The True Vine
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2Every branch in me that bears no fruit he removes, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will bear even more. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it stays on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is how my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. 12This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me; I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last — so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you. 17This is my command to you: love one another.
The World’s Hatred
18If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. But you do not belong to the world; I chose you out of the world, and that is why the world hates you. 20Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. 21They will do all this to you because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father too. 24If I had not done among them the works no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen, and they have hated both me and my Father. 25This has happened to fulfill the word written in their law: ‘They hated me for no reason.’ 26When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father — he will testify about me. 27And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
