The True Vine
The True Vine in John 15:1-8
Cultivation or husbandry is the subject of Jesus’ sermon on The True Vine.
Verse 1
KJV John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
To help us understand the relationship of the Father and Son, and our relationship to God, Jesus has given us a vivid, earthy sermon. Not many people raise grapes, but many have tried unsuccessfully to grow roses. Roses grow according to the same rules established by God for grape vines. This section is a perfect model for growing roses because the Lord of Creation uses His principles to explain His message. He is, as the Greek text shows us in its emphasis, the One True Vine. In other words, contrary to popular claims, there is no other vine, no alternative to salvation. “No one comes to the Father, except through Me.”
Verse 2
KJV John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
In one verse Jesus describes the principle of two-fold pruning, still applicable today. Bushes and vines always have deadwood. The deadwood is not only unproductive, but also injurious to the plant. Most people have poor luck with roses because they rely on luck and not the principles of Creation. Roses love to be pruned. When my sister-in-law Kris left me alone for an hour with her unproductive roses, I pruned two-thirds of each bush away. I also explained to her, when she came back, while she was still crying, “When these roses bloom, and they will in two weeks, prune the branch as soon as the rose starts to fade. It is trying to set seed. Pruning will make the branch send out a new bloom. Read John 15.”
Two weeks later, Kris phoned long distance, crying again, to say, “The roses are blooming! They are absolutely filled with blooms!” Later, when we lived on the same block with my brother, we ordered roses together and I planted them. Now the new roses are tall and productive. Two weeks before our niece Ida graduated from high school, Kris pruned her roses, cutting off the blooms. My brother Allen said, “What are you doing? Ida is going to graduate and you are cutting off the flowers!” Kris said, “Just wait.” When we arrived for the graduation, all the bushes were filled with roses. They were tall and stately plants with perfect blooms. Kris is now the neighborhood expert on roses, because her bushes are so productive.
The two-fold pruning is a warning to us. If we turn away from the Gospel and become unproductive, we will be taken away, cast into Hell. The bearing branches will be pruned (purged) so that they will be even more productive.[29] This pruning seems mysterious, if not cruel, until it is explained in the next verse.
Verse 3
KJV John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
The purging takes place through the spoken Word, which is never separated from the cross. An infinite variety of troubles and persecution will come from being faithful to the Gospel. While these afflictions seem harsh, and our Old Adam rebels and complains about them, they make us even more fruitful. Forgiveness itself is the greatest blessing of the Gospel, yielding the nine-fold fruits of the Spirit.[30] All the blessings of the Christian life come from the forgiveness of sin.[31]
Verse 4
KJV John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Jesus’ Gospel invitation is not to do but to receive. The tender rose bud receives food from the plant. The cluster of grapes receives the energy needed to grow. Being a Christian is not defined by working for God’s but by receiving His grace. When believers hear the Word of God and receive the visible Word of Holy Communion, they bear the fruit of the Gospel. No one would argue that a separated branch could grow and produce on its own. Likewise, we should not imagine a person being fruitful in the Christian faith apart from worship, studying the Word, and receiving the Sacrament of forgiveness.[32]
Christ promises that when we are in Him, the One True Vine, He is also in us. He is glued to us through the Word, at work in us, guiding and comforting us.
Verse 5
KJV John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Knowing our weakness and our need to hear the same message in different words, Christ addresses our tendency to define the Christian faith as qualifying for acceptance through our merits or good works. When we remain with the One True Vine, through the Means of Grace, Christ remains with us. We must never forget that. He is as close to us as the bud is to the plant. Being fruitful is a necessary consequence of receiving the blessings of Christ through trust in the Word. To clarify this relationship, Christ also condemns any inkling that He is merely one of many ways, various truths, and alternative life-styles.
Verse 6
KJV John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
The five-fold warning about removing ourselves from the Means of Grace parallels the effort of pruning deadwood.[33] Pruned branches are removed and burned because they harbor disease and harmful insects. The warning of Christ is not against lack of doing but lack of receiving, contrary to what most church executives today imagine. The person who does not remain in Christ is:
Thrown away, no longer of value to God;
Withered, that is, spiritually dead from separating himself from Christ;
Gathered, for the Day of Judgment;
Thrown into the fire, condemned for unbelief;
Burned, suffering in Hell for eternity.
Verse 7
KJV John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Our loving Savior encourages us to pray through His gracious promises. One of many blessings of the Christian life is asking God to help us in our emotional, material, and spiritual needs. The Son of God assures us that what we ask will be given to us.
Verse 8
John 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Fruitfulness necessarily follows from remaining in Christ and His teaching not to glorify man, but to glorify God. One cannot divorce a relationship with Christ from adherence to His Word, contrary to those who teach that the production of good feelings eliminates the need for sound doctrine. Resting in the Word alone unites us with Christ, makes us fruitful, moves us to pray, grants us our requests, and glorifies God the Father. All comes from God, for God the Son is the True Vine and the vinedresser is God the Father.
If we cultivate roses with John 15:1-8 in mind, every aspect of pruning, budding, and blooming reminds us of the power of the Gospel.
