The Vine and the Branches

1
The Vine and the Branches

• Presented by Josh Massop, Trevor Scott, and
  Aaron Weiss

2
Background of John15

• As we come into John 15 we find it opens with
  Jesus allegory of the vine and the branches.
  Chapter 14 concludes with the statement come
  now let us leave. It is possible that Jesus
  and the Eleven have left the upper room and began
  walking across the city of Jerusalem down into
  the Kidron Valley that bought them to the Garden
  of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. If that is
  the case they may have passed the great golden
  vine that decorated the door to the Holy Place of
  the temple or else the vines that grew close to
  the great walls of the city and stretched along
  it. This is not certain, however, for the party
  may have lingered in the upper room even after
  Christs statement. Whether they stayed or left
  the upper room Jesus was using his picture of the
  vine to teach truth.

3
Background of John15

• The vine was grown all over Palestine as it
  still is. It is a plant which needs a great deal
  of attention if the best fruit is to be got out
  of it. It is grown commonly on terraces. The
  ground has to be perfectly clean. It is
  sometimes trained on trellises it is sometimes
  allowed to creep over the ground upheld by low
  forked sticks it sometimes even grows around the
  doors of the cottages but wherever it grows
  careful preparation of the soil is essential. It
  grows luxuriantly and drastic pruning is
  necessary. So luxuriant is it that the sips are
  set in the ground at least twelve feet apart, for
  it will creep over the ground quickly. A young
  vine is not allowed to fruit for the first three
  years and each year is cut drastically back to
  develop and conserve its life and energy. When
  mature, it is pruned in December and January. It
  bears two kinds of branches, one that bears fruit
  and one that does not and the branches that do
  not bear fruit are drastically pruned back, so
  that they will drain away none of the plants
  strength. The vine can not produce the crop of
  which it is capable without drastic pruning and
  Jesus knew that.
• Further, the wood of the vine has the curious
  characteristic that it is good for nothing. It
  is too soft for any purpose. At certain times of
  the year it was laid down by the law, the people
  must bring offerings of wood to the Temple for
  the altar fires. But the wood of the vine must
  not be brought. The only thing that could be
  done with the wood pruned out of a vine was to
  make a bonfire of it and destroy it. (William
  Barkley)
•  

4
Background of John15

•  
• This is the seventh and last of the I Am
  statements of Christ recorded in the Gospel of
  John. However Jesus did not stop with this
  image, but went on to use the picture of the
  friend. These two pictures of the believer
  branches and friends reveal both our privileges
  and our responsibilities. As branches we have
  the privilege of sharing His life, and the
  responsibility of abiding. As friends, we have
  the privilege of knowing His will, and the
  responsibility of obeying. (Warren W. Wiersbe)
  It is also to be noted that there is a division
  that comes between John 151-8 and John 159-17.
  Both sections speak of remaining, the first of
  remaining in the vine/Jesus, the second of
  remaining in Jesus love. Both hold up
  fruitfulness as the disciples goal (vv. 5,16)
  and both tie such fruitfulness to prayer (vv 7-8,
  16). (The Gospel according to John by D.A.
  Carson)

5
Locations Jesus and His disciples may have passed
while teaching the vine and the branches

• Great golden vine

• MOUNT OF OLIVES

6
John 151 I am the true vine, and my Father is
the gardener.

• Jesus speaks of himself as the true vine. The
  emphasis is on the word true. This does not
  mean that he is true as opposed to that which is
  false but, rather, that he is the one, perfect,
  essential and enduring vine before which all
  other vines are but shadows. The word is used in
  precisely the sense elsewhere where Jesus is
  declared to be the true light (19), the true
  bread (632), and the true tabernacle (Heb.
  82) (The Gospel of John by James Montgomery
  Boice) When the vine imagery is used in the Old
  Testament it is mostly used of Israel in its
  sinfulness rather than its fruitfulness. (Psalms
  808-19 Isaiah 51-7 Jeremiah 221 Ezekiel
  1910-14 and Hosea 101-2) Hosea 101-2 sees the
  nation as concerned not to bring forth the fruit
  that brings good to others, as God would have the
  people do, but as concerned with fruit for
  himself. It is not in this way that real
  fruitfulness is achieved. Jesus, by contrast,
  was and is the true vine. His whole life was a
  ministry, a service of others. And it was about
  to culminate in a death that would bring untold
  blessing to those for whom he died. In Jesus I
  am statement, in saying, I am the true vine,
  again harkens his audience to his other I am
  statements, but also into the fuller meaning of
  Jesus symbolism as the source of life and
  sustaining relationship of the branches,
  followers of Christ.
•  

7
John 151 I am the true vine, and my Father is
the gardener.

•  
• Jesus speaks of the Father as the gardener
  where the Greek term (georgos) really means a
  farmer. The word basically means someone who
  works the land or tills the soil and thus is the
  right term for a farmer or a gardener. But in
  this context it means someone who works with
  vines, not someone engaged in general farming.
  (Reflections on the Gospel of John by Leon Morris)

8
John 1523 He cuts off every branch in me that
bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear
fruit he prunes so that it will be even more
fruitful. You are already clean because of the
word I have spoken to you.

• There has been a great deal of discussion
  regarding the term and context of the phrase He
  cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.
  The King James Version of the Bible says 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.
  There are a number of translations that a person
  can look at and each one has the thought that if
  a branch does not bear fruit it is cut off or
  taken away but the branch that does bear fruit
  will be pruned. The Greek word for cut off
  and takes away is the word airo. The word
  airo has four basic meaning, which are,
  proceeding from the most fundamental to the most
  figurative (1) to lift up or pickup, (2) to lift
  up figuratively, as a lifting up ones eyes or
  voice, (3) to lift up with the added thought of
  lifting up in order to carry away, and (4) to
  remove. (The Gospel of John by James Montgomery
  Boice) There are a number of commentaries that
  speak to this as well. The one thought deals
  with this as loosing ones salvation if not
  bearing fruit, another says that the branch is
  lifted up so that it can produce fruit, still
  anther deals with the non-bearing branch as one
  that was not truly connected to the vine. It is
  not our intention to discuss these issues at this
  time. The importance of this is to deal with the
  privileges and responsibilities of the branch and
  as friends.
•  

9
John 1523 He cuts off every branch in me that
bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear
fruit he prunes so that it will be even more
fruitful. You are already clean because of the
word I have spoken to you.

•  
• An important part of looking after a vine is
  pruning. Left to itself a grape vine will tend
  to produce large quantities of foliage, and this
  tendency must be checked if maximum fruitfulness
  is to be attained. So the gardener will do a
  good deal of pruning in order to encourage
  fruitfulness. Anything that will cause the vine
  to not be fruitful, or hinders the sap from
  flowing unabated into the vine the gardener will
  be aggressive in pruning so that the branches are
  able to produce maximum amount of fruit.
•  
• The other phrase in these two verses is the word
  clean. It is thought that when Jesus speaks
  of the continued cleansing of the branches
  after they have already become clean, the
  disciples in the story world and Johns ideal
  audience might recall 1310 which implies that
  the disciples are mostly clean but their feet
  must sill be washed. (The Gospel of John by
  Craig S. Keener) The disciples were clean but
  not all of them because of the word of God, which
  Jesus declared to them and to which they had
  believed and had taken hold of the disciples
  lives. William Hendriksen suggests that those who
  bear fruit, evidence Christ-like virtues and
  behaviour, are being cleansed more and more
  having already been justified, receiving the
  grace of daily renewal , until finally completely
  sanctified , they reached the shores of Heaven.
  (298, William Hendriksen)
•  

10
John 1523 He cuts off every branch in me that
bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear
fruit he prunes so that it will be even more
fruitful. You are already clean because of the
word I have spoken to you.

•  
• The fruit that is spoken of in verse 2 and
  subsequently throughout this passage of scripture
  can be safely concluded to represent good works
  which God values because it glorifies Him. In
  Galatians 522 the fruit of the Spirit is listed
  as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
  goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
  self-control. To generalize inward and outward
  fruit one could say you bear outward fruit when
  you allow God to work through you to bring Him
  glory. Fruit is an inevitable outcome and
  expression of a continual relationship with the
  vine. It is, perhaps, important to emphasize the
  ongoing nature of abiding and remaining in the
  vine, Christ, as a continuous discipline offered
  in Christ, but also wholly the responsibility of
  the individual.

11
John 154-8 Remain in me, and I will remain in
you. No branch can bear fruit by itself it must
remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me. I am the vine you are
the branches. If a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit apart form me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and
withers such branches are picked up, thrown into
the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my
words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and
it will be given you. This is to my Fathers
glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.

• A branch cannot bear fruit without the vine to
  give it life and strength. The branch is of the
  same nature and has one life with the vine, but
  has no other purpose than to bear fruit. A
  branch is lifeless and useless unless it remains
  attached to the vine. The living sap from the
  stock flowing into it enable it to produce
  grapes otherwise it is fruitless. So with
  Jesus disciples, past, present and future only
  as they remain in union with him and derive their
  life from him can they produce the fruit of the
  Spirit.(The Gospel Epistles of John by
  F.F.Bruce)

12
John 154-8 Remain in me, and I will remain in
you. No branch can bear fruit by itself it must
remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me. I am the vine you are
the branches. If a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit apart form me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and
withers such branches are picked up, thrown into
the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my
words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and
it will be given you. This is to my Fathers
glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.

• Jesus expects each of his followers not only to
  bear fruit, but to bear much fruit. Right through
  this passage there runs the thought that
  fruitfulness is impossible apart form Christ, but
  that is inevitable if we preserve vital contact
  with him. Fruitfulness is not something we
  achieve in the natural energies of the flesh but
  something that follows naturally enough when we
  are in Christ. (Reflections on the Gospel of
  John by Leon Morris) The admonition, abide in
  me, is in agreement with numerous exhortations
  addressed to believers, warning them against
  apostasy and bidding them to abide in faith.
  (299, William Hendriksen) While this passage does
  not disagree with scriptures assertion that once
  some is truly saved, they remain saved (John
  1027-29) but God does not keep a person on the
  path to salvation without the diligence and
  observance of the individual. It is the strength
  to remain in Christ that comes from God alone.

13
John 15 4-8 Continued

• It is of interest to note that remaining and
  obeying come together as we will see in the next
  section. To remain in me refers to something
  that we must do. We must trust, obey and detach
  ourselves from everything else, cling to Christ.
  If we do not continually abide or remain in
  Christ the warning is that we will eventually
  whither up and bear no fruit. The allegory
  clearly portrays the outcome of a branch poorly
  rooted in the vine, as unproductive and dying.
•  

14
John 15 4-8 Continued

•  
• Abiding in Christ is important for other
  reasons that the production of Christian
  character, the bringing forth of Christian
  qualities in the life day by day. Jesus now
  tells his hearers that it is a condition of
  prevailing prayer. If you remain in me he says,
  bring out his point of personal relationship and
  my words remain in you, which stresses the
  importance of being at home in Jesus teaching,
  then ask what you will and it will be done for
  you. Jesus is not simply telling the disciple
  that if they pray certain things will follow. He
  is encouraging them to pray indeed, commanding
  them to pray. Disciples are to ask what they
  will and it will be done for you. We should not
  understand this to mean that prayer is a kind of
  magic talisman, such that ay desires the
  Christian may have are bound to be gratified.
  Jesus is talking about prayer that is made by the
  person who remains in him and in whom his words
  remain. In other words, he is speaking about the
  person whose life is directed singly towards the
  doing of the will of God. (Reflections on the
  Gospel of John by Leon Morris)
•  

15
John 15 4-8 Continued

•  
• It is important to remember that a person who
  abides in Christ and in whose heart utterances
  are in the complete control, will ask nothing
  that is contrary to Christs will, for he will
  always ask in the spirit of, not my will but
  thine be done. (302, William Hendriksen) It is
  therefore easier to understand how God will
  answer whatever we ask of him when praying from a
  heart in daily communion with him and surrendered
  to him. This continual remaining and abiding in
  Christ is a developing understanding of how to
  pray, not from our human desires, according to
  Gods will.

16
John 159-12 As the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you
obey my commands, you will remain in my love,
just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and
remain in his love. I have told you this so that
my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete. My command is his Love each other as
I have loved you.

• Jesus begins with the Fathers love for him.
  That is the foundation of everything. It is only
  because of the Fathers deep love that Jesus
  earthly mission takes place. Jesus goes on to
  say that, in the same way as the Father loves
  him, he loves the disciples. Jesus leaves no
  doubt that he loves them and that they should
  take care that they remain in that love. There is
  a sense in which it is impossible to stop Christ
  from loving us. In that sense we need do
  nothing. But there is another sense in which we
  can so live and feel and think that we cease to
  find that love the center of our being. We can
  turn our thoughts and our attention to the things
  of this life and be so caught up in that life
  that we cease to remain in that love. As far as
  it concerns us, we are thereby no longer in love
  and are cutting ourselves off from some of the
  blessings that Christ offers us.
•  
•  

17
John 159-12 As the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you
obey my commands, you will remain in my love,
just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and
remain in his love. I have told you this so that
my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete. My command is his Love each other as
I have loved you.

•  
• His love is always first. 1 John 419 states,
  we love because he first loved us. The
  expression of that love returned to God is, in
  part, by keeping his precepts. (302, William
  Hendriksen) This keeping his precepts also flows
  out of abiding in his love and relationship. We
  should never forget that Gods love is absent
  his love precedes our love. It accompanies our
  love. It follows our love, and in the very
  process of doing this, creates more love towards
  him in our hearts. (303, William Hendriksen)
  Thus, the abiding believer finds herself drawn
  closer and closer to God through Christ and his
  unfathomable love.
•  
• The service of God is a joyous affair and Jesus
  makes that very clear. The purpose of what he
  has spoken, he now says, is so that my joy might
  be in you. He looks to his followers to have the
  same joy as he has. They are serving the same
  God and they should share the same joy. He puts
  it another way when he goes on to say that you
  might be filled full. He does not want their joy
  to be lacking in the slightest degree.
•  

18
John 15 9-12 Continued

• It is likely that Jesus revealed these things to
  his disciples that they would be encouraged and
  reminded of the joy and purpose of a life lived
  and serving Christ, experiencing that joyfulness.
  Note that this joy is not the kind of joy that
  the world offers or delights in, but the kind of
  joy that can only be known through an abiding
  relationship in Christ, a complete joy.
•  

19
John 15 9-12 Continued

• Love and keeping of commands are linked. It is
  very easy to be selective in our obedience, but
  that is not what we are called to do. It is true
  that there are many commandments, it is also true
  that in the end they all boil down to one love.
  We who are Christians love, but not because it
  has been our good fortune to come across some
  highly attractive people. We love because we
  have become loving people ourselves, people who
  love because we have been loved, not because of
  the merits of the people we encounter on our way
  through life. (Reflections on the Gospel of John
  by Leon Morris)

20
John 1513-15 Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends. You
are my friends if you do what I command. I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does
not know his masters business. Instead, I have
called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you.

• If believers love one another as he has loved
  them they must lay down their lives for one
  another. Early Jewish sources prohibit
  sacrificing another to spare ones own life but
  still allowed that ones life take precedence
  over anothers life. Nevertheless, though one was
  not required to love ones neighbour more than
  oneself, Judaism did praise as heroic the rare
  persons who would sacrifice their lives on behalf
  of their friends. Courageous, heroic, and
  honourable death was an ancient Mediterranean
  virtue.
•  

21
John 1513-15 Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends. You
are my friends if you do what I command. I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does
not know his masters business. Instead, I have
called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you.

•  
• Undoubtedly, this passage foreshadows Jesus
  coming sacrifice on the cross, whereby he would
  give himself as a ransom for many (Mark 1045
  Matthew 2028). Even though, Jesus original
  audience would have not been able to link this
  meaning to Jesus words, it would likely take on
  fuller meaning with circulation of Johns gospel.
  While we cannot model or adopt this exact gift of
  Christs love, to do so would be inauthentic and
  blasphemous, but we can adopt and assume from
  Jesus words that a mentality and discipline of
  self-sacrificing nature. What is likely, Jesus
  meant to love in such a way to deny ourselves and
  love others above ourselves. (305, William
  Hendriksen)

22
John 1513-15 Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends. You
are my friends if you do what I command. I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does
not know his masters business. Instead, I have
called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you.

• Hellenistic ideals of friendship include a
  strong emphasis on loyalty. True friends were
  known in time of trouble, when they were most
  needed. Friends were also recipients of ones
  confidence and intimacy. One difference between
  servant-master relationships and those between
  friends is that servants withhold secrets from
  the master but friends do not withhold them from
  each other. Isocates advises a careful testing
  of friends to see if they are worthy of
  confidence with secrets. Aristotle notes that
  true friendship requires confidence in ones
  friend which requires standing the test of time.
  Josephus, writing about Judaism for a Greco-Roman
  readership is eager to pint out the similar
  emphasis in Jewish ethics the Law allows us to
  conceal nothing from our friends, for there is no
  friendship without absolute confidence in the
  event of subsequent estrangement, it forbids the
  disclosure of secrets. Friends were especially
  supposed to be able to maintain confidences.

23
John 15 13-15 Continued

• When Jesus declares that he no longer calls them
  slaves he signals a new era in salvation history,
  the transition point being Jesus departure to
  and return form the Father. In communicating to
  them what he has heard from the Father, (1515)
  Jesus acts the role of a faithful disciple who
  passes on the teachings of the Father, thus
  providing a model for the Spirit and the
  disciples. Even more to the point, just as
  Wisdom possess all the special secret knowledge
  of God and is thus the truest source of insight
  about God, Jesus is the truest revealer of the
  Father.

24
John 15 13-15 Continued

• Although an allusion to patronal friendship is
  possible in this passage, the Greco-Roman ideals
  of loyalty, intimacy, and sharing are more likely
  in view. The subordination of the disciples in
  obedience is probably more an expression of
  covenant loyalty, qualified by their continuing
  role as servant-disciples, than the subordination
  of a client to a patron.
•  
• Jesus intimately shares the secrets of his heart
  with his disciples, treating them as friends, as
  God treated Abraham and Moses by revealing
  himself to them. The parallels with John
  1613-15 indicate that the Spirit of truth would
  continue passing down the revelations from the
  Father and Jesus to the disciples.
•  

25
John 15 13-15 Continued

•  
• They are his friends, and therefore objects of
  his self-sacrifice if they do what he commands
  the. The paradoxical image of friends not slaves
  who obey Jesus commandments is meant to jar the
  hearer to attention friendship means not freedom
  to disobey but an intimate relationship that
  continues to recognize distinctions in authority.
  By obeying, they continue to make themselves
  more open recipients of Gods love abiding and
  persevering in ever deeper intimacy with God.
  (The Gospel of John by Graig S. Keener)

26
 John 1516 You did not choose me, but I chose
you and appointed you to go and bear fruit
fruit that will last. Then the Father will give
you whatever you ask in my name.

• Jesus now harks back for a moment to the figure
  of the vine and its fruit. On the day that he
  first met his disciples and conscripted them into
  his service with the command follow me! he
  chose them that they might share his ministry.
  The fruit produced by the branches is the fruit
  of the vine itself. (The Gospel Epistles of
  John by F.F. Bruce)
•  
• Merrill C. Tenney views the entirety of John 15
  as broken into Jesus teaching on our
  relationship to Christ (v.1-11), relationship of
  believers to each other (v.12-17), and
  relationship to the world (v.18-27). Ones
  relationship to Christ should be at the centre
  and relationships to others as an outlawing
  expression of abiding in Christ. Treating
  one-another in self-sacrificing nature and
  service, and living as ambassadors of Christ to
  the world. Jesus words paint a drastic contrast
  between his disciples and the world, and the
  largest differing feature being a unique and
  growing remaining in Christ. If the world hates
  you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you
  belonged to the world, it would love you as its
  own. As it is, you do not belong to the world,
  but I have chosen you out of the world. (John
  1518-19) It is not the world, or sin, to which
  to those who abide in Christ belong, but Christ
  himself. (230, Merrill C. Tenney)
•  

27
 John 1516 You did not choose me, but I chose
you and appointed you to go and bear fruit
fruit that will last. Then the Father will give
you whatever you ask in my name.

•  
• That Jesus appointed them suggests that he not
  only exercised a purpose concerning them but
  established that purpose (The Gospel of John by
  Graig S. Keener) This purpose that was
  established has been seen throughout this passage
  and that is to be fruitful. This is the
  enduring fruit of lives in union with the
  ever-living Christ, bearing witness to his
  abiding grace. (F.F. Bruce)
•  
• Again the promise of answered prayer is made to
  the disciple who remains united to Jesus as the
  fruit-bearing branch is united to the vine.
  United to Jesus, that disciple can plead his
  prevailing name with confidence in the Fathers
  presence. (F.F. Bruce)

28
Conclusion

• As branches we have the privilege of sharing
  His life, and the responsibility of abiding. As
  friends, we have the privilege of knowing His
  will, and the responsibility of obeying. In
  both instances fruitfulness is an inevitable
  outcome with the privilege of being in vital
  relationship with Christ. Bearing fruit that
  remains and brings glory to the Father. Despite
  the various components of the passages teaching,
  the remaining principle of John 15 clearly
  illustrates just as a vine-offshoot bears fruit
  only when it abides in the vine, so also
  believers will bear spiritual fruit only when
  they abide in Christ. (294, William Hendriksen)
  The reader clearly gets the teaching, to continue
  to remain in Christ in order that you may bear
  more fruit, spiritual fruit, abundantly.
• Given the privilege to ask what they will, the
  disciples that remain in Christ, living singly
  towards the doing of the will of God, can live
  and ask with a boldness knowing that they are in
  the vine.

29
Some websites for further information

•  
• MacArthur, John., Abiding in Christ chapter 3 of
  6.
• http//www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/1553.HTM
• Matthew Henrys Commentary
• www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?commhcb43c
  15
• John Darbys Synopsis
• http//www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?comdrby
  b43c15
• Wesleys Explanatory Notes
• http//www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?comwes
  b43c15

30
Books for further study

•  
• Tenney, Merrill C., John the Gospel of Belief
  An Analytic Study of the Text, Wm B. Eerdmans
  Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1948.
• Hendriksen, William, New Testament Commentary
  Exposition of the Gospel According to John, Baker
  Book House, Grand Rapids, 1996.
• Murphy, Andrew, the true vine, Whitaker house,
  Pittsburgh Colfax Streets, Springdale, PA,
  1982.
• Burge, Gary M, The NIV application commentary
  John, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000.