John 15:12–17
The redeemed community is marked by self-giving love and enduring fruit.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
The redeemed community is marked by self-giving love and enduring fruit.
To command sacrificial love, affirm divine initiative, and commission believers for lasting fruit.
The True Vine, Abiding Fruitfulness, Christlike Love, and the World’s Hatred
Jesus is the true vine in whom his disciples must abide to bear fruit, remain in his love, obey his commands, love one another, endure the world’s hatred, and testify by the Spirit’s witness.