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Bible / John

John 15

Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation

1 I am the true vine: and my Father is the husbandman. CCC

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit. CCC

3 Now you are clean, by reason of the word which I have spoken to you. CCC

4 Abide in me: and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. CCC

5 I am the vine: you the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. CCC

6 If any one abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch and shall wither: and they shall gather him up and cast him into the fire: and he burneth.

7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will: and it shall be done unto you. CCC

8 In this is my Father glorified: that you bring forth very much fruit and become my disciples. CCC

9 As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. CCC · Fathers

10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love: as I also have kept my Father’s commandments and do abide in his love. CCC

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled.

12 This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. CCC

13 Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. CCC

14 You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. CCC

15 I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things, whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you. CCC · Fathers

16 You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. CCC · Fathers

17 These things I command you, that you love one another. CCC

18 If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you.

19 If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. CCC

20 Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my word, they will keep yours also. CCC

21 But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake: because they know not him that sent me.

22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin: but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.

25 But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law: they hated me without cause.

26 But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me. CCC

27 And you shall give testimony, because you are with me from the beginning.

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Verse 1CCC 755 CCC 1108
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 755 “The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were…”
    • CCC 1108 “In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form…”
  2. Verse 2CCC 755
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 755 “The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were…”
  3. Verse 3CCC 517 CCC 755
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 517 “Christ's whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above all through the blood of his cross, but this…”
    • CCC 755 “The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were…”
  4. Verse 4CCC 755 CCC 787
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 755 “The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  5. Verse 5CCC 308 CCC 755 CCC 787 CCC 859 CCC 864 CCC 1694 CCC 2074 CCC 2732
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 308 “The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator.…”
    • CCC 755 “The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
    • CCC 859 “Jesus unites them to the mission he received from the Father. As "the Son can do nothing of his own accord," but…”
    • CCC 864 “Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole apostolate"; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as…”
    • CCC 1694 “Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" and so participate in the…”
  6. Verse 7CCC 2615
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2615 “Even more, what the Father gives us when our prayer is united with that of Jesus is "another Counselor, to be with…”
  7. Verse 8CCC 737
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 737 “The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and…”
  8. Verse 9CCC 1823 CCC 1824
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 1823 “Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own "to the end," he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives.…”
    • CCC 1824 “Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: "Abide in my love.…”

    • “For he who holds, without pride and boasting, the true glory (opinion) regarding created things and the Creator, who is the Almighty God of all, and who has granted existence to all; [such an one,] continuing in His love”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  9. Verse 10CCC 1824
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1824 “Fruit of the Spirit and fullness of the Law, charity keeps the commandments of God and his Christ: "Abide in my love.…”
  10. Verse 12CCC 459 CCC 1823 CCC 1970 CCC 2074
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 459 “The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the…”
    • CCC 1823 “Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own "to the end," he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives.…”
    • CCC 1970 “The Law of the Gospel requires us to make the decisive choice between "the two ways" and to put into practice the…”
    • CCC 2074 “Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is…”
  11. Verse 13CCC 363 CCC 609 CCC 614
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 363 “In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person. But "soul" also refers to the…”
    • CCC 609 “By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus "loved them to the end", for "greater love has no…”
    • CCC 614 “This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father…”
  12. Verse 14CCC 142
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 142 “By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in…”
  13. Verse 15CCC 1972 CCC 142
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 1972 “The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy…”
    • CCC 142 “By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in…”

    • “… Him, as He does Himself declare to His disciples: "I will not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard from My Father I have made known.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  14. Verse 16CCC 434 CCC 737 CCC 2615 CCC 2745 CCC 2815
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 434 “Jesus' Resurrection glorifies the name of the Saviour God, for from that time on it is the name of Jesus that fully…”
    • CCC 737 “The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and…”
    • CCC 2615 “Even more, what the Father gives us when our prayer is united with that of Jesus is "another Counselor, to be with…”
    • CCC 2745 “Prayer and Christian life are inseparable, for they concern the same love and the same renunciation, proceeding from love; the same filial…”
    • CCC 2815 “This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it is fulfilled by the prayer of Christ. Prayer to…”

    • “Wherefore also did the Lord say to His disciples, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  15. Verse 17CCC 2745
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2745 “Prayer and Christian life are inseparable, for they concern the same love and the same renunciation, proceeding from love; the same filial…”
  16. Verse 19CCC 675
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 675 “Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution…”
  17. Verse 20CCC 530 CCC 675 CCC 765
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 530 “The flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents 217 make manifest the opposition of darkness to the light: "He came…”
    • CCC 675 “Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution…”
    • CCC 765 “The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there…”
  18. Verse 26CCC 244 CCC 248 CCC 692 CCC 719 CCC 729 CCC 1433 CCC 2671
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 244 “The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his mission in time. the Spirit is sent to the apostles and…”
    • CCC 248 “At the outset the Eastern tradition expresses the Father's character as first origin of the Spirit. By confessing the Spirit as he…”
    • CCC 692 “When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the "Paraclete," literally, "he who is called to…”
    • CCC 719 “John the Baptist is "more than a prophet." In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the…”
    • CCC 729 “Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification does Jesus promise the coming of the Holy Spirit, since his Death and…”
    • CCC 1433 “Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved "the world wrong about sin," i.e., proved that the world has not believed in him…”
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A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.