Psalms 92:12-13

92:12 The godly ¹  grow like a palm tree;

they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon. ² 

92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,

they grow in the courts of our God.

Isaiah 27:6

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ³ 

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce ⁴  will fill the surface of the world. ⁵ 

John 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁶  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ⁷  But if it dies, it produces ⁸  much grain. ⁹ 

John 15:5-8

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ¹⁰  in me – and I in him – bears ¹¹  much fruit, ¹²  because apart from me you can accomplish ¹³  nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain ¹⁴  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ¹⁵  and are burned up. ¹⁶  15:7 If you remain ¹⁷  in me and my words remain ¹⁸  in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. ¹⁹  15:8 My Father is honored ²⁰  by this, that ²¹  you bear ²²  much fruit and show that you are ²³  my disciples.

¹ tn The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view.

² sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size.

³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).

⁴ tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

⁵ sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.

⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

⁷ tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

⁸ tn Or “bears.”

⁹ tn Grk “much fruit.”

¹⁰ tn Or “resides.”

¹¹ tn Or “yields.”

¹² tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

¹³ tn Or “do.”

¹⁴ tn Or “reside.”

¹⁵ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

¹⁶ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

¹⁷ tn Or “reside.”

¹⁸ tn Or “reside.”

¹⁹ sn Once again Jesus promises the disciples ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. This recalls 14:13-14, where the disciples were promised that if they asked anything in Jesus’ name it would be done for them. The two thoughts are really quite similar, since here it is conditioned on the disciples’ remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in them. The first phrase relates to the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus. The second phrase relates to their obedience. When both of these qualifications are met, the disciples would in fact be asking in Jesus’ name and therefore according to his will.

²⁰ tn Grk “glorified.”

²¹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause is best taken as substantival in apposition to ἐν τούτῳ (en toutw) at the beginning of the verse. The Father is glorified when the disciples bring forth abundant fruit. Just as Jesus has done the works which he has seen his Father doing (5:19-29) so also will his disciples.

²² tn Or “yield.”

²³ tc Most mss (א A Ψ Ë¹³ 33 Ï) read the future indicative γενήσεσθε (genhsesqe; perhaps best rendered as “[and show that] you will become”), while some early and good witnesses (Ì^66vid B D L Θ 0250 1 565 al) have the aorist subjunctive γένησθε (genhsqe; “[and show that] you are”). The original reading is difficult to determine because the external evidence is fairly evenly divided. On the basis of the external evidence alone the first reading has some credibility because of א and 33, but it is not enough to overthrow the Alexandrian and Western witnesses for the aorist. Some who accept the future indicative see a consecutive (or resultative) sequence between φέρητε (ferhte) in the ἵνα (Jina) clause and γενήσεσθε, so that the disciples’ bearing much fruit results in their becoming disciples. This alleviates the problem of reading a future indicative within a ἵνα clause (a grammatical solecism that is virtually unattested in Attic Greek), although such infrequently occurs in the NT, particularly in the Apocalypse (cf. Gal 2:4; Rev 3:9; 6:4, 11; 8:3; 9:4, 5, 20; 13:12; 14:13; 22:14; even here, however, the Byzantine mss, with א occasionally by their side, almost always change the future indicative to an aorist subjunctive). It seems more likely, however, that the second verb (regardless of whether it is read as aorist or future) is to be understood as coordinate in meaning with the previous verb φέρητε (So M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek §342). Thus the two actions are really one and the same: Bearing fruit and being Jesus’ disciple are not two different actions, but a single action. The first is the outward sign or proof of the second – in bearing fruit the disciples show themselves to be disciples indeed (cf. 15:5). Thus the translation followed here is, “that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.” As far as the textual reading is concerned, it appears somewhat preferable to accept the aorist subjunctive reading (γένησθε) on the basis of better external testimony.