John 15:27

And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. AND YE ALSO - as the other witness required to the validity of testimony among men (Deuteronomy 19:15) SHALL BEAR WITNESS, [ martureite (G3140 ) OR 'DO BEAR WITNESS'] BECAUSE YE HAVE BEEN, [ este (G1510 ), OR 'ARE'] WITH ME FROM THE BEGINNING. Our Lord here uses the present tense - "do testify" and "are with Me" - to express the opportunities which they had enjoyed for this office of witness-bearing, from their having been with Him from the outset of His ministry (see the note at...

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.) Those who do not sufficiently know the darkness of the human mind imagine that faith is formed naturally by hearing and preaching alone; (92) and there are many fanatics who disdain the outward preaching, and talk in lofty terms about secret revelations and inspirations, ...

26,27. 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....

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, Matthew 4:17. Compare Acts 1:21....

EXPOSITION JOHN 15:1 (7) _The parable of the vine and its branches_._ Incorporation of the disciples into one personality with himself_._ _The image of the vine may have been suggested by some visible object. Either of the hypotheses of place would furnish a reminder of the nature and culture of the vine. Thus around the windows of the guest-chamber the vine may have thrown its tendrils, or on the slopes of Olivet the vineyards may have been prominent objects, or the burning heaps of vine-prunings may have suggested the idea. Again, if they were pausing in some apartments of the temple-court, the golden vine, the image of Israel, upon the gates may have supplied the point of departure. But our Lord needed no such help to his imagination, and it is by no means necessary to find an occasion for his imagery. The fact that

AND YE SHALL ALSO BEAR WITNESS,.... That is, of Christ; of all the things he did in Jerusalem, and in the land of the Jews; being eyewitnesses, and ministers, or servants of the word, who constantly attended upon him; of all the good he did to the bodies and souls of men; of the various miracles he wrought, and of the several doctrines which were taught by him: what they saw with their eyes, heard with their ears, and with their hands handled of the word of life, that they could declare, and did declare, and bore a faithful testimony to; they were to be, and were witnesses of his sufferings and death, of his resurrection from the dead, and ascension to heaven; they were a company of select men, chosen before of God, for this purpose; they were the most proper to be concerned herein, having been for a considerable time his intimates and associates: BECAUSE YE HAVE BEEN WITH ME FROM THE B...

Many of you know the words of this chapter by heart; you could repeat them without a mistake. May the savor of them abide in your hearts even as the letter of them abides in your memory! John 15:1. _I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman._ We thank thee, O Saviour, for this blessed answer to the oft-repeated question, «Which is the true Church?»Are you one with Christ? Then are you a part of the true vine. If we have but real, vital personal, having connection with Christ, to whatever section of the visible Church we may belong, we are part of «the true vine.» And we are told, in the next sentence, who is the great Caretaker of the Church? Some of us are much occupied in Christ's service, and there is a tendency with all of us to get, like Martha, «numbered» even in serving for him. We are apt to fancy that the burden of all the churches lies upon our shoulders,

CHAPTER 15 1. The Vine and the Branch. (John 15:1 .) 2. Communion with Him and its Conditions.(John 15:9 .) 3. Love One Another! and the Hatred of the World. (John 15:17 .) Israel is called a vine in the Old Testament (Psalms 80:8; Isaiah 5:1; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1) and Christ here in this parable takes the place of Israel and is the true vine. His disciples are the branches. Is

JOHN 15. THE VINE. The relation of the following Chapter s to 14 has been discussed. The Parœ mia, or parable-like discourse, reminds us of the parable or metaphor of the Good Shepherd in ch. 10. Two thoughts are prominent here, the pruning needed to get rid of useless branches and to ensure the fruitfulness of the rest, and the intimate union between Christ and His disciples, symbolised by the relation of the branches to the vine. We must compare the OT teaching which represents Israel as the Vine. Christ is in the spiritual sphere what the vine stands for in nature, in respect of human necessity. He is the source of spiritual strength which satisfies men's needs. As always, He is subordinate to the Father. The vinedresser cuts out useless branches, pruning the rest to make them bear more fruit. So the Father has glorified the Son by cutting out the traitor. Christ's teaching, which is...

YE ALSO SHALL BEAR WITNESS. The apostles were double witnesses. They had been with Christ "from the beginning" and knew all the facts. If he had been. deceiver they would have known it. If he was true they knew it. When he was risen they were witnesses of the fact. If they had never received the Comforter they could have been witnesses of the facts of his life, death and resurrection. But when the Holy Spirit was given, the dark things made plain, the Scriptures understood, power from on high sent upon them, and when they could speak with tongues and work miracles, then also the Holy Spirit in them bore witness. There was their witness as men, eleven competent witnesses to every fact, and then in addition there was the divine witness through them. They still testify, and added to this, there are those in whom Christ dwells by his Spirit. Every true Christian life is. witness to the livin...