Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                    Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 9-14

In verse nine, Jesus turned from preaching about His disciples relationship with the world, and He began to preach about their mission to the world. He also began to teach about His personal relationship with His disciples through the presence of the Holy Spirit within their inner beings. Jesus taught His disciples, and His Church, that to the same extent that His Father loved Him, He loved His disciples. Such a truth is awesome beyond words!

Jesus gave four commandments to His disciples and His Church: that they should love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and their neighbor as themselves; believe in Him as their Savior, and love each other. Matthew 22:36-40; John 6:28-29; John 13:34. Humans who practice Jesus' commandments will no longer need the Ten Commandments because of the love that God puts into their hearts. Romans 13:8-10. The Ten Commandments were given to inform unbelievers that they are sinners in need of God's salvation by grace. Galatians 3:22-25. Believers saved by grace should still study the entire Word of God, including the Ten Commandments, because that information happens to be a part of the preaching of the gospel. II Timothy 3:16-17.

Jesus taught His disciples, and His Church, that His disciples had to keep His commandments in order "to abide in my love." This statement does not mean that Jesus stops loving backsliders and lost sinners. Jesus meant that His believers who closely follow Him and keep His commandments will often feel the presence of His Spirit within them, especially when they worship Him. Jesus further informed His disciples that He abides in His Father's Love because He has kept His Father's commandments. Jesus meant by this statement that He had become the perfect and innocent sacrifice to take away the sins and evil of mankind because Jesus would rise from the dead victorious over all sin and evil, and all the works of the Devil, because the Devil had no claim on Him as the Devil had on sinful humans. The Devil would not be able to hold His innocent Spirit in Hell. Jesus also meant that when He gives His Spirit to His believers saved by grace, He gives them His own perfect righteousness which will provide them with an acceptance by God to Heaven that they could never attain on their own. II Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:14-17.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                               Verses 6-8 continued

When God saves by His grace, He forever thoroughly cleanses the souls and spirits of His believers with the blood Christ shed on the cross, and He recreates their souls and spirits in such a way that the fleshly sins that they will commit will no longer be able to infect their souls and spirits. II Corinthians 5:17; I John 3:9. God allows His saints to retain their fleshly natures which will cause them to commit sins, but those sins will remain only in their fleshly natures. Romans 7:15-25. God will also thoroughly cleanse His saints fleshly sins with the water Jesus shed on the cross as they daily repent of them. John 13:1-15; I John 1:9. The Holy Spirit has the power to transform the blood and water that Christ shed on the cross into spiritual blood and water. I John 5:5-8.

Why does God allow His saints to retain their fleshly natures which will cause them to sin? One can only speculate. Perhaps, if God transformed and recreated the fleshly natures of His saints when they believed and were "born again," then their earthly bodies would have to immediately die, and God would recreate their flesh to be spiritual flesh which would allow them to be able to change from flesh to spirit and back again as they willed. The sight of such supernatural people in the world would so traumatize unbelievers that they would be forced to believe in God. God does not want anyone to be forced to believe in Him. Forced love cannot be real love. God desires that every living human return to love for Him of their own free will which will prove the eternal value of real love. Perhaps, God also desires to prove that sin, evil, and the Devil can never utterly destroy His Church anymore that it can destroy any of God's creations. Matthew 16:18.

The Church is God's creation, and the Devil desires to utterly destroy any creation of God. The Devil sends troublemakers, and heretics and apostates into God's churches in order to ruin them. The Devil sometimes succeeds in ruining some churches. Nevertheless, Christ knows exactly who His saints are, and He will cause all of His saints eventually to repent of all of their fleshly sins either daily or at the Rapture of the Church. Christ will prove that sin and evil cannot destroy His Church and His saints love for Him. God possesses all power over sin, evil, and the Devil. Revelation 1:17-18. Jesus suffered tremendous pain and suffering on the cross caused by sin and evil, but being Almighty God, He could handle it even though His Father could not help Him. Matthew 27:46. But even though Christ saves His saints forever because He eliminated even their backslidden sins, His believers should pray every day that Christ will keep them out of sin because their sins grieve the Holy Spirit, increases Christ's suffering on the cross, and causes God to have to punish them to correct them. Ephesians 4:30; Hebrews 12:2; Hebrews 12:3-13; Ephesians 5:25-27; John 10:27-30; I John 3:8.

Jesus taught that His Father will be glorified when His Church bears "much fruit." God will be glorified because despite the sin that infects His Church, Christ's disciples will succeed in preaching the gospel to the world and winning many lost sinners to faith in Christ and salvation by grace. God intends to supply great rewards to His disciples in Heaven for their obedience to Him while in the world. Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 6:35.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 6-8 continued

 Jesus taught in the King James Bible, which is the inerrant and infallible Word of God, that He can raise back to life those who believe in Him after their physical deaths. John 11:25. The doctrine that God cannot, or will not, save unbelievers after their physical deaths seems to be a doctrine that physical death limits the Almighty Power and the Almighty Love of God. God's Almighty Power and Love cannot be limited by anything. Nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37. If physical death limits God's Power, how could Jesus have ever raised anyone from the dead? John 11:43-44. God never limits His Almighty Power. In fact, God can use even the absolute nothingness of an eternal lake of fire to trap evil forever within its bounds so that evil can never infect His recreation of Heaven and earth again. II Peter 9:9-13.

No verse in the entire Bible (KJB) teaches that God cannot, or will not, save unbelievers after their physical deaths. But many passages in the Bible teach that God will eventually save from eternal death every living human that He has ever created and loves either by His shed blood and water on the cross or with His fiery wrath against evil. The Old Testament sin offering symbolized God's salvation by His grace, and the burnt offering symbolized God's salvation of the rest of all living humans by the use of His fiery wrath against evil. Genesis 3:8-21; Genesis 8:20-21; Leviticus 5:7-10; Psalm 75:3; Isaiah 66:18-24; Matthew 13:36-43; Luke 3:6; Luke 20:38; John 5:28-29; John 11:25; Romans 8:18-23; I Corinthians 15:20-28; I Corinthians 3:11-15; Colossians 1:15-23; I Timothy 4:10; II Timothy 4:1; John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:1-5. These name only some of these scriptures. The logic of Revelation 21:5 seems to be inescapable. God will make all things new. God created all things. Revelation 4:11. Since God created all things, then He created all living humans. Genesis 1:27. Therefore, God must recreate all living humans. Revelation 21:1-5.

Only Jesus' disciples abide in Him. Only His believers saved by grace who read His Word and adhere to its teachings, attend a true church, repent every day of their sins and pray for the Holy Spirit to keep them out of sin, and live as a witness to others of their faith, are His disciples. Backsliders temporarily move away from abiding in Christ. Peter became a temporary backslider when he denied that he knew the Lord, but he repented. Luke 22:61-62. Christ has promised that He will present His Church to God as being absolutely pure and glorious. Ephesians 5:25-27. This promise can only mean that in the Rapture of the Church, Christ will recover all backsliders and cause them all to repent and return to abiding in Him. II Timothy 2:12-13. Christ may have to consign some backsliders to a temporary torment to correct them until they repent, but all of His backslidden saints will repent and return to full faith in Him because Christ will thoroughly cleanse and recover His entire Church when He Raptures it. Matthew 18:32-35. Christ taught that He cannot lose a single one of His believers. John 10:26-30.

God possesses Almighty Power and Intellect. He knows exactly how to cause all living humans, sooner or later, to repent and return of their own free will to the faith that He put into them when He created them in His image. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31; John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14. God will forever save by His grace those who believe in His Son while still alive in the flesh, and He will provide a lesser form of salvation for all living humans temporarily consigned to the regions of death when He appears to them in a great worship service near the end of the world. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                  Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 6-8

Jesus spoke about those humans who turn  themselves over to practice evil. These types of persons put themselves outside of God's created branches. These are the atheists, materialists, and cruel criminals of the world. They wither inside because they rarely feel God's presence in their lives. When they face the judgment of Christ when they die, He will usually cast their souls and spirits into a burning Hell. Hebrews 9:27. But Christ did not say they would be in Hell forever.

About the only verses in the entire Bible (KJB) on which one can base the doctrine that living humans remain in a burning Hell forever occurs in Mark 9:43-48. Jesus did teach that the fires of Hell burn forever, but He also taught that only the "worms" of living humans would be in that eternal fire. When Jesus spoke about their "worms," He had to have referred to Isaiah's prophecy about the final resurrection. Isaiah 66:18-24. Isaiah prophesied that in this general resurrection, God will raise all living humans from the dead, cause them all to go to Jerusalem to worship Him, and they will be able to look back at their dead carcasses and see their "worms" in an everlasting fire. In order for this prophecy to be true, these "worms,' which symbolize man's evil, spiritual deaths, had to have been separated from their living, recreated bodies by God's use of His fiery wrath against evil. Just before the final resurrection, God will use His fiery wrath to dissolve every repentant human system confined to the regions of death in order to melt them down to separate His living nature from these humans that He created and loves for Him to recreate from their dead spiritual natures that He will cast into the eternal lake of fire. I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3; Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5. In Revelation 20:11-15, God clearly states that He will cast only dead humans into the eternal lake of fire, not living humans. All living humans that God created in His image are forever alive to God. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 3:20-21; Luke 20:38.

In the very next verse, Jesus taught that "every one shall be salted with fire." Mark 9:50. In other words, Jesus taught that every living human will be either sanctified by fire or preserved by God's use of His fiery wrath against evil. Humans saved by grace will be sanctified by God's fire when filled with the Holy Spirit, and all living humans not saved by grace will be forever preserved by God's fire. Acts 2:1-4; Genesis 8:20-21; I Corinthians 3:11-15. In this verse, Jesus referred to God's establishment of the Old Testament burnt offering to symbolize His use of His fiery wrath against evil to save all living humans confined to the regions of death when He will cause them all to repent and believe in Him as their Savior just prior to His final judgment. Genesis 8:20-21; Revelation 5:11-14. At that time, Christ will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve their systems in order to save their repentant, living natures and to cast their dead, unrepentant natures into the lake of fire. Matthew 12:31-32; I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3. I Corinthians 3:15 cannot refer to humans saved by grace because they are not saved by fire. They may be sanctified by fire when filled with the Holy Spirit, but not saved by fire. Humans saved by grace are saved only by being washed in the shed blood and water that flowed from Jesus' body on the cross. I John 5:7-8.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-5 continued

When Jesus spoke about every branch in Him, He meant every human He had ever created because the grapevine symbolizes His creation of the entire human race. When Jesus spoke about the branches that bear fruit that He will purge so that they bring forth more fruit, He symbolized all living humans whom He will save by His grace. When Jesus used the word "purge," He meant that He will both sanctify and discipline His believers saved by grace to make them more like Himself so that they can produce even more fruit. The branches that do not bear fruit symbolizes all humans who do not become saved by grace. These humans can and will do good works that God gave them to do, but their good works do not have the quality of God's creations because they only produce temporary, earthly effects. Only believers saved by grace can do good works that have an everlasting effect like those of God's. In other words, believers saved by grace can do the same kinds of good works that Jesus Himself did. John 14:12. God will take away all humans not saved by grace because their good works cannot produce an everlasting effect. Nevertheless, God will cause them all to repent and believe in the Lamb of their own free will, recreate them, reward them for their good works, and give them an eternal life on His new, recreated earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12.

When Jesus told His disciples that He had cleansed them with His spoken Word, He meant the eternal Word of God. God speaks His Word in many ways. God has spoken His Word in His creations. Psalm 19:1-4. Jesus happens to be the Living Word of God. Hebrews 10:19-20. God also has His written Word. II Timothy 3:16-17. The spoken and written Word of God carries the shed blood and water of Christ to believers who become saved by grace. The Holy Spirit inhabits eternity. This means the Holy Spirit can extend Christ's shed blood and water into humanity's past and future to cleanse and forgive all humans who become saved by grace. Matthew 24:35.

Only God holds the Almighty Power to save living humans from sin and evil. God never saves the dead natures of humans because that happens to be spiritual death injected into them by the Devil that never repents. Matthew 12:31-32. But Christ will utterly destroy the Devil and all of his evil works. John 12:31-32; I John 3:8.

The branches that symbolize humans not saved by grace cannot bear everlasting fruit. These are the branches of the grapevine that have no fruit on them. Only the branches that symbolize humans saved by grace can deliver the sap, that symbolizes the Holy Spirit, to produce everlasting fruit which symbolizes others who become saved by grace. But humans saved by grace can only deliver the message of the gospel. Only the Holy Spirit has the power to flow through the branches like sap to deliver the shed blood and water of Christ to the believers who become saved by God's grace.

But only believers saved by grace who are true and faithful to Christ can be used by the Holy Spirit to produce everlasting fruit. Unfaithful backsliders cannot produce any everlasting fruit, and they will receive few rewards in Heaven.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-5 continued

When God created Adam and Eve, He knew that the free will that He had given them had a weakness in it that could cause them to sin. God also knew that Satan was in the world to lie to Eve and tempt her to disobey God. God also knew that Eve could cause Adam to choose to disobey God as well. But behind it all, God had a good plan that no matter how much sin and evil the Devil could inflict on humans, and no matter how ruinous and destructive the Devil could be, he would never be able to utterly destroy the good image of Himself that God would put into every human He would ever create. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31. God also knew that when Adam and Eve sinned, the Devil would be able to inject spiritual death into their inner beings that would make all living humans unable to avoid committing sins and evil. Genesis 2:17.

God cursed the Devil and the ground from which all demonic evil comes, but He did not curse Adam and Eve. Genesis 3:1-21. In fact, God promised Adam and Eve that He would "put enmity" between the Devil and the woman, and between the Devil's seed, which is spiritual death, and the woman's seed, which is the living image of God in every human. From that time, every human would experience a conflict between his good and living nature and his evil nature within him.

God also promised the woman that He would use a particular seed from only her to utterly crush and destroy the Devil and all of his evil works. The Devil would be able to injure her special seed, which meant He would sacrifice Himself to be able to crush the Devil, but her special seed would recover from His injury and continue to live. Genesis 3:15. God also promised Eve that He would make her "the mother of all living," and since God can only create that which is eternal and since He can never lose anything He has ever created, then He must recover and recreate all living humans infected by sins and evil. Genesis 3:20; Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8; Luke 20:38. In other words, God promised to send a Savior to humanity who would sacrifice Himself to purge all sin, evil, and spiritual death, all of which are the works of the Devil, from all of His living humans and cause them all, sooner or later, to return to faith in Him and love for Him of their own free will. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14. Jesus came to the world to utterly destroy the Devil and all of his evil works, not living humans. John 12:31-32; I John 3:8. God has proven, and will prove again, that the weakness in free will that He gave to Adam and Eve can never utterly destroy their good systems, or the good systems of every human that He creates because He will use that same free will to cause all living humans to return to faith in His Almighty Love and return to love for Him. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.

God gave free will as a loving gift to Lucifer to be used in good ways. God cannot be responsible for the evil that Lucifer chose to do. Nevertheless, God feels guilty because in all innocence and good will, He indirectly caused evil to enter into His creations. Isaiah 45:7. But since God is Almighty and Omniscient and His Love can never fail, He knew exactly how to purge all sin and evil from all of His creations and recreate it all to be righteous by the use of His gift of free will to humanity, despite the weakness in it. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14; John 5:28-29; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:11-12; I Corinthians 13:8.

In other words, God holds an infinite knowledge that He has used to devise a plan to eliminate the weakness in free will that causes humans to sin and acquire spiritual death by taking all that sin, evil, and spiritual death on Himself and purging all evil and all spiritual death from all living humans by the loving sacrifice of Himself. John 12:31-32; I John 3:8. God has the Love and power necessary to cause all humans, sooner or later, to return to faith in Him as their Lamb of God and love for Him of their own free will when they learn about His Love for them in His sacrifice for them. John 5:24; Revelation 5:11-14.

Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                    Chapter Fifteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 1-5

Jesus compared Himself to a grapevine that bears copious amounts of good and edible fruit. Jesus taught that He creates the fruit on the vine, and His Father empowers His creations. Jesus used this grapevine to symbolize His creation of the world and especially of humanity.

God creates every human to be good; that is, to produce only good works. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14. God loves every human that He ever creates and that Love can never fail. I Corinthians 13:8.

God is Omniscient, but He is also innocent. Habakkuk 1:13. God can only use His free will to choose to create good systems. When God gave free will to His special creation called Lucifer, God did not know that he could use that free will to choose to rebel against God and become evil. God knew nothing about evil when He gave free will to Lucifer, but that does not mean that God is not Omniscient. God possesses an infinite set of good ideas that He can use to create an infinite set of good systems. Good systems happen to be the only positive systems. Only positive creations can possess reality. Evil cannot be real, and yet, it possesses some kind of negative power. The Old Testament consistently refers to sin and evil as being vanity; that is, pride and emptiness. The negative power of evil happens to be anti-knowledge and anti-creative since it only seeks to destroy all that is good. In a sense, evil equals absolute nothingness, but it only assumes real power in its attempts to destroy creativity. Evil seeks to reduce all creativity to absolute nothingness, including creativity and knowledge. All this means God is Omniscient in creativity and reality, but He knew nothing about evil, which is anti-knowledge, until Lucifer's rebellion.

God created a free will system outside of His own free will to be solely a creative system, but He discovered that outside of His subjective Being, it could be misused to choose to do evil. The fact that Lucifer could persuade some of God's angels to also rebel against God demonstrated that doubt about the Almighty Power of God's Love to protect His creations had entered into His creations. But God knew exactly how to create a system, using humanity and His own ability to become a human, to thoroughly purge all sin and evil and the Devil himself from all of His creations so that He could cleanse it all and recreate it all. II Peter 3:9-13; Romans 8:18-23; I Corinthians 15:20-28; Colossians 1:15-23; Matthew 13:36-43; Revelation 21:1-5; John 5:28-29; John 12:31-32; I John 3:8; Revelation 22:11-12.