3. *Now* (already) *you are clean*. The meaning is that the Apostles were already pruned, that the obstacles to their spiritual growth had been taken away by His words addressed to them that night. It is possible that, as some think, there is reference to all Christ’s teaching; but we believe there is at least _special_ reference to the discourse of that last night. For He had that night perfected their knowledge (xiv. 6‐11); guarded them against an unavailing sorrow (xiv. 1‐2, &c.); checked the presumption of some (xiii. 38), and supplied motives to confirm the faith of all (xiv. 29). 4. Manete in me: et ego in 4. Abide in me: and I in you. vobis. Sicut palmes non potest As the branch cannot bear ferre fructum a semetipso, fruit of itself, unless it nisi manserit in vite: sic nec abide in the vine, so neither vos, nisi in me manseritis. can you, unless you abide in me. 4. *Abide in me, and I in you.* The meaning is: take care that ye abide in Me by faith and love, and I will abide in you by love and grace.(100) Or it may be that the last clause too is imperative in conception: permit me to abide in you. Since they are exhorted to abide, it follows that they were free not to abide; and hence it is possible, as the Council of Trent defined (Sess. vi., Can. 23) to fall away from faith and grace. *Of itself*—that is, as the source of its vital energy. 5. Ego sum vitis, vos 5. I am the vine; you the palmites: qui manet in me et branches: he that abideth in ego in eo, hic fert fructum me, and I in him, the same multum: quia sine me nihil beareth much fruit: for potestis facere. without me you can do nothing. 5. The theme (verse 1) is again repeated, and now there is added the clause: *Ye are the branches*, which definitely sums up what was already implied in the preceding verses. *For without me you can do nothing.* These words show that, though as we have seen in the preceding verse the Apostles were free not to abide in Him, they were not able of themselves to abide in Him or to bear any supernatural fruit except through His grace. The words refute the Pelagian and Semipelagian heresies, for they show that without the aid of Christ’s grace we are capable of no supernatural good work. “Sive ergo parum, sive multum, sine illo fieri non potest, sine quo nihil fieri potest” (St. Aug. _in loc._). It would be difficult, we think, to prove from this text by itself that even where _habitual_ grace is present, _actual_ grace is also necessary in order to a salutary work; but the traditional interpretation given to this text by the fathers forbids us to doubt that the necessity of actual grace also is here revealed. There is no question in this text of the necessity of God’s concurrence in our _natural_ acts; the question is of Christ’s influx as mystic vine upon the faithful who remain united to Him as branches.