Now ye are clean All of you, to whom I now speak, are made clean from the guilt and power of sin through the word which I have spoken unto you, whose sanctifying influence has operated on your hearts, and which, when applied by the Spirit, is the grand instrument of purifying the soul. Abide in me By the continued exercise of humble faith and love, producing all holiness, by which alone you can continue to be in me; and I in you And I will be in you by my Spirit, to nourish your piety and virtue, and supply you, as from a living root, with every necessary grace. As In the natural world; the branch cannot bear fruit of itself But must presently wither; except it abide in the vine Continue in a state of union with it, and be nourished by sap from thence; no more can ye Be able to produce the fruits of genuine and acceptable obedience; except ye abide in me And have the life of grace maintained in you by a vital union with me. I am the vine That is, the root and stock of the vine of which I speak; ye are only the branches And cannot flourish or subsist, much less can you bear fruit, without me. Our Lord, in this whole passage, speaks of no branches but such as are, or, at least, were once, vitally united to him by living faith. He that abideth in me By a real, internal, and spiritual union, begun and continued by faith; and I in him By my word and Spirit, my truth and grace; the same bringeth forth much fruit In holy dispositions, and righteous, benevolent actions, to the credit of his profession, the comfort of his own soul, and the edification of his fellow- creatures; for without me Χωρις εμου, separate from me, and deprived of the influences of my word and Spirit, (alluding still to the vine and its branches;) ye can do nothing Nothing truly and spiritually good; can bear no fruit that will be pleasing to God, or profitable to yourselves. Without the merit of Christ, we can do nothing toward our justification; and without the Spirit of Christ, nothing toward our sanctification. We have as necessary and constant a dependance upon the grace of the Mediator for the whole of the spiritual and the divine life, as we have upon the providence of the Creator for all the actions of the natural life: as to both, it is in and by the divine power that we live, and move, and have our being. If a man abide not in me By living, loving, and obedient faith, as well as by church communion, by which last, separate from the former, he may abide in Christ all his life and be withered all the time, and cast into the fire at last; he is cast forth as a branch He is separated from Christ, as a branch that is barren is cut off from the tree which it only encumbered; and is withered They that abide not in Christ by a real and vital union, though they may flourish a while in a creditable and plausible profession, yet in a little time they wither and come to nothing. Their abilities and gifts wither, their zeal and devotion wither; as do also their credit and reputation, their hopes and comforts. For they that bear no fruit will soon bear no leaves. How soon was the fig-tree withered away which Christ cursed! And men gather them and cast them into the fire, &c. The loppings of the vines, in those countries where they are cultivated, are carefully gathered up, and make a considerable part of their fuel; as if he had said, As men gather up withered branches, which have been cut off from the tree on which they once grew, and throw them into the fire, where they are burned as a worthless kind of wood, fit for nothing but fuel; so, in like manner, such will be the end of those unhappy creatures. Satan's agents and emissaries will insnare and make an easy prey of them; for they that fall off from Christ soon fall in with sinners, are associated with them, and employed in the unfruitful works of darkness; so that they become fit fuel for the divine wrath, from which the profession they formerly made will not preserve them. And they are burned This follows of course; but it is here added very emphatically, and makes the threatening very terrible. The original expression, και καιεται, is literally, and they are burning; for they will not be consumed in a moment, like thorns under a pot; but burning for ever in a fire, which not only cannot be quenched, but will never spend itself. Such, reader, is the consequence of apostatizing from Christ, or ceasing to live by faith in him; they draw back unto perdition, Hebrews 10:38-39. Some interpret men's gathering them, of the ministry of angels in the last day, when they shall gather out of Christ's kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, as tares are gathered and bound in bundles to be burned.
Related Commentaries of John 15:3
John 15:3-6
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.