Series B
The Vine and The Branches - Gospel Analysis

John 15:1-8

The following Bible study is from a larger course entitled, THE LIFE OF CHRIST: A Study in the Four Gospels. This 54 week course for the laity will be available for congregations in 2006.

Basic text for the course: SYNOPSIS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, Kurt Aland, English Edition, P. 291. 

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS

This text is the primary text in the lectionary about vine and fruit, a common and everyday metaphor from Jesus’ life.

Think of numerous clusters of grapes on a grape vine, that is so laden with grapes that the Or think of numerous apples on an apple tree that is so laden with apples that the branches are weighed down. Or think of abundant pears on a pear tree or plentiful oranges on an orange tree. The list of mental images goes on and on. Trees laden with fruit. That is what the Lord God wants from each of our lives. This happens when we are grafted INTO Christ, so much so that our way of life, love and compassionate energy come from him.

There are six, I AM, sayings in the Gospel of John e.g. “I am the bread of life,”  “I am the resurrection and the life,” “I am the way, the truth and the life,” “I am the door,” “I am the good shepherd,” “I am the true vine.” It seems that Jesus also implied that he was “the living water” in John 3:7-41, even though Jesus did not use the actual words, “I am the living water.”

Each one of the I AM teachings from Jesus teach us something slightly different about Jesus Christ. Each metaphor is unique and helps us to see a different aspect of who Jesus was and is. Each teaching gives us a particular insight into the nature of Christ. So it is when Jesus taught about being the true vine. Jesus is thereby teaching us that a branch needs to be IN the vine, part of the vine, growing out of the vine, in order to produce much fruit.

The Gospel of John does not include the earthy parables of Jesus about the seed and the sower, the seed growing secretly, the mustard seed, the hidden treasure and the priceless pearl but this analogy functions like these parables. Since vines and vineyards were such dominant themes in the everyday life of the Jews during the time of Jesus, it is amazing that this analogy about the vine and the branches was not included as one of the parables of Jesus in the synoptic gospels.

Nor does the Gospel of John include the numerous teachings of Jesus in the synoptic gospels about “bearing fruit.” (We shall review these teachings in a few moments.)  These teachings of Jesus (and Paul) provide a larger background for Jesus’ teaching about the vine, branches and bearing much fruit.

In a sermon for this coming Sunday, it seems wise to supplement the gospel lesson with Jesus’ teaching about bearing fruit from Matthew 7:15-20. This teaching, and its parallel in Q (Luke 6:43-45), do not appear in the Sunday morning lectionary. The Pharisees in Matthew 7 are an example of people who are not grafted into the vine. The key sentence is, “You will known them by their fruits.”

Matthew 7:15-20. 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.”

Several teachings from the letters of the Apostle Paul also inform us about the vine, branches and producing much fruit.

Ga 5:22 – “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”

Eph 5:9 – “The fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.”

Col 1:6 – “Just as it (the gospel) is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.”

Col 1:10 – “So that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.”

Heb 12:11 – “Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Also think of the parable of the four soils: Mark 4:20, “And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."

In the text for today, we Christians are called to produce/bear “much fruit” and “more fruit.” This theme is consistent with the parable of the four soils and the enormous productivity of the good soil. 

#320. JESUS THE TRUE VINE   John 15:1-8

-I am the true vine, “I am the true vine” is one of the six I AM sayings in the Gospel of John and this teaching needs to be understood as one these teachings.

In this analogy, the focus in on Jesus Christ and who he is. Jesus is the true vine, the authentic vine, the spiritual force/presence in whom my life as a Christian is grafted. So it is with all Christians: we are grafted into Christ. We are intimately connected with Christ as a branch is with a vine. The fruitfulness of each branch depends on its relationship to the vine, who is Jesus Christ.

This metaphor is easy to comprehend. That is, we all know that branches of trees  MUST be grafted/attached/fixed/implanted into the trunk of the tree in order for that branch to be alive and produce leaves or fruit. From our own life experience, we all intuitively understand this simple metaphor of Jesus. We all know that if a branch is broken from the trunk, the branch withers and dies shortly. This metaphor is powerful, precisely because of its simplicity and clarity.

As a branch MUST be attached to the trunk of a tree to produce leaves or fruit, so we as Christians MUST be attached to Christ who is the source of our energy, life and love.

Jesus is the true vine. There are other vines that we human beings are deeply interconnected with and from which we draw life and energy but these are false vines. Such false vines can be our job, our country, our team, our city, our recreation, our hobbies, and even our family and our church.  The gospel text does not focus on false vines but simply says that Jesus is the true vine.

and my Father is the vine grower. Jesus is the true vine, the authentic vine. His Father, (our Father), is the vine grower of this vineyard. The Lord God is the owner of the vineyard. 

We have heard before that one of the seminal teachings of Jesus is that God is his Father and our Father. Here in this text, the Lord God is not called the Lord God as in the Old Testament but simply “my Father.” The Lord God is the Father of Jesus and there is an intimate and family relationship between them.

-He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Near the word, “he,” write in the word, “God, our Father.” God, our Father, is the owner and gardener of the vineyard. It is the Lord God, our heavenly Father, who prunes, cleanses and removes unproductive branches/disciples and unproductive routines and relationships within our lives.

Within the image of Father, we know that a loving Father disciplines his children in order for the child to become healthier and wiser, and live life in a loving way.

Focus on the words, “every branch.” In this metaphor, Christ is the vine and we disciples are the branches that are connected to Christ and draw energy from Christ. As disciples, our growth and life are entirely dependent upon being connected with the trunk of the vine.

As gardeners who work in our backyards and gardens, we know that we prune “suckers” off the vine, “suckers” that suck energy from the plant but produce no fruit.

There are many connections in our lives which do not produce the fruit of love, kindness and justice. Christ removes those non-productive connections and associations in our lives. Jesus says that those unhealthy routines and relationships need to be pruned back, so that our lives are more productive of love and goodness.

This logic makes sense to us. That is, it is beneficial for us for God to remove those unhealthy routines and relationships which diminish the kind and quality of people that God wants us to be.

Next, focus clearly on the two little words, “in me.” Near the words, “in me,” write the word, “Jesus.”

Many scholars think that the heart of Johannine theology are the words, “in me” or “in him.” Within the Gospel of John, there are 23 uses of “in me” and 21 uses of “in him.”

Christian followers are “in Christ.” Within the New Testament and almost always within the letters of the Apostle Paul, there are the words, “in Christ.” The words “In Christ” occur 89 times in the New Testament and climax with 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in   Christ, he is a new creation.”

IN him, IN me, IN Christ are the same reality. The branch is IN the vine; Christians are IN Christ.

Scan the following 23 references from the Gospel of John which say “in me.”

John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

John 6:56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

John 10:38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

John 11:2 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

John 11:26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 

John 12:44 Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

John 14:10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

John 14:11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (from New International Version)

John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father

John 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

John 15:2 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.

John 15:4 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.

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:6 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

John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

John 16:9  in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;

John 16:33  "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

John 17:20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,

John 17:21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Scan the following 21 references from the Gospel of John that say “in him.”

John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

John 2:11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

John 3:15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 

John 4:14  but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 

John 4:39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." (from New International Version)

John 6:40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 

John 6:56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. (from New International Version)

John 7:5  For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

John 7:31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?"

John 7:39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 7:48 "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?

John 8:30 Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

John 9:36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."

John 11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.

John 11:48  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

John 12:11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

John 12:37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

John 12:42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

In other words, “In him, me,” is a dominant theological motif in the Gospel of John. We hear the phase, “in me” or “in him” 44 times within the Gospel of John. We hear the words, “In Christ,” 89 times in the New Testament, primarily in the epistles of Paul.

The branch is grafted IN the vine. Christians are IN Christ.

A primary question of the metaphor of the vine and the branches is: What does it mean that the branch is IN the vine? What does it mean that a branch is IN the trunk of a tree? 

 “As in a fruit tree, some branches may be fruitful, others quite barren, according as there is a vital connection between the branch and the stock, or no vital connection; so the disciples of Christ may be spiritually fruitful or the reverse, according as they are vitally and spiritually connected with Christ, or but externally and mechanically attached to Him.” http://www.ccel.org/j/jfb/jfb/JFB43.htm#Chapter15  Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

In the above quotation, focus on the phrase, “vital connection.” There is to be a vital connection between each one of us and Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees were people who did not have a vital connection with Jesus Christ nor with God. John the Baptist, like Jesus, warned his listeners about the Pharisees and Sadducees who did not produce the good fruit of the kingdom and their dead lives would be pruned and they would be thrown into the unquenchable fire.

Matthew 3:7-12.  “7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

The passage for today, John 15:1-8, uses the word “fruit” more than any other passage in the New Testament. There are six references to the word, “fruit,” in these eight verses of the text for this coming Sunday. It is also wise to be aware of the use of the word, “fruit,” throughout the whole New Testament.

“Fruit” symbolizes love, charitable love, gracious love, agape love. We know that there are “fruits of the Spirit” such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. These are all sweet tasting and sweet smelling virtues.

Scan the following references from the New Testament about “fruit.” 

Mt 3:8 -  Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

Mt 3:10 - Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Mt 7:17 - In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

Mt 7:18 - A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Mt 7:19 - Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Mt 12:33 - "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

Mt 13:23 - But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." (This parable focuses on the theme of producing much fruit.)

Mt 21:19 -  And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.

Mt 26:29 - I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

Mr 4:20 - And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."

Mr 11:14 - He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.

Mr 14:25 - Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Lu 1:42 -  and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Lu 3:9 - Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Lu 6:43 - "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;

Lu 6:44 - For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

Lu 8:14 - As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

Lu 8:15 - But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.

Lu 13:6 - Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

Lu 13:7 - So he said to the gardener, "See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?'

Lu 13:9 - If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.' "

Lu 22:18 - for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

Joh 4:36 - The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

Joh 12:24 - Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Joh 15:2 - He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.

Joh 15:4 - Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

Joh 15:5 - I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Joh 15:8 - My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Joh 15:16 - You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

Ro 7:4 - In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Ro 7:5 - While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

1Co 9:7 - Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?

Ga 5:22 - By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,

Eph 5:9 - for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

Col 1:6 - that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.

Col 1:10 - so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

Heb 12:11 - Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Heb 13:15 - Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Jude 1:12 - These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted;

-Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. Circle and focus on the word, “every.” Every Christian experiences the “pruning back” by God. A sign of God’s love is to prune our lives back, so that we will be every more productive in our love. If our lives as Christians are not bearing fruit (of love, joy, compassion), God will prune our lives back, so that we can bear more fruit. The vine grower wants us to produce more fruit. Circle the word, “more.” God wants us to bear more fruit, to produce “much fruit,” to live a more productively loving life in Christ.

Underline the words, “more fruit.” This is what the Lord God wants: for our lives to be abundantly fruitful.

Think of numerous clusters of grapes on a grape vine or numerous apples on an apple tree that is so laden with apples that the branches are weighed down. Think of pears on a pear tree or oranges on an orange tree. The list of other mental images goes on and on. Trees laden with fruit. That is what the Lord God wants from each of our lives. This happens only if we are grafted INTO Christ, so that our life, love and compassionate energy come from him.

As a personal note, when I almost died of a rare illness six years ago, in retrospect, I see the hand of God, pruning my life. My life was pruned way back. Now, after six years have gone by, I can look back and see where my life at that moment was going in unhealthy directions. That is, I was attempting to become a philanthropist and was too involved with earning money in order to give it away. I had become too preoccupied with money and producing large sums of money. Since my near death experience, I have rarely looked at the stock market and have returned to my first love and calling in my professional life: to be a Biblical preacher and Biblical teacher. Today, my life is much more productive and bearing much more fruit than it was six years ago before I became sick. As I look back, God pruned my life in a very healthy way, although I didn’t know it at the time.

-You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. As human beings who are also Christians, we constantly have impure thoughts and actions which we are keenly aware of and need to be washed clean in God’s forgiveness. Jesus the Lamb of God cleanses us from all of our sins.

Jesus is the purifier. We think of the praise song, “refiner’s fire,” and we recall a different metaphor about Jesus purifying us from the impurities of our daily lives by burning them away as a hot fire burns the impurities from metal.

-Abide in me as I abide in you. We have heard of this mutual indwelling in Jesus’ previous teaching. We live in Christ and Christ lives in us.

“As all spiritual fruitfulness had been ascribed to the mutual inhabitation, and living, active interpenetration (so to speak) of Christ and His disciples, so here the keeping up of this vital connection is made essential to continued fruitfulness.” Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The word abide means “live.” To live in Christ and Christ to live in us.

The word, “abide,” is a dominant word in the Gospel of John and is repeated often. 17 of the 18 times the word, “abide,” occurs in the New Testament are from the Gospel or  Epistles of John.

Scan the following references to the word “abide” in the Gospel and epistles of John  

Joh 6:56 - Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

Joh 15:4 - Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

Joh 15:5 - I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Joh 15:6 - Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

Joh 15:7 - If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Joh 15:9 - As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

Joh 15:10 - If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

1Co 13:13 - And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1Jo 2:6 - whoever says, "I abide in him," ought to walk just as he walked.

1Jo 2:24 - Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.

1Jo 2:27 - As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.

1Jo 2:28 - And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.

1Jo 3:17 - How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

1Jo 3:24 - All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

1Jo 4:13 - By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

1Jo 4:15 - God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

1Jo 4:16 - So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

2Jo 1:9 - Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

From the above readings from the Johannine literature, it is obvious that the word “abide” is a uniquely Johannine word that is used almost exclusively in the books that bear his name. 

-Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Our lives as Christians cannot produce fruit unless our nourishment comes from the vine, from Jesus himself. The only way to produce fruit is to be connected with the vine. Energy flows through the vine to the fruit.

As human beings, we know what happens to a branch that is ripped off a tree but left to hang there on that tree. The leaves (and fruit) wither and die. Why?  Because the branch is not fully attached to the tree.

-I am the vine, you are the branches. This metaphor is clear. Jesus is the vine and his disciples are the branches. This metaphor is plain and simple.

-Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Those who live in Christ find that Christ also lives in them. That is just the word it works. This relationship is often called “mutual indwelling.” Christ lives in us and we live in Christ, so energy flows from one to the other.

Circle the words, “much fruit.” Jesus wants us to bear much fruit, to be unusually loving in our Christian life. This only happens when we are grafted into Christ and his energy flows through our love and compassion. 

-Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. Judgment. Final judgment. In Matthew’s gospel, we heard Jesus talking about weeping, gnashing teeth and being thrown into the unquenchable fire. The Old Testament talked about blessings and curses. To follow God’s ways would result in blessings; to disobey God’s ways would result in a cursed life and pain and misery. We hear these same themes in John’s gospel.

-If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. If a person abides in Christ and Christ abides in that person, their wishes will be in harmony with the will of God. Our prayers will be fully answered because our prayers will be in harmony with God.

-My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. Circle the phrase, “much fruit.” This is the fourth time in this small section where Jesus wants his disciples to know that they are to bear “much fruit.”

A question is: How do we glorify God? We glorify God, not primarily by doing to church and singing praise songs and old classic hymns. The primary way we glorify God is by bearing MUCH fruit. God is glorified with we bear much fruit and are loving and compassionate.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU TO BEAR ‘MUCH FRUIT?” HOW DOES A CHRISTIAN KNOW IF HE/SHE IS BEARING “MUCH FRUIT?” WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE CONNECTED TO THE VINE (CHRIST) IN ORDER TO BEAR MUCH FRUIT?

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