15:3
In Greek the word for “prunes” also means “cleans” and is very similar, so it seems better to interpret this verse as Jesus saying “you are already pruned” rather than in the sense of “already washed”. Why were they pruned? Because of the word that Jesus had spoken to them. So how do Jesus’ words prune us? They cut away a lot of our futile thinking. When we listen to Jesus we do away with all of our self-sufficiency (which is one of the reasons why people are so reluctant to believe). We repent of our sins, turning from our ways to God’s ways. So Jesus is actually saying the the disciples are ready to bear fruit. And when we turn to Jesus we become ready to bear fruit, for the dross has been cut away from our lives.
15:4
So they were ready to bear fruit, but they must not get above themselves. They must remain “in Jesus”. One of the dangers Christians face when we are set free from something by Jesus is to then imagine we can go back to living under our own steam. This is not true. We need to remain in Him, and He in us. We come into a partnership with the Lord, though a partnership of utter dependency.
Without Jesus we cannot bear fruit. There is no debate about this, no question about it. If we are to bear fruit we must remain in Christ.
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