The Introduction.
THE great end of the discourse in chapter 13 is to set believers in right relations with Christ and with one another, in order that they may enjoy communion with, or “part with,” Christ, in the new place He has taken, as Man, in the Father’s house. In the discourse that follows, (chapter 16), we are permitted to contemplate believers in the enjoyment of this communion with Divine Persons—with Christ in the Father’s house; with the Father revealed in the Son; and with the Holy Spirit sent from the Father.
These two discourses are divided from those that follow by the words of the Lord, “Arise let us go hence” (14:31). With these words the Lord passes, with His disciples, from the upper room into the outer world. The discourses which follow wears a character in keeping with the place of their utterance; for now the disciples are viewed as in the world from which Christ has been rejected, bearing fruit to the Father and bearing witness to Christ. It has been truly said, “In the former, the keynote is consolation in view of departure; in the latter, it is instruction for the state which will ensue. There, as well as here, the Speaker instructs; here, as well as there, He consoles.”
The divisions of this fresh discourse are plain:
First, in verses 1 to 8, the theme is fruit-bearing for the Father.
Second, in verses 9 to 17, we have a presentation of the Christian company—the circle of love—wherein alone fruit can be found for the Father.
Third, in verses 18 to 25, there passes before us the Christless world—the circle of hate—by which the Christian company is surrounded.
Fourth, in verses 26, 27, the Comforter—the Holy Spirit—is brought before us, testifying to the Lord in glory and enabling the disciples to bear witness to Christ on earth.