Clean Branches (John 15:1–3)

In John 15, Jesus spoke to his disciples using the metaphor of the vine and branches: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” (v. 1) He described the Father’s work as the vinedresser: He removes unfruitful branches, and prunes fruitful branches (v. 2). Jesus’ next saying has puzzled many people: “Already you are clean.” (v. 3) What did he mean?

Notably, there is a play on words that is found in the original Greek text of John 15:1–3:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ₂ Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away [airō], and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes [kathairō], that it may bear more fruit. ₃ Already you are clean [katharos] because of the word that I have spoken to you.

The Greek words for “takes away” and “prunes” here are the verbs airō and kathairō respectively. Kathairō is made up of airō and the kata- prefix. Kathairō means “to cleanse; to make clean”. Yet, when used with plants, it means “to prune”, in the sense of, “to remove superfluous growth from a plant” (BDAG).

Every branch in the vine will undergo a removal. The difference is that the unfruitful branch is completely removed, airō, in order to be thrown into a fire and burnt (v. 6), whereas the fruitful branch has parts of itself removed, kathairō, with the intended result that it may bear more fruit (v. 2). Immediately after this, Jesus told his disciples, “Already you are clean.” (v. 3) The Greek word for “clean” here is katharos, which is related to kathairō.

Earlier on in the Upper Room discourse, while Judas was still present, Jesus had said something quite similar: “And you are clean [katharos], but not every one of you”—Judas was that exception (John 13:10). Now that Judas had departed, Jesus wanted to assure his disciples that they were not unfruitful branches which will be cut off. Rather, they had already been cleansed and pruned through Jesus’ word.