João 15

The true vine

1 "I am the vine, the true one,*There is emphasis on "true", which implies a contrast with the false one. I suppose that Jesus may have been referring to Jeremiah 2:21: "Yet I had planted you [Israel, see verse 4] a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?" For a similar idea see Isaiah 5:1-7. and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Any branch in me which does not produce fruit He lifts up,*The Greek verb here covers a considerable semantic area. The familiar ‘takes away’ is one of its basic meanings, but ‘lifts up’ is another of its meanings and makes better sense here (the cutting off comes in verse 6). People plant (or buy) vineyards because they want grapes, and you can’t have grapes without branches, so you don’t destroy them without reason. When it’s blossom time you go down the rows looking for any branches that the wind and rain have knocked down—a branch on the ground won’t produce. You lift them up, shake off the dirt and fasten them up, to give them a chance. I take it that’s the picture here—if we have fallen, the Father picks us up, brushes us off and gives us another go. Of course if we never produce, then we are suckers, and He goes ‘snip’ (verse 6). and every one producing fruit He prunes, so that it may produce more fruit.*I understand that a given stretch of vine or branch only produces grapes once, it is only the new growth that produces grapes, so if you want to increase production you must cut the vine back. 3 You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.*Jesus had been ‘pruning’ those disciples for two years or more. 4 Abide in me and I in you.*From the way this is stated I conclude that although this ‘abiding’ is a two-way street, it actually depends on us. That is, as we abide in Him He will abide in us—He won’t stop first; only if we stop abiding in Him will He stop abiding in us. Just as a branch is incapable of producing fruit by itself, except it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.

5 "I am the vine, and you are the branches. The one who abides in me and I in him, he is the one who produces much fruit, because apart from me you are incapable of doing anything.*We seem to have a hard time getting this through our heads, but our Lord is very clear—all our activism is fruitless. If we wish to produce fruit for Christ’s Kingdom we MUST abide in Him.