Bearing Fruit in the Vine

The End Result - Electricity - Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t if you can’t use it

John 15:5 CSB

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

The reader may regard this statement to be rather redundant.

But the John was not bothered by redundancy.

He was obviously concerned that the reader recognize a core point in discipleship. That point is an age-old issue of identity that goes back to the story of the Garden of Eden, wherein the humans were tempted by the desire to become like God (Gen 3:5).

The evangelist obviously did not want there to be any confusion over the issue of identity. The branches were not to be confused with the Vine, and the Vine was to be regarded as very different from the branches.

The use of the Greek egō eimi (“I am”) is undoubtedly purposeful here and is certainly to be contrasted with the pronoun hymeis (“you,” pl.).

But it is the identity issue that is fundamental to the additional seeming redundancy concerning fruitfulness or lack thereof in this verse. The mutual abiding in Jesus, the “I am,” and he (the “I”) in the disciple(s) means that a disciple must be attached to the divine source in order for fruit bearing to occur.

It also explains why the opposite to abiding and bearing fruit is here designated as accomplishing “nothing” (ouden). The radicality of the Johannine Gospel should not be missed by familiarity with its words. Nothing is “not something” in the judgment of Jesus. It is still nothing. Such a verdict is not very popular, but it is central to this bull’s-eye text.

John 15:6 CSB

6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

Failure to produce fruit brings a severe warning concerning the certain end of unfruitfulness. Employing the indefinite pronoun tis (“anyone, someone”), the evangelist separates any unfruitful person from the faithful, persevering, fruitful disciples/branches and indicates that such a person is thrown away and withers. The verbs here are in the aorist indicative. These aorists here are not primarily used in a chronological sense but as Newman and Nida have indicated, they are either used to indicate certainty of action or customary action (the gnomic sense). It is almost as though the evangelist is treating unfruitfulness, either present or future, as already resolved.

There is no doubt that the image of burning the dried branches is a judgment motif that goes back to the Old Testament including the plagues of Egypt (Exod 9:23) and the cities and disobedient people who are burned (Lev 10:2; Num 26:10; Deut 10:21; 12:3; Josh 6:24; 8:19; 1 Sam 30:1–3).

This verse echoes Ezk 15:1–8, where a barren vine is said to be fit only for burning.

God’s anger is linked to fire (Deut 32:22), and fire is often used as a symbol of judgment both in the Old Testament (Ps 11:6; Jer 4:4; etc.) and the New (Matt 3:12; 5:22; 13:40–42; Mark 9:47; etc.). And, of course, fire is repeatedly used in the judgment scenes of Revelation (Rev 8:7–8; 11:5; 14:10; 16:8; 18:8; 19:20; 20:9–10, 14–15; 21:8).

But Beasley-Murray, who wrote a great deal on eschatological subjects, made a special point of stating that readers should not jump to the conclusion that fire here symbolizes the “judgment of Gehenna.” I would add that it is unnecessary to restrict judgment here to the final cataclysmic events of the world. The mashal is a picture, and this verse is a vivid portrait of the significance of fruitless vine branches. Unlike olive wood, the cuttings of the vineyard are good for nothing except burning.

For Next Week - Read John 15:6-8

Verse to Memorize: John 15:5, John 15:8