John 15:1-6 reads, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them into the fire, and they are burned” (NKJV).

It is important to realize that the subject here deals with “fruit-bearing,” and not “salvation.” It is NOT telling us what we must do to be saved; it is telling us what we should do because we are saved. In fact, I’ve often turned new converts to this portion and said, “God has saved you and made you fit for heaven, but He has left you here on earth to bear fruit for Him.” Bearing fruit is living for the glory of God in everything we do. It would include bearing fruit in our service for Him, and even more so by producing the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives. We read of this in Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” It has been said that this nine-fold cluster of fruit is a portrait of Christ, for He displayed these nine character traits in everything He said and did. Now we have the privilege (and the responsibility) of manifesting the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives.

In verse 1 Jesus said, “I am the true vine,” for He alone brought forth perfect fruit to God the Father, who is the “vinedresser.” God could say of Him in Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Jesus Himself could say, in John 8:29, “I do always those things that please Him.”

In verses 2-6 the Lord Jesus goes on to describe believers that have life in Him as “branches.” In verse 2 Jesus said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” We believe this is a picture of a “fruitless believer”; that is, one who is not living for God’s glory. Because of his failure to bear fruit, God the Father may “take him away” from this earth through death. We have an example of this in 1 Corinthians 11:30 which states, “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (NASB). Next we learn that “every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Even the fruit-bearing Christian needs to be “pruned” or “cleansed.” When the Father knows that we could be bearing more fruit, He will use the Word of God to cleanse us from anything and everything that is hindering fruit-bearing. Verse 3 confirms this, for the Lord reminds them that the Word is the cleansing agent by which they were initially cleansed when they were born-again. Verses 4-5 bring home the central truth of this portion, for in order to bear fruit WE MUST ABIDE IN CHRIST! Jesus emphasized this by saying, “without Me you can do nothing.” Just as a branch clings to the vine and draws its strength and nutrients from it, enabling it to bear fruit, so the believer must cling to Christ and allow His life to flow through us. If we do fail to abide in Christ, our testimony will be worthless and we, along with our testimony, will be discarded by the world. This is pictured for us in verse 6 which reads, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them into the fire, and they are burned.” Some believe this speaks of a mere professor who was never born again and that God will cast him into the lake of fire. But as we stated at the beginning, the subject here is “fruit-bearing” and not “salvation,” so this portion deals with true believers. A believer who fails to remain in fellowship with Christ can ruin his testimony to the point that men will ridicule him and destroy his reputation, just as men gather worthless branches into a fire to be burned. (174.7) (DO)