Many things changed for Jesus’ disciples when He departed to His Father, but His people would stay connected with Him no matter what. They would be able to know His love and joy; they wouldn’t need to draw meaning from the world for they had now become strangers to it. In fact, the world would persecute them like it persecuted Christ. But God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit, would be more than enough for His disciples. His love and care had become more than sufficient for their lives.

As He comforted His disciples, Christ gave all this instruction to them through the familiar picture of a vine and branches.

Connection⤒🔗

Perhaps sparked by the recent Lord's Supper, where there had been the “fruit of the vine” (Matt. 26:29), or the vineyards along the path to the Garden of Gethsemane, in chapter 15, Christ began His next parable with “I am the vine” (v. 1). He uses this plant analogy to explain His relationship with His followers. And like all His parables, He brought His message close to the daily lives of His disciples.

The disciples needed clarity on how they should relate to the world after Christ would return to His Father. The world had not received Christ and it will not receive the disciples either; their lives on earth would not be easy. They would often feel like strangers on earth. Later, the witness of Christ’s followers would win many over by the work of the Holy Spirit, yet many would hate the message the disciples would bring. The love that the disciples needed for this task would come from the Father and would shine through the people of God. Only by receiving His love and care would the disciples be able to do the work they were called to do.

Chapter 15 is connected to chapter 14. In chapter 14, a central metaphor was “dwelling” or “abiding” (same word in Greek; vv. 2, 23). In chapter 15, Christ’s chief instruction to His people is precisely “to abide” in Him. They will be living closely connected to Him. This idea of abiding occurs ten times in verses 4-10. In order to elaborate on this concept of abiding in Him, Christ used the picture of a vine and its branches.

In the Mediterranean world of that day and still today, the fig tree, the olive tree, and the vine were widely planted. The vine was known to be the most difficult plant to tend. Pruning the vines was done carefully and intentionally to both protect the vine and help it to produce fruit. So this was a familiar picture for John’s original readers. In this metaphor of the vine, the Father prunes His children so that they will be fruitful in the Spirit, bearing fruit of faith and of good works. This pruning may seem harsh, but the Father is a skilled Gardener who knows what He is doing. When God prunes, He does this to make His people grow in faith. This might mean that God makes us go through difficult circumstances or on painful roads. Though His pruning might hurt, it’s always for the good of those who love Christ (Rom. 8:28).

The unity of the whole church of God, and specifically their union with Christ, is fundamental. All of God’s church is connected to each other and to the Vine, and all fruit grows from the Vine’s vitality. Christ states the principle this way: “Without me ye can do nothing” (v. 5). God’s people need to draw life, love, and strength from Him, just like a branch does from a vine. As soon as the branch gets disconnected from the vine, it dies; likewise, the True Vine is the mainspring of every blessing and fruit in the lives of God’s people. They are not vines themselves or branches of some institution or organization. They belong to Christ, and in Him lies their identity and calling. He is their source of life.

Fruitfulness←⤒🔗

As He taught His disciples, Christ was quick to refer to the whole Trinity. Christ explicitly points to the Father: “My Father is the husbandman” (15:1). The Father oversees all fruit-bearing. It’s His vine. He cares for it, maintains it, and the fruits it bears will be for His glory (see 15:8). And although the Spirit isn’t mentioned directly in this passage, from the surrounding chapters it is clear that He is sent by both the Father and the Son to work grace in believers (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). This grace evidences itself as the believers bear fruit — the fruit of the Spirit, who teaches and strengthens.

Judas has just left the assembly. Christ explains this: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away” (v. 2). Christ is not teaching that believers can lose their salvation; but it is possible that someone can be seemingly or externally united to Christ, but not savingly or genuinely united to Christ. The absence of fruit on such a branch proves that the vitality of Christ is not present in it. Those branches seem like they belong, but they never draw strength from the vine and therefore will not grow nor be fruitful. The Father, the perfect Husbandman, sunders even the external connection with Christ, casting such a nominal Christian into the fire. “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” (v. 6). What remains is a genuine disciple, a true church, which will be fruitful, beautiful, and an honor to the owner of the vine, the Father.

Notice that Christ did not command them to bear fruit but to abide in Him, which will yield fruit. In verses 7-9, Christ expanded on what it means to abide in Him. He is not simply referring to some static connection, for that would not fit the picture of a vine and branches. Between a vine and its branches is a constant flow of sap. What flows from Christ to His people? Christ mentions His commandments and other words, which build a connection from His side to His people (vv. 7, 9). What then flows from Christ’s people back to Him? Christ speaks here of prayers (“ye shall ask what ye will” [v. 7]). In short, the connection between Christ and His people is maintained by words from Him to them, and by true faith from them to Him. To abide in Him means living an interconnected life of fellowship with God by true faith.

Abiding in Christ also involves His people receiving love from Him, and then showing it to others in accordance with His commandments (vv. 9-13). The love Christ was speaking of is a self-sacrificing love (v. 13). It implies forgiving love, serving love, and love to God and others. This reminds us that just as the vine is not there for its own sake, so certainly neither are the branches. The vine bestows its energies and vitality on the branches, and the branches in turn receive this vitality for the sake of fruit-bearing. By this, the branches honor and glorify the vine. And the more strength is drawn from the vine, the richer the grapes will be, the better in taste, the more beneficial.

Friendship←⤒🔗

Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so Christ’s people are sent by Christ. They have a mission in the world; they have not selected it themselves, but they have been selected for it. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (v. 16). This important task comes with a great promise.

This privilege that is given to all God’s disciples is not just something of service; it’s one of friendship. It’s astounding to hear what Christ calls His disciples: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (v. 14). They are not just ser­vants, but friends. As Christ explained, “the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: But I have called you friends: for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you” (v. 15). This has a couple of implications:

First, friends know each other intimately. “For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (v. 15). It is not a relationship of secrecy, but one of openness. God reveals to us all we need to know for our relationship with Christ. It’s not a feeling in the dark; it’s knowing God and knowing what He is all about.

Second, friends tap into the same supplies. “Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (v. 16). God’s people have a relationship of kindness and not of fear with the Father through Christ His Son. It is a humble boldness in which they may come to God’s throne, asking Him like we would ask a friend.

Third, there is a love between all the friends. The disciples do not only love Christ; they love each other. Christ calls them to this: “These things I command you that ye love one another” (v. 17). The vine is the family tree of Christ, and we have a responsibility toward all the other branches. Showing love for God means loving His children, too: His family. Serving them as Christ had shown in the previous chapter, willing to sacrifice when needed.

Fourth, friends share enemies. Christ explains: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (v. 18). A loyalty to Christ breaks any loyalty to the world. We cannot love the part of the world that hates Christ and love Him at the same time; that would be like treason! Instead, we must stand in the world as representatives of the King.

Fifth, friends stand up for each other. The disciples would bear witness of Christ because they had been with Him for a long time (v. 27). It is the mind of Christ that people will see Him in them, and nothing less. It’s by their fruit that people will see who they are connected to. As God’s representatives on earth, they should live to glorify Him, make Him known, and show that the connection with Him is necessary for eternal life.

What an indispensable privilege it is to abide in Christ. God draws sinners to Himself out of infinite love. I ask you: Has it become your heart’s desire to bear fruit to the glory of the divine Husbandman? You may feel like God prunes you harshly, and maybe you feel like you will never recover from it. Maybe you even feel like the Father has cut you off. But the Father is a gentle Gardener who makes everything serve His glory and His people’s growth; a Gardener so gentle that He calls His people His friends. How much love comes from this vine! His lovingkindness truly is better than life (Ps. 63:3).

Questions:←⤒🔗

1. Look back at chapter 14. What is “abiding in Christ,” and how does this relate to “dwelling” in chapter 14?
2. What fruit do we bear when we live close to Christ? Compare your answers with Galatians 5:22-23. What does it mean when God “prunes”? Can you name examples of ways God prunes His people so that they will bear more fruit?
3. How do we know whether we belong to the vine or whether we are the branches that don’t bear fruit? How can branches grow in spiritual maturity?
4. How is abiding in Christ connected to joy (v. 11)?
5. What does verse 19 teach us about the way we relate to the world? How should Christians be in this world, and what consequences does this have?