The True Vine

KEY VERSE: “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 ye can do nothing.” —John 15:5

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: John 15:1-8

VINEYARDS WERE common in our Lord’s day. As he so often did, Jesus used this element of daily life to advantage in presenting another series of lessons to his followers.

Jesus identifies in this picture that he is the vine, his Father is the husbandman, and that we, his followers, are the branches. (vss. 1,5) The husbandman is the planter, or owner, of the vineyard. Thus we see that it is God, the husbandman, that is the source of all arrangements of the Divine plan, most particularly that of the vine and branches—Jesus and his church. Jesus, as the vine, is the life giver to the church. The vine is the woody portion of the plant, including even the root, that, through the trials of harsh weather, has developed such strength as to be able to give life to, and sustain under similar difficult experiences, the smaller and much more tender branches. The Lord’s followers are the branches—those smaller portions of the plant that grow out from the woody vine, deriving their nourishment and strength from it.

However, the branches have a very important responsibility—that of bearing fruit. Verse 2 says, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Only those branches that bear fruitage does the husbandman allow to remain part of the vine, and these are pruned to bring forth even more fruit. The vine dresser does not just let the vine grow without any trimming. Any fruit might be small and poor because all of the strength of the plant is going into its wood, rather than into fruitage. The wise husbandman trims the dead wood from the vine, and trims the fruit-bearing branches also. One fruit-bearing branch, when pruned, will put forth two to three more new branches to bear fruit, increasing two- and three-fold the amount of fruit produced from the single vine.

What is the fruitage that God, our husbandman, desires us to bear? They are the fruits of righteousness—the character of Jesus exemplified in our thoughts, words, and deeds. The Apostle Paul identifies these fruits in Galatians 5:22,23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law “ This fruitage manifests our sincere desire to follow after the pattern of Jesus, and to develop into the likeness of God’s character and image. “Ye have your fruit unto holiness.”—Rom. 6:22

In John 15:4,5, and 7 Jesus makes another important statement. He says that we must abide in him, else we cannot bear fruit. The branch cannot bear fruit if it is cut off from the vine. In fact, it cannot even live in such a condition. It quickly withers and dies. So it is also with the spiritual branches. Our ability to bear fruit lies only in the redemptive work that Jesus, the vine, has accomplished on our behalf. Our life itself is dependent upon our faith in the ransoming power of his shed blood. We must ‘abide in the vine’, and he will abide in us.

Jesus says that the results of this process of fruit-bearing will bring glory to the Father, the great husbandman, and that, as such, we, the faithful branches, will be truly counted as the Lord’s. “So shall ye be my disciples.”—vs. 8.

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