A Fellowship of Many Followers

GOLDEN TEXT: “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” —John 15:8

JOHN 15:5-9

PAUL wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28) However, in order that true Christian fellowship may exist among such a diversified group, it is necessary for them all to be “one in Christ Jesus.” There cannot be a divided headship among true Christians. If one’s loyalty is partly to Jesus and partly to a denomination or an organization, or to a human leader, his fellowship of the Spirit is destroyed.

Jesus used the vine and the branches to illustrate this fellowship of his many followers—“I am the vine, ye are the branches.” The “branches” in this illustration are the individual followers of the Master, not denominational groups, as has sometimes been claimed. We can be branches only by being severed from all other allegiances, and united exclusively and fully with Jesus.

It is only by abiding in Christ, the true “vine,” and the nutriment of the “vine”—his “Word”—abiding in us, that we can “bring forth fruit.” “Severed from me,” the marginal translation states, “ye can do nothing.” By the same token, a fruit-bearing Christian gives evidence of his vital relationship to the “vine.”

What, then, is the “fruit” borne by branches in the true “vine”? Paul wrote, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22,23) However, the matter of being loving, or joyful, or peaceful, or gentle, or of manifesting any of these noble qualities, might not in itself prove one’s position as a “branch” in the “vine.” It is only as these qualities result from the life-giving powers of the Word of God in our lives, and are directed in keeping with the divine will, that they can be genuine “fruit of the Spirit.”

The fruit grown on the branches of any vine is not for the benefit of the branches, but is for the use and blessing of others. So it is in Christian fruit-bearing. Paul, for example, speaks of the “work of faith” and the “labor of love.” (I Thess. 1:3) Faith which does not work for the blessing of others is “dead.” (James 2:26) Likewise, love which does not “labor” in the interests of others and to the glory of God, is not a genuine fruit of the Spirit.

Again Paul writes, encouraging Christians to “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:10) In Romans 15:28 he refers to gifts made by Gentiles to their unfortunate brethren in Judea as “fruit,” and truly it was the result of their being in the “vine,” and the Spirit or nutriment of the vine being in them. The brethren at Philippi sent a gift to Paul while he was in prison at Rome, and he refers to this as their “fruit,” or the evidence of their love for him and for the Lord.—Phil. 4:17

Jesus said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” We can do “nothing,” Jesus said, if we are “severed” from the “vine.” But if we are vitally associated with him, then everything we do will have as its highest motive the glory of God. This will not be a matter of repeating the phrase, “Glory to God,” but of doing his will.

To the extent the power of his Word molds our lives into the divine likeness, his name will be glorified. Faithfulness in showing forth his praises by proclaiming his truth will also glorify him. The desire to glorify God will be present as a consuming zeal in every true “branch” of the “vine.”

PHILIPPIANS 2:14-16

THE little company of faithful Christians at Philippi were among those in the Early Church who enjoyed blessed fellowship as “branches” in the true “vine.” This was the first ecclesia to be established in Europe, and Paul was the one used by the Lord to present the Gospel to them. From this standpoint, we might consider the Philippian brethren as “fruit” of his labor. However, in chapter 1, verse 6, he properly gives the Heavenly Father the glory for having begun the “good work” in them.

The ecclesia at Philippi was an ideal one, apparently, for Paul commends them for their faithful obedience during his absence, and urges them to continue working out their salvation, and to remember that it was God who was working in them “to will and to do of his good pleasure.”—Phil. 2:12,13

Paul wanted the brethren at Philippi to “do all things without murmurings and disputings,” and this in order that they might be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,” adding, “among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

“Blameless,” “sincere,” and without “blemish,” would seem to be nearer to the thought of the Greek text. These, of necessity, must be the heart qualities of those who “shine as lights in the world.” It does not mean that we can be perfect according to the divine standard—although this should ever be our goal—but we can measure up to these qualities of character to the extent that the world will find no occasion against us. As it was in the case of Daniel, even his enemies could find nothing against him except as they set a trap for him in connection with his obedience to God.

We let our light shine by “holding forth the Word of life.” It is true, of course, that if our lives are not “blameless,” “sincere,” and without “blemish,” our holding forth the Word would avail nothing, and certainly would not glorify God. Neither would others ever learn the truth simply by noting the purity of Christian character in the lives of the Lord’s people. Character development and active witness work are both essential in order properly to let our light shine.

Paul makes an amazing statement in the 16th verse. He declares that if the Philippian brethren continued faithful in holding forth the Word of life in purity of character he would “rejoice in the day of Christ,” considering that he had “not run in vain, neither labored in vain.” This places a very high estimate on the value of witness work. But let us not say it is too high. Certainly Paul knew the importance of obeying the Master’s commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.

ROMANS 16:1-7

THIS passage is interesting because it reveals to some extent how closely Paul was in touch with individual brethren in the Early Church, and his personal interest in them. In this chapter he continues to the 23rd verse to mention names of the brethren. All of these at the time were evidently associated with the Church at Rome.

This is the only time that “Phoebe” is mentioned in the Bible. Paul speaks of her as “a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea.” What sort of service she rendered he does not say, except that she was “a succorer of many, and of myself also.” Some have taken this statement to indicate that in the Early Church “deaconesses” were appointed to serve. Cenchrea was the eastern harbor of Corinth. Paul sailed from this port on his return to Syria from his second missionary journey.—Acts 18:18

Priscilla and Aquila were greatly beloved by Paul. He met them first in Corinth on his arrival there from Athens. (Acts 18:2) They had fled from Rome because of an order by Claudius that all Jews should leave the city. Paul and Aquila worked at their common trade of tentmaking. Aquila and Priscilla accompanied the apostle to Ephesus, where they were instrumental in helping Apollos to a better understanding of the truth. Priscilla’s name is mentioned twice (in Acts 18:18 and Rom. 16:3) ahead of Aquila’s, and some take this to mean that she was the more energetic of the two.

Paul pays them a high tribute, saying that for his life they had “laid down their own necks.” He was thankful for this, as were all the brethren who knew of their self-sacrificing service. They seem to have been well known to a number of congregations. At the time this epistle was written they were evidently back in Rome and holding meetings in their home, for Paul speaks “of the church that is in their house.”

Epaenetus is mentioned only this once. Paul describes him as the “firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.” In I Corinthians 16:15 the apostle also mentions the “house of Stephanas” as the firstfruits of Achaia. Epaenetus must have embraced the truth about the same time as Stephanas, and under the ministry of Paul. Concerning Stephanas and his household Paul writes, “They have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” This was doubtless also true of Epaenetus.

Nothing is known of the “Mary” Paul refers to in this lesson, except that she belonged to the church in Rome; and as Paul declares, had “bestowed much labor” upon him. She was evidently a faithful follower of the Master.

Paul refers to Andronicus and Junia as “kinsmen.” This probably has the thought of fellow prisoners,” and that they were of “note among the apostles.” Paul does not indicate what made them noteworthy. In fact, we have no other information in the Bible about these two brethren.

The remainder of the chapter continues to list those to whom Paul sent Christian love and greetings. The identification of so many in the one congregation, together with the few details we know about them, helps to give point to the caption of our study, “A Fellowship of Many Followers.” In this one congregation in Rome, there were both Jews and Gentiles, and seemingly from all walks in life; but they had all become “one in Christ Jesus.”

QUESTIONS

Are the “branches” in the true “vine” individuals or groups?

What is the “fruit” that is borne by the “branches”?

How is the Heavenly Father glorified by the fruit?

How do Christians “shine as lights in the world”?

In what sense can we be “blameless,” “sincere,” and “without blemish”?

In what way is the 16th chapter of Romans of great value to us?

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