Mutual Indwelling

At the end of Chapter 14 of the Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples: ‘Come now; let us leave’ (14:31b). However, the disciples do not move until 18:1 when they ‘crossed the Kidron Valley’. It is not certain whether the discourse of Jesus (chs. 15-16) happens before they depart (14:31) or on the way, after departing the place but before crossing the valley. However, it is clear that the Evangelist treats the discourse as an independent unit even though the content is related to the previous and the following narratives. In the previous narrative (chs. 13-14), Jesus washes his disciples’ feet and converses with his disciples, answering their questions. In contrast, Jesus speaks to the disciples on several themes in the present discourse. I will discuss the themes to understand what Jesus delivers to his disciples through the last discourse.

The first theme found in the discourse is mutual indwelling. Mutual indwelling is a repeated theme in the Gospel. The theme is expressed by the use of the verb μένω in the discourse. In the previous chapter (see 3.3.3), I pointed out that the Fourth Gospel could be described ‘as an exposition of what it will mean to μένω with Jesus’. Newman and Nida (1980, 209) point out that ‘[t]he verb “to remain” [μένω] is one of John’s most

important terms, and he uses it of the relationship between the Father and the Son (14:10), as well as of the believer’s relationship with the Son (6:56; 15:4)’. The use of the verb μένω is concentrated in Chapter 15 of the Gospel, appearing 11 times15 _{in that}

chapter alone out of 40 times in the entire Gospel. The usages are as follows (my emphasis underlined and in bold):

15:4 Remain in me, as I also remain (verb ellipsis) in you (μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν). No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you [one] remain in me and I [remain] (verb ellipsis) in you [him] (ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ), you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

15:6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers.

15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you (μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ), ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my

love (μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ).

15:10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

There are a few points to be observed. First, the verb μένω emphasizes the intimacy of the relationship. Out of 11 usages of the verb in the chapter (13 times including the ellipsis cases in 15:4 and 5), nine of them (11 times including the ellipsis) are followed by a spatial preposition ἐν plus personal pronouns showing that the verb means uniting with someone or something of a person (15:9, 10). The literal spatial meaning that someone remains in another person can be better expressed as someone uniting with another person. The relationship expressed in the discourse is a mutual relationship according to the Evangelist, introduced throughout the Gospel (1:1; 6:56;

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10:38; 14:10; 14:20; 17:21). The mutual indwelling relationship appears through the pair of clauses in 15:4, 5 and also in 7 in some sense: ‘Remain in me, as I also remain in you’ (15:4), ‘If you [one] remain in me and I in you [him]’ (15:5) and ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you’ (15:7).

Secondly, the relationship between Jesus and the disciples always follows and reflects the relationship between Jesus and the Father. At the beginning of the discourse, Jesus introduces himself as an interconnector of the relationship, saying, ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener... I am the vine; you are the branches’ (15:1, 5a). The relationship between the Father and the Son before the world was created has been described at the beginning of the Gospel (1:1), and has been revealed by Jesus on many different occasions, making himself equal to the Father (cf 5:18). Jesus proclaims that he and the Father are one (10:30). Now, the relationship in the divine community is expanding its scope to include the discipleship community through Jesus. In the Fourth Gospel, the expansion of the relationship is described as an essential purpose of Jesus, that is to say, the purpose of God through Jesus.

Thirdly, the relationship is sustained by love. The intimate relationship is a loving relationship. In the divine community, Jesus keeps the Father’s commands and abides in the Father’s love. Likewise, the discipleship community is required to keep Jesus’ commands and abide in his love. Interestingly, the command of Jesus itself is to love each other (15:17). The discipleship community keeps the command of Jesus by loving each other, and by keeping the command, they remain in Jesus’ love.

Fourthly, the loving relationship includes the ministry of the community. The ministry of the community is expressed in the discourse as ‘going and bearing fruit’. Through the loving relationship, the discipleship community can bear fruit. Jesus implies that the discipleship community will be sent into the world to bear fruit. Carson (1991, 523) points out that ‘the fruit primarily in view in this verse [15:16] is the fruit that emerges from mission, from specific ministry to which the disciples have been sent. The fruit, in short, is new converts’. I agree with Carson and other commentators who point out the missional implication of ‘going and bearing fruit’ in the discourse because the loving relationship includes the ministry of ‘going and bearing fruit’.

At the same time, I argue that two things need to be considered to correctly understand the fruit-bearing that Jesus is talking about here. The two things are related to two verbs in the verse (15:16). The first verb is ὑπάγω (to depart). The verb ὑπάγω does not mean that the disciples depart from Jesus and do their ministry. The verb does

not emphasize the departing aspect; instead it strengthens the bearing aspect. The verb is not equivalent to the verb πορεύομαι in Matt 28:19 where the participle form of the verb has its meaning of ‘going’. Rather than using the direct verb ‘to go’, the Fourth Gospel uses the verb ‘to send’ with either ἀποστέλλω or πέμπω to express the mission of the discipleship community. Torrey (1936, 40) proposes that the translation should be ‘to bear more and more fruit’ rather than ‘to go and bear fruit’.16 _{Michaels (2010, 815-}

16) also points out that ‘[t]he accent is not on “going away” as Jesus will “go away” (13:33; 14:28), but on “bearing fruit” in the sense of making disciples or winning new converts’. Therefore, the sentence explains the foundation of the fruit-bearing of the disciples rather than expresses Jesus’ command for the disciples to go and bear fruit.

The other verb is μένω (to remain). This verb has been used in the discourse for expressing the relationship either between the Father and Jesus or between Jesus and the disciples. This is the only instance (15:16) that the verb is used for the fruit. By adding the verb to the fruit (ὁ καρπὸς ὑμῶν μένῃ), Jesus emphasizes neither the bearing of fruit itself nor the sustainability of the fruit itself, but the same indwelling and uniting of the fruit to the vine. (See 17:21-22, ‘I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one’.) The emphasis of ‘going and bearing fruit’ in mission without noticing Jesus’ emphasis on the indwelling aspect may distort what the Fourth Gospel intends regarding mission. The emphasis of Jesus is not only on ‘bearing fruit’ but also on unity – the unity of both the disciples and the ‘fruit’ with him, and the unity of all of them in the divine community through him.