Righteousness Comes Not By Our Performance. Righteousness Comes By Faith In Christ Alone.
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“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
(John 15:1-6 KJV)
A couple of things must be stated before we get into unpacking John 15 and the Parable of the Vineyard.
+ + + First, Jesus is speaking directly to the disciples, before the passion and Jesus’ crucifixion.
The Holy Spirit is not yet indwelling the disciples. We know this because Jesus said this,
“But WHEN THE COMFORTER IS COME, WHOM I WILL SEND UNTO YOU from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” (John 15:26 KJV)
So we know by this context that Jesus is speaking specifically to the disciples. In fact we see Jesus telling the disciples just prior to His going to the cross that they will be persecuted as He was because,
“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, THEY WILL ALSO PERSECUTE YOU; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because THEY KNOW NOT HIM WHO SENT ME.” (John 15: 20-21 KJV)
Jesus is telling the disciples what is going to happen TO THEM after He is crucified. Jesus knows what they will be going through in Jesus name, as ambassadors for Christ. This is a prophecy specially FOR THEM in John 15.
As with many prophesies, this also has meaning for us today who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But we must be careful to understand the specific context addressing of the disciples who were NOT YET sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to indwell them. That came later at Pentecost AFTER Christ died on the cross and rose again. So Jesus is seen in John 15 encouraging them to keep on going and be patient in persecutions because the Comforter is going to come upon them.
+ + + Second, Jesus is telling the disciples in John 15 how to bear good fruit for the Kingdom. It is not about salvation of a believer in Christ.
The parable of the Vineyard can also be extended to us today in understanding how we can BEAR GOOD FRUIT FOR GOD and HIS KINGDOM and also what God does to help believers do just that. Jesus is talking about how a believer should bear fruit and how God helps a believer to bear good fruit. He is talking about a saved person (here specifically to the disciples) and He does this with an analogy that the people listening at the time He told it would understand very well; a vineyard. He starts with a parable of a vineyard and a vine. He is not talking about salvation nor damnation in hell of an unbeliever. He is talking to saved believers and this parable is all about fruit bearing in our lives. Fruit bearing for Christ and the Kingdom.
A tree is a plant that has a wooden based support structure for the leaves to flourish. It is interesting to note that a Vine is a plant with stems that require support. A vine has a root but the stems must climbs up a tree or other structure. Without that outside support structure it will just lay over the ground and not be as productive in bearing good grapes. This is actually important knowledge for this parable as it is all about relying on the support Jesus provides a believer!
What is it that makes the vine look the way it does? What determines if a vine will bring forth healthy fruit or withered fruit? Or no fruit at all? Is it the stem? Is it the leaves? Is it anything externally on the tree at all? No. It is the health of the vine’s root. The part that is unseen and buried deep in the earth. What an amazing analogy Jesus is using here when we compare it to an actual vine plant.
“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” (Matthew 12:33 KJV)
Jesus also spoke about a person in an analogy of a tree in Matthew 12 and this is comparing the unsaved person to a saved person. It mentions fruit bearing and some take this verse and then apply it to John 15. But we should not because the context is different in Matthew 12. God wants salvation and righteousness before God, not of our own works, but through faith in Jesus the Christ.
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16 KJV)
The bottom line is that we all have a problem with our hearts, which is our Spirit, our inner man, our “root” until we believe on Christ (John 3:18). It is all about the tree of knowledge of good and evil because we were all born into sin. So Jesus says that we need to “…make the tree good and its fruit good.” It is important to notice and understand that Jesus did not say to do good works which would be good fruit. Instead He says TO MAKE the “tree” (our root) good and by doing so our fruit would be good. Good fruit bearing is God within us flowing outward into our life. And that can only happen if a person has been born again by belief on Christ (John 3:14-18, Ephesians 1:13-14). God’s righteousness, which He made believers by belief on Christ, is the source of the good fruit Jesus is talking about in John 15. So the concept of bearing fruit in Matthew 12 and John 15 is pretty much the same; but John 15 is not about salvation.
John 15 Is Not About A Saved Believer Losing Salvation
John 15 is not about a believer losing Salvation as some pulpits are teaching these days. The truth is, by using proper context, John 15 is Jesus telling the disciples how to bear more fruit. And if we apply this to believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit today, how a believer bears good fruit as well. Before John 15 came, John 3:16, John 5:24, John 6:28-29, John 6:37-40, John 10:27-30 and the previous chapter John 14 where it is clear that Jesus tells us that Salvation is by belief and trust in Him alone.
For us on THIS SIDE of the cross event, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and sealed in salvation, so keep that difference in mind. Jesus made it clear to the Jewish believer’s during His Earthly ministry, that we are saved by believing that He is the foretold Messiah who has come at the appointed time. We are saved today for the same belief, but from the New Covenant side of the cross. In our current dispensation a believer is sealed from the very moment of belief on Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14) and salvation can not be lost. Before the cross the Holy Spirit did not INDWELL people and they had to keep believing in the foretold Messiah who would one day come and be the final blood atonement for the sins of the whole world.
Today we have more knowledge about this because we are on the other side of the cross and as Apostle Paul taught us that by believing Jesus is the Messiah, come as the Only Begotten Son of God, who never sinned, died for our sins on the cross for our sins and rose again, and that this BELIEF ALONE is the only thing God requires of us. That He will never condemn us or lose us as believers. And that no one can take us out of His hands! Jesus also made the promise to the Jews back then as seen in the previous passages in John that I have just mentioned, if they continue in belief on Christ. These Scriptures are in the very same book of John and are Jesus own words and it is the very context that must be used in interpreting John 15. To take one verse (verse 6) from John 15 and turn it into a believer losing Salvation is completely wrong by the book’s own context and Jesus’ own words.
John 15 Is About How A Believer Bears Fruit From The Spirit
In John 15, speaking to the disciples, Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches as believers. Now let us think about that for just a moment. For us today, from the very moment of our belief and trust on Christ to save us, we are SEALED by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) and our Spirit was recreated into the righteousness of God, in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17-21). We have a new redeemed Spirit now as believers. We have a new root in our core being which is the Spirit. The Holy Spirit now indwells the believer forever and we are COMPLETE IN HIM (Colossians 2). Jesus becomes our new root and source of life. Jesus is one with the Father and Holy Spirit and we are IN CHRIST , also now one with God (John 17).
What Does Jesus Mean By The Word ABIDING in John 15?
This is very important to understand or you may not see the truth on what Jesus is talking about. Not understanding what the phrase ‘ABIDING IN CHRIST’ actually means is one reason some are teaching that John 15 is about a possibility that a believer can lose their Salvation today. Yet, that is just not the truth at all. The New Testament was originally penned in Greek and translated into the English Bible. When we look at the Greek this was penned we find Strong’s Concordance Number G3306 which matches the Greek word μένω (menō). This Greek word occurs 127 times in 105 verses in the Greek concordance of the King James Bible. By comparing the meaning with other passages using the same word, the meaning becomes more clear.
“And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there ABIDE G3306 till ye go thence.” (Matthew 10:11 KJV)
“And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there ABIDE G3306 till ye depart from that place.” (Mark 6:10 KJV)
“And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither ABIDE G3306 in any house, but in the tombs.” (Luke 8:27 KJV)
We can go on and on looking at such passages using the same Greek word and the meaning is very clear. Abiding is not a work we do to remain saved. That is the wrong teaching that seems to be rampant in many pulpits teaching the false ‘works for salvation gospel’ that is found in so many Christian Church Religions and Denominations today.
Abiding means where we live or where we stay. In John 15, Jesus is telling the disciples to live and stay in trusting Him. They were not yet indwelt by the Holy Spirit as we are. For us today, we can still apply this to ourselves because even more so, the Holy Spirit is indwelling believers today. Trust in Him as we go about working for His Kingdom. To live by The Spirit who God recreated us by belief on Him (John 3:18). To abide in HIM. Apostle Paul calls this ‘walking by The Spirit’ and not ‘The Flesh’.
“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:16-18 KJV)
Once we are born again in The Spirit (John 3:3), that is how we should be living. We have had a heart transplant at our very core of being, in our Spirit nature. Our old Spirit of Man nature (sin bent nature) DIED and has been reborn into The Spirit Of God (John 3:3, Romans 6, Colossians 2). We need to abide in Christ as our very life and support in order to produce good fruit from God to be used in love towards others. In order to Live in Jesus name as ambassadors for Him to the lost.
John 15 Verse By Verse, Watching The Context Carefully
Verse 2: Every Believer That Does Not Bear Fruit (John 15:2)
“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:…”
(John 15:2 KJV)
This verse is not about fruit inspecting a person to see if they are saved or not as many are teaching today! Every branch ‘in me’, are already eternally saves believers. Those believers that do not bear fruit ‘He taketh away’. Some read this and believe it means God will take them away in judgment and condemnation but that is not so at all! The Greek word for this is airō. This is usually translated as “to raise up, to elevate, or to lift up”. Think about a field full of grape vines. Some branches of the vine may be slouching and even half in the dirt. Wind and tough times have this branch weary and weak, half covered and weighed down in the dirt. What does a person attending to the vines do? Cut it off? NO. This is common practice of a vine care taker and those not bearing fruit he will lift up off of the ground so that it takes to the nutrients better in hopes of bearing more fruit. He will prop it up with sticks to get more sun and nutrients from the vine root. This is all about God helping believers to bear more fruit! As believers, we sometimes receive miraculous help from God, the Vine care taker, in our time of need don’t we?
Verse 2: Every Believer That Bears Fruit (John 15:2)
“…and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” (John 15:2 KJV)
In the Greek, ‘purgeth’ is Strong’s G2508 and is defined as ‘to cleanse’. Such a branch (believer) is not laying in the dirt and God continually cleanses it so that it can bear even more fruit. This is where we want to be as believers and God is helping us to achieve that as our source and support and as our strong root.
Verse 3: Every Believer Is Saved and Cleaned (John 15:3)
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” (John 15:3 KJV)
What are these words Jesus has spoken to them? Jesus has told the disciples so much truth during their journey with Jesus. By belief on Him as Messiah, they have been cleaned of their sins. Jesus is about to go to the cross for them and all of us! By context, the Words in the previous chapters in the book of John that Jesus spoke. Like John 3:14-18, John 6: 39-40, and the very previous chapter of John 14 which are all Jesus telling us that we are saved only by belief on Him and not by our works and Law of Moses following.
Verse 4 and 5: A Believer cannot do anything pleasing to God by living in The Flesh (John 15:4-5)
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 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 15:4-5 KJV)
These two verses by context are very clear right? As a indwelt believer today, we too can choose to do good works with the wrong motive. Some believers believe they have to do good works to remained saved but that is not Biblical truth (read Ephesians 2:8-9 and Galatians 5:4-5). Good works are all good and we should be doing good works for God. But we are not to go off acting like we are our own vines. WE ARE BRANCHES! The point is the motive matters in bearing good fruit. Are we relying on our own effort in bearing fruit? Jesus said He is the vine and we are the branches. As believers, we are not our own vine. We need to let God flow through us you see? A believer can do things by the wrong fleshly motives or they can live outwardly by ‘walking in the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:16). If we act as a vine when we are a branch, we have no source of nutrients to bear any fruit that will matter. Doing so just cuts off God’s power working through us. Is such a person still saved? Yes. Again this is not about salvation; it is about fruit bearing. Yet, don’t we want God working through us and producing good fruit and helping others come to salvation through belief in Christ? We need the ‘sap’ from God. Bearing good fruit is about allowing God to bear good fruit for the Kingdom, through us. We must be humble and not boast about our good works because they are all God’s work. To bear good fruit for God is to trust and rely on Him and then good works will flow from the root , to the branches and to the leaves; and good fruit will grow.
It is also true that without a person believing on Christ for salvation, God is not indwelling them and not working through them to bear good fruit at all. They are more like a weed in the vineyard growing next to a vine. They are not bearing good fruit because they cannot. Their root is the Spirit of Adam and is a sin bent nature. It is their very nature to sin. This is the Spirit of Man that we are all physically born with since the fall in the garden. But when a person comes to accept the free gift salvation through belief on Christ, there root was replaced by God and they can start producing good fruit in their life because they have become IN CHRIST and Christ is IN THEM. It is the very life of God residing within their very core being.
Verse 6: A believer NOT Living By The Spirit of Christ (John 15:6)
This verse has caused massive confusion in the Christian community and led many to believe that Jesus is talking about losing Salvation. But the context is clearly not about salvation in John 15. It is about a believer’s fruit bearing. It is about Jesus telling the disciples to keep Abiding In Christ. That is, LIVING, IN CHRIST. For indwelt believers today, a believer not abiding in Christ is not living by the Spirit of Christ within us. This is a saved person living carnally just like the Corinthians were living. They were saved but walking more by The Flesh than The Spirit of God. The Flesh is all the wrong sinful thoughts in the mind left over from when our old, now dead Spirit of Adam was our core being. We now have The Spirit of God as our core being but our MIND is not yet fully renewed. This is why Apostle Paul taught we need to renew our MIND in Romans 12. Jesus also mentions it in his prayer for believers before the passion and cross event in John 17:17.
“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.” (John 15:6 KJV)
Jesus says that those that do not live in the Spirit of Christ, will ‘wither’. In the Greek the word ‘wither’ is xérainó, meaning ‘to dry up’. They become dry and stale and so they do not bear any fruit at all. What happens to a branch not receiving nutrients from the source? It drys up. It withers. And eventually it is cast off, collected and burnt up as useless to bear good fruit. We need to walk by Christ in us. As Apostle Paul wrote, we need to “…Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). If we are a saved, Holy Spirit indwelt, born again believer and then we ignore the Spirit and live carnally, our works are useless for the Kingdom! Just as James said, such faith is DEAD, which in Greek is used as as analogy for useless.
What about the burned up part in John 15:6? Some are teaching that God will cut these believers off, they will lose Salvation and be burned for eternity in hell. But is that correct? NO. It cannot be because Jesus in John 14 talks about Salvation by belief on Him alone and John 15 is written to the disciples who definitely are BELIEVERS – not unbelievers. Look closely at the Scripture words Jesus uses in verse 6. It does not read like this,
WRONG:
‘and GOD WILL gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.’
That is the lie being taught by so many pulpits these days teaching this is about loss of Salvation. NO. NO. NO… it reads exactly like this,
CORRECT:
“..and MEN GATHER THEM, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
Men! Not God!
Jesus is saying that not living in Christ will be looked at by the unsaved as a believer being a hypocrite. Their teaching and witnessing to others is withered as they are by how they are living. It will cause them to be useless for the kingdom. They are saved but their life is being played out by acting as vines and not branches. They are living carnally and without regard for fruit bearing in love towards others. Useless.
Jesus is simply using an analogy here of a well known thing to the Jewish people; and that is running a Vineyard. And this is exactly what they did with old withered and dried up branches. They cut them off so that they do not hurt the entire vine. It is NOTHING more than that. It is not about losing Salvation. Not everywhere in Scripture when the word ‘fire’ is used, is it all about condemnation in hell. In fact, what about in the upper room when tongues of fire were seen above the disciples heads? That was referring to the Holy Spirit. What about the burning bush Moses seen? So we must be careful about thinking that the word ‘fire’ only means hell in Scripture. We must look at context closer to see the truth.
Verse 7-10: Abide in Christ’s Love By Living By Christ’s Words and the Word of God (John 15:7-10)
“If ye abide in me, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that YE BEAR MUCH FRUIT; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: CONTINUE YE IN MY LOVE. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” (John 15:7-10 KJV)
This is such encouragement from Jesus. Live by the Spirit of Christ in us – not The Flesh. If Christ’s WORDS are living in our mind, they are changing our mind (the definition of repent for a believer) and they have replaced wrong fleshly beliefs. We live outwardly as we believe IN THE MIND. The more we read Christ’s words from the Bible, the more we will make better decisions and act in love toward others, bearing good fruit from God through us.
Christ is The Vine and we are The Branches. We need to live as branches today, just as Jesus instructed the disciples not yet indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and allow God’s love to flow through us to others. There should be no boasting in this and we need to be humble. For believers today, our old Spirit of Adam is DEAD. BELIEVE IT!
Walk in the new Spirit God made us when we were converted by belief on Christ (John 3:18, Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 6, Colossians 2 and 3, 2 Cor. 5:17-21). If we live in Christ by the New Spirit He made us, we will bear much fruit and God will help us to bear more and more fruit! And the beauty is, each fruit we bear has many seeds. And each of those seeds produce more fruit! Amen! God will help us in bearing good fruit in our lives. He keeps our leaves clean and branches strong in the Lord. What a great God we serve!
Verse 11: John 15 is all about God Wanting Our Joy To Be Full – Not About Salvation Loss!
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
AND THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL.”
(John 15:11 KJV)
Here we see Jesus encouraging the disciples because He knows what they are about to go through, severe persecution. This too can be applied to believers around the world today who are being persecuted for Jesus’ Name sake. Know where Jesus is taking us!
What Is Bad Fruit And What Is Good Fruit?
For believers today, we are born again in the Spirit and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul told us about good fruit and bad fruit.
The answer comes in Galatians 5 starting at verse 19.
(i) The Bad Fruit Of A Person…
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21 KJV)
(ii) The Good Fruit Of A Person…
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance:
against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:22-26 KJV)
The goal is to not make yourself look clean on the outside while we are full of sin inwardly, in our inner man and mind. We need to be clean inside and it will work it’s way to your outward man. But we can’t do this ourselves. We need Christ’s forgiveness of sins and we need to read the Word of God to renew our mind to God’s viewpoint, and the Holy Spirit also changes us from within.
“Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” (1 Peter 3:3-4 KJV)
God looks at us inside; not outwardly. It is not what you DO but the motives you have inside that He looks at. Your Spirit is the real you regardless what is happening outwardly. And we can align our own thinking to what the Holy Spirit is doing in us so that we will bear good fruit as we see in Philippians 4:8:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
THINK ON THESE THINGS.”
(Philippians 4:8 KJV)
Rest in God
Allow Christ to change us from the inside out, through the true vine; Jesus Christ. And in time, we will bear the good fruit of God. And it will be our joy, the joy Christ wants for us! Love one another just as God loves and loved you in the blood sacrifice for sins through Christ Jesus. Abide in the words of God. Abide in the words of Jesus and we will learn to say as Paul and the writer of Hebrews also wrote,
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
(Romans 1:16 KJV)
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”
(Hebrews 4:1 KJV)
