Dr. Robert P. Martin

All that Jesus says in the final hours before his arrest (John 13-17) is designed to equip his disciples to fulfill their mission after his departure. Among the things that he addresses is the critical importance of on-going communion with himself. At the heart of his instruction is the remarkable declaration that they will be totally dependant on him for the doing of anything good. In order to convey this truth in a way that will be memorable, the Lord uses the image of a vine and its branches.

1. The Familiar Image

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. . . .
I am the vine, you are the branches” (15:1,5).

As on so many occasions, Jesus here uses an image drawn from daily life. The Bible uses the imagery of a vine and its branches to illustrate the relation between God and his people Israel. Here Jesus uses this imagery to illustrate his (and his Father’s) relation to his disciples, who are the true Israel, i.e., the Israel of the New Covenant. There are three parts to this image–the vine, the branches, and the vinedresser. Each has a vital role to play. Later we will consider the role of the Father as the vinedresser. Now we focus on the relation of the vine (Christ) and the branches (his disciples).

There are many things about vines that I do not know, complexities of biochemistry that perhaps even mystify the experts. But an expert’s knowledge of such things is not necessary to understanding our Lord’s use of this image. The analogy is simple, and the lessons are meant to be virtually self-evident.

The relation of branches to a vine is the closest that may be imagined. Even a casual observer recognizes that all the life that a branch has flows from the vine. The vine is the root that creates and sustains life in the branch. Separated from the vine, the branch cannot live, but withers and dies. I see this fact every year when I trim the blackberry vines at my home. The severed branches progressively show fewer and fewer signs of the life that they once had in union with the vine, until finally they are patently dead. And, of course, separated from the vine, their fruitfulness is at an end. I keep a withered blackberry branch on a bookshelf in my office to remind me of the basic fact that a Christian cannot live or bear fruit independently of Christ the vine. Remaining in vital union with the vine is necessary to a branch’s life and fruitfulness. Our Lord says, “The branch cannot bear fruit of itself,” i.e., isolated and separated from the life-sustaining vine. It must maintain a living union with (a communion with, a participation in the life of) the vine in order to bring fruit to maturity.

Jesus’ point in using this imagery is to press the truth that just as branches bear fruit only when they remain in vital union with the vine that gives them life, so his disciples will bear the fruits of consistent obedience and practical holiness and effective service in his kingdom only to the degree that they remain in vital communion with him. This is the only way that we may bring the fruits of righteousness to maturity.

Jesus calls himself “the true vine.” He is not just saying, of course, that he is the unique source of our life and fruitfulness as Christians, i.e., “I am the root of your spiritual life and vigor” (cf., John 1:4; 10:10; 14:6). That is true, but the vine imagery has another message, especially to his original hearers. In the Old Testament, the vine imagery was used to portray Israel, in some cases even with a notice of Israel’s failure to produce good fruit (cf., Psa. 80:8-16; Isa. 5:1-7; Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 17:6-10; 19:10-14; Joel 1:7). Elsewhere in John’s Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as superceding Moses, the temple, and the feasts. Here he is saying that he is the true Israel (he is the Messiah who is the nation), from which every true Israelite derives his life and fruitfulness. Whether Jesus thinks of Psalm 80 or expects that his disciples later will call it to mind, the psalmist speaks of “the man of [Jehovah’s] right hand . . . the son of man whom [Jehovah] made strong for himself” as the hope of the vine’s (Israel’s) salvation (Psa. 80:17). The implication of Jesus’ use of this imagery is that the true vine is not apostate Israel but Jesus and those joined to him. It is those whom Paul calls “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), i.e., “the circumcision,² who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philip. 3:3).

2. The Crucial Exhortation

“Abide in me, and I in you” (15:4).

Jesus uses the imperative mood, which here conveys the ideas of entreaty, exhortation, even command. He urges all those who are joined to him by faith to “abide (remain, continue) in him.” In order that we better may understand and obey this exhortation, we must answer two questions: What does Jesus mean by “abide in me”? And what does he mean by “and I in you”?

First, what does our Lord mean by “abide in me”? The word “abide” (μένω) usually means to continue or remain in a place or in a condition (e.g., Matt. 10:11; 1 Cor. 7:8). Here Jesus uses this word to refer to abiding in a person, i.e., he says, “abide in me.” But what does this mean? How do we “remain” in a person? At first glance perhaps this idea seems too mystical for us to get a solid grasp on it, but the imagery that Jesus uses to illustrate his meaning (the vital union of a vine and its branches) suggests that he is urging his disciples to maintain a similar vital relationship with himself. The lesson of the vine and branches imagery is that of living connection, so that this seems to be the leading idea in the expression “abide in me” as well.

Jesus, of course, is not speaking of a static relation. At this point the vine and branch analogy breaks down to some degree, for a branch does not actually do anything to remain vitally connected to the vine. Whatever else “abiding” in Christ is, contrary to the doctrine of quietism, it is not a static but a dynamic thing. Perhaps another example will help clarify what I am trying to say. If we think of abiding in a place, remaining in that place may not require any effort on our part (remaining in your seat requires only your conscious decision to do so). I cannot imagine that Jesus is saying that abiding in him is a static thing involving only a decision to do so but not requiring effort on our part. From all that we know from the Bible’s larger teaching about the Christian life, we can only conclude that the Lord has in mind a vigorous, energetic activity on our part, by which we maintain living contact with him. The New Testament’s language on the subject of the Christian life contains such words as strive, buffet, run, and a host of other very active words. So here, while we may be tempted to read the word “abide” in a static way, that would be to miss our Lord’s meaning altogether. As the context plainly shows (cf., 15:10), “abide” is a very dynamic word.

The Christian life is not to be compared to a man in a boat floating peacefully in the middle of a pond. The Christian life is much more like a man rowing vigorously against the current of a strong river, who not only maintains his position and direction but who also advances only by expending a great deal of energy. In the same way, the strong currents of the world, the flesh, and the devil’s temptations continually pull on us, trying to break our living contact with Christ and carry us away–if not to our destruction, at least to a state of unfruitfulness in Christ’s service. The abiding in him of which Christ here speaks therefore requires more than a mere decision to do so. We must row!

Abiding in Christ may be epitomized in two expressions: (1) intimate communion and (2) energetic perseverance. In order to be fruitful in the Christian life, we need living, strength-giving, fruit-nurturing, intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ. We need to be drawing sap from the vine. Without that we will be barren in our walk and service. What Christ urges on us under the image of abiding in him is that we expend our energies in such a way and to such a degree that we cling to him, stick fast to him, live in close and intimate communion with him–that we get as close as we can to Jesus Christ and by every legitimate means try to stay in vital connection to him as the life-giving vine. This is the condition of blessing and fruitfulness.

Second, what is the meaning of the words “and I in you”? A verb, of course, is implied: “and I will abide in you.” The idea is that of mutual action, so that the communion that Jesus envisions with his disciples is meant to be reciprocal. Perhaps at one level he is promising that our drawing nearer to him in obedience will be met by his drawing nearer to us in grace. But as important as this thought is, there is much more. His words at John 14:15-23 (also spoken on this occasion) are helpful here.

If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever–the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Jesus here refers to his imminent departure to return to the Father. “A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me” (14:19). In a few hours his death will be the end of the world’s opportunity to see him, but not the end of this privilege for his disciples. From one perspective, this promise was fulfilled in the events of the next forty days. After his resurrection, none but his disciples saw him before he ascended to heaven. In the sense of physically seeing him, the world will no longer see him, though for a brief time his disciples will. But this hardly exhausts our Lord’s meaning. As the context shows, his disciples’ seeing him (not shared by the world) will be in terms of his presence with them by the Holy Spirit. He will manifest himself (ἐμφανίζω, make himself visible) to them in this way (14:21). The world will see him no more until the end, but his disciples will continue to know his presence to guide and to sustain them.

The Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit as “the Helper” (παράκλητος), i.e., as “the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive” (14:16-17; cf., 14:26), will be vital to Christ’s disciples’ fulfilling their commission.³ But the Spirit also will be present with them and in them as the Spirit of Life: “Because I live, you will live also” (14:19). In our text (15:1ff.), this intimate connection between Christ’s life and the life possessed by his disciples is symbolized by the imagery of the vine and the branches.

In his prologue, John already has spoken of the life that is inherent in Christ as God, saying, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (1:4). There John weaves together two of the great themes of his gospel–the identity of Christ and the life that he offers in the gospel. Those who believe on him will not perish but will receive eternal life as a gift. This is John’s message–this is the great promise of the gospel–this is the life that Christ freely offers to you and to me. “In him was life.” And what he was, he is now, and will ever be.⁴

John speaks in the most comprehensive way possible. He does not say, “In him was his own innate, essential, self-originating, self-sustaining eternal life,” or “in him was the physical life that all of his creatures possess,” or “in him was that eternal, spiritual, life that he gives to you who believe on him,” or “in him was that resurrection life that is communicated to the bodies of his people when all who are in the tombs hear his voice at the last hour.” He is the source of each of these. But in order to convey this in the plainest terms possible, John simply says, “In him was life.”

John’s point is that in Christ the Word, who has “life in himself” (5:26), is the original life to which all life (of whatever sort) must be traced. When you think of life, therefore, think of him! All the life that the world has known from the creation until now came from him. All the life that now exists is sustained by him. He is the powerful source to which the existence of everything must be traced and from which everything living has received its life. More to our present point, he is the source of the Christian’s life. Jesus says, “because I live” (14:19). This remarkable fact grounds the believer’s hope. As J. J. Owen says,

I think there can hardly be a doubt, that in the [words] I live, is included life in its most extensive and generic sense, and that the present tense is used because . . . the principle of life is immanent [inherent, intrinsic, innate] in him [i.e., it belongs to Christ’s essential nature]. . . . The passage then teaches, that the guarantee of the spiritual life of the believer, is the principle of life which inheres in the Redeemer, as the primeval source of all life. As his followers are united to him by the Spirit, his life becomes their life–as he lives, they shall live also.⁵

At 14:20, our Lord points to the time when these things will be confirmed in his disciples’ experience, i.e., to the time when he comes to them as the Spirit of Truth and Life. “At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” The reference likely is to Pentecost, when the Spirit’s coming to them will confirm all that he has said about his relation to the Father and to them. Now they have great difficulty conceiving of his oneness with the Father (cf., 14:7-11), and the idea of union with himself is equally mysterious (cf., 6:53-60). But when the Spirit comes, who will take up his residence within them and manifest himself there as the Spirit of Truth and Life, when (as a result of the Spirit’s presence and working) they understand in much greater measure the truth and life of the gospel, when he is living in them and they are living in him, then they will understand as never before what he has said. As Godet says, “Then, finally, the transcendent fact of the communion between Jesus and God will become for them the object of a distinct perception through the immediate experience of their own communion with Jesus.”⁶

At 14:21, the Lord reminds his disciples again of the context in which these things will be fulfilled. He already has promised that if they ask in faith for those things that glorify the Father, they will receive what they ask so as to do the works that he has given them to do (14:12-14). This promise, which will be implemented according to God’s will and wisdom, is an invitation to attempt great things for God. But there is a moral condition to seeing this promise fulfilled. Even as faith and prayer are necessary (14:12-14), so love for Christ and obedience to his commandments are indispensable to fruitfulness and usefulness in his kingdom (14:15-18).

At 14:15, Jesus already has said, “If you love me,” i.e., if you are attached to me with the kind of devotion that my love for you deserves, if you are bound to me in this most basic experience of genuine discipleship, then you will not only believe in me and pray to me for help to do great things in my service, but you will also “keep my commandments” and so keep yourselves in the way of my blessing, i.e., so that I may give to you from heaven all that you need to glorify my Father in the work of my kingdom. At 14:21, he again confirms this, saying, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” His “manifesting” himself, i.e., his coming to them in the person of the Spirit, is the method of his blessing.

The inability of the disciples to understand what Jesus is saying is seen in the question of Judas (the son of James): “Lord, how is it (or, what has happened) that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” (14:22). Judas sees nothing that requires a departure from the program that he and the rest of the disciples assume that Jesus is following. As Carson says, for these men, the kingdom must arrive “in undeniable and irresistible splendour. If Jesus is the messianic king, then he must startle the world with apocalyptic self-disclosure.”⁷ Isn’t this why they have come to Jerusalem at the Passover, when the city is filled with pilgrims from all parts of the world? Isn’t this the purpose of his dramatic entry into the city? Hasn’t everything that has happened been bringing them to the hour of his public coronation? Aren’t the pieces now in place for this to happen, so much so that even the Pharisees acknowledge among themselves that “the whole world is gone after him” (12:19)? Judas, only speaking what the others are thinking, simply doesn’t get it: “Lord, what has happened that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” They can’t fit his words into their assumptions. In response, Jesus gives no further explanation. Indeed, even after his resurrection, they still won’t understand (cf., Acts 1:6-8). Only the Spirit’s actual coming to dwell in them will open their eyes to see what he has been saying. For now, he simply repeats his emphasis on loving and obeying him and the blessing that will accompany these things: “Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (14:23).

Here is Christ’s promise to every believer. “If anyone loves me”–not just with feelings of admiration, merely attracted to my virtues as a saintly man,⁸ but with a love of devotion, in which the heart is bound to me as Redeemer and Lord, with a love that shows itself by doing what I say. “If anyone loves me (in this way),” Jesus says, “he will keep my word.” He will embrace all that I say as his Redeemer, i.e., about his need of me and about my fitness for this office. He will do as I say and believe on me, not only by trusting the eternal safety of his soul to my care, but also by looking to me for the life that he is to live, walking in the strength that I give and in the way that I have appointed as the disciple’s way. He who does not keep my word does not love me in this way.

But, “if anyone loves me” in this way, “my Father will love him (i.e., show his love to him in terms of blessing) and we will come to him and make our home [μονή, abiding place] with him.” J. C. Ryle says, “The full meaning of this promise . . . is a deep thing. We have no line to fathom it.”⁹ All believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, having received the Spirit as the earnest of the heavenly inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14); but there is much more for the Christian in this life. The experience of the full blessing of peace and joy that is the fruit of unhindered fellowship with God is known only by those who walk with him in a careful keeping of his word. Ryle says,

We need not shrink from believing that eminent holiness brings eminent comfort with it, and that no man has such sensible enjoyment of his religion as the man who, like Enoch and Abraham, walks closely with God. There is more of heaven on earth to be obtained than most Christians are aware of. “The secret [dAs, friendship, familiar converse, intimacy] of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.”–“If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Ps. xxv.14; Rev. iii.20) Promises like these, we may be sure, mean something, and were not written in vain.¹⁰

This abiding of the Father and the Son with the believer (by virtue of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) is the reality that explains our Lord’s words at 14:18. “I will not leave you orphans; I come to you.” The word ὀρφανός basically means “deprived of one’s parents” (fig. “abandoned”). Even as he has addressed them as his “little children” (13:33), so Jesus here promises that the Spirit will be present with his disciples in loco parentis, i.e., as a parent sent in his place to be with them. And yet, in the presence of the Spirit with them, in a way that the mystery of the Trinity will not permit us to penetrate, he says, “I come to you.” The term ὀρφανός, of course, was also used of disciples who had lost their master.¹¹ This is the way that Jesus uses it here–to speak of the condition of these men after his departure. He will not leave them without a father-figure to guide them. The only thing lost to them will be his physical presence, but not the care and guidance that he (as their Master) had given to them.

In sum, Jesus promises you who obey him that you will know an intimate, loving, life-giving communion with him, in which he will come to you and make his abiding place with you. This is how we should understand “and I in you.” As the result of our obeying his exhortation to abide in him, by our nurturing an increasingly intimate fellowship with Christ, we will know greater measures of life-giving communion with him, in which he comes and makes his abiding place (his home) in us.

3. The Wonderful Promise

“He who abides in me, and I in him, this one (i.e., branch) bears much fruit” (15:5).

What is the evidence of vital communion with Christ? Shall we look for “mystic flights of subjective experience”¹² or for something more tangible? Certainly, increasing fellowship with Christ brings greater measures of joy and love and peace in the inner man; but as wonderful as these things are, this is not the evidence of communion with himself that Christ here promises. He says, “He that abides in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit.” If we are right in interpreting the word “fruit” in terms of fruitfulness in godly living and service, Jesus here is saying that a prominent proof of fellowship with himself is fruitfulness in these things. Those who draw near to him and abide in him will bear holy fruit. Later he tells the Eleven, “I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide” (15:16). Those chosen and appointed by him to his service, those abiding in him, will manifest that this is the case by bearing fruit that will endure. This is the best evidence of vital communion with Christ, apart from which “mystic flights of subjective experience” are proof of nothing.

And following in the train of the “abiding” fruit of godliness are a host of other blessings. “By this,” Jesus says, “my Father is glorified” (15:8). Fruitful abiding in Christ honors God, thus enabling us to fulfill our chief end. Or, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (15:7). Abiding in him, with his words abiding in us, we will prevail in prayer. Or, “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (15:11). The joy imparted by Christ–the joy that springs from his love, will be full in us just so far as we abide in him and he in us. A life glorifying to God, confidence at the throne of grace, the joy of communion with Christ–these blessings belong to those who abide in him.

4. The Remarkable Fact

“Without (apart from) me you can do nothing” (15:5).

So close is the relationship that Jesus envisions between himself and his disciples that he says: “Without me you can do nothing.” Apart from vital union with him, apart from the graces that he as the life-giving vine supplies, apart from his working in us to will and to do according to his good pleasure–“apart from me,” he says, nothing that is glorifying to God, nothing that can justly be called the fruits of righteousness and useful service, nothing that is holy fit for the Master’s use will be produced by us. “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus wants us to understand that we are absolutely helpless to do anything holy or useful apart from the supplies of his grace that are had only in union and communion with him. Unless the blessing flows from the vine to us, we will be fruitless branches, fit only to be pruned off and taken away.

At Philip. 4:10-13, Paul touches on the theme of dependance on Christ. There he says that he learned the secret of being a godly man whether in prosperity or in poverty. “I can do all things,” he says, “in (union with) him who strengthens me.”¹³ Paul had experienced seasons of prosperity and seasons of want. Apart from union with Christ, he would have been helpless to produce the fruits of righteousness in such seasons. Each of these conditions (both poverty and prosperity) involved unique temptations; and apart from the life flowing from the vine, Paul would have fallen before those temptations. But by the strength that he received from Christ, he was able to be a holy man in both states. Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)–yes, but Paul’s says, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” I can be faithful in his service. I can glorify God. I can bear the abiding fruits of righteousness. I can live a distinctively Christian life. If I abide in Christ!

Apparently it is very hard to persuade us of our impotence apart from Christ, because again and again we try to live the Christian life with no conscious sense that we need Christ’s strength to be victorious. Much of this attitude surely is due to our carelessness and immaturity; but much of it also must be traced to our pride. We don’t like to think of ourselves as dependant, i.e., that we are helpless apart from the strength of another. That thought is humbling to our pride; and so, rather than acknowledging the truth that apart from Christ we can do nothing, we repeatedly go out to battle in our poor armor, wielding the sword as best we can with a crippled arm. And repeatedly we return bloodied and beaten and humiliated. And yet, though this is our recurring experience, we would rather be humiliated than humble ourselves. Can it be that we prefer to have our remaining sin trample us under foot rather than to tread on our precious pride? Surely, there is no greater proof of our need of grace than this.

It will do us well to observe that the Lord has so designed the method of our sanctification that our pride is abased and his glory as our Sanctifier is exalted. He has entreated, exhorted, even commanded that we abide in him. He has said that apart from close communion with himself we can do nothing, but that joined to him, walking with him, strengthened by him, we can bear much fruit. If our experience has not yet taught us the truthfulness of his claims, either we have not been paying attention or our pride has blinded us. Do not our failures testify against us, that we too often lean on the weak arm of flesh? Does not our shame in returning from the battle teach us that our pride going out to the battle is foolish? Have not those seasons when we have been near to Christ, knowing the grace and power that flows from the vine–have not such seasons taught us where the real power for the Christian life is to be had? How dull we are to learn lessons so clear! The nearer we draw to Christ, the more we long for and cultivate communion with him, the greater our certainty will be that apart from him we can do nothing. Walking with him, living the Christian life by that strength that he gives to those who abide in him, the more our dependance on him will grow, the more our pride will die, and the more our progress in holiness will be manifested.

When I was a small child, I fantasized that I could fly; but eventually that fantasy had to give way to the reality that without the acquisition of power that I did not innately possess, I could do nothing. Some of us think that in the Christian life we can fly on our own power; but in reality, God has grounded us until we learn that apart from Christ we can do nothing. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” These words are meant to humble you and to drive you to him. But there, humbled before him, acknowledging that all your fruitfulness comes from him, you will find that his strength is made perfect in weakness and that you can do all things in Christ who strengthens you.

Notes:

1. Dr. Robert P. Martin is Pastor of Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church, Seattle, Washington and Professor of Biblical Theology in Reformed Baptist Seminary, Taylors, SC..

2. Christians are the true “circumcision” (περιτομή), as contrasted with the Jews according to the flesh, who, apart from union with Christ, are merely the “mutilation” (κατατομή), whose physical circumcision is a symbol without the spiritual reality that gives it meaning (cf., Rom. 2:28-29).

3. Jesus here calls the Spirit “Helper” (NKJV), “Counselor” (NIV), “Advocate” (NEB), “Comforter” (ASV), “one who helps, by consoling, encouraging, or mediating on behalf of” (Louw and Nida). These all are attempts to translate παράκλητος, which means “one called along side.” Louw and Nida observe: “The principal difficulty encountered in rendering παράκλητος is the fact that this term covers potentially such a wide area of meaning. The traditional rendering of ‘Comforter’ . . . suggests only one very limited aspect of what the Holy Spirit does. A term such as ‘Helper’ is highly generic and can be particularly useful in some languages. . . . A rendering based upon the concept of legal advocate seems in most instances to be too restrictive. Furthermore, there may be quite unsatisfactory connotations associated with any word which suggests a lawyer, especially since in so many societies, a lawyer is thought of primarily as one who ‘bribes the judges’ or ‘can speak two truths’ or, as in one language, is ‘a professional liar.’” Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1989), 1:142-43 (12.19). “It is very rare indeed that any one term in a receptor language will have all of the distinctive features of meaning possessed by παράκλητος especially in reference to the role of the Holy Spirit.” Ibid., 1:460 (35.16, fn.4).

When Jesus uses this term to designate the Spirit, he is saying that the Holy Spirit will come as One “called along side” to do for these men what he himself did for them when he was with them. This is the implication of the word “another” (ἄλλος) at 14:16, which means “another of the same kind” as Christ had been to them while he physically was present with them. Perhaps the translation Helper best expresses Jesus’ meaning, though we must avoid the idea of subordination and inferiority that attaches to that English word in other settings.

4. By saying “was” (ἦν), of course, John is not precluding the idea that life “is” in Christ now, for that is one of major themes of his Gospel. At 1:4 he is still speaking of the Word in terms of what he was before he “became flesh and dwelt among us.”

5. John J. Owen, A Commentary, Critical, Expository, and Practical, on the Gospel of John (New York: Leavitt and Allen, 1860), 350.

6. F. Godet, Commentary on the Gospel of John (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1886), 2:284.

7. D. A. Carson. The Gospel According to John, in The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), 504.

8. The atheist Charles Templeton once said, “I know it may sound strange, but . . . I adore him. . . . There’s no question that he had the highest moral standard, the least duplicity, the greatest compassion, of any human being in history.” Cited by Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 21-22.

9. J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, John 13:1-21:25 (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), 81.

10. Ibid.

11. G. H. R. Horsley, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 4:162-63.

12. The expression is A. N. Martin’s, in his Union With Christ (Toronto: Gospel Witness, 1978), 110.

13. The preposition ἐν with the noun in the dative case here likely means “in union with” (cf., Phillip. 1:1,13,14;2:1; 4:1, 2, 7, 19, 21). Several versions translate this as “through,” i.e., “through the agency of.” While this idea is not without parallel (cf., Acts 17:31), here, as with John 15:2 (ἐν ἐμοὶ, “in union with me”) and 15:4 (ἐν τῇ ἀμπέλῳ, “in union with the vine”), the idea is that of vital union with Christ in his life.