Sophie Lindquist

Dr. Newberry

BITH 325

9 December 2020

True Discipleship

What does it mean to be a disciple? This question is far different from the question of

what it means to believe in Christ, because the scriptures tell us that even the demons believe that

Jesus is God (James 2:19). The metaphor given in John 15:1-6 and the instructions in 15:7-17

clearly lay out what it means to be a disciple. True discipleship and evidence of salvation means

that you are a branch that bears fruit, meaning that false discipleship is a branch that fails to bear

fruit, those who were never truly in Christ at all. This paper will argue that if discipleship is

abiding in Christ, then bearing fruit is inevitable and is the purpose of being a disciple. I will

support this claim by thoroughly examining the historical and contextual meanings of the different

characters and the roles that they play throughout the analogy. There is a vine, a vinedresser, and

there are two kinds of branches. In order to grasp and understand the meaning of this passage and

what it means to be a disciple, each character is vital to comprehend, along with the instructions

that are given by Jesus to those who remain in Him.

However, it is helpful to recall the context and location of the passage within the canon

first. Within the context of the book of John, Jesus’ “I Am” statement of the vine and the

vinedresser is at the heart of Jesus’ farewell discourse. The previous chapters include the washing

of the disciples feet, the new commandment to love one another, the “I Am” statements of Jesus

claiming to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the promise of the Holy Spirit’s presence

among them after Jesus' physical presence is gone. It is important to remember that John 15:1-17

is a part of Jesus’ last instructions to the disciples on the night before His crucifixion. In John 15,
Jesus presented the disciples with an interesting comparison to prepare them for his departure. He

exhorted them to live in such a way that honors and glorifies His name in His physical absence.

The only possible way to do this is by abiding in Him. Knowing the contextual location of the

chapter within the book makes the command of abiding in Christ that much more powerful

because of the urgency that Jesus had in his final instructions and because of Christ’s real desire to

have a lasting relationship with his followers and friends. The disciples had just received traumatic

and confusing news about the reality of Jesus’ death, however, Jesus’ offer provides fullness of

joy if they choose to accept.

The first character in this metaphor is Jesus, the “Vine”. The statement “I am the True Vine” has

two distinctive qualities of Johannine authorship. The first one being the statement “I Am”, and the

second one being the reference to Old Testament literature through the image of a Vine. These two

qualities show that Jesus is claiming to have a divine nature and claiming to be a fulfillment of the law.

The “I Am” statement in verse 1 is the seventh of the “I Am” statements throughout the gospel of

John. This phrase references the statement in Exodus 3:14 that God proclaimed to Moses saying, “I AM

who I AM”, which the Jews would have recognized as a claim of Deity and being equal with the God of

the Torah. He is the beginning and the end, the always was and the always will be. The “I Am” is the

eternally existent One. He is also aware of the linguistic meaning of “I Am” through His claim. For

example, another way of saying this phrase is “I am the only one who can be considered”. So, when Jesus

says that He is the Vine, He is saying that He is the only One who can rightfully fulfill this position. Not

only does Jesus claim to be the vine, but He claims the role of the True Vine. He is the dependable Vine,

and the one who has taken the place of an unfruitful vine (Adeyemo, 1311). This takes us into the next

Johannine quality seen through the character of Jesus, which is the reference of Old Testament literature.

In Hutchinson’s commentary on John 15, he suggests that “Jesus was contrasting Himself to another

earlier vine, Israel, and claiming to be the genuine vine—the perfect in place of the imperfect, the

fulfillment of the type”( Hutchinson, 66). Israel was commonly referred to as a Vine, and Isaiah 5 depicts
God’s lament over the vine because of its unfruitfulness. However, Isaiah also foresees the hope of a new

Vine, protected by God, which is abundantly fruitful (Thompson, 323). It is clear to see that in John, Jesus

fulfills this prophecy proclaimed in Isaiah. He is the “I Am” and the New Israel, meaning that the only

way to the Kingdom of God is through abiding in Him​ (Baker Commentary, 870).

The second character present in the metaphor is God the Father. Verse 1b says that the Father is

the vinedresser. It is significant that God is the Vinedresser because it shows the yearning that God has for

His people to abide in Him by bearing fruit. The Vinedresser does two things. The first thing He does is

take away the branches that do not bear fruit (15:2). Scholars debate upon whether “take away” means to

“lift up” so that the branches bear more fruit, or “remove”​(Harris III)​. However, the context around this

verse seems to suggest that the phrase means that the branches will be removed completely. Verse 6 is

proof of this meaning when it says that the Vinedresser will throw away the branches that do not bear

fruit. The other job given to the Vinedresser is pruning the branches that do, indeed bear fruit. The text

tells us that this process was done so that the branches can bear even more fruit. The role of the

Vinedresser in this image highlights the importance that fruit bearing plays in discipleship. From the

beginning of the creation account, God commands His creation to be fruitful (Genesis 1:28). The same

command is given through the Son of God a night before His death, emphasizing the crucial necessity of

bearing fruit in order to fulfill the purpose that God had planned for His creation.

The final characters present in the metaphor are the branches. The Vinedresser has two

tasks because there are two kinds of branches - branches that bear fruit and are pruned to bear

more fruit, and branches that do not bear fruit and are therefore removed, thrown away, and

burned. The first branch that Jesus describes is the branch that does not bear fruit (15:2a). The

surrounding literary context is helpful to pay heed to in order to discern why Jesus acknowledges

two kinds of branches. Two chapters prior in John 13, Judas Iscariot, a perceived disciple of Christ

Jesus, left the Final Supper to sell and betray the King of the World. Judas had once served Jesus,

but his fruit did not abide. Therefore, one can conclude that he was not ever abiding in the Vine.
The Bible is clear that those who are in Christ cannot be snatched from His hand. John 6:37

alludes to this as well, saying that “whoever comes to me I will never cast out”. So, Jesus is not

talking about fruit-bearing branches that were thrown into eternal fire all of the sudden, but instead

is talking about branches that appear to be attached, but there is no real life because there is no real

fruit. The rest of the passage makes this point very clear, take verse 8 for example. “By this my

Father is glorified, that you bear fruit and so prove to be my disciples”. However, the call to bear

fruit goes farther than that. Jesus wants abiding fruit (15:16b), which Judas did not have.

Reflecting on the realities of that night of betrayal illumines the reasoning behind the Lord’s

words. By giving the disciples two different kinds of branches in the illustration, He is explaining

to the remaining eleven that there can be branches who have an appearance of connection to the

Vine, but their fruit is not lasting. So, they are given to the devil like Judas, and cut off from the

branch completely because they did not listen to the urgent invitation to abide.

In contrast, the second branch is fairly obvious, the branch who does bear fruit. The

passage is addressed to the disciples who are “already clean” because of the words that Jesus has

spoken to them, so they are in Christ, a new creation. The Africa Bible Commentary comments on

the term “cleanness” and says that the same word was used to describe all but Judas clean in

chapter 13 (Adeyemo, 1311). Even though these disciples are clean and their love and

commitment for Jesus is sincere, Jesus still saw it necessary to remind them to have a mutual

abiding in Him (15:4). John 15 makes it clear that the branch who bears fruit can only bear fruit

because of the life-giving relationship to the Vine. He reminds the good branches that He is the

Vine and they are not; apart from Christ, a follower can do no good thing (15:5b). As a reminder,

the Vine is where all life flows from, and if there is not life, there is no fruit. If there is no fruit,

there is no disciple. Another concept that characterizes the good branch is the concept of pruning

(15:2). The branches in Him that bear fruit are pruned in order to bear more fruit. Another way of

looking at the term “pruned” is being trimmed clean (Hale, 406). God, the Vinedresser, cuts away
our bad twigs or our sinful habits so that we can be more effective fruit-bearers that are vessels for

the Kingdom of God. Jesus summarizes the two branches through two “if” statements in verses

6-7. If the branch does not abide, he will be thrown away. On the contrary, if the branch does

abide then he will have the access to the power of the Father. This major unit of thought is

concluded by stating the crucial reason to abide in the Vine: It glorifies the Lord and is proof of

discipleship.

A true disciple is the good branch. If we remain in Christ and He remains in us as Jesus

lays out through His metaphor, then we will be like living branches that bear fruit in every good

work because of the spirit of Christ flowing into us like a Vine’s nutrients flows into the branches,

giving us spiritual life. Fruit is inevitable for the true disciple. Interestingly, Jesus never

commands His disciples to bear fruit; He commands his disciples to mutually abide in Him. His

command to abide at the beginning of chapter 15 is repeated throughout the passage, and the

concept later on of having abiding fruit is pictured as an outcome of abiding in Christ (Thompson,

325). This is because the call to abide in the Vine is an invitation in itself to bear fruit. Fruit is not

something that disciples can create on their own, but rather it is produced from the life that flows

from the Vine (15:4-5). The reference to fruit bearing is repeated enough throughout chapter 15,

namely 8 times, and also throughout the entire canon, again revealing God’s purpose for all

believers, His good branches(Dawson). If the purpose of the disciple is to bear the fruit of the

Vine, and you bear fruit only by abiding, then what does it mean to abide?

The word “abide” means “to continue, dwell, endure, remain, stand”, and this is the

invitation that Jesus gives for the good branches to participate in. There are a few aspects of

abiding that Jesus lays out in John 15. The first one is the requirement of receptivity. The disciple

should be willing and ready to receive whatever Jesus’ life-giving response includes. The Baker

Commentary Bible says that the believer must have an inner apprehension of Christ (Baker

Commentary, 869). Jesus says that His words abide in His disciples, so discipleship must include
an ongoing apprehension of the Word of God (15:3,7). This is the first step of discipleship, but it

doesn’t stop there. The second one, is that abiding is mutual as seen through Jesus’ phrase, “and I

in you”(15:4). In order to truly remain in the Vine, one must also allow Jesus to dwell in our

hearts, minds and lives. Also, to be an abiding disciple means that there is an understanding that

following Jesus is steadfast and ongoing, requiring perseverance (Thompson, 325). This contrasts

to the life of the unfaithful branch seen through the life of Judas, whose fruit only lasted a little

while. This leads us into the obvious aspect of abiding which is that a disciple must bear fruit. A

disciple is expected to have outer evidence of Christ’s indwelling. This, here, is fruit. Jesus does

not claim in John 15 that having fruit is the means to salvation. However, it is evidence of faith in

Jesus as the living Word of God, as mentioned before. The “good” branch, for lack of a better

term, has this evidence. To summarize these aspects in a few short words, by bearing fruit,

disciples show themselves to be disciples.

The metaphor in John 15:1-6 portrays through the characters a picture of true discipleship

and false discipleship. However, the metaphor of the Vine and the Vinedresser itself does not

necessarily give guidance on how to abide or what fruit means. We have already discussed the fact

that bearing fruit is God’s purpose for His creation in order to accomplish His means of

redemption through his branches, but the disciples clearly needed some instruction on how to do

that sufficiently. They were just told that apart from Him, they can do nothing (15:5), but after

being told that Jesus will soon physically be apart from them. So, In John 15:7-17 Jesus includes

some answers and guidance in his final discussion with his disciples of how one can remain in

relationship with the Lord Jesus after his departure from earth.

The first verse in this section is an amazing reality for the disciples. They can approach

the True Vine in prayer, if the relationship is genuine (15:7). If a disciple is in Christ, the sole

desire is to do Christ’s will, and God will be pleased to give us our desires if they align with and

are within the will of Christ. This portrays God’s nature as a Father who wants to give good gifts
to His children, however He knows that the best gifts He can give are aligned with His will and

ultimately give the disciple more of Himself. The condition that God gives to his disciples for this

promise of granting their requests is to abide, as mentioned many times before. Therefore in the

life of a Christian, if there is a mutual remaining between the disciple and Christ, then the disciple

will know what God’s will is and will pray in accordance with that will. A tangible way to remain

in Christ that will reveal the will of God is by interacting with the living Word of God because

according to John 1, Christ is God’s living Word. A true disciple wants to know what the will of

God is, and there is complete access to that will through the scriptures. The next instruction and

advice Jesus gives on true discipleship is how to glorify the Father. This was mentioned before,

but he says proving to be His disciples by bearing fruit is glorifying to the Father (15:8). Again,

this underscores the purpose of discipleship as bearing fruit. An example of this fruit, and another

part of God’s will is shown by Jesus’ invitation to abide in His love (15:9). He then tells His

followers exactly how to do this. He tells them to follow in his example of obedience to the

Father. If they keep Jesus’ commandments, then they will abide in His love (15:10). Here we see

that obedience and love go hand in hand. To be an abiding disciple, one must know the will of

God, one must bear fruit and one must abide in His love. However, to remain in Christ’s love, one

must love Him. To love Jesus means to obey Him (Hale, 408). Jesus told His disciples about love

and obedience so that they might share in His joy. Obedience is often characterized in a negative

light, but Jesus is not talking about submitting to rules that restrict and require submission to

society. Jesus is talking about submitting to a loving Father, and this submission results in a

God-honoring and therefore joyful life. The decision to accept the invitation of Christ Jesus to

abide is an invitation to bear fruit, which results in only benefits for the disciple(15:11)(Baker

Commentary, 869).

Verses 12 and 17 repeat the command to love one another. This is the ultimate instruction

that Jesus gives in regards to bearing fruit. Though this is a command, he addresses them as
friends rather than slaves(15:14-15). Essentially, discipleship is friendship with Christ. However,

again the condition for this friendship is obedience to His commands. Some argue that because

Jesus calls His disciples friends instead of slaves here, that the term “slave” is no longer

appropriate for a disciple of Jesus. However, Jesus is still taking the place of a master by

instructing obedience, and Paul refers to himself as a slave for Christ five times. The point of

Jesus’ statement about friendship is to stress His desire for intimacy with his disciples. This

intimacy leads to obedience (IVP) . The Lord’s desire for His people is to enjoy an eternal

friendship with the God of the universe. A mere belief in Christ will not result in a friendship with

Him. A friendship requires love and action, and to love the God of the universe means to bear fruit

and obey His commands. Jesus does not leave the disciples without an example on how to be a

disciple. He offers up himself as the ultimate example of bearing fruit, obeying the Father, and

loving, which are all attributes that define a disciple of the Lord Jesus (15:9,10,12,13).

The ultimate purpose of a disciple is to imitate the example of the master. Jesus leaves us

with many qualities to imitate throughout His ministry, but this passage summarizes the crucial

ones. When Jesus tells His followers to “go and bear fruit”, He is talking about the fruit that comes

from living in relationship with Him, which is the fruit of the Spirit(15:16). Galatians 5:22-23 tells

us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control”, all of which should mark a disciple’s life to some extent. Verses

12-17 encapsulate the commands and desires of God for his followers that want to remain in Him.

In addition, the disciples have all they need through the example of their master, Jesus Christ, who

exemplified every good work and fruit of the Spirit perfectly. Another thing that Jesus did was

make more disciples. This would lead to the conclusion that disciples make disciples, just as Jesus

did, and bearing fruit is the means through which this is accomplished.

Finally, in order to be a good branch or true disciple who abides in Jesus, one must also abide in

love (15:9,17). Love is behind all of Jesus’ commands in John 15:1-17. In the second section of the
passage, Jesus expresses His love for His disciples and commands them to love Him and others. We are to

love the Vine, the Vinedresser, and every branch. People will know a true disciple by their love.

In summary, by examining the historical roles of the Vine, the Vinedresser and the branches, a

true disciple is revealed as one who has an intimate and ongoing relationship with Christ Jesus, and

through that living relationship, fruit comes forth from the Vine and through the branches. If fruit is not

evident in a believers life, they are not a true disciple. Also, Jesus gives instructions to His disciples on

how to abide and bear fruit. Abiding includes living out the fruits of the Spirit, obeying Jesus’ commands,

loving Him and others, and imitating His example in all ways, including bearing fruit for the purpose of

making more disciples of Christ. Although this passage took place in a very different horizon, the

message still applies for all believers today. Jesus was about to be crucified when he spoke these words,

but today He is the living Lord. To be a disciple of the risen Jesus, we have to be a branch that faithfully

abides in the Vine and in His love and obeys His commandments of bearing fruit. If there is no fruit, there

is no disciple.
 Works Cited

Adeyemo, Tokunboh. ​Africa Bible Commentary: a One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African

Scholars.​ Zondervan, 2010.

Baker Commentary on the Bible,​ by Walter A. Elwell, Baker Books, 2008, pp. 869-870.

Dyson, Dawn. “The Vine and Branches: An Exegetical Analysis and Commentary of John 15:1-11.”

Dawndyson​, 28 July 2018,

www.dawndyson.com/post/2018/07/27/the-vine-and-branches-an-exegetical-analysis-and-comment

ary-of-john-151-11.

Hale, Thomas, and Stephen Thorson. ​The Applied New Testament Commentary.​ No Publisher, 2012.

Harris III, W. Hall. “18. Exegetical Commentary on John 15.” ​18. Exegetical Commentary on John 15 |

Bible.org,​ 2 Mar. 2006, bible.org/seriespage/18-exegetical-commentary-john-15.

Hutchinson, John C. “The Vine in John 15 and Old Testament Imagery in the ‘I Am’ Statements.”

Bibliotheca Sacra​, vol. 168, no. 669, Jan. 2011, pp. 63–80. ​EBSCOhost​,

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“John 15 - IVP New Testament Commentaries.” ​John 15 Commentary - Jesus Calls the Disciples to

Remain in Him, the True Vine - BibleGateway.com,​

www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/John/Jesus-Calls-Disciples-Remain.
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Press, 2015. Print