World English Bible · Under Rome
John 15
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"I am , and is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it in , so neither can you, unless you in me. I am . You are the . He who in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn't in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the , and they are burned. If you in me, and my words in you, you will ask whatever you , and it will be done for you. "In this is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my . Even as has loved me, I also have loved you. in my love. If you keep my , you will in my love, even as I have kept and in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may in you, and that your joy may be made full. "This is my , that you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from , I have to you. You didn't choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should ; that whatever you will ask of in my name, he may give it to you. "I command these things to you, that you may love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his .' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But they will do all these things to you for my name's sake, because they don't know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had ; but now they have no excuse for their . He who hates me, hates also. If I hadn't done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn't have had . But now they have seen and also hated both me and . But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.' "When the has come, whom I will send to you from , of truth, who proceeds from , he will testify about me. You will also testify, because you have been with me .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.