Overview (NET) The imagery of the vine underscores the importance of fruitfulness in the Christian life and the truth that this results not from human achievement, but from one’s position in Christ. Jesus is not just giving some comforting advice, but portraying to the disciples the difficult path of faithful service. To some degree the figure is similar to the head-body metaphor used by Paul, with Christ as head and believers as members of the body. Both metaphors bring out the vital and necessary connection which exists between Christ and believers.
Context: Second chapter of the Upper Room Discourse (ch 14-17)
1. The gardener
...my Father is the gardener. 2 He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.
The relationship between J and His believers were a 3-parties relationship including the Father. He takes away and He prunes or He has authority over us and we are accountable before Him, i.e. to bear fruit for Him.
2. The branch that is being taken away
take away-(BDAG) to take away, remove, or seize control without suggestion of lifting up, take away, remove
(NET) he prototypical branch who has not remained is Judas, who departed in 13:30. He did not bear fruit, and is now in the realm of darkness, a mere tool of Satan. His eternal destiny, being cast into the fire of eternal judgment, is still to come. It seems most likely, therefore, that the branches who do not bear fruit and are taken away and burned are false believers, those who profess to belong to Jesus but who in reality do not belong to him. In the Gospel of John, the primary example of this category is Judas. In 1 John 2:18–19 the “antichrists” fall into the same category; they too may be thought of as branches that did not bear fruit. They departed from the ranks of the Christians because they never did really belong, and their departure shows that they did not belong.
3. The branch that is pruned
v.3 You are clean already
After the warning of the gardener who takes away and prunes the branches, Jesus assured the disciples that they are clean already. They are ready to bear fruit.
clean-BDAG pert. to being free from moral guilt, pure, free fr. sin
(NET) The phrase you are clean already occurs elsewhere in the Gospel of John only at the washing of the disciples’ feet in 13:10, where Jesus had used it of the disciples being cleansed from sin.
v.4a Remain in me
Again, disciples are clean already, all they need to do is stay in Jesus and stay clean (and ready to bear fruit).
Remain- BDAG of a location stay, oft. in the special sense live, dwell, lodge
The question is what does remain in the location of a person mean?
v.4b Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
The vine supply what the branch needs to bear fruit, and therefore the branch stays and tapped into the vine. Therefore, Jesus wanted the believers to tapped into Him as our source of life, and where our ability to live comes from.
Note-the branch has 2 ways not being on the vine: (1) being taken away by the gardener; or (2) if it chooses to not to stay.
4. Summary: Not every branch will stay. Since we are cleaned already by Jesus and able to stay, (1) we need to bear fruit for the gardener, that is His expectation; (2) Stay where we are. Where we are is a position that we can tap into our ability to live. Do not choose to leave this privilege position.
Reflection: Do I just live to meet my own expectation? Or am I living to please God?
Do I realize my privilege? Stay where I am. As long as I want to bear fruits, my resources are never in short supply.
5. NMM question: Which of these two lies (independence and self-sufficiency) do you most often believe? Where specifically do you see this happening in your life? Why?
Rely on my own understanding in my knowledge because I was trained in that area.
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