I have heard it preached that the fruit of John 15 refers to making disciples and the fruits of the Spirit. In my opinion, the fruit of John 15 is referring to loving each other (meaning disciples). Loving each other is John's theme throughout his gospel and the other letters he wrote (John 13:35-35; John 15:9-12, 17; 1 John). The context of making disciples for bearing fruit might be from Genesis 1:28 and Colossians 1:6, but that does not seem consistent to me with what John was saying. What do you think?'

What do I think? I agree with you. John 15 is broader than winning others to Christ, as essential as that is. There are at least 5 types of fruit in the N.T.: literal fruit, fruit of the Spirit, church growth, relief contribution (Romans 15:28), and praise to God (Hebrews 13:5). Maybe I have even missed a category! In brief, fruit means productivity, leading productive lives, and the specific meaning of fruit must be determined through a careful study of the context of the passage. I appreciate your effort to interpret Jesus' words in John 15 in light of the overall emphasis and theology of the gospel of John.

Once again -- I do not want to be misunderstood or misquoted here -- this is not to say that evangelism is somehow optional. As individuals and as the church we have been given the commission to lead others to Christ. To reach that goal, we will need to be "bearing fruit" in every area specified in the Word of God.

For more, please see See Tom Jones' excellent article on Biblical Fruit at this website.

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