(JOHN 15.)
MANY find difficulty in the interpretation of this passage. The importance of it cannot be over-estimated from the point of view of practical Christian life, for are we not told that
“Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.
“As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love.
“If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
“This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:8-158Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:8‑15)).
What a cluster of precious fruit is found in this second group of seven verses in our chapter, the practical result in experimental Christian life of the truth developed in the first group of seven verses! May every reader, young and old, meditate upon them in the quiet of his Saviour’s presence!
The Father glorified.
Much fruit borne.
Manifested discipleship.
Obedience in exercise.
The Saviour’s love enjoyed.
Fullness of joy.
Mutual love enjoined.
The pattern of love.
The obedience of friendship.
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.... I am the vine, ye are the branches.”
In Isaiah 5:1-81Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. 8Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! (Isaiah 5:1‑8) we learn that Israel had been Jehovah’s choicest vine; but when He looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. Fruit-bearing is the main thought in connection with the vine. In John 15. our Lord takes the place of Israel as the true Vine. Israel had been the vine brought out of Egypt and planted in the land of Canaan (Psalm 80.). But now this vine was broken down, wasted, and devoured, and Jesus, the Branch, was made strong for God and His glory.
Israel had failed, and was about to be laid aside in judgment. The Branch has now become the true Vine. Not Jehovah, but the Father was the husbandman. The disciples, and not the Jewish nation, were the branches.
The figure here used is that of a vine growing on the earth with its branches and its fruit, and not a body on earth united to a Head in heaven. Clearly the two figures are different: the vine with its branches, and the body with its members. Some object to apply the term union to the connection between the vine and its branches; union, they say, is that kind of connection which exists between a body and its head. Yet we should remember that the expression “union” is nowhere found in Scripture, while the connection between the vine and its branches is a very close and real one indeed.
True, there is nothing in John 15 about the “one body”; and how clear it is possible to be intellectually upon the subject of the “one body” whilst bearing very little fruit, indeed, of the kind spoken of in this passage of Scripture.
If Christ Himself is the vine, who then are the branches? Is not this clearly answered in verse 5? “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” To whom was our Lord speaking? Was it not to the eleven? Judas had gone out (John 13:3030He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night. (John 13:30)). Whilst he was present with the little band of disciples, Jesus had said, “Ye are clean, but not all. For He knew who should betray Him; therefore, said He, Ye are not all clean.”
But now, Judas having gone out, Jesus says, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (chap. 15:3).
“Ye are clean ... ye are the branches.”
Does not the Lord intend that we should learn from this that there is that sort of connection between Himself and His people which exists between the vine and its branches? When he said, “Ye are the branches,” were any others there present besides His own which were in the world?
Judas, we repeat, had gone out.
Does not this help in the understanding of verse 2?
“Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away.” Solemn words indeed! Let not their edge be blunted for our consciences. Does the reader say, “Oh, these are only professors!” We do not wish to dogmatize, but personally we believe these words have a very solemn application to true believers. Let us never forget the purpose for which we are here; it is that we might bring forth fruit. This is individual, but intensely practical. Many at Corinth were fruitless, they were taken away.
They were not lost, but they were removed from the place where testimony could be rendered to Christ. They were being taken from the scene of their own failure and fruitlessness, to the heaven procured for them through their Saviour’s sufferings and death.
There is a sense in which branches may be taken away other than by death, A life of carelessness, worldliness, and sin on the part of a true child of God removes him altogether from the sphere of practical testimony for Christ. The same may be said as to a company of God’s people. The assembly of Ephesus was warned to repent, otherwise its candlestick would be removed out of its place. This does not mean that they would all die, but so far as light-bearing for Christ in this world was concerned, they would be set aside. We have heard of a company of saints disorganized and set against one another through disagreement as to reception amongst them of one desirous of remembering the Lord in His death, not because there was anything to disqualify doctrinally or morally, but owing to some supposed technical defect in the manner of his application. It is possible to be very nice in points of detail, whilst the weightier matters of fruit-bearing and light-shining for Christ are neglected.
Oh, brethren, awake! Sinners are perishing, saints starving, the work of the Lord languishing. This is no time for petty discords and ecclesiastical scruples. Whilst you are disputing over questions and trifles, others with, it may be, less light and less intelligence, are bringing their sheaves home with joy.
Do we want the Father to be glorified? Then let us bear much fruit. Do we want the world to know that we are Christ’s disciples? Then let us love one another. But if the fruitless branch is taken away, the fruit-bearing branch is otherwise dealt with.
“Every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
“Already ye are cleansed through the word which have spoken unto you.”
It is the Father’s government of those who profess allegiance to Christ. We have seen His action with regard to the fruitless branch―what will He do with the branch that beareth fruit? He cleanseth it that it may bring forth more fruit. And how does He cleanse it? Specially, no doubt, through the Word, though it may be also by chastisement, as Hebrews 12, makes clear.
While the blood cleanses in the sense of atonement and expiation, the Word cleanses in the sense of purifying. The purifying was done at the start by the Word in new birth (see John 3.) ― “already ye are cleansed” ―it is also required all along the Christian course, day by day. A most important truth this is, the continued cleansing by the Word that we may bring forth more fruit. Most earnestly would we press this upon ourselves and our brethren― “more fruit.”
(To be continued.)