| Chapter text (World English Bible version) |  |
| Jesus speaks to his disciples on his way to Gethsemane, just outside Jerusalem. | |
| 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. | How does Jesus describe Himself, the Father, and the branches? |
| 3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. | What happens when someone remains in Jesus, and what happens if they don’t? |
| 6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burnt. 7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. | What happens to branches that do not remain in Jesus? |
8 “In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. 9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full. | How is God glorified, and what does Jesus want His followers to experience? |
| 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. | What command does Jesus give about love, and what shows someone is His friend? |
| 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. | What new relationship does Jesus describe between Himself and His disciples? |
| 17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another. 18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. | Why does the world hate those who belong to Jesus? |
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’* If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. * Quotation from John 13 v 16 | What should Jesus’ followers expect if the world treated Him the same way? |
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me, hates my Father also. 24 If I hadn’t done amongst them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’* * Quotation from Psalm 35 v 19 and 69 v 4 | Why does Jesus say the world is guilty of sin? |
26 “When the Counsellor* has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. * Greek Parakletos: Counsellor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, and Comforter. | Who will testify about Jesus, and who else must testify? |
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