Jesus often used a grapevine to describe the nation of Israel (cf. Matt. 20:1-16; 21:23-41; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 13:6-9; 20:9-16). The vine as a symbol of Israel appears on coins of the Maccabees.474Here Jesus used the vine metaphorically of Himself. One can hardly escape the inference that Jesus viewed Himself as the fulfillment of Israel.475This figure is similar to Paul's use of the body to illustrate the church. This is not a parable in the Synoptic sense since there is no plot. It is more of an extended metaphor similar to the shepherd and sheepfold metaphors in chapter 10.
"It is possible that if the text of this discourse was spoken as they walked from the upper room in Jerusalem down into the Kidron Valley and across to the Mount of Olives, they could have seen the great golden vine, the national emblem of Israel, on the front of the temple."476
15:1 This is the last of Jesus' "I am"claims in this Gospel. Jesus and His Father occupy different roles in this extended metaphor.
Jesus is the true (Gr. alethinos, cf. 1:9; 6:32) vine. The Old Testament writers frequently used this plant to describe Israel (Ps. 89:9-16; Isa. 5:1-7; 27:2; Jer. 2:21; 12:10; Ezek. 15:1-8; 17:1-21; 19:10-14; Hos. 10:1-2). The nation's failure to produce fruit and its consequent impending divine judgment are in view whenever the vine represents Israel in the Old Testament.477Because of this identification and emphasis it is clearly with unfruitful and guilty Israel that Jesus contrasted Himself as the "true"vine. He would produce good fruit as God intended (cf. Ps. 80:7-9, 14-17). No vine can produce good fruit unless it is good stock.
The Father cultivates the vine as a farmer (Gr. georgos) does his vineyard. The idea of functional subordination within the Godhead appears again here. No vine will produce good fruit unless someone competent cares for it.
15:2 Jesus' earlier taught about the mutual indwelling of believers and Himself (14:20). Therefore it seems clear that Jesus was speaking here of genuine believers such as the Eleven, not simply professing believers.478
"The phrase in Me' is used 16 times in John's Gospel (6:56; 10:38; 14:10 [twice], 11, 20, 30; 15:2, 4 [twice], 5-7; 16:33; 17:21, 23). In each case it refers to fellowship with Christ. It is inconsistent then to say the phrase in 15:2 refers to a person who merely professes to be saved but is not. A person in Me' is always a true Christian."479
This identification finds support in the illustration itself. Branches (Gr. klema, lit. tendrils) of a vine share the life of the vine.
Jesus taught that some believers in Him do not bear fruit (cf. Luke 8:14). Fruit-bearing is the normal but not the inevitable consequence of having divine life. This is true of grapevines too. Grapevines have branches that bear fruit, but they must also have branches that presently bear no fruit but are growing stronger so they will bear fruit in the future.480There can be genuine life without fruit in a vine, and there can be in a Christian as well. The New Testament teaches that God affects many changes in the life of every person who trusts in Jesus as Savior.481However these are all invisible changes. Fruit is what a plant produces on the outside that other people can see and benefit from. It is the visible evidence of an inner working power.
Thus a true believer who experiences the inner transforming work of the Spirit at conversion may not necessarily give external testimony to that transformation by his or her character or conduct immediately. It would be very rare for a Christian to resist the Spirit's promptings so consistently and thoroughly that he or she would never bear any fruit, but Jesus allowed for that possibility here. The form of His statement argues against interpreting it as hyperbole.
What happens to the believer who bears no fruit? The Greek word airocan mean "to take away"or "to lift up."Those who interpret it here as meaning to take away (in judgment) believe that either the believer loses his or her salvation, or the believer loses his or her reward and possibly even his or her life. Those who interpret airoto mean "to lift up"believe that these branches get special attention from the vinedresser so they will bear fruit in the future.482The second alternative seems better since in the spring vinedressers both lifted up unfruitful branches and pruned (Gr. kathairo) fruitful branches of grapevines. Jesus gave this teaching in the spring when farmers did what He described in this verse.483
Assuming that this is the correct interpretation, Jesus was teaching that the Father gives special support to believers who are not yet bearing fruit. In viticulture this involves lifting the branch off the ground so it will not send secondary roots down into ground that will prove unhealthful. Lifting the branch off the ground onto a pole or trellis also enables air to dry the branch and to prevent it from getting moldy and becoming diseased.
The Father also prunes (Gr. kathairo) or cuts back the branches that bear fruit so they will produce even more fruit. This apparently corresponds to the disciplining process that God has consistently used to make His people more spiritually productive (Num. 14:22-24; Heb. 12:4-11; et al.). It does not involve removing the believer's life but his or her sinful habits and purifying his or her character and conduct, often through trials (James 1:2-4). No fruit-bearing branch is exempt from this important though uncomfortable process. The Father's purpose is loving, but the process may be painful.
"The fruit of Christian service is never the result of allowing the natural energies and inclinations to run riot."484
Grapevines, in contrast to other types of wood, do not have many uses. Their total value is that they can produce fruit, namely grapes. Vines do not yield timber from which people can make other things (Ezek. 15). They are "good for either bearing or burning, but not for building."485Similarly the only reason believers exist is to bear spiritual fruit.
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 (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."486
15:4 The first sentence in this verse is capable of three different interpretations. It may be a conditional statement. In this case Jesus meant that if His clean (i.e., saved) disciples abode in Him He would abide in them. I believe this is the best interpretation. Earlier Jesus had presented abiding in (in contrast to departing from) Him as a real possibility for His believing disciples (cf. 8:31-32; 15:10). He did not speak of abiding as the inevitable condition of believers. Jesus' described His relationship with believers as more or less intimate depending on their love and obedience to Him (14:23-24). He did not present abiding and not abiding as white and black categories, as being either completely in or completely out of fellowship. Rather He presented our relationship to Him much more realistically, namely as having a more or less intimate relationship.
Second, the sentence may be a comparative statement. The meaning would then be that the disciples should abide in Jesus as He abode in them. Obviously Jesus wanted His disciples to abide in Him, but the use of "and"(Gr. kago, from kai ego) is unusual. A comparison would usually contain "as"rather than "and."Moreover the verb "abide"(Gr. meinate) is an imperative, and the possibilities surrounding this verse indicate that not abiding is a real possibility for a believer. Jesus, on the other hand, would always abide in the believer by His Spirit even if the believer did not abide in Him (14:17; cf. 2 Tim. 2:12-13).
Third, this may be an imperative statement. If it is, Jesus meant that the disciples and He should commit themselves to abiding in one another. The idea would be let us commit to abide in one another. The problem with this view is that Jesus had already committed Himself to abiding within His believing disciples (14:17). Furthermore the strong second person imperative in the first clause of the sentence argues against a mutual exhortation. It puts the emphasis on the believer's responsibility primarily.
The branches then should make a deliberate effort (indicated by the imperative verb "abide") to maintain a close personal relationship to the true vine. We should do this not because failure to do so will result in our losing the life of God that we possess. Jesus promised that He would never withdraw that from us (6:37-40; 10:28-29). We should do it because the extent of our fruitfulness as believers is in direct proportion to our intimacy with Jesus. Divine life depends on connection with the true vine by exercising saving faith in Him, but fruitfulness depends on abiding in the vine by exercising loving obedience toward Him.
Much confusion has resulted from failing to recognize that Jesus spoke of "abiding"in two senses. He used it as a synonym for saving faith (6:56).487However, He also used it to describe the intimate relationship that those who have exercised saving faith need to cultivate with God (8:31). All believers abide in Jesus in the first sense, but all do not abide in Him in the second sense (cf. v. 10; 1 John 3:24). It is in this second sense that Jesus spoke of abiding here (cf. vv. 9-10). He stressed the importance of believers abiding in Him by using the word meno("abide") three times in this verse alone. It occurs 11 times in this chapter and 27 times in John's epistles, where John expounded Jesus' teaching on this subject further.
"The imagery of the vine is stretched a little but the point is clear: continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance upon him, persistent spiritual imbibing of his life--this is the sine qua nonof spiritual fruitfulness."488
15:5 Jesus continued to stress the importance of believers abiding in Him (i.e., cultivating intimacy through loving obedience, 14:23; 15:10) to bear much fruit. The negative alternative illustrates the positive truth. No contact with the vine results in no fruit. Jesus had spoken of no fruit (v. 2), some fruit (v. 2), more fruit (v. 2), and now He spoke of much fruit (v. 5).
Obviously it is impossible for a branch to bear any fruit if it has no contact with the life-giving vine. Many unbelievers appear to bear the fruit of godly character and conduct, but their fruit is phony. It is similar to plastic fruit that some people hang on trees to give them the appearance of being healthy and productive. It is natural, though not inevitable, that a branch that has vital connection with the vine bear somefruit. The way to bear muchfruit is for the branch to maintain unhindered fellowship with the vine by allowing the vine to have its way with the branch. The alternative would be resisting the Holy Spirit's work by neglecting and disobeying God.
Lack of fruit in the life, therefore, may not necessarily be an indication that the branch has no vital relationship to the vine (i.e., that the person is unsaved). It may indicate that the branch, though connected to the vine, is not abiding in it (i.e., that the believer is not cultivating an intimate relationship with the Savior).
"How strange that in our day and time we have been told so often that fruitlessness is a sure sign that a person is unsaved. Certainly we did not get this idea from the Bible. Rather, the Bible teaches that unfruitfulness in a believer is a sure sign that one is no longer moving forward, no longer growing in Christ. It is a sign that the Christian is spiritually sick, and until well again, cannot enjoy spiritual success."489
15:6 Jesus appears to have been continuing to speak of abiding in the sense of believers remaining close to Himself. The "anyone"in the context would be any believer. Therefore what He said applies to believers, not unbelievers.
It is not proper to conclude that non-abiding disciples are all unbelievers. Many interpreters who believe that all genuine believers will inevitably persevere in the faith and good works tend to do this. They tend to impose their doctrine on this verse and make the verse fit their doctrine rather than interpreting the verse in its context.490Jesus was speaking in this context of abiding and non-abiding disciple believers and gave no hint that He was speaking about unbelievers.
Many interpreters have taken verse 6 as an exposition of verse 2. However the viticultural process that Jesus described in verse 6 took place in the fall whereas the process He mentioned in verse 2 happened in the spring.491In the fall the vinedresser would prune (Gr. kathairo) the vines for the winter by cutting off the dead wood. He would not cut off the unfruitful branches that would produce grapes the next season but only the branches that did not have a healthy connection to the vine. The point of the verse is that non-abiding branches, not non-fruitbearing branches (v. 2), also experience pruning.
What happens to these branches? Jesus said the vinedresser disposes of them. This has led some interpreters to conclude that they lose their salvation and go to hell, especially since He mentioned burning in fire. Others believe He implied that believers who do not abide in Christ will suffer the loss of reward at the judgment seat of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 3:15 where fire appears in connection with the judgment of believers).492Still others, including myself, think the mention of fire is only incidental since vinedressers burned the branches they cut off in the fall pruning. We believe Jesus' point was that non-abiding Christians are as useless to God as these branches were to vinegrowers. The point is their uselessness, not their judgment. All interpreters believe Jesus mentioned this pruning to encourage His disciples to abide in Him. Then they would bear much fruit.
15:7 Here the second use of "abide"is obviously in view, namely its use as a synonym for fellowship rather than salvation. Jesus addressed His believing disciples and told them what would happen if they did abide in Him. He had already explained that believers may or may not abide in Him (vv. 3-5). Not only do abiding disciples bear much fruit (v. 5), but they also receive what they ask God for in prayer.
This verse has also been a stumbling-block to some sincere Christians. It appears to be a blanket promise to grant any request the disciple may offer. Really it is a blanket promise to grant any request that an abidingdisciple may offer. An abiding disciple will ask only those things that are in harmony with or subject to God's will, as Jesus did. The wishes of abiding disciples are the same as Jesus' wishes. To ask anything else would make the praying believer a non-abiding disciple.
Putting this revelation together with what Jesus said earlier, we can see that abiding disciples pray in Jesus' name, and praying in Jesus' name requires abiding in Christ (14:13-14).493Perhaps we can understand better now what Jesus meant when He said earlier that He wanted His disciples to experience the same unity with Himself that He enjoyed with His Father (14:20-21).
"To remain in Christ and to allow his words to remain in oneself means a conscious acceptance of the authority of his word and a constant contact with him by prayer."494
15:8 The granting of petitions to abiding believers glorifies the Father. Answered prayer is one form of fruitfulness. All fruitfulness springs ultimately from the Son, the vine. Therefore it is really the Son who is bringing glory to the Father through His abiding disciples (cf. 13:31; 14:13; 17:4). The believer's fruitfulness is one means by which the Son glorifies the Father.
Fruit-bearing demonstrates that a believer is one of Jesus' disciples (cf. Matt. 7:20; Luke 6:43-44). Notice that Jesus did not say that a believer will inevitably produce fruit. It is possible for a believer to give little or no outward evidence of being a disciple of Jesus (v. 2). This is one of the greatest problems in the church today: genuine Christians who make little or no attempt to follow God's will for their lives. However the presence of fruit in a believer's life shows others that that disciple really does possess eternal life.495
