John 15:3

Jesus assured His disciples that they were indeed already clean. The Father’s treatment of them was not to make them clean. Jesus again used the figure for possessing eternal life that He had used earlier when He had washed these disciples’ feet (John 13:10). Divine care and discipline follow the granting of eternal life. Jesus did not want the Eleven to conclude, as many people do, that the absence of fruit or the presence of difficulties indicates the absence of salvation.

"The ancients spoke of pruning as a ’cleansing’ of the branches, just as we speak of ’cleansing’ the land." [Note: Tasker, p. 175.]