15
15:1 I am the true vine - So the true bread, Giovanni 6:32; that is, the most excellent.
15:2 Every one that beareth fruit, he purifieth - by obeying the truth, Pietro 1 1:22; and by inward or outward sufferings, Ebrei 12:10-11. So purity and fruitfulness help each other.That it may bear more fruit - For this is one of the noblest rewards God can bestow on former acts of obedience, to make us yet more holy, and fit for farther and more eminent service.
15:3 Ye are clean - All of you, to whom I now speak, are purged from the guilt and power of sin; by the word - Which, applied by the Spirit, is the grand instrument of purifying the soul.
15:4 Abide in me - Ye who are now pure by living faith, producing all holiness; by which alone ye can be in me.
15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches - Our Lord in this whole passage speaks of no branches but such as are, or at least were once, united to him by living faith.
15:6 If any one abide not in me - By living faith; not by Church communion only. He may thus abide in Christ, and be withered all the time, and cast into the fire at last. He is cast out - Of the vineyard, the invisible Church. Therefore he was in it once.
15:7 If ye abide in me, ye shall ask - Prayers themselves are a fruit of faith, and they produce more fruit.
15:8 So shall ye be my disciples - Worthy of the name. To be a disciple of Christ is both the foundation and height of Christianity.
15
15:1 Coming down from Judea - Perhaps to supply what they thought Paul and Barnabas had omitted.
15:2 They (the brethren) determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others should go up to Jerusalem about this question - This is the journey to which St. Paul refers, Galati 2:1-2, when he says he went up by revelation: which is very consistent with this; for the Church in sending them might be directed by a revelation made either immediately to St. Paul, or to some other person, relating to so important an affair. Important indeed it was, that these Jewish impositions should be solemnly opposed in time; because multitudes of converts were still zealous for the law, and ready to contend for the observance of it. Indeed many of the Christians of Antioch would have acquiesced in the determination of Paul alone. But as many others might have prejudices against him, for his having been so much concerned for the Gentiles, it was highly expedient to take the concurrent judgment of all the apostles on this occasion.
15:4 They were received - That is solemnly welcomed.
15:5 But certain Pharisees - For even believers are apt to retain their former turn of mind, and prejudices derived therefrom.The law of Moses - The whole law, both moral and ritual.