Christology Through Imagery
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
The imagery of a vineyard has deep roots in the Old Testament. Vineyards were rather commonplace in the life cycle of generations of Hebrew people. Vineyards and vinedressers easily adopted theological meaning in God’s dealings with His chosen people.
Isaiah 5 contains one of the better-known passages that uses vine imagery to describe the relationship that developed between God and Israel, declaring, “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel” (v. 7). However, that declaration comes at the conclusion of the prophetic message about Israel’s failure to please God, who in the passage is lamenting, “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” His divine displeasure is expressed in a second question: “When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” (v. 4).
Thus the image of a non-productive vineyard gave expression to God’s disappointment, as well as making a declaration about divine punishment that would befall the covenant nation for her disobedience. It was against the backdrop of Israel’s disappointment as God’s chosen people that Christ declared, “I am the true Vine” (John 15:1).
Christ as “the true Vine” thus comes across as God’s gracious corrective to Israel’s fruitlessness and His promise of fruitfulness for a new people whom He would call and bless through the Messiah. Jesus drew upon this imagery as a way of setting forth to His followers His role as a fruit-producing vine, including His Father’s role as the careful and faithful vinedresser and His followers as fruit-bearing disciples.
In understanding the relationship between “the true Vine” and the “branches” we do well to give careful attention to the verbs in the preceding sentence. Vines produce grapes while branches simply bear what the vine produces.
Thus our understanding of Christ’s mission is to be seen in the intimate relationship that He seeks to maintain with all true believers. Most famously, the Apostle Paul taught this relationship in terms of believers being “in Christ” and of Christ being “in” us. This dual relationship furnishes a good image of the way of fruitfulness. Only by abiding in Christ can we bear the fruit He wishes to produce as “the true Vine.”
This imagery helps us grasp the importance of staying in fellowship with Christ in order to become spiritually alive and capable of bearing spiritual fruit.
Fruit-bearing
The imagery of fruit-bearing occurs in several ways in the Bible. Since the risen, ascended Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5 lists Christ-like qualities that He desires to produce in us, qualities termed the fruit of the Spirit, such as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22–23).
In addition to Christ-like qualities, “the true Vine” seeks to produce through us other “fruit-bearing” branches, hence, His Great Commission that we make disciples in “all the world” (Matt. 28:19). Disciples making other disciples leads to the multiplication of fruit-bearing branches. As has often been said, the fruit of a Christian is to bear another Christian, since all living things are to bring forth after their own kind. Christ concluded His analogy of the vine and the branches with the explanation: “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples (John 15:8).
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EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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