Complete Explanation - I AM the True Vine - Parts One and Two

Part One - John 15 - I AM the True Vine

    We are definitely ("defiantly" - as most people spell the word today) in rose season. Roses follow the same pattern as grapes in Jesus' simple yet profound I AM lesson.

    The Gospel of John irritated the Tuebingen German scholars because Jesus proclaimed His divinity in that Gospel in such plain, simple words. The rationalists made an idol out of their attack on the Gospel of Mark, where they removed the divinity (Mark 1) and the resurrection of Christ (Mark 16:9-20; Voelz' stunningly bad CPH commentary). 

    The Fourth Gospel is the capstone, uniting, enriching, and explaining Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

 Double Delight 

    A rose gardener, at the earliest stages, takes away the dead and crossing branches, because they do not bear fruit or contribute to the rose bush. This cutting makes the plant grow even better, above and below the surface.

    When a rose branch buds and flowers, the gardener prunes the branch, because cleansing or purging is another boost for the rose, making it even more fruitful.

    Those who fear and neglect roses are too timid to do the pruning. The rose full of dead wood will become dormant and produce very little (like most District Presidents and self-styled bishops). When I spent a long time pruning all the dead wood from my sister-in-law's two plants, she burst into tears, with about 30% of each one in the garbage barrel. I said, "Roses do not grow on dead wood. Give it two weeks, and water it. Roses are not part of the cactus family." She phoned two weeks later, she was crying again, because both bushes were packed with beautiful flowers.

Crepe Myrtle loves being pruned, and the birds love the seeds, building a nest so dinner out is seconds away.

    The point of the John 15 passage is first of all to declare the Father-Son relationship. The Father works through the Son to take away those people aligned with Christ and yet content to be dead wood. They may be indifferent, but they are often leaders who glory in their false doctrine (like DPs and professors) and grow angry with any attempt to teach the Word as it is.

    Nobody is more alert than these people, only in the reverse. They know the meaning behind a challenge, and they instantly respond through proxies or through their deep and abiding love for Holy Mother Synod.

 Enchanted Peace

    Consider - the LCMS and WELS, with most of the parts of the future ELCA - previously taught Justification by Faith, the Chief Article of Christianity. But now, nobody important teaches the Chief Article. There has been a dedicated and ongoing effort to remove sound doctrine from all Lutheran synods and sects.

    Need I point out that the most divergent and perverted Lutheran sect, ELCA, is closing down seminary properties across the fruited plain? Like raisins left out in the sun to dry, these seminaries are selling off property:

1. Trinity in Columbus, the merger of Cap and Hamma, now is the cemetery for Loy, Leupold, and Lenski. They had a massive scandal after a known predator was ordained and offended again, costing them about $90 million.
2. Berkeley in California, selling out to the Muslims, once on the mountain top, now at the bottom, is now part of the mainline union of seminaries;
3. United Lutheran, once two influential seminaries - Gettysburg and Philadelphia, is now led by a fake pastor who became an instant bishop, making a mockery of marriage, the pastorate, and church leadership. Cemetery - Krauth, Schmauk, Jacobs.
4. Luther Seminary, which digested the more conservative Northwestern Seminary, is holding a fire sale, selling property to stay alive;
5. Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, the tragic result of roughly six seminaries merging, is now selling its property to the University of Chicago, temporarily leasing some room back.
6. Southern Seminary survived by aligning with a college. That seminary was another merger from another age.

 Veterans Honor

KJV John 15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 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. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 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. 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. 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. 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. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Stephanus (Traditional or Majority Text) John 

15 εγω ειμι η αμπελος η αληθινη και ο πατηρ μου ο γεωργος εστιν

2 παν κλημα εν εμοι μη φερον καρπον αιρει αυτο και παν το καρπον φερον καθαιρει αυτο ινα πλειονα καρπον φερη

3 ηδη υμεις καθαροι εστε δια τον λογον ον λελαληκα υμιν

4 μεινατε εν εμοι καγω εν υμιν - καθως το κλημα ου δυναται καρπον φερειν αφ εαυτου εαν μη μεινη εν τη αμπελω, ουτως ουδε υμεις - εαν μη εν εμοι μεινητε

5 εγω ειμι η αμπελος υμεις τα κληματα ο μενων εν εμοι καγω εν αυτω ουτος φερει καρπον πολυν οτι χωρις εμου ου δυνασθε ποιειν ουδεν

6 εαν μη τις μεινη εν εμοι εβληθη εξω ως το κλημα και εξηρανθη και συναγουσιν αυτα και εις πυρ βαλλουσιν και καιεται

7 εαν μεινητε εν εμοι και τα ρηματα μου εν υμιν μεινη ο εαν θελητε αιτησεσθε και γενησεται υμιν

8 εν τουτω εδοξασθη ο πατηρ μου ινα καρπον πολυν φερητε και γενησεσθε εμοι μαθηται

Part Two - John 15 - I AM the True Vine

    Just as John 10:1 says literally - I AM the Shepherd the Good, so John 15:1 says - I AM the Vine the True. That means Jesus is the one and only vine, another way of expressing the Incarnate Word - Jesus is both man and divine. There is no other way of salvation.

    God the Father is the vine keeper, but that does not mean that all who believe in God in some fashion are one. Lacking fruitfulness, they are removed. Those who are united in Christ, believing in Him, are one. They are cleansed by the Word but the unfruitful are removed, withered, gathered up, cast into the fire, and burned. Those five actions are exactly what the farmer does with grapes or what the gardener does with roses. 

    There are only two actions. One is taking away, the other is pruning to increase fruitfulness. A living rose bush can be kept healthy by cutting off dying and diseased branches, but they are not left on the ground to foster more illness. Rosarian instructions are -

1. Cut the parts that will never grow again, because nothing grows on dead or dying branches. They actually prevent the rose from flowering.

2. Cuttins dry up completely.

3. Take the cuttings away so they do not harbor disease and pests. 

4. Set them on fire.

5. Burn them up.

    The five stages describe how complete this action is, like the WELS Church Growth pastor who began with denying Creation, then claimed the Law was obsolete, and when finished, was not just an atheist but a loud-mouthed atheist who taunted his wife and children about going to church. That all began with the "pious" teaching of Objective Justification in seminary - Mequon.

    The alternative is something all believers can count on. By remaining with Christ and Justified by Faith - the purging or cleansing of the individual - the person becomes even more fruitful.

    The entire Rose Garden - which was ordered by Christina because "grass is boring" - now has hundreds of buds. A few have bloomed and were purged for the altar and neighbors. If those flowers are left alone, they will turn into hips, seed pods, and stop flowering. If they are not cleansed, they will also welcome pests which thrive on weakened or sleepy roses. The roots will stop growing to feed the plant. 

    This Parable of Vine has several purposes at once. One is to make sure people are confessing the divinity of Jesus Christ, who is the source of all we do as Christians. Another is to warn listeners and readers about the inevitable outcome of falling away from the Faith (apostasy). But it also teaches how the believer is necessarily fruitful by forgiveness through faith in Him.

    Many times over, dabblers in gardening have winced about the impact of vigorous pruning of roses. I have to tell these beginners -

1. Roses need pruning.
2. Cutting off flowers leads to more roses.
3. Nothing grows on dead and dying branches.
4. Pruning also makes the roots grow deeper.
5. An unchallenged rose bush is on its way to being a thorn-bush alone.
6. Read John 15 and use the best fertilizer ever - the rain, which is always effective, like the Word of God, Isaiah 55:8-11.

 Rugosa Rose flowers are very colorful in growing hips for birds and rose hip tea. They are the fruit of every rose bush but especially large on Rugosa.