John 15:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father 's commandments and abide in his love.

NIV: If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

NASB: If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

CSB: If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

NLT: When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Between verses 9 and 10, Jesus combines two closely related ideas. First, only "branches" vitally connected to the "true vine" can bear fruit; only these will escape being pruned off and destroyed. Production of spiritual fruit is evidence of a real relationship with Christ, and comes only because of that connection (John 15:1–6). Second, abundance is achieved when one deeply "abides" in Christ and His love. Obedience to Christ's teachings is a sign we are born again, the means by which we transmit His love to the world, and a method by which we glorify God (John 15:7–8).

Previously, Jesus tied authentic love for Him to obedience (John 14:15). The statement made here echoes remarks He made while washing the disciples' feet earlier that same evening (John 13:15–17). Jesus exemplified what it means to live according to the will of God (John 5:19; Matthew 26:39). He does not—at all—ask us to endure anything which He Himself did not take on (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus obeyed God, as should we (1 John 5:3). Though we're fallible and prone to make mistakes (1 John 1:9–10), to love Christ and to obey Him are one and the same.

The personal benefit of that obedience is explained by Jesus in the next verse.

John 15:1–11 contains one of Jesus' most well-known metaphors: the vine and the branches. This features the seventh of seven "I Am" statements as recorded by John. Jesus lays out several nuanced ideas, touching on Christian perseverance, faith, false conversion, and spiritual effectiveness. This ends with another reference to loving obedience, which sets up the next passage of Jesus' teaching.

This passage begins with a celebrated analogy from Christ: the vine and the branches. This includes the seventh and final "I Am" statement of the gospel of John. Jesus uses this metaphor to explain how our spiritual life, as born-again believers, is drawn from His life. God's intent for our lives is to progress from barrenness to fruitfulness, to spiritual abundance. Jesus also repeats His command for believers to love each other. In this context, He goes so far as to refer to those who follow His teachings as His "friends."

Jesus is in the middle of a long discourse given to the disciples, which began during the last supper. He presents the analogy of a vine and branches, then repeats His command for believers to love each other. Jesus also warns about how the unbelieving world will hate and persecute Christians. This leads into the teachings of chapter 16, which focus on perseverance in the face of trials.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.