Ep. 119: The Vine and the branches

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JOHN 15

If in the teaching recorded in John 14, the God-centred aspect of Christ’s impending departure was explained, in that of John 15 the new relationship between Jesus and his Church is set forth which was to exist between him and his Church. And this may be summarised in these three words; Union, Communion and Disunion.

The Union between Christ and his Church is corporate, vital and effective. This Union manifests in Communion; of Christ with his disciples, of his disciples with him and of his disciples among themselves. The principle of all these is love; the love of Christ for the disciples, the love of the disciples for Christ and the love in Christ of the disciples for one another.

Lastly, this Union and Communion has for its necessary counterpart Disunion, separation from the World. The World repudiates them for their union with Christ and their communion. But, for all that, there is something that must keep them from going out of the World. They have a mission in it, initiated by and carried on in the power of the Holy Spirit - that of uplifting the testimony of Christ.

When Christ said, ‘I am the Vine, the true one, and my Father is the gardener’ or again, ‘you are the branches’ what he meant was that he, the Father and the disciples, stood in exactly the same relationship as the Vine, the gardener and the branches. That relationship was of a corporate union of the branches with the Vine to produce fruit for the gardener, who for that purpose pruned the branches.

Nor can we forget in this connection that, in the Old Testament and partially in Jewish thought, the Vine was the symbol of Israel, not in their national but in their ‘Church-capacity’. Jesus, with his disciples as the branches, is ‘the Vine, the true One’ - the reality of all types, the fulfilment of all promises. They are many branches, yet a grand unity in that Vine; there is one Church of which he is the head, the root, the sustenance, the life. And in that Vine will the object of its planting of old be realised, to bring forth fruit unto God.

Yet, though it is one Vine, the Church must bear fruit not only in her corporate capacity but also individually in each of the branches. The proper, normal condition of every branch in that Vine was to bear much fruit, of course. This was done by abiding in him, since ‘apart’ from him they could do nothing. If the corporate and vital union was effective, if they were abiding in him and his Words were abiding in them, then ‘whatsoever you want you shall ask, and it shall be done to you.’ It is very noteworthy that prayer is limited, or, rather, conditioned, by our abiding in Jesus and his Words in us just as in John 14:12-14 it is conditioned by fellowship with him and in John 15:16 by permanent fruitfulness.

For it was the most dangerous fanaticism and entirely opposed to the teaching of Christ, to imagine that the promise of Jesus implies such absolute power, as if prayer were magic, that a person might ask for anything, no matter what it was, in the assurance of obtaining his request. Our relationship with Jesus and his Word in us, union and communion with him, and the obedience of love are the indispensable conditions of our privileges. The believer may, indeed, ask for anything, because he may always and absolutely go to God; but the certainty of special answers to prayer is proportionate to the degree of union and communion with Jesus.

To keep his commandments was to be his friend. And they were his friends. No longer did he call them servants, for the servant knew not what his Lord did. He had now given them a new name, and with good reason: ‘You have I called friends, because all things which I heard of my Father I made known to you.’

The hatred by the world was going to be a factor. For evil or for good, they must expect the same treatment as their Master. Was it not their privilege to realise that all this came upon them for his sake? And should they not also remember that the ultimate ground of the world’s hatred was ignorance of him who had sent Jesus?

This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)