Words of encouragement
JOHN 15:2–3 One of the most difficult tasks in translating the New Testament is rendering into English a play on words in the Greek text. When that play on words branches (pun intended) into metaphors and into the relationship between our salvation and a life of holiness, it moves from “difficult” to “almost impossible.” Then add in John’s use of double meanings and nuances, and many translators go screaming into the night. I was once asked about the relationship between “prunes” and “clean” in John 15:2–3: “Every branch [κλῆμα] of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away [αἴρει], and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes [καθαίρει], that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean [καθαροί] because of the word that I have spoken to you.” Several things are going on here. First, κλῆμα is not the normal word for “branch,” which is κλάδος. Κλῆμα is more appropriate for the tendrils, the suckers that will never produce fruit and yet absorb life-giving nourishment. So the im