Vine is often used to represent Israel in the Old Testament (e.g. Isa. 5:1; 27:2; Jer. 2:21; 6:9 and Hos. 10:1)
(1) In saying that He is the true vine, in what sense is He the true vine? Who might be the vines that are not true?
(2) How does the “gardener” tend the branches?
(3) In using “fruit” to determine whether there is life in the branch, what is the most basic fruit that one needs to bear in order to have life in God? (Lk. 3:8)
(4) What is one of the ways that the Father prunes the fruitful branches and why? (15:2)
(5) In what other ways might God use to prune believers? (Heb. 12:10-11)
(6) What other fruit(s) should believers bear?(Gal. 5:22-24)
(7) The key to continual fruit bearing is to “remain in Christ”. What does it mean and how?
(8) What does “if a man remains in me, I in him” mean?
(9) What is the relationship between “Remaining in Him” and “His words remain in you”?
(10) Why is the promise to answer our prayer tied to His words remaining in us?
(11) What are the consequences of remaining and not remaining in Christ? (15:6, 8)
(12) Examine yourself to see what might prevent you from remaining in Christ.
Since Christ mentions remaining in His love particularly, how can we remain in His love? (15:10).
(1) What might be the difference between remaining in Him, and remaining in His love?
(2) Do you think that if we keep disobeying His command, we can truly remain in Him? Why or why not?
(3) What specific command does He mention here and why?
(4) How does keeping His command make our joy complete?
(5) What example has Christ set for us in this respect and how might we emulate Him since very few of us will actually have the chance to lay down our lives for others?
(6) What is the promise given to us if we do what Jesus commands (especially in loving one another)?
(7) How special is this promise? (15:15; also see Ps. 25:14)
(8) Most Christians primarily think of their belief in Christ in terms of our salvation: What does Christ say about the purpose of belonging to Him, the true vine? (15:16)
(9) Why does He say that it is not we who chose Him, but the other way around?
(10) In rounding up this message of the vine and the branches, what are the two things that He highlights again in vv. 16 and 17? Why?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Do you think this is a world of hatred or harmony? Why?
(2) Why does the world seem to hate us who belong to Christ in particular?
(3) Look up 2 Timothy 3:12 and examine your relationship with “the world”.
(4) Have you ever experienced being hated by the world because “you do not belong to the world”? If so, what can you recall about the incident?
(5) What is the purpose of God choosing us? (15:16)
(6) How did the world persecute our Lord?
(7) Should we seek to gain favour from the world? Why or why not?
(8) Why did Jesus say, “They hated me without reason”? (Ps. 35:19; 69:4)
(9) Jesus said in v. 22 that “they have no excuse for their sin.” Does it apply to all those who do not believe in Jesus today? Why or why not?
(10) The Counselor (i.e. the Holy Spirit) has come. How does He testify about Jesus, and how can we work with Him in continuing this testimony today?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Why would the Jews put the disciples of Jesus (who were Jewish) out of the synagogue?
(2) Why did the Jews think that, by so doing, they were offering service to God?
(3) According to the books of the New Testament and the history of the first few centuries, how severe were the persecution of Christians? Can you suggest three major factors that can or have helped Christians withstand persecution without “going astray” (v. 1)?
(4) How different were those persecutions from those suffered in the hands of extreme Muslims today? Should we deal with present-day persecution in the hands of extreme Muslims any differently?
(5) While the Jews drove the disciples out of their synagogues, where do people of the world seek to drive Christians out of today? (16:2)
(6) Why do they believe, by so doing, they are doing service to the society?
(7) What is the real reason for their action, according to v. 3?
(8) The work of the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus, includes convicting the world of:
a. Sin—What sin is being highlighted? How does He do it?
b. Righteousness—What does Jesus’ return to the Father (i.e. His resurrection) have to do with righteousness?
c. Judgment—Satan and his followers will be judged. Do people of the world think that they are followers of Satan? Why not?
How has the Holy Spirit brought about such conviction in your heart?
What part have you played in such a conviction?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) What does the work of the Holy Spirit to the believers include? (Try to answer by personalizing the passage by substituting the word “you” with “me”.)
(2) What can you learn about the function of the three persons of the Holy Trinity in this context?
(3) Jesus was making it very clear that “in a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” This forewarning did not seem to have any impact on the disciples when He was crucified. Why?
(4) What did He liken their grieving to? How much did their failure to understand or remember this forewarning have to do with the depth of their grieving?
(5) Jesus promised them that “your grief will turn to joy”. How was this promise realized? (See Jn. 20:20)
(6) Why did Jesus say that “no one will take away your joy”? What kind of joy is this?
(7) Have you experienced such joy? Why or why not?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Jesus repeated here an invitation to us to ask the Father ourselves. How special is this new asking and why?
(2) Have you found this promise to be true? Why or why not?
(3) What is the significance of this statement that “I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf”?
(4) What reason did Jesus give for our “direct access” to the Father which was absolutely incredible to the Jews? (v. 27)
(5) In response to these words of Jesus, the eleven disciples expressed to Him the following.
a. Now Jesus was not speaking in parable-like language but in direct speech. Do you think that the actual change was in Jesus’ speech or in their inner faith?
b. Now they could see that He knew all things. Does it mean that they now understood all the things that Jesus had spoken?
c. Now they believed that He came from God. What caused such an affirmation of faith?
I might say that at that very moment, they had a foretaste of the work of the Holy Spirit as described by Jesus in 16:12-16. What do you think?
(6) Was Jesus’ response to their affirmation of faith a positive or a negative one? Why?
(7) How important was His promise of “peace” to the disciples?
(8) On what basis did Jesus give them such peace?
(9) In this world of trouble, how can we have peace in Him?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Vv. 1-5—Time of Mutual Glorification
(1) What was the glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world began?
(2) The hour obviously refers to His crucifixion:
a. How would the Father glorify the Son at His death?
b. How then would His death be a time of mutual glorification between the Father and Son?
(3) Did only His death bring glory to the Father?
(4) What is “eternal life”?
(5) Why did Jesus choose to bring out this truth in His prayer at this moment?
(6) What can we learn from Jesus as to how to glorify God?
Vv. 6-8—Who the Believers are
Before leaving the disciples, Jesus prayed for them specifically and pointed out why He would pray for them:
(7) Who were the disciples according to v.6?
(8) As weak and vulnerable as they were, how did Jesus describe their faith?
(9) Does it describe your faith?
Vv. 9-19—The High Priest’s Prayer
(10) Why did Jesus not pray for the world but only for these disciples? (vv. 9-10)
(11) He prayed specifically for their protection (vv. 11-12):
a. Why did He pray for their protection by the power of God’s name?
b. What is that name? Why is it so powerful?
c. What does such protection have to do with them being “one”?
d. Why did He pray for their oneness?
(12) Since the world hated them,
a. When He prayed for their protection, did He mean that it would take them out of the world?
b. Why not?
c. What did He pray for instead? (v. 17)
d. Why?
e. How will we be sanctified? What does it mean to be sanctified?
f. How did Jesus sanctify Himself?
g. What has His sanctification meant to us?
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?