The Vine and the Branches
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 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. Now ye are
clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 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. 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. 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."--John 15:1-8.
* * * * *
This beautiful analogy teaches us an important lesson. The standard of
sanctification is clearly exemplified in the relation between the vine
and the branches. Christ is the vine, and every individual Christian is
an individual branch; every branch is an individual member of the vine,
and every Christian is an individual member of Christ.
* * * * *
What a clear view of the church, and how plainly we can see that there
is but one. Every regenerate soul is by one Spirit baptized into this
one body. This vine is cared for and kept by God himself, who is the
husbandman. Every branch must be a living, fruit-bearing one. It is
placed into the vine by the hand which will care for it, and give it
every necessary treatment to cause it to bring forth much fruit. If it
bears fruit it will be kept in the vine; if it does not bear fruit it
will be taken away. The same life which flows through the vine also
flows into the branches. It is the branches that bear the fruit. It is
the part of the vine to sustain the branches, and the part of the
branches to bear fruit. The fruit is the production of the vine-life in
the branches. The word of God teaches us that Christ is pure and holy,
and in Rom. 11:16 we are taught that if the root be holy, so are the
branches. The manner of the induction of the branches into the vine is
illustrated by the process of grafting. We are not grown into Christ,
but grafted into him. The natural branches of a vine grow out of the
vine, and accordingly bear the vine-fruit, but by grace we are grafted
into Christ, the vine, and bear the vine-fruit.
A certain writer who advocates the repression theory of sanctification
says: "But if I want a tree wholly made good I take it when young and,
cutting the stem off on the ground, I graft just where it emerges from
the soil; I watch over every bud which the old nature could possibly put
forth until the flow of sap from the old roots into the new stem is so
complete that the old life has, as it were, been entirely conquered and
covered of the new. Now I have a tree entirely renewed--emblem of a
Christian who has learned in entire consecration to surrender everything
for Christ, and in a whole-hearted faith wholly to abide in him. If in
this case the old tree were a reasonable being that could co-operate
with the gardener, what would the gardener's language be to it? Would it
not be this: 'Yield now thyself entirely to this new nature with which I
have invested thee; repress every tendency of the old nature to give
buds or sprouts; let all thy sap and all thy life-powers rise up into
this graft from yonder beautiful tree which I have put on thee, so shalt
thou bring forth sweet and much fruit.' And the language of the tree to
the gardener would be: 'When thou graftest me, oh, spare not a single
branch, let everything of the old self, even the smallest bud, be
destroyed, that I may no longer live in my own, but in that other life
that was cut off and brought and put upon me that I might be wholly new
and good.' And once again, could you afterwards ask the renewed tree, as
it was bearing abundant fruit, what it could say of itself, its answer
would be this: 'In me (that is, my roots) there dwelleth no good thing;
I am ever inclined to evil; the sap I collect from the soil is in its
nature corrupt, and ready to show itself in bearing evil fruit. But just
where the sap rises into the sunshine to ripen into fruit, the wise
gardener hath clothed me with a new life through which my sap is
purified and all my powers are renewed to the bringing forth of good
fruit.'"
This author has entirely reversed the scriptural order of grafting in
his application of the graft and root, and has illustrated the relation
of Christ and the believer by the natural grafting process which can in
no sense scripturally apply to this holy relation. Christ is the vine or
root, and not the graft. The natural process of grafting is to graft the
good graft into a poor root. The graft will grow into a tree and bear
the same kind of fruit as the tree from which it was taken, and thus the
gardener increases the production of good fruit. But the divine process
of grafting is just the reverse. In Rom. 11:24 the apostle says we are
grafted into the olive tree (Christ) "contrary to nature." The
husbandman takes the penitent sinner out of the kingdom of darkness and
translates him into the kingdom of his dear Son. In this regeneration
process the sinner (the graft) that was sinful and bore fruit is by
God's own process grafted into Christ, the holy vine, and from thence to
bear holy fruit. This is certainly a great mystery, like all the works
of God's grace, and is indeed contrary to nature, but in perfect
conformity with the plan of redemption.
Now, in this condition, there is a certain requirement of the graft
necessary that it may bear the vine-fruit; it must =abide= in the vine.
This abiding requires a careful watchfulness lest there might be some
sprout of the old inward nature, which yet exists within the newly
grafted branch, which would spring up and hinder the perfect
fruit-bearing of the vine-life. And in this early life, in this new
relation of the branch with the vine, it is an attested fact that in
quantity this fruit production is more or less hindered by the presence
of the old inward nature, in the branch, which if permitted to sprout
and grow would certainly prevent the growth of the vine-fruit entirely,
and thereby cause the branch to be cut off. That the branch is in the
vine there can be no question, for its environments are completely
changed and it finds itself a stranger to all of its former
associations, customs, and habits. That the vine-life is in the branch
there can equally be no question, for the branch has the inward
consciousness bearing witness that it belongs to the vine, and it enjoys
the sweet fellowship of the vine and all its branches. Also it bears the
vine-fruit which brings upon itself the approval of the husbandman.
But this early and new relationship is only the justified life of the
branch. The standard of sanctification of the author from whom we have
just quoted is in no respect any higher than this, and were it not that
there is a higher standard taught in this lesson and in many other
scriptures, we would have to be satisfied with justification only.
"Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth
more fruit." This purging is another process quite contrary to nature,
for the term signifies an inward cleansing. A vine-dresser can prune or
trim a branch and thereby practically make it clean outwardly from all
unnecessary or harmful sprouts which would hinder it from bearing fruit,
but there is no known natural process by which the grafted branch could
have its inward conditions changed which would affect its nature.
We can see clearly that the entire process of grafting the inferior
branch into the good root, and the subsequent purging is wholly contrary
to nature, for no man with an object of profit would do any such
grafting, neither could anyone reasonably expect the inward conditions
of such a graft to become changed.
This purging is wrought within for the purpose of an increase of holy
fruit. How beautifully it pictures the experience of sanctification, and
subsequent work wrought in the soul of the justified fruit-bearing child
of God. It is not a pruning of any unholy sprouts, for they are to be
wholly kept from sprouting in the process of the life of bearing holy
fruit in this justified relation. The branch is now bearing the very
fruit of the holy root, but there is something to be done in it that it
may bring forth more fruit; it must be purged from its inward depraved
dispositions which it possessed from its parent stock--its "old man ...
that the body of sin might be destroyed." Before the purging there was
much time and energy occupied in keeping its depraved nature from
sprouting. The holy nature of the root was indeed being manifested in
the production of holy fruit which was a source of satisfaction, but
there was that inward consciousness of an unfavorable condition which
hindered the root-life from producing in the branch the quantity
necessary to the perfect satisfaction of the husbandman, the vine or the
branch.
But now what a glorious change: the old nature is entirely gone, and the
sweet soul-rest which the purged branch now enjoys is beyond the power
of mortal to express; it can now repose itself so sweetly in the holy
vine in its perfectly consecrated life, without any inward hindrance to
a perfect flow of the vine-life through its entire being. It can now
bring forth more fruit, for every energy from the root is sent direct
into the fruit-buds of the branch, and the result is glorious. This
purging is just what perfects the inward harmony of the branch with the
vine. It could not continue very long in the abiding condition without a
consciousness of the need of the purging process. This process becomes a
necessity to every branch which abides. "He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit," which is equivalent to the
text, "Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit." It is purged that it may bring forth "more fruit,"
and now the object of purging is realized, it brings forth "much fruit."
Thank God for the purging, the subsequent work in the heart!
The apostles had not yet received this experience. They were clean
through the word which Jesus had spoken unto them, to the extent of
their knowledge and experience. Unquestionably they were clean from
guilt and condemnation, for they were taken out from the world--were no
more of it, and the world hated them. They were living in perfect
obedience to all the known word of God and were clean through that word,
but they had not had the pentecostal purging, "purifying their hearts by
faith," as Peter himself testifies of the sanctification of himself and
all who were at Pentecost, as well as the experience of Cornelius and
his household.
Truly we have much reason to praise God for his wonderful grace in which
he brings man, his fallen creature, into such a position that he may
become a son of God, then made pure from all the depraved dispositions
of his fallen nature. "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he
shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use,
and prepared unto every good work."--2 Timothy 2:21.