828 KATA ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ XV. a Ps, bxxx, XV. 1. “EPO cipe ἡ "ἄμπελος ἡ *adnOiwh, καὶ 6 πατήρ µου 6 αι γεωργός ἐστι. 2. πῶν κλῆμα ἐν ἐμοὶ μὴ φέρον καρπὸν, ’ αἴρει αὐτό - b Rom. xi. ος . % ‘ / να , ς 17. καὶ πᾶν τὸ καρπὸν Φέρον, καθαίρει αὐτὸ, ἵνα πλείονα καρπὸν φέρῃ.
Cf. xiii. το.-- Μετ. 30. οὐκ ἔτι .. ὑμῶν. “I will no longer speak much with you’; ‘‘temporis angustiae abripiunt verba,’”’ Grotius.—épxerat . - . οὐδέν. “The ruler of this world” is Satan, see xii, 31. He ‘‘ comes”’ in the treachery of Judas (xiii. 27) and all that followed. But this coming was without avail, because ἐν ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔχει οὐδέν, “in me he hath nothing,” nothing he can call his own, nothing he can claim as his, and which he can use for his purposes. He is ruler of the world, but in Christ has.no possessions or rule. A notable assertion of sinlessness.—Ver. 31. Jesus goes to death not crushed by the machinations of Satan, ‘‘ but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father has commanded me,” οὕτω ποιῶ, “thus I do,” applies to His whole life, which was throughout tuled by regard to the Father’s com- mandment, but in the foreground of His thought at present is His departure from the disciples, His death.—éyetpeo@e, ἄγωμεν ἐντεῶθεν, “arise, let us go hence,” similar to the summons in Mt. xxvi. 46, but the idea of referring so common an expression to a reminiscence of the Synoptic passage is absurd. On the movement made in consequence of the summons, see ΟΠ xv. I.
In chapters xv. and xvi. Jesus (r) explains the relation He holds to those who continue His work, xv. 1-17; (2) the attitude the world will assume to His followers, xv. 18-25; (3) the con- quest of the world by the Spirit, 26-xvi.. 11; and (4) adds some last words, en- couragements and warnings, xvi. 12-33. In this last conversation, which extends from chap. xiii. to chap. xvi. inclusive, the closing words of chap. xiv., ἐγείρεσθε ἄγωμεν ἐντεῦθεν, form the best marked division. At this point Jesus and His disciples rose from table. Whether the conversation was continued in the house or after they left it may be doubt- ful; but probabilities are certainly much in favour of the former alternative. A party of twelve could not conveniently talk together on the street. In xviii. 1 we read that when Jesus had uttered the prayer recorded in xvii. ἐξῆλθε σὺν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ πέραν τοῦ χειμάρρου τῶν Κέδρων. This, however, may refer to their leaving the city, not the house.
Bengel thinks they may have paused in the courtyard of the house.
CHAPTER XV.—Vv. 1-17. The rela- tion between Fesus and His disciples represented by the relation of the vine and its branches.—Ver. 1. ᾿Εγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, ‘1 am the true vine.” % ἀληθινή suggests a contrast to other vines to which this title could not be applied: but not to a vine trailing across the window of the room where they were, nor to the golden vine on the Temple gate, nor to the vines on the slopes of Olivet; but to Israel, the stock which God had planted to bring forth fruit to Him, see Ps. Ixxx., Is. v., Jer. ii. 21. ἐγὼ δὲ ἐφύτευσά σε ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. The vine was a recognised symbol also of the Messiah, see Delitzsch in Expositor, third series, iii., p. 68, and in his Iris, pp. 180-190, E. Tr. On the Maccabean coinage Israel was represented by a vine. It was the present situation which here suggested the figure. As Jesus rose to depart the disciples crowd round Him with anxiety on every face. Their helplessness and trouble appeal to Him, and He encourages them by re- minding them that, although left to do His work in the world, they would still be united to Him as truly as the branches to the vine. He and His together are the true Vine of God. καὶ ὁ πατήρ µου ὁ γεωργός ἐστι, “'απά my Father is the vine-dresser’’. What is now happening is the Father’s doing, and, therefore, tends to the well-being and fruitfulness of the vine. [‘‘ Pater qui cum diligit me, certe servabit totum fruticem.’’ Melanch- thon.]—Ver. 2. The function of the vine- dresser is at once described: wav κλῆμα .. « Φέρῃ. κλῆμα, or more fully as in Xen., Oecon., xix. 8, κλῆμα ἀμπέλον, is the shoot of the vine which is annually put forth. It is from κλάω, “I break,” as also is κλάδος, but Wetstein quotes Pollux to show that κλάδος was appro- priated to the shoots of the olive, while κλῆμα signified a vine-shoot. Of these shoots there are two kinds, the fruitless, which the vine-dresser αἴρει : “Tnutilesque falce ramos amputans,” Hor. Epod., ii. 13; the fruitful, which He καθαίρει [‘‘suavis rhythmus,” Ben- gel]. The full meaning of αἴρει is de- scribed in ver. 6: καθαίρει here denotes