Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
John 15:1-17, The true vine, and friends rather than slaves
Jesus calls himself the true vine and his Father the vinegrower, who cuts off fruitless branches and prunes the fruitful. He calls his disciples friends, not slaves, because he has told them everything.
John 15:1-17, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus pictures himself as the true vine, his Father as the gardener and his disciples as branches that bear fruit only while joined to him. He commands them to love each other with the self-giving love he has shown, the kind that dies for friends. He calls them friends instead of slaves, because he has shared with them what the Father told him, and reminds them that the choice was his.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/friendship\/","n":"Friendship, and the friend of Caesar","s":"The ancient world prized friendship: loyalty to the death, goods held in common, secrets shared. The same word covered a patron and his dependents, and friend of Caesar was a title a governor could not afford to lose.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
Scripture pictured Israel as God's vineyard or vine (Isaiah 5:7; Psalm 80:8; Hosea 10:1), and calling himself the true vine sets Jesus against Israel's failure to bear fruit (Keener and his notes; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles); Wright takes it as a claim that Jesus himself is the true Israel. Prunes also means cleanses, one of John's plays on words (Keener). Vines were tied to posts and pruned through the year, and at the severest pruning the fruitless branches were cut out and, useless for building, burned; Ezekiel 15 says a barren vine is good only for the fire (Keener and his notes; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). Greeks treasured dying for one's friends as the greatest act of friendship, while later rabbis did not give it special value, and ideal friends shared their secrets, as a servant would not (Keener and his notes). Scripture called Abraham God's friend, and God spoke with Moses face to face (Keener and his notes). Disciples usually attached themselves to a teacher, and the CSB Study Bible cites the saying, provide yourself with a teacher; the cultural backgrounds notes say the Gospels stress that Jesus chose his own core disciples.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 15:1, 15:2-3, 15:4-8, 15:12-13 and 15:14-15
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 15:1, 15:2, 15:6, 15:13, 15:15 and 15:16
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on John 15:1-17, 15:1 and 15:6
- CSB Study Bible, notes on John 15:1-17, 15:1, 15:6 and 15:16
- N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part Two, comment on John 15:1-8
