Day 32: Set Apart to Bear Fruit (John 15:16–17)
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.”
John 15:16 (NASB)
Verse 16 clarifies who chose whom: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.’ The word ‘chosen’ is eklegomai (ἐξελεξάμην), — the same root used in 1 Timothy 1:12 of Paul being ‘put into service.’ This choosing is not merely election to salvation but appointment to vocation: to go, to bear fruit that remains. The fruit belongs to Jesus; we are the vessels. The choosing is the basis of the confidence to ask: ‘Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.’
Praying ‘in Jesus’s name’ is not a formula. It means praying in a way that represents all that His name stands for — praying for the Father’s glory, for what aligns with Jesus’s mission, for fruit that remains. Three tests of whether one is truly praying in His name: the Father is glorified (14:13), it is asked according to His will (1 John 5:14–15), and it bears the fruit for which He has set us apart. Prayer in Jesus’s name is not leveraging His credentials; it is participating in His ongoing mission.
The section closes with verse 17, which returns to the command of 13:34: ‘These things I command you, so that you will love one another.’ The entire chiastic structure of chapter 15 — love, friendship, fruit, choosing, prayer — comes back to this. The horizontal love of believers for one another is the evidence and expression of their vertical life in the vine. John uses this command as a hinge throughout the Gospel. Love one another is not a nice aspiration — it is the defining mark of those who abide.
For Reflection
- You were chosen and appointed — not just to be saved, but to bear fruit. What does your particular appointment — your specific vocation and gifts — look like in practice?
- Praying in Jesus’s name means praying for what His name stands for, not using His name as a password. How does this reframe your prayer life?
- Love one another — it is the repeating command. What would it look like this week to obey it more intentionally?
