John 15:2

Plain English Version

And people are like the branches of that grape vine. There are some people that don’t live God’s way. They are like branches on the vine that don’t grow any fruit. They are no good, so the gardener cuts them off. But some people do live God’s way. They are like branches on the vine that do grow fruit. My father keeps on working on those people, to get them to live God’s way even better. He is like the gardener that cleans up the good branches and trims them back a little bit, so that they will grow more fruit.

Cross References

Matthew 3:10

So you look out. God is going to punish you. He is like a man lifting up an axe to cut the roots of a tree. You are like trees that haven’t got good fruit, so men chop them down and throw them into a fire. God will punish you like that. He will throw you into a fire.”

Matthew 3:12

You know the way a farmer gets all the seeds from the plants he grows. He hits the seed heads with a stick and throws them in the air, so that the seeds fall off the plants. Then he gathers all the seeds and puts them in his shed. But he burns all the rest. It is rubbish, and he burns it in a fire. Well, God is like that farmer. He’s got that stick in his hand right now. If you turn around and live God’s way, he will look after you. But if you don’t, he will throw you in the fire that never goes out.”

Matthew 7:19

If a farmer has a tree that only makes rubbish fruit, he will cut down that tree and burn it in a fire.

Mark 4:20

In my story, the seeds that fell on the good ground grew properly, and after those plants grew up big, they made lots of new seeds. That is a picture of people that are ready to listen to God’s word, and do what he says. When they believe God’s word, they grow stronger and stronger for God, and they live God’s way.”

John 15:1

Jesus told his followers a picture story about a plant that grapes grow on. It is called a grape vine. Jesus said, “I am like a good grape vine, growing in a garden. And God, my father, is like the gardener.

John 15:16

You didn’t pick me, but I picked you. And I am sending you out to do my work. I want you to be like branches that grow the sort of fruit that stays good for ever. Then you can ask God for anything that I say is good, and he will give it to you.

John 15:3

You are like those good branches. You believed my words, so you are already clean.

John 15:6

Some people might not stay joined to me. They will be like branches that the gardener cuts off and throws away. They lie on the ground and dry up, and later on, he will pick them up and throw them into a fire, and it will burn them up.

John 15:8

And when you live God’s way, other people will see the good things that you do, and they will know that you are my followers, so they will respect my father. You will be like a branch that grows a lot of fruit.

John 17:12

While I was here on earth, I took care of them. I used the power you gave me to look after them, and I didn’t lose any of them. The only one I lost was the one that has to die, just like your man wrote in your book, a long time ago.

Romans 8:28

And we know too that God picked us out to be his people, to love him and to do whatever he wants, so he makes everything work out good for us.

1 Corinthians 13:1

You see, we can have power from God, but if we don’t love people, we are nothing. Suppose we talk in the languages of other people and even talk in the languages of angels, but if we don’t love people, all of that is useless. We will only be making a noise, like somebody banging a drum or hitting a bell.

Titus 2:14

Jesus died to save us from all the bad things of this world. He did that to change us into his own special people, like he properly cleaned us inside, and now we don’t want to do anything bad, but we only want to do good things.