John 15:3 - the pruning sword?

John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (NASB)

In verse 2 the Father prunes or literally, “cleanses” branches that bear fruit. The Greek term there is kathairō. Here in verse 3 Jesus is saying that the disciples are already clean by the Word, the Greek term being katharos. Incidentally, this term katharos is the basis for our English word catharsis, which means “an emotional release and purification, the release of tension and anxiety.”

Jesus had already used the term katharos earlier that evening when He was responding to Peter’s protestation of His washing Peter’s feet: “Jesus answered, ‘A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you’.” (13:10)

Jesus stated to them that they were clean, beyond the mere fact of having clean feet. The obvious exception that He singled out was Judas, who was consciously and deliberately planning to betray Him, even as Jesus was washing his feet. Here in verse 3, His “you are already clean” does not need an exception as Judas had already gone out from their company (13:30).

The Greek term logos is employed here for “word,” signifying the complete body of Jesus’ teachings – the sum total of His individual words. The disciples were already clean (though not perfect, as they so clearly evidenced) through the continual process of being trimmed by His instructions, all the time He had been with them. Yet more than just His individual words are in focus here.

How can Jesus say in verse 2 that the pruning or cleansing work is being done by the Father, yet now in verse 3 He says that it’s through His words that they have been cleansed? How do we resolve this seeming contradiction?

Who was Jesus? Was He not, after all, logos incarnate? “In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1,14 ESV)

As the Son of God and the very logos of God, the sum of all His words, who He was and what He did was being directed by the Father, the vinedresser, who was and is and always will be in supreme control of all things. Even though He was the logos of God, Jesus claimed no ownership of what He taught: “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16). Once again we see the perfect and incomprehensible union between God the Father and God the Son, which we’ll address further as we look into the meaning of “abide” in the next verse.

In this short verse that can be so easily overlooked, Jesus reinforces a truth that we cannot ignore – the power and efficacy of God’s Word. By His spoken Word God brought into existence the universe and all life as we know it (Gen 1). By His spoken Word He rebuked the forces of the natural and the supernatural (Luke 8:22-25, 28-31). Now we see the pruning work had already begun in the lives of His disciples as Jesus taught them the Word of the Father.

Through the teaching of His Father’s Word, He had purged from the disciples’ minds the ingrained teachings of the Pharisees and their culture; He had opened their eyes and minds to the truths long hidden in the Scriptures. He removed their erroneous notions of the Messiah, cut back their selfish ambitions and desires so they could attain far loftier goals, retrained their eyes to see beyond themselves to the far broader fields of harvest – extending even to the Gentiles, and the list goes on.

Perhaps the most significant evidence of their pruning was the confession of Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16). Jesus attributed this confession as the work of “My Father who is in heaven” taking root in Peter (v. 17). Peter’s confession is one that every true disciple of Jesus must embrace, and only one who has the Spirit of God can make such a confession: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2 NASB). Only the faithful pruning of the Father in the lives of these disciples and in the lives of true disciples today can produce the fruit of such a confession.

As an aside, this verse has been a key reference for nonsacramentalists, who point to this verse “as indicating that the Christian is cleansed not by church institutions or sacramental means,” contrary to the dogma of the Catholic and other Orthodox churches.

Have you ever considered the Word of God to be a pruning knife? Through the truths contained in His Word, the sword that is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12), we are trimmed clean of the heavy overgrowth that entangles and enslaves us: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32 NASB).

The Word of God “is useful for teaching, for showing people what is wrong in their lives, for correcting faults, and for teaching how to live right.” (2 Tim 3:16 NCV)

The Word of God sanctifies us: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17 NKJV); “so that He might sanctify her [the Church], having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” (Eph 5:26 NASB)

Look at the amazing consistency throughout the Scriptures. In the Old Testament we see how the Word of God cleanses and purifies us: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word.” (Psa 119:9 NIV)

Then in the New Testament, Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt 5:8) The Greek word here that’s been rendered pure is none other than katharos. So in other words, God, through His Word, makes us katharos, and the katharos in heart are blessed and shall see God. God indeed is “the Alpha and the Omega” – the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8), the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2).

From the beginning of His earthly ministry, starting with the Sermon on the Mount, to the words spoken at the Passover dinner, His words of instruction had tried, cleansed and pruned (an ongoing work) them of their selfishness, ignorance and weaknesses. His words were revealing to them His true nature and readying them for the imminent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who would continue to teach them and remind them of the words spoken to them by Jesus (John 14:26). While His words provided the initial purging both of them and of the dead wood from their midst, His words would continue pruning and molding them as they remained in Him, and His words remained in them:

“Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” (Psa 119:11 NASB)

“It is not our judgment of the situation which can show us what is wise, but only the truth of the Word of God…It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer