaks here as the prophet of his Church, that as such he had revealed all things needful for them to know in order to salvation, all things belonging to their case and state; as a counsellor doth not impart all his knowledge to his clients; but all that is necessary for his client to understand and know, that he makes known unto him, relating to his own case.

Learn hence, 1. That all Christ's disciples are his servants, and all his servants are his friends, in regard of intimate communion and tender usage: Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends.

And after his resurrection he called them brethren, Joh 20:17. The dignity of believers is a growing dignity, the longer they follow Christ, the higher privileges are indulged to them.

Learn, 2. That all the Father's counsel concerning our salvation, and so far as it is needful and necessary for us to know, is faithfully revealed by Christ to his Church, he being constituted by God the Father to be the great prophet and instructor of it: All things that I have heard of the Father, I have made known unto you; that is, all things fit for them at present to know; namely, concerning his passion, resurrection, ascension, mission of the Holy Ghost, a future judgment, and the promise of eternal life.

Here our Saviour gives another instance and evidence of his love to his disciples; he tells them, that his mercy and free goodness had prevented them in their election to eternal salvation, and in their vocation unto the office of apostleship: Ye have not chosen me, to be your Master and Lord, but I have chosen you, to be my disciples, friends, and servants.

2. He acquaints them with the end, design, and intention, of his chusing of them; namely, that they should bring forth fruit, and persevere therein, even in all the fruits of holiness and obedience, which are the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ: I have ordained you, that you should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.

3. He directs them, that in order to their being fruitful, they should have access to the Father through him for whatsoever they wanted and stood in need of: Whatever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

Learn hence, That all those whom God hath chosen, and called to the knowledge and service of Jesus Christ, ought to make it their care and endeavour to bring forth fruit, and to persevere therein to their lives end: I have chosen you, that you should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.

Observe here, 1. With what frequency and importunity our Lord inculcates and presses the duty of mutual love upon his disciples: I command you to love one another.

It denotes the great importance of the duty, and the great averseness and backwardness of our hearts to the performance of it.

And if we consider the disciples as apostles and ministers of the gospel, it intimates to us the necessity of mutual love amongst the dispensers of the gospel, as conducing exceedingly to the welfare and benefit of the church of God, over which he hath set them.

Observe, 2. The argument which our Saviour makes use of to press his disciples in general, and his ministers and ambassadors in particular, to love each other: and that is, because the world would certainly hate them.

Learn hence, That the world's hatred of the members and ministers of Christ, is, and ought to be, esteemed by them a strong argument to excite and persuade them to love one another; for this is subjoined as an argument to press mutual love, that we are sure to meet with the world's hatred.

Observe, 3. The several arguments by way of encouragement which Christ propounds to comfort his members and ministers against the world's hatred.

The first argument is taken from his own lot and usage; when here, in the world, he met with the very same before them: The world hated me before it hated you.

Learn hence, That hatred and persecution from the world need not seem hard to the saints, if they consider what a stock Christ had before them upon him: he is the prime object of the world's hatred and they who hate his members much, do hate him more, because of their likeness to him and resemblance of him.

A second argument of comfort under the world's hatred is this, that it will evidence they are not of the world, but chosen out of the world. Because ye are not the world, but I have chosen you our of the world, therefore the world hates you Joh 15:19.

Hence learn, 1. That the children of God, though in the world, yet they are not of the world, they have not the spirit of the world in them, nor is the conversation of the world led by them.

2. That the differnce betwixt them that are of the world, and those that are chosen out of the world, is of God's making: I have chosen you out of the world.

3. That such Christians as are separated from the world in judgment, affection, and practice, must for that reason expect to be hated and persecuted by the world: Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The third argument for consolation and support under the world's hatred, is taken from our relation to Christ, as servants to a master, Remember that the servant is not greater than his Lord Joh 15:20: as if Christ had said, "Is is equal that you should expect better treatment than myself, either as to your persons or ministry, or that you should expect that the world should better receive your doctrine than it did mine before you.

Learn hence, That neither the members nor ministers of Christ can nor ought to expect better treatment in and from the world, than their master found before them: The servant is not above his master, nor greater than his Lord.

A fourth argument to support them under the burden of the world's hatred, is taken from the goodness of the cause for which they were to suffer: namely, for Christ's name's sake, All these things will they do unto you for my name's sake Joh 15:21.

Hence learn, 1. That it is the duty of all, but especially of the ministers of Christ, to own the name of Christ, to stand up in defence of his name and truth, his glory and honour, what opposition soever they meet with for the same.

Learn, 2. That the great quarrel of the world against the disciples of Christ, is for the name of Christ; whatever may be pretended, this is the ground of the quarrel.

These words are not to be understood absolutely, but comparatively; as if Christ had said, "Had not I come amongst them in my incarnation, and preached personally to them the doctrine of salvation, and confirmed that doctrine by miraculous operations, they might have pleaded ignorance in some measure, and they had not had sin; that is, they had not had the sin of unbelief and gospel-contempt of sin to answer for as now they have; but would have had more to say in excuse, or for a cover for their sin, than now they can: But now they have no cloak for their sin: that is, they are totally inexcusable, and have not the least colour or pretence for their obstinate unbelief."

Learn hence, 1. That sins of ignorance are, as it were, no sins compared with sins committed against light and knowledge.

2. That sins committed against gospel light are of an heinous nature, and aggravated guilt, as being committed against the very remedy.

3. That the gospel, where it is plainly preached, doth take away all pretence and excuse from sinners. Now they have no cloak for their sins.

These words declare the heinous nature of the Pharisees sin, in hating and persecuting Christ, who had done before their eyes such works as no man besides him, or before him, ever did: he acting by his own power.

Peter healed the lame man, Acts 3:1-16. but it was in the name of Jesus of Nazareth: but Christ healed the sick, and raised the dead, in his own name, and by a special word of command: I say unto thee, arise: yet did the Pharisees hate him and his Father, according to the prediction, They hated me without a cause Ps 35:19. Which being spoken of David in type, received a more eminent accomplishment in Christ, the Son of David.

Learn thence, 1. That let men pretend to ever so much holiness or respect to God, yet if they hate Christ, despise his gospel, they are haters of God, who is one in essence and nature with his Son. He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

Learn, 2. That no miracles wrought by mortal men were ever comparable with the miracles wrought by Christ the Son of God; he did surpass them all in number, kind, and manner of doing them; by his own authority, in his own name, and not as others who obtained their power by prayer from God: I have none amongst them the works which none other man did.

Learn, 3. That Christ having confirmed his doctrine by such unparalleled miracles as the world was never before acquainted with doth aggravate the sin of those that are haters of his person, despisers of his doctrine, and reproachers of his miracles; it being just with God, when men obstinately shut their eyes, and will not see, judicially to close their eyes, and say, They shall not see.

Here our Holy Lord confirms himself, that, though he had laid them under many aspersions and scandals from the world, yet all these should be done away by the coming of the Holy Spirit who should testify of him, and make his person and doctrine to be acknowledged in the world; and that they themselves should bear witness of him who had been with him from the beginning; that is, since he first began to exercise his prophetic office.

Observe here, 1. That Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are three distinct persons in the godhead.

2. That the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son: here the Son is said to send him: and, as to the Father, he is said to proceed from him.

If the Holy Ghost doth not proceed from the Son, why he is called The Spirit of the Son, Gal 4:6? Why is he said here to be sent by the Son? The Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father. And if the Spirit doth not proceed from the Son, what personal relation can we conceive between the Son and the Spirit?

Observe, 3. That it is the highest dignity and honour of the apostles and ministers of Christ, that the Spirit beareth no testimony unto Christ, but with and according to the testimony given by them; for here it is conjoined, He shall testify of me! and ye shall also bear witness, who have been with me from the beginning.