@KingJ --- @Jonathan_Gale --- and ALL
Sorry for the delay in replying, yesterday was not a good day for me.
Back to the discussion.....
“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away” (John 15:2).
Christ was not here addressing a mixed audience, in which were true believers and those who were not.
Nor was He speaking to the twelve—Judas had already gone out!
Had Judas been present when Christ spoke these words there might be reason to suppose that He had him in mind. But what the Lord here said was addressed to the eleven, that is, to believers only!
This is the first key to its significance.
He is talking to genuine believers, instructing, admonishing and warning them.
Surely none will deny that they are
believers to whom He says “
Ye are the branches” (John 15:5).
observe that
Christ employs the same term in this needed word in John 15:2: “Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit.”
To make it doubly clear as to whom He was referring,
He added, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit.”
Now if there is one form of expression, which, by
invariable and unexceptional use, indicates a
believer more emphatically and explicitly than another, it is this:—
“in me,” “in him,” “in Christ.” Never are these expressions used loosely; never are they applied to any but the children of God: “If
any one be in Christ (he is) a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).
“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away.” If then, it is a real believer who is in view here, and if the “taketh away” does not refer to perishing, then what is the force and meaning of our Lord’s words?
First of all, notice the tense of the first verb:
“Every branch in me not bearing fruit he taketh away” is the literal translation.
It is not of a branch which
never bore fruit that the Lord is here speaking, but of one who is
no longer “bearing fruit.”
“He taketh away.” Who does?
The “husbandman,” the Father. This is conclusive proof that an unregenerate sinner is not in view.
It is worth including here,
“The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22). [Listen to Jesus, all authority has been given unto Him!)
It is Christ who will say, “Depart from me” (Matthew 25).
It is Christ who shall sit upon the Great White Throne to judge the wicked (Rev. 20). Therefore it cannot be a mere unbeliever who is here in view—taken away unto judgment.
The grafted in branch, the born again person, that is not bearing fruit, is the one Jesus is talking about.
Again a difficulty has been needlessly created here by the English rendering of the Greek verb. “Airo” is frequently translated in the A.V. “lifted up.”
For example: “And they lifted up their voices” (Luke 17:13, so also in Acts 4:24).
“And Jesus lifted up his eyes” (John 11:41).
“Lifted up his hand” (Rev. 10:5), etc.
In none of these places could the verb be rendered “taken away.” Therefore, we are satisfied that it would be more accurate and more in accord with “the analogy of faith” to translate, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he
lifteth up”—from trailing on the ground.
The care and method used by the Husbandman are told out in the words: “He purgeth it.”
He purgeth it to cleanse it, the branch is only 'cast out' when the Father can purgeth it no more.
The majority of people imagine that “purgeth” here is the equivalent of “pruning,” and understand the reference is to affliction, chastisement, and painful discipline. But the word “purgeth” here does not mean “pruning,” it would be better rendered, “cleanseth,” as it is in the very next verse. It may strike some of us as rather incongruous to speak of
cleansing a branch of a vine. It would not be so if we were familiar with the Palestinian vineyards. The reference is to the washing off of the deposits of insects, of moss, and other parasites which infest the plant.
Now the “water” which the Husbandman uses in cleansing the branches is
the Word, as John 15:3 tells us. The thought, then, is the removal by the Word of what would obstruct the flow of the life and fatness of the vine through the branches.
“Abide in me,” “To be” in Christ and “to abide” in Him are two different things which must not be confounded.
One must first be “in him” before he can “abide in him.”
The former respects a union effected by the creating-power of God, and which can neither be dissolved nor suspended. Believers are never exhorted to be “in Christ”—
they are in Him by new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Ephesians 2:10). But Christians are frequently exhorted to
abide in Christ, because this privilege and experience
may be interrupted. “To ‘abide,’ ‘continue,’ ‘dwell,’ ‘remain’ in Christ—by all these terms is this one word translated—has always reference to the 'maintenance of fellowship' with God in Christ. The word ‘abide’ calls us to vigilance, lest at any time the
experimental realization of our union with Christ should be interrupted
.
To abide in Him, then, is to have sustained conscious communion with Him” (Mr. Campbell). To abide in Christ signifies the constant occupation of the heart with Him—a daily active faith in Him which, so to speak, maintains the dependency of the branch upon the vine, and the circulation of life and fatness of the vine in the branch.
What we have here is parallel with that other figurative expression used by our Lord in John 6:56: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth (abideth) in me, and I in him.” This is but another way of insisting upon the continuous exercise of faith in a crucified and living Savior, deriving life and the sustenance of life from Him.
As the initial act of believing in Him is described as “coming” to Him, (“He that
cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst”: John 6:35), so the
continued activity of faith is described as “
abiding in him.”
“Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15:4).
The two things are quite distinct, though closely connected. Just as it is one thing to be “in Christ,” and another to “abide in him,” so there is a real difference between His being in us, and His abiding in us.
- The one is a matter of His grace;
- the other of our responsibility.
The one is perpetual, the other may be interrupted. By our
abiding in Him is meant the happy conscious fellowship of our union with Him, in the discernment of what He is for us; so by His abiding in us is meant the happy conscious recognition of His presence, the assurance of His goodness, grace and power—
Himself the recourse of our soul everything.
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me (John 15:4).“
Thus our Lord enforces the necessity of maintaining fellowship.
He is not only the source of all fruit, but He also puts forth His power while there is personal appropriation of what He is for us, and in us. And this, if we receive it, will lead us to a right judgment of ourselves and our service. In the eyes of our own brethren, and in our own esteem, we may maintain a goodly appearance as fruit bearing branches.
But whatever our own judgment or that of others, unless the apparent springs from ‘innermost fellowship and communion’ the true Vine will never own it as His fruit.
“Moreover, all this may, by His blessing, bring us to see
the cause of our imperfect or sparse fruit bearing.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” (John 15:5). This is very blessed, coming in just here. It is a word of assurance. As we contemplate the failure of Israel as God’s vine of old, and as we review
our own past resolutions and attempts, we are discouraged and despondent. This is met by the announcement,
“I am the vine, ye are the branches.” It is not a question of your sufficiency; yea, let
your insufficiency be admitted, as settled once for all. In yourself you are no better than a branch
severed from the vine-dry, dead
.
But “he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” “No figure could more forcibly express the complete dependence of the believer on Christ for all fruit-bearing than this.
- A branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine.
- In itself it has
no resources though in union with vine it is provided with life.
This is precisely the believer’s condition: ‘Christ liveth in me.’ The branch bears the clusters, but it does not produce them.
It bears what
the vine produces; and so the result is expressed by the Apostle, ‘to me to live
is Christ.’
It is important that in this respect, as well as with reference to righteousness before God, we should be brought to
the end of self with all its vain efforts and strivings. And then there comes to us the assurance of unfailing resources in Another” (“Waymarks in the Wilderness”).
“For without me (better ‘severed from me’) ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Clearly this refers not to the vital union existing between Christ and the believer, which shall never be broken, either by his own volition or the will of God, through all eternity (Rom. 8:38–39); but to the interruption of fellowship and dependency upon Him, mentioned in the immediate context. This searching word is introduced here to
enforce our need of heeding what had just been said in the previous verse and repeated at the beginning of this.
“Severed from me ye can do nothing.”
There are many who believe this in a general way, but who fail to apply it in detail. They know that they cannot do the important things without Christ’s aid, but how many of the
little things we attempt in
our own strength! No wonder we fail so often.
“Without me ye can do nothing”.
Nothing that is spiritually good; no, not any thing at all, be it little or great, easy or difficult to be performed; cannot think a good thought, speak a good word, or do a good action; can neither begin one, nor when it is begun, perfect it” (Dr. John Gill). But mark it well, the Lord did not say, “Without you
I can do nothing.” In gathering out His elect, and in building up His Church, He employs human instrumentality; but that is not a matter of necessity, but of choice, with Him;
He could “do” without them, just as well as with them.
“Severed from me ye can do nothing.” Urgently do we need this warning. Not only will the allowance of any known sin break our fellowship with Him, but concentration on any thing but
Himself will also surely do it. Satan is very subtle. If only he can get us occupied with ourselves, our fruit-bearing, or our fruit, his purpose is accomplished
.
Faith is nothing apart from its object, and is no longer in operation when it becomes occupied with itself.
Love, too, is in exercise only while it is occupied with its beloved.
“There is a disastrous delusion in this matter when, under the plea of witnessing for Christ and relating their experience, men are tempted to parade their own attainments: their love, joy and peace, their zeal in service, their victory in conflict.
“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6). This is another verse which has been much misunderstood, and it is really surprising to discover how many able commentators have entirely missed its meaning. With scarcely an exception, Calvinistic expositors suppose that Christ here referred to a different class from what had been before Him in the three previous verses.
Attention is called to the fact that Christ did not say, “If a branch abide not in me he is cast forth,” but “If a man abide not in me.”
But really this is inexcusable in those who are able, in any measure, to consult the Greek.
The word “man” is not found in the original at all! Literally rendered it is, “unless any one abide in me he is cast out as the branch” (Bagster’s Interlinear).
The simple and obvious meaning of these words of Christ is this: If any one of the branches, any believer, continues out of fellowship with Me, he is “cast forth.”
The “casting forth” is done by the Husbandman, and evidently had in view the stripping of the believer of the gifts and opportunities which he failed to improve.
It is similar to the salt “losing its savor” (Matthew 5:13).
It is parallel with Luke 8:18: “And whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”
It is analogous to that admonition in 2 John 8: “Look to yourselves, that we
lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward."
But what is meant by, “Men gather them, and cast into the fire, and they are burned”?
Observe, first, the plural pronouns.
It is not “men gather him and cast into the fire, and he is burned,” as it would most certainly have been had an unbeliever, in view.
The change of number here is very striking, and evidences, once more, the minute accuracy of Scripture.
“Unless any one abide in me, he is east forth as a branch, and men gather
them and cast into the fire and
they are burned.”
In the original it is not “men gather them,” but “
they gather them.”
Light is thrown on this by Matthew 13:41, 42:
“The Son of man shall send forth his
angels and
they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity: And shall cast them into a furnace of fire:
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Note the two distinct items here:
- the angels gather “all
things that
offend” and
- “
them which
do iniquity.”
In the light of John 15:6 the first of these actions will be fulfilled at the session of the judgment-seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), the second when He returns to the earth.
Here then is a most solemn warning and heart-searching prospect for every Christian. Either your life and my life is, as the result of continuous fellowship with Christ, bringing forth fruit to the glory of the Father, fruit which will remain; or, because of neglect of communion with Him, we are in immense danger of being set aside as His witnesses on earth, to bring forth only that which the fire will consume in a coming Day. May the Holy Spirit apply the words of the Lord Jesus to each conscience and heart.
[1]
Exposition of John's Gospel, Arthur Walkington Pink
