In John 15:1-8 we find the well-known teaching of the Lord Jesus about the vine and its branches, where He says:
‘1 I am the
true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2
Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every
branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a
branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine,
neither can you unless you remain in me. 5
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him
produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he
is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into
the fire, and they are burned. 7 If
you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will
be done for you. 8 My Father is
glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.’
(CSB)
In this passage the Lord portrays Himself as a vine and
His followers as the branches of that vine.
Actually, strictly speaking He must mean that He is the
trunk of the vine and His followers are the branches. He surely doesn’t mean
that He is the whole vine, both trunk and branches, and that we are also the
branches. That would hardly make sense of verse 2, where He says that God
prunes the branches that produce fruit. Pruning here symbolises God’s
discipline, and the perfect Jesus clearly needed no disciplining. So the
metaphor, strictly speaking, must involve Jesus being the trunk of the vine.
Those who say that we produce fruit
without trying
In verse 5 the Lord says that if we remain in Him, and
He remains in us, we will produce much fruit. This fruit should be interpreted
broadly as symbolising everything we do that is profitable in God’s sight.
So remaining in the Lord Jesus is clearly the key to us
becoming the people and doing the things that please God.
There are some Christians who claim that this passage
shows that it is a mistake for believers to put effort into trying to produce
fruit. They argue along the following lines:
This passage says simply that
Christians who remain in Jesus will produce fruit. Not a word is said about
putting in any effort.
Furthermore, the picture of the
vine and its branches supports this interpretation. The branches of a literal
vine obviously make no effort to produce fruit. They just do this automatically
when they are attached to the trunk of the vine. So it makes sense to think
that the same is true of the branches of the metaphorical vine, i.e.,
Christians.
So what should we make of this argument? Does it hold
water?
I would suggest that it doesn’t, as I will explain in
what follows.
Not trying in our own strength
To begin with, it needs to be said that those who make
the above argument are certainly right that in order to produce fruit we have
to be united to Jesus. It isn’t the case that God is out there somewhere far
away, demanding that we produce fruit that He approves of. Instead, we need His
closeness and empowering in order to do things that please Him.
In other words, for us to try to produce fruit in our
own strength would be a hopeless task. We need the indwelling Holy Spirit to
help us (2 Cor 3:18).
The mistake of pressing the details
of the imagery
But what about the fact that branches on a literal vine
don’t try to produce fruit? Does that imply that Christians also shouldn’t try
to produce spiritual fruit?
It actually doesn’t imply this. Importantly, biblical
metaphors often don’t correspond precisely to what they are symbolising. It is usually
a mistake to press the details too far.
A good example of this can be seen in Matthew 20:28. Here Jesus
says:
‘. . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (CSB)
In this verse, Jesus’ death is metaphorically described as a ransom
for people.
This is an excellent metaphor for illustrating what His death
accomplished. Nevertheless, this metaphorical ransom doesn’t correspond to a
literal ransom in every respect. A literal ransom has to be paid to someone.
Yet if we ask to whom Jesus’ metaphorical ransom was paid, we are demanding too
much of the metaphor. There is no one to whom Jesus’ ransom was paid.
This metaphor of a ransom, then, corresponds quite loosely to
reality. It is a mistake to interpret it too precisely.
Another good example can be found in Hebrews 12:1. Here the author
encourages his readers with these words:
‘Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses
surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily
ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,’ (CSB)
In this verse, the Christian life is described using the metaphor
of a long distance running race.
This is also a great metaphor, but we mustn’t demand too much from
it. In a literal race we run against competitors. However, in the metaphorical
race being described in this verse there are no competitors we run against.
This is another metaphor, then, that corresponds quite loosely to
the reality it is describing. And many more similar examples could be given
from Scripture.
In view of how biblical metaphors often correspond imprecisely to
reality, it is a mistake to simply assume that the metaphor of the vine should
be interpreted very technically and precisely. And once we understand this, we
see that the fact that the branches of a literal vine don’t try to produce
fruit doesn’t automatically mean that the Christian branches of the spiritual
vine should also not try to produce fruit.
Biblical passages that refer to effort
Most importantly, we must take account of the biblical passages
that refer to effort that Christians need to put in.
For example, in 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul instructs Timothy:
‘Fight the good fight of the faith.’ (ESV)
And then in 2 Timothy 4:7 he says:
‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith.’ (ESV)
Fighting clearly implies the expending of a great
amount of effort. So too does the image of running a race, both as found in 2
Timothy 4:7 and in Hebrews 12:1 that I quoted above.
In v. 4 of the same chapter of Hebrews the author tells
his readers:
‘In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted
to the point of shedding your blood.’ (ESV)
If we are to struggle against sin, that obviously
implies that we put in effort and try to fight against it.
Similarly, in Luke 13:24 the Lord commands:
‘Strive to enter through the narrow door . . .’ (ESV)
Again, to strive to do something implies that we should
try hard to do it.
The combined weight of these passages makes it clear
that there is very much a place for putting in effort as we live our Christian
lives.
We shouldn’t just sit back
Without being united with Jesus, as a branch is united
with the trunk of a vine, our goal of producing fruit as Christians is not
going to work. We need to rest in God and let His Spirit help and empower us in
many ways.
But resting in God doesn’t mean that there is no place
for putting in great effort to do God’s will and to grow in the faith. It is
absolutely right for us to try to produce fruit for the Lord.
The idea that we are supposed to just sit back and
watch God produce fruit in our lives is a big mistake.
See also:
Getting
into the Habit of Doing Everything with Jesus
The
Radical Nature of the Normal Christian Life
The
Importance of Taking Steps to Avoid Temptation
