John 15
DOYLY— which proceedeth from the Father.] We are here expressly told that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father: and, as Christ says in the same verse, “I will send the Spirit;” and St. Paul tells the Galatians, (Gal. iv. 6,) that “God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into their hearts;” we infer that the Spirit proceeds from the Son also; indeed, the union between the Father and the Son is such, that we cannot conceive how the Spirit can proceed from the one, without at the same time proceeding from the other. Hence the Articles of our Church, and the Nicene Creed, speak of the Holy Ghost as proceeding from the Father and the Son. Bp. Tomline.
This, and many other passages of the New Testament, so plainly and evidently confirm the distinction of the Holy Ghost from the other Persons of the Trinity, that no man can possibly doubt thereof, unless he will blaspheme the everlasting truth of God’s word. Church Homilies.
Chap. XVI. ver. 1. — that ye should not be offended.] That ye may not fall off from the faith, or desist from your office of propagating it. Dr. Whitby.
John 15:2
- They shall put you out of &c.] They will excommunicate you, and treat you like the most wicked of men, and even put you to death; as if, by destroying you, they would recommend themselves to the favour of God. Bp. Mann.
— he doeth God service.] Performeth as acceptable an act towards Him, as prayer or sacrifice. Abp. Newcome.
John 15:3
- — because they have not known the Father, nor me.] Violence and persecution can never be pleasing to the Father of mercies, nor consistent with Christ’s religion; the principal and distinguishing commandment of which is, to love one another; to save men’s lives, not to destroy them. Bp. Mann.
John 15:5
5, 6. I am the vine, ye are &c.] I am, as it were, the root and stock of a vine, whereof ye are the branches. He that continues to adhere to Me, by constant faith in Me, by imitating My example, and by obeying My commands, shall bring forth much fruit of true holiness and virtue unto everlasting life, even as a branch that continues to grow in the vine, and receives sap and nourishment from it. But he, that does not continue to maintain his relation to Me in this manner, is a false and useless professor of My religion, and shall be cast out from Me and perish for ever; even as a fruitless branch is cut off from the vine, and left to wither and dry, and at last is burnt in the fire. Dr. S. Clarke.
John 15:6
- — without me ye can do nothing.] Thus Gospel virtues can spring from no other original than Gospel grace; in this the very spirit and life of Christians, as such, consists; it is this that excites, and improves, and maintains, their holiness. Dean Stanhope.
John 15:7
- — ye shall ask what ye will.] This seems to be meant chiefly of the gift of miracles bestowed on the Apostles, at the first preaching of the Gospel; though it may also, in a limited sense, be understood of the pious prayers of all good Christians. Dr. S. Clarke.
John 15:8
- Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit:] Your fruitfulness is that which alone brings glory to My Father, and which denominates you truly My disciples. Dr. Hammond.
We learn from these words, that they, who profess themselves the disciples of Christ, ought to bear much fruit, by leading holy and obedient lives; that herein
John 15:10
- — ye shall abide in my love:] Shall enjoy the continuance of My love. Dr. Hammond.
John 15:11
- — that my joy might remain in you.] That the joy which My presence caused to you, may not be diminished in My absence; or else, that I may always have reason to rejoice in you. Beausole.
John 15:12
- — as I have loved you.] We are to imitate the love of Christ to us, as far as the vast distance between God and man enables us to do so; and we are to stir ourselves to mutual charity, by that strong obligation to it which the good will of Christ to us imposes on every considering Christian. Dean Stanhope.
John 15:15
- — not servants:] To whom the master does not usually make known his counsels, purposes, and intentions. Dr. Hammond. “But I have called you friends;” I have treated you in the most friendly and affectionate manner, instructing you most plainly in all things necessary for your salvation. Bp. Mann.
John 15:16
- Ye have not chosen me, but I &c.] I made choice of you, without the engagement of any antecedent affection of yours to Me, to be attendants on My person, hearers of My doctrine, witnesses of My miracles, and glorious instruments of planting and establishing a Christian Church, to last till the end of the world. For the success of which great work, whatever shall be needful, God will give it to your prayers put up in My name. Dean Stanhope.
John 15:19
- If ye were of the world, the world &c.] If ye flattered men in their sins, and taught doctrines consistent with their lusts and passions, without question the world
Anno DOMINI 25.
John 15:20
- — if they have kept &c.] If they have shewn a good disposition by keeping My words, they will also shew the same disposition by keeping yours. Abp. Newcome.
John 15:21
21, 22. — because they know not him &c.] This their behaviour is the effect of their not attending to the commission with which I come, nor the evidences of it. These have been far superior to any ever before given to a teacher coming from God, so that their infidelity does not proceed from ignorance, but wilful obstinacy and blindness. Dean Stanhope.
John 15:22
- — had not had sin.] The peculiar sin of rejecting the Messiah. Dr. Lightfoot.
John 15:24
- — both seen and hated both me and my Father.] The malice shewn towards Me, who am authorized and have been thus eminently attested by God, does not terminate in My person, but is done to God Himself. Dean Stanhope.
John 15:25
- — this cometh to pass, that &c.] Meanwhile, that prophetick complaint of David (Ps. lxix. 4) never was so signally fulfilled as on this occasion. Dean Stanhope.
John 15:26
- — when the Comforter is come.] See notes at chap. xiv. 16.
— whom I will send unto you from the Father.] Our Lord had before said at chap. xiv. 16, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” He therefore, who in one capacity prays that the Comforter may be sent, in another is the Person who sends Him, being joined in authority and power with the Father. “I and the Father are one.” Many are the passages of this kind in Scripture, which can only be explained and reconciled by that great Christian doctrine which our Church maintains concerning the twofold nature of Christ. The Spirit is called, in some places, the Spirit
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: