Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 15:8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
8. Herein is my Father glorified ] As in Joh 15:6, the verb is the aorist passive; not ‘is being glorified’ but ‘is glorified,’ i.e. whenever the occasion arises. The aorist is used of an act regarded in itself as accomplished at any conceivable moment: comp. Joh 17:26. ‘When ye pray and obtain your prayers through abiding in Me, My Father is glorified already.’ It is best to understand ‘herein’ as referring to what precedes (comp. Joh 4:37 and Joh 16:30), in order to give the proper meaning to ‘that.’
that ye bear ] Literally, in order that ye may bear: it is S. John’s favourite particle once more, expressing the Divine purpose (comp. Joh 8:56, Joh 9:2-3, Joh 11:15; Joh 11:50, Joh 12:23, Joh 13:1-2, &c.). ‘Herein’ cannot refer to ‘in order that’ without awkwardness.
so shall ye be my disciples ] Rather, and may become My disciples. The construction introduced by ‘in order that’ continues to the end of the verse; moreover the difference between ‘to be’ and ‘to become’ should be preserved (see on Joh 10:19, Joh 1:6). The sense of the whole will therefore be; ‘In granting your prayers My Father is glorified, in order that ye may be fruitful and become My disciples.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Herein – In this – to wit, in your bearing much fruit.
Glorified – Honored.
Bear much fruit – Are fruitful in good works; are faithful, zealous, humble, devoted, always abounding in the work of the Lord. This honors God.
- Because it shows the excellence of his law which requires it.
- Because it shows the power of his gospel, and of that grace which can overcome the evil propensities of the heart and produce it.
- 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. Compare Mat 7:20; Phi 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 15:8
Herein is My Father glorified, that ye hear much fruit
God glorified in His people
The great majority of Christs illustrations were drawn from the world of nature, which teaches us that there is a profound connection between the natural and spiritual worlds.
For Christ did not introduce His teaching into nature, but showed men the lessons concerning God and the spiritual which it had been silently teaching for ages, but which they had been too blind to see. For years had the vines of Palestine been uttering glorious things about the union of man to God: prophets had seen something of the mystery; but it was reserved for the greatest of the prophets to gather all their finest teachings into one beautiful discourse. And because the principle on which Christ taught is ever true, we may learn most solemn lessons from the beauty of Gods world. The great teaching of the text is this: Mans greatest power for glorifying God is a life of Christ-like action, and in order to illustrate its full force we must trace it back to its first principles.
I. THE INWARD LIFE IN UNION WITH CHRIST MUST SHOW ITSELF OUTWARDLY IS CHRIST-LIKE ACTION.
1. All profound emotions must display themselves in action. Whenever a deep love or a strong conviction enters a mans heart, it impels him to utter it. If it be unspoken in word, it will change his whole being., and burning itself into speech in his deeds, give its meaning a tongue, and manifest its secret fire; or if it cannot express itself it will perish in its own concealment. So the ruling emotion of love to Christ must utter itself to men in the language of Christ-like words and life, or it will pine and perish in its secrecy. And not only so, but all deep love must transform the soul into the image of the beloved, and thus reveal its energy.
2. The inner Christian life has a power to overcome the hindrances to its manifestation. It has been said that circumstances make the man; but do circumstances hinder the man who is resolved to be rich? On the contrary, he turns them to his own end. Did circumstances make Napoleon? He made them steps to his throne. Circumstances make weak men, but strong men make circumstances. There we have the answer to the timid assertion that it is impossible in such a world as this to manifest the power of a living Christianity. As the vine, by the inward force of life, draws from the sun and air and soil those elements that give it beauty and vigour, so the Christian life causes all outward states to minister to its growing power. The sight of sin is an opposing circumstance to the real Christian it is transformed into a mighty lesson. The slanders of men are an opposing circumstance–they form the noblest school for Christian patience. The sufferings and sacrifices of life may seem to be hindrances–in reality they make the soul strong in faith and prayer. If the life of love be in a man he will live Christ everywhere, and, like the oak, grow stronger in storms. Hence the conclusion arises unanswerably, that the inner life in union with Christ must reveal itself in Christ-like deeds.
II. THE LIFE OF CHRIST-LIKE ACTION IS MANS GREATEST POWER OF GLORIFYING GOD.
1. A Christ-like life is the strongest manifestation of God to the world. The men of this world do not perceive the signs of a present God. They may have an indistinct belief in an awful Power existing somewhere in the universe. They read the Bible as an old book, not as a testimony to a living Lord: they find a beauty in nature, but that beauty is not to them the evidence of its invisible King. But a Christ-like man brings the Divine so directly into the sphere of his own daily life, that they cannot help perceiving it there and then. That mans life becomes a Bible, which in the clearest tones proclaims the presence of his Lord.
2. A Christ-like life is the greatest human influence to bring men near God. When Christ said to His disciples, Go and bear fruit, go and reproduce My life in your life, He laid hold of the two great forces that mould all human society–influence and example. For the power of social influence is constant and irresistible, while all direct efforts for God are of necessity limited, and awaken opposition. Men hear the appeals of the preacher, and apply them only to their neighbours. But the ceaseless, silent influence of a Christ-like life enters with its resistless majesty into hearts that are barred and bolted in self-complacency against the preachers voice, and, like the light, makes their darkness visible. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
God requires that His vines be fruitful
A vine would never be so stupid as to examine itself thus, but suppose it should, and should call out, Roots, do you enjoy being down there in the soil? Yes, we enjoy being here in the soil. Stem, do you like to be out there in summer? Yes, I like to be out here in summer. Leaves, are you fond of waving in the sun and air? Yes, we are fond of the sun and air; and, satisfied, it says, I am an excellent vine. The gardener, standing near, exclaims, The useless thing! I paid ten dollars for the cutting, and I have pruned and cultivated it, and for years looked for the black Hamburg grapes it was to bear, but it has yielded only leaves. He does not care that the roots love the soil, and the stem the summer. It makes no difference to him though every leaf spread itself broad as Sahara in its barrenness. It is fruit that he wants. (H. W.Beecher.)
Much fruit
They say that at Mentone the citron harvest lasts from the 1st of January to the 31st of December. Women may be seen almost every morning of the year stepping down the rocky mountain paths with large baskets upon their heads filled with the fruit. Pastors may well wish that their Churches were always in such bearing order, and Sabbath school teachers may sigh for such perpetual fruit. To come nearer home, may not each one of us long for like perpetuity of fertility in our own souls? It would be a grand thing, to be evermore working and at the same time planning new effort, and preparing material for new enterprises. Mentone owes its lemons to its warm sun, and to its sheltered position close under the great rocks. Here is a secret for us all. To dwell in communion with Jesus is to abide in the sunshine, and to rest in His great love and atoning sacrifice is to nestle under the Rock of Ages, and to be shielded from every withering blast. Nearer to God is the way to greater fruitfulness. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Christian fruitfulness
I. ITS NATURE.
1. It consists in a visible exhibition of Christian feeling and principle. I say visible; for though your heart was as tender as that of a child, and warm as that of a seraph, you bring forth no fruit unto God unless your internal feelings are manifested in appropriate acts of obedience. Those who in ancient times retired from all connection with the world may have been persons of piety, but they were prevented by the very circumstances of their condition from bringing forth fruit unto God. To be a fruitful Christian it must be seen that you are a living, active Christian.
2. It demands that we discharge with fidelity the appropriate duties of our respective stations. If we neglect these and attempt to perform others that do not belong to us or for which we are not qualified, we dishonour rather than glorify God–just as the planets would if they should quit their proper orbits and rush into spheres in which they were not appointed to move. Christians are all the servants of Jesus Christ, and each one has his proper work assigned him; they are all soldiers of Jesus Christ, and each one has his post allotted him. Some are ordained to serve as ministers, some as magistrates, some as heads of families, some as masters, some as servants. Some are rich, and are appointed to be the Lords stewards, to honour Him with their substance; some in an inferior station are called to serve Him like Dorcas by making coats and garments for the poor.
3. Christian fruitfulness, in order to glorify God, must be abundant. The glory of the husbandman does not arise from his fields or vines bearing fruit but much fruit. A few ears of corn in the one nearly choked with weeds, or here and there a branch or berry on the other, much blighted and shrivelled, rather dishonours than honours him. Thus a little religion often dishonours God more than none. An indecisive halting between God and the world causes His name to be evil spoken of much more than the excesses of the openly wicked. The husbandman is not dishonoured by the unfruitfuiness of a wild tree upon which he has bestowed no culture, but the barrenness of what is planted in his garden or in his enclosed field reflects on himself, and he will therefore cut it down and cast it out as an incumbrance.
II. ITS MEANS. Very analogous are the means of Christian fruitfulness to those of common husbandry.
1. A good soil, i.e., a good heart. This is indispensable. You do not expect a harvest from seed sown upon a rock or in sand. And what but such is the heart unsanctified by grace? Never till it is softened and warmed into spiritual life by an influence from above will it yield any fruit that is pleasing to God. Hence vital union to Christ is asserted to be indispensable to Christian fruitfulness. Abide in Me, and I in you, etc. Union with Christ is the animating principle of all holy obedience, infusing spiritual life and vigour into the soul, and quickening all its powers into activity for the glory of God. No culture will make us fruitful till we are brought into vital union with Christ.
2. Good seed, i.e., the truths of Gods Word lodged in the mind by a just apprehension and cordial faith of them. As well might you expect a harvest of wheat from a field sowed with tares, as the fruits of righteousness from a mind vacant of religious truth or filled with error. Doctrinal, experimental, and practical religion are all necessarily connected; they cannot exist apart or separate from each other.
3. Careful cultivation. Fruitfulness unto God is not a growth of chance. It does not spring from indolence, unwatchfulness, or carelessness, much less from sinful conformity to the world or deadening absorption in its cares and pursuits. No; it is the result of a tender, conscientious keeping of the heart in the love of God; it is the growth of diligence and care in the use of such means as God has appointed for our advancement in the Divine life. Whatever be the state of your heart at any given time, or however excellent the seed sown in it, if you allow the cares, the riches, and pleasures of the world to enter in and choke the Word, no fruit will be brought forth to perfection.
4. Rain and sunshine, i.e., the influences of the Holy Spirit. The most careful labours of the husbandman cannot avail to produce a single ear of corn or blade of grass. So in things spiritual. Means of themselves have no efficacy to produce spiritual life or Christian fruitfulness. Paul may plant, etc. Here comes in the necessity of prayer; and a beautiful arrangement it is which connects our endeavours to grow in Christian fruitfulness with dependence on help from God.
III. ITS MOTIVES. By bearing much fruit you
1. Glorify your Heavenly Father. As the works of creation show forth the glory of the Lord, because they illustrate His perfections exerted in their formation; so His rational creatures glorify Him when some resemblance of His moral excellence is discerned upon their hearts and manifested in their lives. In this sense every Christian, however humble his station, or circumscribed his sphere of action, may attain to the high privilege and honour of glorifying God his Maker. Professed disciples of Jesus, if you take a just view of your character and obligations, you will regard yourselves in a most important sense as representatives of the Divine Majesty among your fellow men. Their eyes are upon you, and they will form their opinion of the religion you profess and of the God you adore very much from the conduct you exhibit from day to day.
2. Prove to yourselves and to others the reality of your professed discipleship. The question is often asked, How may I know that I am a Christian? The answer is by bearing fruit to the glory of God. In the absence of such fruitfulness all other evidence is worthless. You see a tree in the season of winter stripped of its leaves and fruit, and you find it difficult to decide what tree it is. But look at it when it is covered with foliage and loaded with fruit, and you are at no loss for a moment on the subject. Just so in judging of your own character. (J. Hawes, D. D.)
Union with Christ the sole condition of fruitfulness
Our only possibility of bearing any fruit worthy of our natures and of Gods purpose concerning us is by vital union with Jesus Christ. If we have not that, there may be plenty of activity and mountains of work in our lives, but there will be no fruit. Only that is fruit which pleases God and is conformed to His purpose concerning us, and all the rest of your busy doings is no more the fruit that a man should bear than cankers are roses, or than oak galls are acorns. They are but the work of a creeping grub, and diseased excrescences that suck into themselves the juices that should swell the fruit. Open your hearts to Christ and let His life and His Spirit come into you, and then you will have fruit is the purpose for which the vine was planted and the branches grown. No husbandman plants vines for wood or shade or beauty, but for fruit. Christs disciples are of value according to their fruitfulness.
II. THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE DISCIPLE CONSISTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN QUALITIES. It is not first or mainly in its usefulness or fruitfulness of service, though this is the sense in which probably the text is most often read and expounded. It is not usefulness, but character, which is the first and great end of the Husbandman. We are called, not to be missionaries first, but to be saints; not to be apostles, but first to be disciples–learners first, and afterwards men sent to teach and preach. It is not by discipling others so much as becoming more and more disciples ourselves that we bear fruit and glorify our Father. We have compared fruitfulness with usefulness as an aim. But we must not forget that the very fruitfulness of the branch is its usefulness. It had never thought of anything but growing, developing what was in it, coming to its perfection and maturity. That was all its aim to throw its life into the fruitage. But so it found its usefulness. So it did its work for God and men. For the fruit contains both food and seed. The starving eats and is refreshed. The invalid with failing appetite tastes and is revived. It graces the tables of the rich and inexpensively supplies the needs of the poor. The owner stands by well pleased, and invites all to feast themselves. It only tried to grow, but growing found its means and opportunity of service. It is so with the Christian. His best usefulness is that which comes out of his simple obedience to the laws of the vineyard, out of his simple purpose to grow into that to which His Lord has called him. He may exhort, but his life speaks louder than his lips. He may set out with intent to serve, and his best service may have been before his setting out. He may be reproaching himself with his unfaithfulness even while his faithfulness is winning men to Christ. To grow is more important than to go. Suppose the branch, just started from the vine, begins to feel the burden of its mission to do good more than the compulsion to bear fruit. In sees yonder a porch which it might shade and so be a blessing to a household, and its stretches away to reach and cover it. It strains away over the intervening space, and twines itself over the vacant trellis. It has succeeded, but, alas! where is the shade? It has grown so fast, the stem has almost run away from the leaves–a foot apart they stretch along the spindling vine; small and but half-grown, they have neither shade nor beauty, and not a bunch of grapes. If it had simply grown and sought to fill the fruit which it had set, a season later and the fragrant clusters would have hung within reach of those resting under its shade and delighting in its beauty. Have you never seen something like that among the disciples? Grow in grace is the first law of the Christian life. All else comes under that law and out of it. The fruit, too, has in it the seed: that by which it is perpetuated; the more fruit, the more seed. The branch might think that if it could, by some process of layering, multiply plants, it would be doing good service. But so it can never accomplish as much as by the natural way: filling its fruit, so making seed. Nothing so tends to the perpetuation of the Christian faith as the fidelity to the Christian standard of those who bear the name of Christ. The Divine order is first, fruitfulness; and, second, usefulness. It is fruitfulness only which ever come to the hundredfold of useful service.
III. THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE DISCIPLE DEPENDS UPON HIS RELATION TO HIS DIVINE TEACHER AND LORD. The branch gets its life through the vine from which it grows. It has no life in itself: cut it off, it dies. Does this Scripture tell us plainly in what this abiding in Christ consists? It does.
1. It is abiding in His words, in His commandments, and having them abide in us. It is in keeping His commandments, not simply obeying them–that, but not only that; it is in guarding them as a sacred treasure, and protecting them from violation not only, but from the slightest disrespect.
2. It is abiding in His love: and that is not living so that He shall continue to love us, but abiding in the love of Him, proving that love by lovingly keeping His commandments; abiding also in a love like His to others, and proving that by a spirit of self-sacrifice whose measure is a willingness to lay down our lives if so we can serve or save them.
3. It is abiding in that fellowship with Him which finds its natural expression in prayer; that is, communion with Him. Thus the channels of communication are kept open between the vine and the branches, and the lifeblood flows freely from the one to and through the other. (George M. Boynton.)
Fruitfulness the true proof of the trees excellence and the gardeners skill
I remember going over the garden of a friend who had taken up with immense enthusiasm some new system of growing dwarf trees. He exhibited his garden to me with great pride as a model of what a garden ought to be. I presume, said I, that you get a large quantity of fruit. Fruit? was the reply–fruit? Why, I scarcely think about that; and I found that my friend had so delighted himself with his new scheme, and with the beauty of the small trees all standing in rows, and the delightfulness of their leaves, so bewildered himself in his enthusiasm for his new method of gardening, that he had deceived his own self and was satisfied with leaves, and forgot that which seemed to me, as a looker-on, to be the only proof of success. (Bp. Harvey Goodwin.)
Christian fruitfulness
The analogies existing between Nature and Grace are striking and beautiful. Nor is it at all surprising that so they should be. He who formed the one kingdom formed also the other. Nature is designed as the type, the symbol of Grace. It was ever thus the Saviour looked at it. To Him, Nature was always illustrative, typical of higher truths, sublimer realities than appeared on its surface. He never rested in anything short of the spiritual. On few subjects is this analogy more frequently indicated than on that of fruit–fruit in Nature betokening fruit in grace. First fruits; the fruits of the Spirit; the fruits of righteousness; fruit in its season; His fruit; fruits of the valley, etc. Note
I. THAT FRUIT BEARING IS THE GREAT END OF ALL GODS DISPENSATIONS. Fruit is the great object sought in all agricultural arrangements. It is not otherwise with the Great Husbandman, the Lord of the Vineyard. His arrangements who can conceive! They span eternity, embrace worlds, include the gift of His Son, the Mission of His Spirit, the revolutions of Providence, the breathing of inspiration. His purpose is our fruitfulness. This too was the Saviours object. For this He was born, lived, died; for this He endured sorrow; for this He still lives, pleads, gives His Spirit, conducts His entire moral government. The Holy Spirit too works for this, and uses all the appliances He has created and sustains. Means and opportunities, Bibles and ordinances, sanctuaries and Sabbaths, all exist for this.
II. THE ONLY FRUIT WE CAN BEAR, THAT IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, COMES FROM A SOURCE EXTERNAL TO OURSELVES. Much instruction is conveyed in the figure here employed–fruit. What is it! It is result, sequence, an effect, not a cause. It must be thus with ourselves. What we are in spirit, life, character, must come from a hidden source, an inner nature; from something back of itself. And what is the source of this life? There are beautiful fruits borne by unsanctified humanity. Generosity, amiability, benevolence, honour, kindness. Unregenerate nature cannot produce such fruit as is acceptable to a holy God. It follows, that in order to acceptable fruit, there must be renovation of nature–a new principle of life. Regeneration is spiritual grafting, the introduction of a new life, the modification of the old tree to such an extent that, though it does not alter its physical qualities, its natural capacities, it altogether renovates its moral nature, and makes it a new creation, capable henceforth of bearing acceptable fruit. This Divine and blessed influence, this grace of the Holy Spirit, comes alone from Christ. Had sin not entered our world and tainted our nature, it had come direct from our Father. As it was in paradise, so it would have been since, Gods nature would have flowed into mans with an unimpeded current. Sin checked this, and now the sacred influence, the Holy Spirits energy and grace flows through another, even Christ. The whole spiritual being with all its new capacities and instincts unfolding to Christ. Abiding–not a state expressed by fits and starts, spiritual and worldly by turns; but continuing; in all conditions of sorrow and joy, like the branch in the tree–abiding. Is this all? No. The branch thus abiding cannot be without the reception of influence. It does not give, it receives; and assuredly the great Saviour, the Celestial Vine, will not allow any of His branches thus to abide in Him for nothing. Are you thus abiding? Then you know there comes from Him sap, nurishment, energy, spiritual power, which, flowing into you, makes you at once to adhere more closely, and also to bear fruit. He that abideth in Me, and I in him. The latter is more than the former, though the first is indispensable to the second. It it important to observe here, too, the point of contact. What is this? On our part it is faith crystallizing into prayer. On His the Word, the medium of His Spirit. Such is the philosophy of Christian fruit bearing. As the pomegranate, the peach, the grape, the fig, are the results of elements, drawn from sources external to themselves, so all the fruits borne by the Christian are the result of a true life first given, then sustained by Him who said, I am the Vine, ye are the branches.
III. THE RESULTS OF SUCH FRUIT BEARING ARE MOST VALUABLE. How great the value even of material fruits! As the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, what a mint of wealth does she annually yield to ungrateful and sinful man. Fields of golden corn, orchards of russet apples, mountains of purple grapes, what an immense money value they express; sufficient to tell upon the national exchequer, to regulate the markets of the world. The fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, how great their value! They glorify God. Herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. God is glorified variously. All His works praise Him, His saints bless Him. Their praise is voluntary, conscious, intelligent, therefore higher in its nature, more acceptable, and worthy. They render it according to their fruitfulness. It vindicates and honours Christianity. This is often aspersed, vilified, scorned. While, thus, the gospel has brought forth fruits fully adequate to vindicate its claims as a system, it is only as its friends do this personally that those claims will be adequately recognized. Oh, the value of a fruitful, practical course of Christian life in this respect. It vindicates the gospel. It may be silent, but it is not dumb. A tree laden with fruit, whether a sapling or giant stem, is an object which speaks for itself. More than this, it speaks for the soil in which it grows, the garden in which it is, the husbandman by whom it is trained. These clusters of themselves show what needs to be known, so that we need not to speak anything. Fruit bearing ministers to joy. Christ would have His disciples joyful. It is most experienced when the soul is most fruitful. Consciousness of improvement in anything, most of all in self-culture and moral excellence, ministers to satisfaction. Fruitfulness is of inestimable value for the joy it secures. It gives efficacy to prayer. The Saviour recognizes this intercourse when He says, If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Abiding in Me, My Spirit through My Word flowing into you, the branch and the Vine will become one. My grace will be the source of your fruitfulness, My Spirit the inspirer of your prayers. The purport of all that has been said is simple and practical. It says to each and all, be fruitful, and see the way in which you may become so. If hitherto unfruitful, it says to you, You are defeating the great end of your being, of Gods purpose in reference to you, of Christs coming into this world. Let me entreat you to do this at once, lest you lost the capacity for it. The unfruitful tree becomes less and less likely to improve, till at last it withers and dies. (J. Viney.)
Defective fruitfulness
How many of the professed disciples of our blessed Lord and Master are there, who, while they possess and manifest certain indubitable excellencies, and clearly exhibit certain Christian graces, do, nevertheless, appear to much and serious disadvantage by reason of the total, or almost total, absence of other essential Christian virtues. Their moral defects cause so many gaps in the cluster, that, like a ragged, illshapen, and sparsely furnished bunch of grapes, they fail effectively to manifest the fruit aright which they actually do produce; and if they do not bring their religious honesty and sincerity into serious doubt, do unquestionably fall far short of what they ought to be, and what they might be, and what they must try to be, if they are to be really well-written epistles, setting forth the true character of the Master, known and read of all men. In these defective fruit bearers there is no proportion, no symmetry, no sign or promise of that ultimate holiness which will make them meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. Whatever of good there is in them is largely discounted in moral value as the representations of the Christly character, and as influences for good on those who dwell within their circle. They are the subject of sore anxiety and discomfort to their godly comrades, and unfavourably impress them that are without the knowledge of God, and whom it is their sacred duty to win to Christ. One exhibits the fruit of benevolence, but his temper is fitful, uncertain, and at times is altogether unrestrained. Another bears the fruit of fidelity; nobody can question his integrity or the purity of his motives; but he is cold, hard, morose, ungentle. A third is full of energy, courage, action, but these excellent fruits are spoiled by lack of patience, and his longsuffering is conspicuous by its absence. A fourth, again, is genial, gentle, sunny and kindly almost to a fault, but he is altogether deficient in firmness, strength of principle, stability of character, and is easily led away: and so on through all the defective combinations possible to an ill-formed Christian character. It is to be feared that, too often, the absence of certain fruits of the Spirit not only becomes chronic, bat has a very noxious and destructive influence on such as do exist, and imperils the whole religious life. In full consciousness of this the apostolic teachers ever urge the followers of the Perfect Man to strive after moral completeness. They are to perfect that which is lacking; they are to grow into the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus; they are to seek to be sanctified wholly; and to be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. (J. J. Wray.)
Fruit bearing the test of discipleship
I. HOW IS GOD GLORIFIED? It cannot be that we can add anything to His intrinsic excellence. We can glorify a man by office, by honours, in various ways; but nobody can add anything to God. We can glorify Him only by revealing in some degree what His excellencies are. No man can glorify the sun; but when the day has hung drooping, and by and by the clouds begin to fold and spread, and here and there sun bursts come in, and at last the every-increasing light sweeps out of the whole heaven every cloud, we do not create the sun, and we do not burnish it; but the wind reveals it. And we cannot in any way increase the glory of God; but in our lives and dispositions we can make known to men the quality of Divine attributes. One drop of water is enough to teach us what liquid is, but one drop of water would not be enough to teach us what the Atlantic ocean is if we had not seen it; and so one single development of love reveals the glory of the God of love, although the ocean, the tides, the infinities that belong to the Divine Nature we shall not know until we behold them from a higher point of vision, even if we do then.
II. IF WE BEAR MUCH FRUIT WE GLORIFY GOD. What the fruit is we know already. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. These are very precious fruits, and the more we bring forth the more we reveal the nature of God. A diamond is nothing in itself; and yet, having the power of refraction and reflection, it in every facet gives brilliance and colour from light. So it is with those who are really Gods gems and jewels. The light that flashes from their lives from day to day reflects Him, and makes men easily to know Him. Call back the example of Christ. He was perpetually endeavouring to teach that the development of a beautiful life was the power that He sought to establish. It was not an order of the priesthood or philosophy, new institutions or methods that He was seeking to build up; it was to take man by man, and develop in him the kingdom of God. That is the lever, and the sight of the highest form of manhood is the instrument by which the world is to be converted–has been, is, will be.
III. INFERENCES. If this be, then, the substance of Christs teaching–bear much fruit; so shall ye glorify your Father–then I remark
1. That the growth of the Church is not by the numbers that are in it, but by the graces, the beauty, variety and ripeness of Christian character. Whatever tends to make men, looking upon you, revere you, love you, whatever lifts their conception of your spiritual excellence, gives strength to the Church.
2. The courses which glorify God and make the Church rich are within the reach of everybody. There is an impression that the men who have great gifts, great knowledge, are the glory of the Church. No; it is the man who has the most fruit of the Spirit of God; and the qualities that constitute fruit are those that are open–to the child, to the ungifted, to the ignorant. Everybody knows, or may know, how to be gentle. Everybody knows how to use his tongue, not as a sword, but as an instrument of pleasure, profit, and instruction to other men. There be Christians that say, I never speak in meeting; I cant. Very well, that is all right. To be dumb when you ought not to speak is a very good Christian grace. But I am of very little account. I only wish I could pray as I hear brethren pray. I should be glad to rise in the meetings sometimes; but I know nobody wants to hear me. You are not fit to exhort; and nobody wants to hear you explain Scripture; but if God has brought you out of sorrow, and you have a word of testimony as to how in some gracious hour the heavens cleared, and your soul was lifted on high, then you will be listened to with interest. No eloquence is like that of a fact of soul experience. The power of the Church lies not in its ordinances, not in its creed, but in the life of its members. It is not a declaration that creeds or organizations are valueless. A fence is a very good thing on a farm for the sake of the crops that grow inside of it; but there are any number of Christian farms that have high fences, and that have not a thing growing in them but weeds.
3. God saves by few rather than by many. One single electric light in a hall is better than five hundred candles. So one glowing and eminent Christian life is better than a whole church full of tolerable Christians; and usually I think it will be found that in the activities of the Church it is the few and not the many that give it quality, influence, power. I do not think there is anything on earth more beautiful than a vine. But some Christian vines have not a solitary grape on them. They are empty vines. But there are some that have two or three clusters, here and there. There are one or two things which they do that are conspicuous and excellent; how many Christians are there whose branches are loaded with the choicest fruit, that fills the air with its aroma, and delights the eye, and much more the tongue, if one be privileged to pluck and eat? Herein is My Father glorified that ye bear much fruit.
4. Faith in Christ is like faith in any master. If one, conscious of ignorance in music, goes to some celebrated pianist to take lessons, he has faith in him, showing it by the fact that he accepts him as a teacher, and then puts forth all his exertions to do the thing he is taught to do. If a man goes to some great master to study art, he has faith in him. Knowing what his reputation is he betakes himself to his instruction, and attempts to develop form, grouping, colour, sentiment. Now faith in Christ consists in putting yourself into His hands, that you may be what He was–you according to the measure of your nature what He was according to the measure of His nature. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the graces that made Jesus Christ preeminently the Man of all time–the God-man; and whoever accepts Christ, and every one of all the attributes then eventuated in His life, has faith in Him.
5. The tendency to judge of revivals is, I am afraid, becoming more materialized. Men glorify God that a great outpouring of His Spirit has filled the Churches. With what? Some rivers, when they come down in freshets in spring, bring sand, and destroy the meadows over which they spread themselves; while some bring loam, and refresh all the meadows where the detrius settles down, increasing the soil. And a revival is beneficial not by the number of persons supposed to be converted, but by the quality of the conversion they have gone through. The boy preacher, Harrison, informed me that there were twenty-six hundred persons converted in one city where he was. Twenty-six hundred gardens of the Lord! Well, I would like to see those gardens. I would like to see what they bring forth. If they simply say they are in the Church, and have a through ticket paid up to heaven, and go back and live just as they always have lived, I do not very much esteem that; but if there could be twenty-six hundred persons that break out with the blossom and fruit of the Lords garden in their hearts, and they could all be brought into the Church in one company, the millennium would be the next step, right outside the door. Communities could not stand such a cloudburst as that. (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Herein is my Father glorified] Or, honoured. It is the honour of the husbandman to have good, strong, vigorous vines, plentifully laden with fruit: so it is the honour of God to have strong, vigorous, holy children, entirely freed from sin, and perfectly filled with his love.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Here are two arguments to press his disciples abiding in him, that so they might bring forth much fruit.
Herein (saith our Saviour) is my Father glorified. The glorifying of God is the great end of our lives, 1Co 10:31. God is glorified by men and womens bringing forth much fruit, Mat 5:16, the fruit unto holiness, Rom 6:22; fruit is 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, Mat 7:16-18. Hence we read of the fruit of sin unto death, and the fruit of righteousness unto life. The first is every mans 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 ploughed 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 ploughed up, and the seed of righteousness being sown in it, no more brings forth the weeds of lusts and corruptions, or only ordinary acts of human 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 ploughed and manured brings forth much fruit; so it tendeth to the honour and glory of God, when the souls renewed, manured, and influenced by him, bring forth much of the fruit of righteousness and holiness. And though men must be Christs 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 Joh 8:31; Rom 3:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. glorified that ye bear muchfruitnot only from His delight in it for its own sake, but asfrom “the juices of the Living Vine.”
so shall ye be mydisciplesevidence your discipleship.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Herein is my Father glorified,…. This does not so much refer to what goes before, concerning the disciples abiding in Christ, and he and his words abiding in them, and doing for them whatever they ask, though by all this God is glorified; as to what follows, the fruitfulness of the disciples:
that ye bear much fruit; of doctrine, grace, and good works, which show them to be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and the work of his hands; wherein the glory of his power, grace, and mercy, is greatly displayed. All the fruits of righteousness, with which they were filled by Christ, were by him to the praise and glory of God; yea, by the fruitfulness of grace, and of life and conversation, by the lively exercise of grace, and conscientious discharge of duty, as well by light of doctrine, and usefulness in the ministration of the Gospel, the disciples and servants of Christ not only glorify God themselves, but are the means of others glorifying him. It follows,
so shall ye be my disciples; or “disciples to me”; to my honour and glory also, as well as to my Father’s; not that their fruitfulness made them the disciples of Christ, but made them appear to be so, or made them honourable ones. Just as good fruit does not make the tree good; the tree is first good, and therefore it brings forth good fruit; but shows it to be good: as by continuing in his word, abiding by his Gospel they appeared to be “disciples indeed”, Joh 8:31, really and truly such; and as by loving one another, so by other fruits of righteousness, other men, all men know that they are the disciples of Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Herein ( ). That is in the vital union and the much fruit bearing. It points here backwards and forwards.
Is glorified (). Another gnomic or timeless first aorist passive indicative.
Bear (). Present active subjunctive, “keep on bearing” much fruit.
And so shall ye be ( ). Rather “become.” Future middle indicative of , though B D L read (after like ). “Become” my disciples (learners) in the fullest sense of rich fruit-bearing according to the text in
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Herein [ ] . Commonly referred to what follows. My Father is glorified in this, namely, that ye bear much fruit. It is better to refer it back to ver. 7. In the perfect unity of will between the Son and the disciple, which results in the disciple ‘s obtaining whatever he asks, the Father is glorified. To this effect is Joh 14:13, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The design of this glorification is that [] you may bear much fruit. This retrospective reference of ejn toutw, in this, or herein, occurs in Joh 4:37; Joh 16:30; 1Jo 4:17.
Is glorified [] . The aorist tense; was glorified. As in ver. 6, marking the point when the Father ‘s glory was realized in the perfect union of the believer ‘s will with Christ ‘s.
So shall ye be [ ] . Literally, and ye shall become. Some editors, however, read genhsqe, and connect, in the same construction with the preceding clause, rendering, “Herein is (was) my Father glorified, that ye might bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Note that the word is become, not be. Christian discipleship implies progress and growth.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Herein is my Father glorified,” (en touto edoksasthe ho pater mou) “By this is my Father glorified,” praised, or exalted by you all, in and through your holy lives and obedient service to me, through the church, Eph 3:21.
2) “That ye bear much fruit; (hina karpon polun pherete) “In order that you all bear much fruit,” not simply bear fruit, but much fruit; For every true branch, good heart-connected branch or good tree, will bring forth good fruit, Mat 7:17-20. The fruit is evidence of vital union with the vine.
3) “So shall ye be my disciples.” (kai genesesthe emoi mathetai) “And you all will be recognized as my disciples,” and receive not a mere entrance into eternal glory, but an abundant entrance,” with fruit of labor acknowledged, by rewards for service, See 2Pe 1:4-11; Even as ruler over many things, Mat 25:31; 2Ti 4:7-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Herein is my Father glorified.This clause is generally understood of the words which follow as it is taken in our English version, but the rendering is liable to the objection that it gives a forced meaning to the word that (), which is properly used to express purpose. We may here (as in Joh. 4:37; Joh. 16:30) take herein to refer to the words which have gone before. By so doing we give a natural meaning to the words, and get a satisfactory sense for the sentence. The thought then will be, In this doing whatever ye ask, my Father is glorified, in order that ye may bear much fruit, and that ye may become my disciples.
So shall ye be my disciples.Better, and may become My disciples. The pronoun is strongly emphatic. The living union with Christ, which made all their prayers, prayers in His name, and prayers which He would answer, and made them abound with fruit to the glory of God, was the characteristic which marked them as His true disciples.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit The second stage of advancement is, that our very advancement contributes to the honour and glory of God among men. Herein is the disciple’s great honour, that God accepts his advancement as honour to himself.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 15:8. Herein is my Father glorified, “By your thus abiding in me, and my abiding in you, and by your petitions being thus granted, the glory of my heavenly Father’s wisdom, faithfulness, and grace, is exalted (, ) to the end that you may abound in fruits of righteousness, whereby he may be still further glorified; and so shall you appear with evidence to others, and to your own consciences, and I will esteem and own youto be my true disciples, that have vital union with me, and are an honour to me, ( .)” The word herein, , seems to refer back to what Christ had been saying concerning himself as the vine, and believers as branches in him: and , that, being a final particle, naturally leads our thoughts to the sense which I have given in the beginning of this note: but, as all our fruits of righteousness are, by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God, I have likewise preserved the thought of God’s being glorified by them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 15:8 . A further carrying out of this incitement to abiding on Him, and that by bringing out the great importance, rich in its results, of this granting of prayer, which is attached to the abiding required.
] Herein , to this a forward reference is generally given, so that , . . . is the contents of . But thus understood, since is not equivalent to , this would express, that in the obligation (you ought , Joh 15:12 , comp. on Joh 6:29 ), or in the destination to bear much fruit, the of the Father is given. This is not appropriate, as it is rather in the actual fruit-bearing itself that that must lie, and hence must have been employed. To distinguish , however, merely by supplying “as I hope” (Lcke) from , does not satisfy the telic nature of the word. [164] Hence (and not otherwise in 1Jn 4:17 ) , as in Joh 4:37 , Joh 16:30 , is to be taken as a retrospective reference (so also Lange), and that not to the in itself, but to the immediately preceding . . , so far , namely, as it takes place in him who abides in Christ. In this granting of prayer allotted to the , says Jesus, a twofold result and this a high incentive to that is given, namely, (1) when what you ask falls to your lot, then in this result my Father has been glorified ( , Nonnus), that you for that is God’s design in this His may bear much fruit (which is just to be the actual further course of that granting of prayer, comp. Joh 15:16 ); and (2) you will , in virtue of the fulfilment of all your prayers, become , in a truly proper and specific sense, my disciples , who belong to no other (note the emphatic possessive , as in Joh 13:35 ), since this hearing of prayer is the holy characteristic simply and solely of my disciples (Joh 14:13-14 ).
The future may depend on (comp. on , Joh 12:40 , see also on 1Co 9:18 ; Eph 6:3 ), as Ewald connects it; independently, however, of , and therefore connected with , the words convey more weight in the independence appropriate to their distinctive contents. The Lord, however, does not say , but He sees the full development of His discipledom beginning with the .
[164] Cyril already rightly recognised that cannot be an explanation of , but only a statement of the purpose of . . . But quite irrelevantly he referred . . . to the mission of the Son .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1692
FRUITFULNESS IN GOOD WORKS
Joh 15:8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my Disciples.
IT is not uncommon to hear those who preach or profess the Gospel spoken of as depreciating and disregarding good works. But this is nothing more than what the Gospel itself teaches us to expect: and, if we be not spoken of in a greater or less degree as undervaluing good works, there is reason to fear that we have not yet fully embraced that Gospel which Paul preached. We see it was the objection raised against him, when he proclaimed salvation by faith in Christ; and therefore he took frequent occasion to obviate it, and to shew that it had no real foundation. He abhorred the idea of such a consequence being deduced from the doctrines of grace, and therefore shuddered at the very mention of it: Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! how shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Yea, he affirms, that however salvation by faith alone may appear to ignorant or prejudiced minds to supersede the necessity of good works, it has directly the opposite tendency: Do we then make void the law through faith? says he; yea, we establish the law. If the objectors understood aright the nature and office of faith, they would see that nothing but that would secure the performance of good works; since it is by that only that we are united to Christ; and it is only in virtue of that union that we can perform any good work whatever. But, in various other respects, also, is faith favourable to good works. To go no further than the text, we see in these few words two of the strongest inducements to Christian practice that can possibly be imagined; namely, that it conduces most eminently to the glory of God, and evidences most decisively the sincerity of our own souls.
Let fruitfulness in good works be considered then by us in both these points of view:
I.
As glorifying God
We are not to imagine that any act of ours can really add any thing to the Divine glory: for our goodness, however it may benefit our fellow-creatures, can never extend to him [Note: Psa 16:2-3.]. But, as God is pleased frequently to speak of our conduct as reflecting glory upon him, we also may with propriety adopt that language, and say, that our fruitfulness in good works glorifies him; in that it shews,
1.
The proper scope of his Gospel
[His Gospel was never revealed for the mere purpose of informing our understandings in relation to mysteries which we could never otherwise have known: nor was it revealed for the mere purpose of saving man from perdition. It had a higher and nobler end in view: namely, the destroying of sin, and the restoring of sinners to the Divine image; The grace of God, which bringeth salvation, was revealed to teach us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live righteously, soberly, and godly, in this present world [Note: Tit 2:11-12.]. The gift of Christ as a Saviour was to save us from our sins [Note: Mat 1:21.]; delivering us from the present evil world; and purifying unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works [Note: Tit 2:14.]. The gift of the Holy Spirit, also, was to convince us of the evil and bitterness of sin [Note: Joh 16:8.]; and to sanctify us throughout, in body, soul, and spirit [Note: 1Th 5:23.]. There is not a promise belonging to it which had not this direct aim in view, that, by laying hold of it, we might cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2Co 7:1.].
It is clear, therefore, that the Gospel, as being altogether designed to restore men to the Divine image, does and must reflect the highest glory on Him from whom it proceeds.]
2.
The efficacy of his grace
[Whatever we had been, even though we had been as perfect as when we first came out of our Creators hands, the practice of universal holiness would have been honourable to Him from whom our powers had proceeded; but, considering what creatures we really are, how corrupt and sinful in all our parts, the change wrought in us displays the marvellous efficacy of Gods grace. If a husbandman take good scions, and they all prove fruitful, his skill is displayed and honoured in the estimation of all who behold it. But, suppose he were to take none but dry and withered sticks, and to make all of them fruitful, his honour would be the more exalted, in that he should be able to educe fruits from dead sticks, which in themselves were incapable of producing any. Such honour is the Lords when we dead and barren creatures are enabled to bring forth any fruit unto our God. Such trees of righteousness of the Lords planting do indeed reflect the highest glory upon him [Note: Isa 61:3.].]
3.
The blessedness of his salvation
[Let any one behold a wilderness made to blossom as the rose, and a desert to become, like Eden, the garden of the Lord; then he will have some little idea of what is wrought upon the soul by the grace of Christ. See, on the day of Pentecost, the change wrought by a single discourse upon three thousand murderers, whose hands were yet reeking with the Saviours blood: Was God not glorified in that? Or let us look amongst ourselves: Are there none of us, who, previous to our reception of the Gospel, were left to shew what was in our hearts, and to manifest that we were altogether led captive by the devil at his will? Compare those persons now with their former state of folly and wickedness; and will any one say that the change, though still very imperfect, reflects no glory on the Lord? Let the persons themselves judge: Are ye not happier now than in the days of your unregeneracy? Would ye willingly go back to your former state? Does not every day evince to you the blessedness of the change that has taken place? and can you forbear to honour Him who, by the mighty working of his power, has wrought it in you?]
But let us contemplate fruitfulness in that other view; namely,
II.
As an evidence of our own sincerity
Our blessed Lord told his Disciples, that if they should continue in his word, then they should be his Disciples indeed [Note: Joh 8:31.]. In truth, fruitfulness in good works is that test of sincerity which is,
1.
Exclusively admissible
[All professions without this are vain: Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. But if a person manifest a great zeal for divine ordinances, will not that suffice? No: God, speaking by the Prophet Isaiah, says of many of his professing people, They seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge [Note: Isa 58:2-3.]? Yet these people he proves to have been immersed in the vilest wickedness. By the Prophet Ezekiel, also, he describes the same kind of professors in very striking terms: Son of man, the children of thy people speak one to another, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not [Note: Eze 33:30-32.]. Take the favourable part of this description, and you would suppose them all to be very eminent saints: but see the dark part of their character, and they are most detestable hypocrites. In the parable of the sower we have the same truth yet more fully delineated; for persons may bring forth fruit for a season, and prove apostates at last; yea, they may continue to bring forth fruit to the very end of life, and be found at last to have brought forth no such fruit as God will approve; the briers and thorns having so choked the corn, that it brought forth no fruit to perfection [Note: Mat 13:20-22.].
Hence it is clear, that nothing short of a patient continuance in well-doing can ever prove us to be truly upright before God. If we would be acknowledged by Christ as his, we must be Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile.]
2.
Universally sufficient
[Shew me a fruitful Christian, and I inquire not to what Church he belongs, or what be the subordinate tenets of his creed. I know full well that nothing but an union with the Lord Jesus Christ can ever render a man fruitful in good works. Philosophy never could accomplish this; no, nor could the law of Moses, with all its precepts, and promises, and threatenings, effect it. An outward form of religion was all that the law could give: the Gospel alone could supply the power. Hence St. Paul says, What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin [did; that is, he] condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [Note: Rom 8:3-4.]. The law made nothing perfect; but the bringing in of a better hope did [Note: Heb 7:11.];. Yes, the Gospel sanctifies us throughout, in body, soul and spirit, and transforms us altogether into the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness: and that image, enstamped upon the soul, proves to demonstration whose we are. To ourselves it is an evidence that we have passed from death unto life: and by it all others, also, know us to be Christs Disciples.]
You will now be anxious to ASK,
1.
What are those particular fruits, by which we are to judge of our state before God?
[It is not by any particular class of fruits, but by fruits of every kind, that we should judge of our state. There must be no partiality in Gods law; nor any hypocrisy, in preferring one part of it before another. In all that relates to God, we must be upright; humbling ourselves before him, embracing the salvation he has offered us in Christ Jesus, and devoting ourselves unreservedly to his service In all that relates to our neighbour, we must do unto him exactly as we, in a change of circumstances, should think it right for him to do unto us In all that relates to ourselves, there must be a subjugation of our own passions, a government of our tempers, and an habitual exercise of all holy and heavenly affections The whole circle of the Divine commandments must be our rule of duty; and superadded, as it were, to them must be the whole life of faith on the Son of God, and the whole life of love to him and to his people for his sake. In a word, see what were the fruits which the Vine itself, the Lord Jesus bare; and then you will see what is expected from the branches, and what will prove you to be vitally united to him. Set Christ before you as an example, and follow his steps; and you will need no other directory whereby to prove you are his Disciples.]
2.
What encouragement have I to address myself to this laborious undertaking?
[If I were to say, that in so doing you will save your souls alive, I should speak what would be amply sufficient to encourage you. But what if I should say, that God would be glorified in you? Would you need more than that, to animate your endeavours? I do say it then, yes, and declare it most confidently, that in proportion as you are fruitful in good works, you will glorify your God. This is the uniform declaration of the inspired volume [Note: Eph 2:10.] and on this is grounded that exhortation of our blessed Lord, So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven [Note: Mat 5:16.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Ver. 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, Surely God is in them. Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, said one Calocenius a heathen. 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 God’s ends more than our own, and drown all self-respects in his glory. Surely, they that do thus may have what they will (saith one), and God even think himself beholden to them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] belongs to the following, not the preceding: , . as in E. V., see reff.
again is proleptic, representing that in the spiritual dispensation the fact is habitually so. See on this sense of the aorist, Winer, edn. 6, 40. 5. b. 2.
The is not merely ‘large success in the apostolic mission,’ but ‘individual advance in bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit.’
] and that ye may become My (true) disciples, , Euthym [210] (reading the future , see below.) “Fundamentum Christianismi, fieri discipulum Christi: fastigium, esse discipulum Christi.” Bengel. According to the reading , the actual result of what precedes is stated: and so ye shall become
[210] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 15:8 . Further assurance of an answer is given in the fact that the is glorified in the fruit-bearing branches: , “in this pre-eminently,” i.e. , in your bearing much fruit, cf. Joh 6:29-30 ; Joh 6:40 . So, rightly, Weiss and Holtzmann. For construction with see Burton on Subject, Predicate and Appositive clauses introduced by . , , etc. , proleptic; cf. Joh 13:31 . The Father is glorified in everything which demonstrates that through Christ His grace reaches and governs men. , “and ye shall become my disciples”. The seems to mean: This is the relation you will hold to me, viz. , that of discipleship. “A Christian never ‘is,’ but always ‘is becoming’ a Christian. And it is by his fruitfulness that he indicates his claim to the name.” Westcott.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Herein = In (Greek. en. App-104.) this.
is . . . glorified = was . . . glorified (Aorist). Greek doxazo. See p. 1511 and Compare Joh 13:31.
that = in order that (Greek. hina), showing the Father’s purpose. Compare Joh 11:15, Joh 11:50; Joh 12:33; Joh 13:1-3.
so shall ye be = and (that) ye may become. Greek ginomai. See on “done “in Joh 15:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] belongs to the following, not the preceding: , . as in E. V., see reff.
again is proleptic, representing that in the spiritual dispensation the fact is habitually so. See on this sense of the aorist, Winer, edn. 6, 40. 5. b. 2.
The is not merely large success in the apostolic mission, but individual advance in bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit.
] and that ye may become My (true) disciples, , Euthym[210] (reading the future, see below.) Fundamentum Christianismi, fieri discipulum Christi: fastigium, esse discipulum Christi. Bengel. According to the reading , the actual result of what precedes is stated: and so ye shall become
[210] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 15:8. , has been (is) glorified) and hath appointed that He should be glorified.-, that) This depends on , in this.-, much) The multitude of the grapes reflects honour on the vine-dresser.-) Others have written it or , on account of the . The Vulgate has efficiamini. What the Latin translator (Jerome) read in the Greek, is not quite clear. The same decision may be come to as regards the other versions.[358] The construction would not be amiss, : comp. the note on Mar 3:27.[359] But we rather thus explain the construction, In this (namely, that ye bear much fruit), both My FATHER is glorified, and I shall have disciples who reflect honour on Me.-) to or for Me (comp. Mat 27:57, Joseph, who also himself , was a disciple for Jesus, not merely of Jesus, but one who was both a disciple himself, and strove to win others also to Him), or else of Me, My.-) This is to be taken in a pregnant sense, ye shall be disciples, i.e. worthy of Me: ch. Joh 13:35, By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another. The foundation of Christianity in a man is for him to become a disciple of Christ: its complete superstructure is to be a disciple of Christ.
[358] BDLX read , and so Lachm. A and Rec. Text have . bc and Vulg. efficiamini; a sitis. Three MSS. .-E. and T.
[359] , , the Indic. future coming after with the Subjunctive, the idea of contingency being more prominent in the former than in the latter clause, which indeed is a kind of positive Apodosis to the former. So LXX. Deu 20:5.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 15:8
Joh 15:8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;-God is glorified by his servants doing his will, keeping his words, and so bringing themselves fully under his guidance. [There are therefore the most cogent reasons why he should grant such a prayer. Temporal blessings given to us might not inure to his glory, but quite to the contrary, but spiritual strength must always promote the glory of God. Bearing much fruit is the test of true discipleship.]
and so shall ye be my disciples.-In this course we bear much fruit unto him. and so become more and more the disciples of Jesus who came to do his Fathers will.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
much fruit
Three degrees in fruit-bearing: “Fruit,” Joh 15:2, “more fruit,” Joh 15:2, “much fruit,” Joh 15:5; Joh 15:8. As we bear “much fruit” the Father is glorified in us. The minor moralities and graces of Christianity are often imitated, but never the ninefold “fruit” of Gal 5:22; Gal 5:23. Where such fruit is the Father glorified. The Pharisees were moral and intensely “religious,” but not one of them could say with Christ, “I have glorified thee on the earth” Joh 17:4.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
is: Psa 92:12-15, Isa 60:21, Isa 61:3, Hag 1:8, Mat 5:16, 1Co 6:20, 1Co 10:31, 2Co 9:10-15, Phi 1:11, Tit 2:5, Tit 2:10, 1Pe 2:12, 1Pe 4:11
so: Joh 8:31, Joh 13:35, Mat 5:44, Luk 6:35
Reciprocal: Psa 50:15 – glorify Son 7:13 – at our Isa 26:15 – thou art Isa 43:7 – for my Isa 49:3 – General Isa 55:13 – for a Mat 13:8 – some an Joh 15:2 – may Joh 15:16 – bring Act 9:36 – full Rom 7:4 – that we 2Co 9:13 – they Eph 5:26 – by Phi 4:17 – fruit Col 1:10 – fruitful Tit 3:14 – that 2Pe 1:8 – they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8
Disciples is a more general term than apostles, although Jesus was talking to the latter. The idea is that what Jesus was teaching was true of all disciples of Jesus. If a person should see grapes growing on a branch, he might not be able to see anything but the branch due to its being uncovered only, while the vine was hidden from view. But later he might be permitted to see a vine only of a tame variety. From this combined circumstance he would be able to conclude that the branch on which he saw the tame grapes was connected with that tame vine, because no other kind of plant could produce such fruit. Also, when people see certain kinds of spiritual fruit being produced by men and women, they will know them to be disciples of Jesus, seeing that no other ielationship can produce that kind of life. That is why Jesus said, so shall ye be my disciples in the eyes of the world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 15:8. Herein was my Father glorified, that ye might bear much fruit and become my disciples. The last verse had expressed the highest and closest communion that can be established between the believer and the Father revealed in the Son,a communion so high, so close, that the former asks whatsoever he will and it is done unto him. But that is the attainment of all Gods purposes, the issue of all His dealings, with His people. The Herein of this verse is, accordingly, not to be explained by the words that follow, as if the meaning were that the glory of God is found in His appointing His people to bear much fruit and be disciples of Jesus. That is the result of His purpose rather than the purpose itself. The purpose is union, communion, fellow ship; and out of these flows an ever-increasing bearing of fruit (much fruit), and an ever-growing conformity (become not be) of the believer with his Lord, alike in privilege and in life. Herein was my Father glorified belongs, therefore, to the previous verse,to that abiding in Jesus, and that asking and receiving in Him, which expressed the purpose of the Father (comp. chap. Joh 14:13). At the point we have reached this is supposed to be accomplished, and as a consequence of such abiding fellowship with the Father and the Son comes the growing fruitfulness, the deepening discipleship, of those who are true branches of the fruitful vine. Hence the rendering was glorified seems preferable to is glorified, which we retain in chap. Joh 13:31. It is an ideal state of things with which we are dealing; and the much fruit and the discipleship referred to do not belong only to the present, but, like the cleanness spoken of in Joh 15:3, are also future and continuous.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
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.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 15:8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit As the end for which my Father has given the gospel dispensation to men, is to make them fruitful in holiness, you, my apostles, by spreading the true knowledge thereof through the world, and by reforming yourselves and others, will do honour unto Gods wisdom and goodness in bestowing this dispensation upon you. But as the holiness of the apostles, and the diligent discharge of their duty in preaching the gospel, would be to the glory of God, in effecting, through his grace, the conversion and salvation of mankind; so, the fruitfulness of all Christians, in a lower and narrower sphere, tends greatly to promote the glory of God; for many, by seeing their good works, are brought to imitate the same, and glorify their Father who is in heaven, Mat 5:16. So shall ye be my disciples Thus shall you appear to all really to be what you call yourselves, my true disciples, and to act in a way worthy of your character and relation to me. Hereby shall you both evidence your discipleship and adorn it; and shall be owned by me as my disciples in the great day of final accounts, and have the reward of disciples, a share in the joy of your Lord. Observe, reader, to be a disciple of Christ, is both the foundation and height of Christianity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15:8 {a} Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
(a) As one would say, “Herein will my Father be glorified, and herein also will you be my disciples, if you bring forth much fruit.”
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The granting of petitions to abiding believers glorifies the Father. Answered prayer is one form of fruitfulness. All fruitfulness springs ultimately from the Son, the vine. Therefore it is really the Son who is bringing glory to the Father through His abiding disciples (cf. Joh 13:31; Joh 14:13; Joh 17:4). The believer’s fruitfulness is one means by which the Son glorifies the Father.
Fruit-bearing demonstrates that a believer is one of Jesus’ disciples (cf. Mat 7:20; Luk 6:43-44). Notice that Jesus did not say that a believer will inevitably produce fruit. It is possible for a believer to give little or no outward evidence of being a believer in Jesus (Joh 15:2). This is one of the greatest problems in the church today: genuine Christians who make little or no attempt to follow God’s will for their lives. However the presence of fruit in a believer’s life shows others that that disciple really does possess eternal life.
Some expositors argue that fruit is inevitable in the true Christian’s life by appealing to Mat 7:20: "You will know them by their fruits." However in the context of that verse Jesus was talking about false teachers, not believers.