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JOHN 15:7 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 15:6John 15:8
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you — the condition for prayer is established: abiding in Jesus and his words abiding in the disciples create an alignment of desire such that what they ask for is what Jesus would ask. Prayer becomes not petition from distance but the voice of one who has internalized Jesus' values and seeks what serves the kingdom. Such prayer is answered because it flows from the vine and thus participates in the vine's vitality.

Church Fathers on John 15:7

Having said that they were clean through the word which He had spoken to them, He now taught them that they must do their part.

Chrysostom · 4th century

not they in Him, as He in them; for both are for the profit not of Him, but them. The branches do not confer any advantage upon the vine, but receive their support from it: the vine supplies nourishment to the branches, takes none from them: so that the abiding in Christ, and the having Christ abiding in them, are both for the profit of the disciples, not of Christ; according to what follows, As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can…

Augustine · 4th century · Abide in Me, and I in you

All the fruit of good works proceeds from this root. He who has delivered us by His grace, also carries us onward by his help, so that we bring forth more fruit. Wherefore He repeats, and explains what He has said: I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in Me, by believing, obeying, persevering, and I in Him, by enlightening, assisting, giving perseverance, the same, and none other, brings forth much fruit.

Alcuin · 8th century
Read all 9 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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