No 8

(The vine and the Branches – John 15)

The metaphor of the vine was used by God in the Old Testament of Israel “Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” (Jer 2:21); however as the text indicates, Israel was not faithful. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman” (v1). So Jesus also used the vine as a teaching instrument to show believers that “without Me, ye can do nothing” (v5) stressing the need to abide in Him. The true Christian will bear fruit whereas the pseudo-Christian will not bear fruit and will cast into the fire and burned just as in the parabol of the tares and the wheat in Matthew 13. Notice that there are three categories of Christians in John 15: a) Fruit-bearing (v2) b) More fruit-bearing (v2) c) Much fruit-bearing (v5). These appear to correspond to the three types of wheat-bearing Christians in Matthew 13:8, 23 in the parable of the Sower. The purging or pruning obviously refers to the trials that the Lord brings to bear on the true Christian who will glorify God through the trial and thus bear much fruit. The verb abide is used quite frequently in this chapter and Jesus also used it in John 8:31 when He said: “those who abide in Me are My disciples indeed.” Thus, abiding in Christ is not some mystical concept but simply adhering to the Words of Christ; another way of putting it is OBEDIENCE. The true Christian obeys Christ’s Word come what may. Christ only wants what is good for His Children and in this teaching, His desire is “that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11)