By Will Kynes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
JOINING GOD’S WORK
John 15:1–8
What do you live for? The activities that dominate your time, the longings that tug at your heart and the anxieties that grip your mind all are strong indicators of the operative purpose of your life. Is it to abide in Christ and fruitfully contribute to His church?
As we consider the vine metaphor Jesus uses for the Church, we must keep in mind Paul’s comparison of the Church to a body (1 Cor. 12:12–26). The two metaphors have different emphases. One without the other would distort our understanding of the Christian life.
Paul emphasizes how the diverse “members” of the Church are unified in a common body, in which each plays a part, and, therefore, the need to give special support to those parts that are “unpresentable” (v. 23).
Jesus, however, focuses on the fruit-bearing potential of each “branch.”
Whereas the health of a body generally involves keeping its members, a vine’s vitality requires regularly removing dead branches and pruning those that remain. Like the parts of a body, though, the vine’s branches depend on their connection to the greater vine for life.
God expects believers to produce spiritual fruit. (1–3)
Repeatedly in the Old Testament, Israel is presented as a “vine” God has planted (e.g., Ps. 80:8–16; Jer. 2:21; Ezek. 17:5–10; Hos. 10:1–6).
Most of these passages refer to Israel’s failure to bear the fruit God expected of them. Instead, they disobeyed God and worshipped idols, forcing God to uproot them through conquest by foreign nations.
In claiming to be the “true vine,” Jesus declares that He is the new Israel, fulfilling God’s expectations for His people. Like Israel, the branches in Christ’s vine are liable to be “cut off” if they do not bear the fruit of obedience.
As Jesus says elsewhere, a good tree will be recognized by its fruit; lip service apart from doing the will of God will not protect one from being “cut down” (Matt. 7:15–21).
Believers produce spiritual fruit through their relationship with Jesus. (4–5)
But salvation is not thereby made dependent on works. No branch can bear fruit apart from the vine. Only through remaining in Christ can one bear the fruit God expects.
Our obedience is the fruit, not the root of our salvation. Therefore, it’s no contradiction for Jesus to go on to claim that to remain in His love, one must keep His commandments just as He kept his Father’s (v. 9).
Jesus summarizes those commandments in a simple imperative: “Love each other as I have loved you” (v. 12). Elsewhere He elaborates further, summarizing the entire law in two commands: first, love God with all your heart, soul and mind; and second, love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:35–40; see also Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18).
God is glorified as believers produce spiritual fruit. (6–8)
Everything rides on remaining in Christ, the true vine. Those who don’t are “thrown into the fire and burned,” while those who do will enjoy such intimacy with Jesus that, as His words shape their desires, they can expect to receive whatever they request.
By demonstrating that they are Christ’s disciples through bearing the fruit of obedience, the branches who remain in Christ will bring God glory. God’s glory will also be their joy (v. 11). As the Westminster Catechism states, the chief end of man is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
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