1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15 begins with the seventh and final of Jesus’ “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John. As I mentioned last week, many commentators believe that He and His disciples had now left the Upper Room, and as they made their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, they would more than likely have walked near grape vineyards, and would also have passed close to the temple, which was often decorated with large clusters of grapes, brought as gifts to the temple.
It was against this backdrop that Jesus said, “I am the true vine.” You could say that this teaching beginning in chapter 15 still forms part of what has become known as Jesus’ Farewell Discourse, but there is a distinct change as He moves from bringing them comfort as He was about to leave them, to a new teaching which focuses on their duties and obligations as they enter a new phase in their ministry. And, of course, we have much to learn from Jesus’ analogy of Him being the true vine as we are the branches who are intimately connected to Him as His disciples today.
Having led His disciples out toward the Mount of Olives, Jesus began teaching them again, saying, “I am the true vine.” The vine was a symbol of Israel, and there are many Old Testament passages which use this imagery. Just one example is Psalm 80:8-9. “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.”
This picture of a vineyard speaks of how God worked and cared for His people by preparing the Promised Land for them after their time of captivity in Egypt, just as through Christ on the cross, He worked on our behalf, preparing the New Jerusalem for us, after our time of captivity to sin and the condemnation that comes from it. In the Old Testament context, the vine was God’s chosen people, while in the grander scheme, all of His people today are connected to the true vine through Jesus Christ, and our responsibility and obligation now, is to bear a rich harvest of fruit for Him.
The problem for the nation of Israel, was that they neglected the call of God on their lives, and in so doing they did not produce the fruit that the Lord had desired. They consistently rejected and disobeyed the God who had called them to be His own people, and through the prophet Isaiah, He pronounced judgment on them. The beautiful and peaceful image of a well-tended vineyard was turned completely around in what has become known as Isaiah’s song of the vineyard. “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning His vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; He built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting; and He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!” (Isaiah 5:1-7)
Israel was meant to be the vine, but they had failed, and so now, in John 15 Jesus proclaims Himself to be the true vine. The nation of Israel, due to their idolatry and wickedness, had become a false and wild vine, but Jesus, as the true vine, was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father.
Israel did not bear fruit for God, but now, through Christ, His people then and today can live and bear fruit for Him. This in no way makes us any better than the Israelite nation in Old Testament times. We would be just as disobedient as they were. The difference though, is Jesus Christ, and His righteousness that we now bear.
The fruit that God wanted from Israel but did not find, He gained for Himself by sending His own Son to be the true vine, from which His new and righteous people would live and bear good fruit. This, of course, means that we have a tremendous responsibility now, but more on that in a moment.
The true vine is the perfect emblem to depict the saving and redeeming work of Jesus. Just as the vine is the source of life for its branches, Jesus is the true vine, the source of true and everlasting life for those who believe in Him. This picture helps us to better understand His words in John 10:10 - “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
You might remember earlier in this series that it is no coincidence that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine. Psalm 104:15 says that God has given us wine to “gladden the heart of man.” Of course, this gift has been and continues to be badly abused, but the fruit of the vine is meant to bring us joy and refreshment, and Jesus as the true vine, brings spiritual joy and spiritual refreshment, as He said in Matthew 11:28. “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The wine that comes from the vine was the emblem that Jesus used that same night in the Upper Room during the Passover Meal for His blood He would shed on the cross to cleanse us from our sins. As the true vine, Jesus provides His blood as the source of the new life for believers.
This last “I AM” saying of Jesus is John 15 forms the foundation for an extended time of teaching. Jesus said that He is the true vine, the Father is the vinedresser or gardener, and the disciples are the branches. As Christians, we are the branches that are to bear good fruit from Jesus the true vine, as Paul wrote in Romans 7:4. “My brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
This reminds us of the obligation we now have to live our lives for God, rather than ourselves. The fruit we bear is to be shown in our devotion to God and our obedience to His commands, and the story we see in the Old Testament shows us the consequences of disobedience. It was because of idolatry and injustice that God, through Isaiah, told them they would lose their protection and blessing as His people.
Paul, in Galatians 5, draws a clear distinction between lives lived for ourselves and lives lived for God when he writes, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:16-25)
Paul makes it clear though, that the power to live these new lives does not come from us, but rather from the Spirit, and that is good news, because as sinners we are incapable of bearing good fruit. Jesus makes the point in John 15:1 that it is the Father who is the vinedresser. He is the one who tends and prunes the branches. A. W. Pink, in his commentary wrote, “He does not allot to others the task of caring for the vine and its branches, and this assures us of the widest, most tender and most faithful care of it.”
Jesus then goes on in verse 2 to say, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” What He is saying is that there are branches in Christ, the true vine, that flow with life and bear fruit, while there are some that do not bear fruit, so the question is, what or who are these other branches that do not bear fruit?
Some use this verse to teach that it is possible for Christians to lose their salvation, but the problem with this view is that it directly opposes Jesus’ clear teaching on the eternal security of His own in chapter 10, when, after proclaiming Himself to be the Good Shepherd, He said of His true sheep, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28) And in 6:39 He said, “This is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
So there is a problem with this Arminian teaching that true disciples can lose their salvation, especially when you look at what Jesus teaches in John 15. He says in verse 5, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” It is the dead branches that don’t produce fruit, and those are the ones that are pruned and thrown away. And who do those branches depict? What kind of branches are connected to Christ without possessing His saving life? The answer is nominal Christians. Those who may call themselves Christians, and who may go through all the motions, but in reality are not saved, because they do not have true saving faith in Christ.
John warns us in 1 John 2:15-19, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
What Jesus teaches (not only in John 15, but throughout the Gospels) is that the true mark or evidence of those of those who belong to Him and are truly saved is the bearing of good fruit. It’s also important to stress that we are not saved by good fruit or any other work of our own, but by faith in Christ alone. The good fruit, though, is the proof that our profession of faith is true and that we are saved.
The point is that it is possible to agree with the basic truths of Christian doctrine, while at the same time not possessing true life in Christ. The true and only proof of salvation is fruit. This is the difference between the two kinds of branches that Jesus talks about in chapter 15.
Both branches are initially connected to Him, but one of them ultimately does not bear fruit, and so it is removed while the fruitful branch is not. In a very similar teaching in Matthew 7 where Jesus warned His disciples against false prophets and teachers He said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognise them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20)
While we are the first to admit that no Christian is perfect - that will only come when we are in glory - all true Christians bear some true fruit in the form of obedience to God’s commands and in faithfulness to Jesus Christ.
Jesus teaches in verse 2 that while the fruitless branches are removed, God continues to prune the fruitful branches. “Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Anyone who has been through a time of spiritual pruning will know that can be a long and often painful process, but Jesus tells us in the same verse why God does this: “That it may bear more fruit.” Anyone who knows anything about gardening knows that the purpose of pruning is to gain the maximum amount of fruit from the vine.
And this is true of grapevines in particular. After each year’s harvest, the fruitful branches are cut back a long way. The point of pruning is to remove whatever threatens growth, which is exactly what God does in our spiritual lives. Someone once said that He takes the knife to our bad habits and assails our prayerlessness by giving us things to pray about. Hebrews 12:10-11 says, “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
The purpose of spiritual pruning is to make us fruitful, while at the same time God grows our faith in Him. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:6-9, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
And of course, we have heard James’ words on trials and suffering many times. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” (James 1:2-3)
We all know that God does not promise us an easy life, but we have the promise that when we do face times of difficulty, He invites us to turn to Him for our strength. We also find our strength in the Word of God itself, as Jesus says in verse 3. “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”
In the original text, Jesus uses the same root word for prune in verse 2 as He does for clean in verse 3. What this means is that it is through our increased knowledge of the Word of God that He cleanses our hearts and our minds. Too easily we underestimate the importance of the Bible and its teachings in order for us to grow in grace. We are meant to be people of the Word. This means that the Bible is our measure, our yardstick for lives of holiness and truth.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We looked at Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3 a couple of times last Sunday. As a reminder, he wrote that the Bible is not only “breathed out by God” but also “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
What all of this means is that we come to God through His Word not only to learn spiritual truth and doctrine, but also to bring ourselves to Him so that He can prune our hearts and minds. Because our sinful and selfish natures remain within us, waging war with the Spirit of God who also indwells us, there is a lot of clutter and confusion in our hearts that God needs to cut away. You might remember me quoting the Puritan preacher John Owen a few months ago: “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.”
When you feel convicted by the Word of God to confront sin in your life, especially those sins which didn’t really seem to bother you as much in the past as they do now, that is a sign of God lovingly pruning you in order to help stimulate your spiritual growth.
This is how God teaches us “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,” as Paul writes in Titus 2:12–13.
But how do we do all of this, or to put it more accurately, how does God do all of these things in us? Jesus gives us the answer in verses 4 and 5, which we will continue to look at next week, when He says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
This call to abide in Him is an imperative. In other words, it is not so much a suggestion as it is a command. The Greek word used in the original text is meno, defined in Strong’s Greek Lexicon as, “to remain, to sojourn, tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept continually, to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure, to survive, live, to remain as one.” (Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon)
Christians are commanded to abide in Christ in order to bear our fruit, and how do we do that? Paul said simply, yet profoundly in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ.” And in Galatians 2:20 he wrote, “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
As we learn to abide in Christ, we will find ourselves drawing near to Him and faithfully obeying His teaching, so abiding in Him is probably much easier than we might have thought at first. Abiding in Him as the Father prunes us both work together as we bear fruit for Him.
You’ll remember from when we were in chapter 8, Jesus taught His disciples, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32) This means that abiding in Him is more than just filling our heads with Christian doctrine. As we grow in our faith, God gives us the gift of faith to learn and trust His promises to us.
It also means that we begin to understand that we all have a role to play in the life, witness, and work of the Church. We are family.
We also learn that Christ abiding in us and we abiding in Him is not about a call to self-improvement or becoming a better you. Our calling is simply to abide in Jesus, to follow Him through His Word, prayer, worship, and service, and He will then bear His fruit in us.
The good news is that it is God, who through Christ has done the work of salvation on the cross, just as it is God, who through the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit, who does all that is necessary for us to grow in grace and bear fruit for Him.
Jesus said in verse 4 that the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in Him, and then He says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Now this doesn’t mean that we can do nothing. There is a seemingly endless list of people who have done and can do the most amazing things. His point is that apart from Himself, all of our worldly achievements count for nothing in the light of eternity.
There is no doubt that there are many things invented by the most brilliant minds that have benefitted countless people. The mind boggles at how technology has grown in our lifetimes alone. So clearly, Jesus did not mean that we can literally do nothing. Apart from Him we can do many things. There are many people who can accumulate immeasurable wealth, fame and fortune.
The problem is though, that apart from Jesus, all that we accomplish is nothing. At the end of our lives, all that will matter is the question of salvation through Christ. Remember, there are only two kinds of people: Those who are in Christ, and those who are still in their sins.
In the Upper Room Jesus taught His disciples what He would do to provide for them once He had left them, and now, as they moved ever closer to the cross, He stressed the importance of their remaining faithful to Him.
Our call today is no different. We are to abide in Him as He abides in us, equipping us to be faithful messengers of the Gospel that saves, as He prunes us in order to bear good fruit for Him.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.”