John 15:3-5

15:3 You are clean already ¹  because of the word that I have spoken to you. 15:4 Remain ²  in me, and I will remain in you. ³  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, ⁴  unless it remains ⁵  in ⁶  the vine, so neither can you unless you remain ⁷  in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ⁸  in me – and I in him – bears ⁹  much fruit, ¹⁰  because apart from me you can accomplish ¹¹  nothing.

[15:3]  ¹ sn The phrase you are clean already occurs elsewhere in the Gospel of John only at the washing of the disciples’ feet in 13:10, where Jesus had used it of the disciples being cleansed from sin. This further confirms the proposed understanding of John 15:2 and 15:6 since Judas was specifically excluded from this statement (but not all of you).

[15:4]  ² tn Or “Reside.”

[15:4]  ³ tn Grk “and I in you.” The verb has been repeated for clarity and to conform to contemporary English style, which typically allows fewer ellipses (omitted or understood words) than Greek.

[15:4]  ⁴ sn The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to the vine, from which its life and sustenance flows. As far as the disciples were concerned, they would produce no fruit from themselves if they did not remain in their relationship to Jesus, because the eternal life which a disciple must possess in order to bear fruit originates with Jesus; he is the source of all life and productivity for the disciple.

[15:4]  ⁵ tn Or “resides.”

[15:4]  ⁶ tn While it would be more natural to say “on the vine” (so NAB), the English preposition “in” has been retained here to emphasize the parallelism with the following clause “unless you remain in me.” To speak of remaining “in” a person is not natural English either, but is nevertheless a biblical concept (cf. “in Christ” in Eph 1:3, 4, 6, 7, 11).

[15:4]  ⁷ tn Or “you reside.”

[15:5]  ⁸ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ⁹ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ¹⁰ 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.

[15:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “do.”