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RenewingMinds
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The True Vine
Miles J. Stanford
The True
Vine
The context of John 15 concerning the True Vine deals
with relationship, fellowship, and fruit-bearing - it is an illustration,
not a doctrine. Its primary
purpose centers in the imminent transition of the disciples from the nation
of Israel to the Body of Christ.
As in all Scripture, the imagery contains truths that are
helpful and instructive to Christians, but there is no directly applied
doctrine there for the risen believer. When it comes to fruit-bearing in the
life of the Christian, the underlying doctrines are to be found in the
realms of truth which relate directly
to him, such as 2 Corinthians 3:18 (abiding); 2 Corinthians 4:11
(pruning); and Galatians 5:22, 23 (fruit-bearing).
Until the day of Pentecost, the disciples were
Israelites.. They were Jews, they were in the flesh, they were still in the
first Adam. It is true that they had faith in the Lord Jesus as their
Messiah. They were of the believing remnant of Israel, they were His
disciples. Nevertheless, they were still branches in the vine, Israel. And
Israel was a fruitless vine!
After God brought Israel out of Egypt, He planted her in
Canaan as His vine. “Thou hast brought a vine
out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the nations, and planted it. Thou
preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it
filled the land” (Ps. 80:8, 9).
God planted His vine in the fruitful land of Canaan and
yet, under His holy Law, under His priests, under His kings and prophets,
under His chastisement via the reign of the Gentiles, right down to New
Testament days, Israel brought forth no fruit unto God.
“And he dug it, and gathered out the stones, and planted
it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also
made a winepress in it; and he looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it
brought forth wild grapes” (Isa. 5:2).
He said to Israel through Jeremiah,
“For of old I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands;
and thou saidst, I will not transgress, when upon every high hill and under
every . green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted
thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How, then, art thou turned into the
degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?”
(Jer. 2:20, 21).
A fruitless vine is worthless.
“What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a
branch which is among the trees of the f6rest? Shall wood be taken of it to
do any work? Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it?...
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the
forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the
inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Ezek. 15:2, 3,
6).
Throughout its history, Israel was true to its Adamic
nature. “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself” (Hosea
10:1). The fruit Israel brought upon itself was loss of the kingdom, and
bondage to Imperial Rome - 500 years in the hands of the Gentiles.
[Israel stood as representative for the human race. Having proved the
human race incorrigible, God judged and condemned all things Adamic, in the
persons of Israel, at Calvary.]
In His mercy--and in His own time--God returned to His
desolated nation in the person of His Son, its true King, who offered
Israel its kingdom. According to its Adamic nature, Israel not only refused
its kingdom, but utterly rejected its King--and was soon to murder Him and
cast Him out of His world.
On the very eve of the crucifixion crime, the rejected
King shared the illustration of the vine with His disciples. It was to be a
part of their preparation for the “great transition”--from being branches
in the fruitless vine to being fruitful branches in the True Vine; from
being in the kingdom to being in the King--members of His Body, with Him as
its Head.
At this point the disciples were still in the first Adam. If any one of them had died prior to Pentecost, he would be among those
resurrected at the second advent as a member of the earthly millennial
kingdom. Their faith was in the Messiah-King; they were His disciples--followers, learners, in subjection to Him and to the external law of
Moses. They were not yet born again; they were not
in the Lord Jesus, and He
was not in them.
As for the Son of Man, He stood before the disciples as
Israel’s rejected King, patiently and lovingly offering the kingdom that
would be spurned by Israel. He was still in the position of Israel’s
Messiah. He had not yet taken His place as the Last Adam. He had not died,
nor risen, nor ascended, nor had He yet been glorified. Hence the Holy
Spirit had not yet descended (Pentecost) to begin forming His Body.
He had just explained to these disciples that
“Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone” (John 12:24). And He is
alone as He faces His disciples and shares His word-picture of the vine. He
is the True Vine, sans branches.
“I Am The
True Vine” (John 15:1)
What a shock that declaration must have been to the
disciples! Branches in God’s national vine of many years standing, and now
to be told that they were in the rejected one! And that the accepted vine,
the true vine, is not a nation, but a person--even their Messiah!
By the mighty hand of God Himself, their vine had been
brought up out of Egypt! And was not Israel God’s
son, as well as His vine?
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him,
and called my son out of Egypt” (Hosea
11:1).
True, but had not Peter just been shown by that same God
that this very man was His Son? “We believe
and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God”
(John 6:69).
This Son, also, had been brought up out of Egypt.
“When he (Joseph) arose, he took the young child and
his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death
of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through
the prophet (Hosea), saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son”
(Matt. 2:14, 15).
Having rejected both its King and its kingdom, God set
aside that rebellious and fruitless vine, and presented to the believing
Israelites His Son, the True Vine. Grace!
“My Father
Is The Vinedresser” (John 15:1)
Coupled with the shock concerning the True Vine is
another: His Father is the dresser of the branches of that Vine!
One reason for Israel’s fruitlessness was the corruption
of her husbandmen and vinedressers. “The
prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my
people love to have it so. “ “For from the least of them even unto the
greatest of them every one is given to coveteousne3s; and from the prophet
even unto the priest ever-y one dealeth falsely”
(Jer. 5:31; 6:13).
Finally, the vinedressers cut down the True Vine!
“Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him, with
the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he
be King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe
him” (Matt. 27:41, 42).
Yet in the very act of cutting down the True Vine, these
wicked husbandmen felled their own vine! “And
now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree
which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down”
(Matt. 3:10). And down went Israel at the Cross!
“Which none of the princes of this age knew; for had
they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”
(I Cor. 2:8).
As if that were not enough, these same vinedressers
sought to decimate every branch of the True Vine that they could lay their
hands upon--all the way from Stephen to Paul!
Even so, the branches of the True Vine are lovingly
tended by their Father, the True Vinedresser. The pruning of Stephen
produced glory: “When they
(the wicked vine dressers)
heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with
their teeth.”
“But he (Stephen, the branch), being full of the Holy ‘ Spirit, looked up
steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus fthe True Vine)
standing on the right hand of God” (Acts
7:54, 55).
Later, the True Vine said to the branch, Paul,
“My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is
made perfect in weakness.” The abiding branch
replied concerning his. pruning, “Most gladly,
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when
I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:9,
10).
”Every
Branch In Me That Beareth Not Fruit He Taketh Away” (John 15:2).
The often-missed key to this statement of our Lord is the
word “in.” A
branch in the True Vine is there by union of eternal life, and cannot be
removed. The Vine would first have to die, and that is impossible.
“Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead,
dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.... Likewise, reckon ye
also yourselves to be... alive unto God through (in) Jesus Christ”
(Rom. 6:9, 11).
If for one reason or another - the Vinedresser alone can
judge - a branch does not bear fruit, the Father may remove it from earth
unto Himself; but certainly not out of the True Vine to be cast into the
fire for burning. The Word says “taketh
away,” not
“cast forth,” as in verse 6 - something
altogether different. The branch may be through with its bearing; it may be
shelved for not bearing; it may be necessary to take it away as in 1
Corinthians 11:30 - but never cast forth out of the Vine.
Pruning, as a vinedresser’s art, does not consist in
cutting off branches, but of trimming away excess and misdirected growth.
That may involve a branch being cut back, but it is not removed from the
vine.
“Every
Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Purgeth It, That It May Bring Forth More
Fruit” (John 15:2).
The purpose of the branch is to manifest the life and
character of the vine. The fruit of the True Vine which is to glow in His
branches is the “fruit of
the Spirit.” And “the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, self-control”
(Gal. 5:22, 23).
The actual fruit of the Vine in the branch is a product
of the Holy Spirit by means of spiritual growth. It is not service, nor the
exercise of one’s gifts. Good works there may be in abundance; but they are
not based upon, nor are they a result of, the fruit of the Vine.
“Though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all
knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
and have not love (fruit), I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2).
As we abide in the True Vine our service will be carried
out in a Christ-like manner, and it will be acceptable to God and beneficial
to man. We are to “Walk (and serve) worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col.
1:10).
Even though a branch is fruitful, there is ever the
tendency to produce the “works of the flesh.”
Thus the Father prunes the branches, that they may bring forth more fruit of
the Spirit, and less works of ‘ the flesh. His pruning, His purging, His
chastening is by His hand of love - the application of the Cross in order
that the fruit pleasing to Him, the life of His Beloved Son, may be
manifested more abundantly in our lives.
All of the Father’s vinedressing work is carried out in
love, not anger. It is all purgative, not punitive. The pruning knife is in
the nail-pierced hand; and, while “no
chastening (pruning) for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous;
nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them who are exercised by it” (Heb. 12:11).
“The Vinedresser is never so near as when He is
pruning.”
“Now Ye
Are Clean Through The Word Which I Have Spoken Unto You” (John 15:3).
The disciples had put their trust in the Messiah. He was
their Redeemer - they were redeemed from their sins and were members of His
kingdom. The Lord Jesus had said to them the day before,
“He that is washed needeth not except to wash his feet,
but is entirely clean; and ye are clean, but not all of you. For he knew who
should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean... I speak not of
you all (I know whom I have chosen), but that the Scripture may be
fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me”
(John 13:10, 11, 18).
“Abide In
me, And I In You” (John 15:4)
It is to be remembered that this illustration of the True
Vine is part of His preparation of the disciples for the soon-coming events
of the Cross, and of the day of Pentecost. They were not in Him, nor was He
in them. “And now I have told you before it
come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe”
(John 14:29).
“Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more;
but ye see me. Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day (Pentecost)
ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”
(John 14:19, 20). In a few hours they were to hear Him pray to His
Father, their Vinedresser, “Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also (you and me) who shall believe on me through
their word... that they also may be one in us”
(John 17:20, 21).
At Pentecost, when the Spirit would baptize them into a
living oneness with the ascended Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 12:13), He would also
be in them. It is
only on that basis that they could abide in the True Vine - they would first
have to be in union with Him.
To “abide”
means “to stand fast, to remain, to go on being; to reside.”
“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” “Paul said to the
centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be
saved” (John 14:16; Acts 27:31).
Upon becoming a branch via the new birth, the believer
tends to work to bring forth fruit unto God. But that fruitless struggle of
Romans Seven is designed to teach that branch the absolute necessity of
abiding, resting, in his position in the True Vine.
He is to learn by means of sterile effort that the living
fruit of the Spirit can never be produced by the branch. He learns to depend
upon, to fellowship with, to abide in nearness of heart in the One who is
his very life - that His fruit might grow.
“That the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11).
“As The
Branch Cannot Bear Fruit Of Itself…”
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 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 you can do nothing.” (John 15:4, 5).
As we abide in and fellowship with the Vine, and thereby
come to know Him more fully, the fruit of His life is manifested in us.
“Fruit is not produced by making fruit an object, or by thinking of fruit;
it is the outcome of having the Lord Jesus as our Object. He precedes, as
well as produces, fruit.”
Our abiding-place is in the light and the Holiest of all,
not by reason of our subjective condition of soul, but because the Lord
Jesus has made the position ours by the putting away of our sins, and by
bringing us to God. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.... Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:19,
20, 22).
Here it is that the child of God is to walk - “If we
walk in the light as he is in the light.” How we walk is a question to be
settled after it is determined where
we walk. And walking in the light, fellowship follows, not as an attainment
(law), but as a consequence
(grace). --H.F. Witherby (The Child of God,
p. 283)
“If A Man
Abide Not In Me…”
“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” (John 15:6).
Heretofore the Lord was addressing the disciples
personally concerning their coming relationship to the True Vine. He said,
“Ye are clean”; “I in you”; “Ye are the
branches,” etc. But in verse 6 He said,
“If a man....”
If a man is not organically in Him he cannot abide in Him. And if he
therefore does not abide in the Vine who is Life, he is ultimately cast
forth to his doom. “Cast forth”
is a far cry from being taken away!
“If Ye
Abide In Me…”
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
In verse 7 the Lord again addressed the disciples:
“If ye abide in me.”
As we abide in and fellowship with the Lord Jesus, His Word will become the
arbiter and motivation of our will and affections. Hence we are able to ask
according to His will. “And this is the
confidence that we! have in him, that, if
we ask anything according to his will, he
heareth us; and if
we know that he hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we
have the petitions that we desired of
him” (I John 5:14,
15).
The Lord Jesus is the express image of God (Heb. 1:3),
and thereby the Father was glorified in Him (John 17:4). As the fruit of
the Spirit (the express image and character of the Lord Jesus), is
manifested in our mortal bodies (2 Cor. 4:11), our Father is glorified in
us. It is the “much fruit” that He produces through the Vine and in the
branches. That fruit of life alone brings forth fruitful service. As Paul
wrote to the Galatians, “My little children,
of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you”
(Gal. 4:19).
A healthy branch has no source, no object, but the Vine.
J.B. Stoney has made the following helpful comments:
I draw near to Him in proportion as I know His mind and
feelings toward me; and no message, from His presence could effect so deep
an assurance and joy in the heart as the light of the Gospel of the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image of God; for from henceforth the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is my portion and
privilege (2 Cor. 4:6). And this imparts such a tone and character
touching everything, that not only do our light afflictions, which are but
for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
but we are transformed by association with Him in the glory so that all
present things are superseded and supplanted in the heart.
Everything is judged in relation to that glory which
displaces and consumes all that is not of it, and allows only that which has
been formed by it, and is consequently for it. If souls have not the light
of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, they cannot adorn the Gospel; but if
they have, all that is of the old man is proportionately eclipsed, and the
Lord Jesus is testified of and manifested, while our portion in God is the
unfailing joy of the heart. The reason there is so little growth is that
there is so little association and occupation with the Lord Jesus where He
is. The glory invites now, instead of the law repelling, and the practical
effect is, “Changed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18).
- SEATED
- ASCENDED
- RAISED
- BURIED
- CRUCIFIED
