FRUITLESS BRANCHES

The extended metaphor of the vine and the branches in John 15 deals with fruit bearing through abiding in Christ.  The word "fruit" (καρπος) is used 8 times in verses 1-16.  The word "abide" (μενω) is used 11 times in verses 1-16.  To "abide" means to remain or continue. Branches produce fruit by remaining connected to the vine.  The life flowing from Jesus (the Vine) produces the fruit in believers (the branches.).

Jesus is speaking about real believers. The Father is the gardener. Jesus is the vine and believers are the branches. Jesus says that the gardener will take action regarding "every branch in Me that does not bear fruit" (John 15:2). The branches, Jesus says, are "in Me" (εν εμοι). A branch is not a branch if it is not "in Me," Jesus says. He is speaking only about branches that are in union with Jesus. Every branch in the metaphor is connected to Christ. Jesus is not talking about branches from other vines.  These branches are all from His vine. Therefore, all branches in this metaphor are genuine believers.

Some branches, Jesus implies, are not bearing fruit (μη φερον καρπον). Bearing (φερον) is an attributive participle describing fruit (καρπον). An attributive participle is used to attribute a characteristic or an action to the noun it modifies (Blass Debrunner, Grammar, p.212). The resulting clause explains the branch. The branch Jesus is talking about is a "not bearing fruit" branch.  Since all branches are in Christ, this fruitless branch is a fruitless believer.

The participle "bearing" (φερον) is a present active participle.  The branch is not actively producing fruit, and the branch is not currently producing fruit. The time of the participle is connected to the time of the main verb. The main verb in this case is also a present tense verb (αιρει). Therefore, the time of the the participle is present time. The Christian in view is not presently bearing fruit. Jesus is not considering a person who has never borne fruit. A professing - not genuine - Christian would never have borne any fruit. Jesus is not talking about such a person here. He is talking about a believer who is not currently producing fruit not an unbeliever who pretended to produce fruit.

There are 3 conclusions we can draw from this opening clause in the metaphor. 1) All branches (believers) are united with Christ. 2) Jesus intends that every believer will bear fruit. 3) Believers, at times, become fruitless, and that  fruitlessness must be addressed by the gardener.  What the gardener does to address fruitlessness (vs. 2) will have to await the next blog post!

THE RULER AND THE CROSS

Jesus tells the disciples that He will not speak much more with them because "the ruler of the world is coming" (John 14:30). The ruler is Satan and the coming is his coming to kill Jesus.  Satan choreographs the events leading to the cross. The Pharisees, Pontius Pilate and the crowds are secondary causes of the cross. The first cause is Satan. The cross is a cosmic battle fought by Satan against God through human proxies who are dominated by their ruler.

Only one man in the history of the world had no foothold that Satan could use to rule him - Jesus! Jesus said, "he has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). The "in Me" (εν εμοι) is placed first in the clause for emphasis. The double negative added further intensity to Jesus' affirmation (ουκ εχει ουδεν). Literally Jesus says, "in Me not he has nothing." The clause is translated idiomatically in several ways.  "He has no claim on Me" (ESV).  "He has no hold over Me" (NIV). The ruler of this world could find nothing in Jesus that he could use to rule Jesus in any way.

Satan rules this world by finding flaws he can use to dominate people. We are all flawed by sin and Satan uses these sinful flaws to rule us.  There were no spiritual weaknesses or sinful flaws in Jesus. Pontius Pilate used a similar expression to announce that he could find no guilt (ουδεμιαν αιτιαν) in Him (εν αυτω) (John 18:38). Jesus was sinless as the author of Hebrews later writes (Heb. 4:15), but His sinlessness is more than merely a lack of sinful actions or behaviors.  Jesus claims here that His sinlessness is a "necessary causal condition" (Meyer, John, p. 424) for His freedom from the power of the ruler of this world. The sinless perfection of Jesus was intrinsic to His nature giving Satan no foothold in His life.

The sinless perfection of Jesus in His very nature is the necessary foundation for His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. Satan could seize nothing in Jesus to rule so Jesus could offer Himself as a sacrifice of love on the cross thereby defeating the one who had choreographed the crucifixion. Jesus freely gave Himself to show the world that He loved and obeyed the Father as He says in the next verse (John 14:31). The first motivating focus of Jesus on the cross was love for His Father. We take second place in the mind of Jesus. The cross was a free offering of love satisfying the Father on our behalf  precisely because Satan had no foothold in Jesus that he could use to defeat God's plan to save humanity from the ruler of this world.

THE JOY OF TRUE LOVE

Love's deep joy comes from love's self-sacrifice.  When I truly love someone, I experience joy in sacrificing myself for that one.  The principle is counter intuitive to our human expectations.  Jesus demonstrated the principle on the cross and taught it to us in John 14:28.

"You heard that I said to you, 'I go away and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."

The disciples were saddened by their coming loss. Their myopic self interest interfered with Christ's eternal interests making their sadness selfish.  The conditional sentence is a second class condition where the condition is assumed to be unfulfilled or contrary to fact (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1012). The protasis is "if you loved Me" (ει ηγαπατε με). The imperfect tense indicates they were not loving Him on an ongoing basis.  Jesus does not doubt that they have loved Him, but their sadness at His going proves they were not continuing to love Him. If they had kept on loving Him, they would have experienced joy even in His departure (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1015).

The apodasis - "you would have rejoiced" at My going - (εχαρητε αν) - acknowledges the reality of their joylessness. The verb means to experience gladness.  They were "losing" Jesus, and their sense of loss led to sadness because they could not see beyond their self interest.  Their sadness was rooted in their limited self interest.  They could not see that letting Jesus go would lead to greater joy. Some suggest that Jesus was demonstrating a playfully tender appeal for their love (Bernard, John, 2:555). I see it more as a wistful appeal. Jesus wished they could love Him so much they would rejoice in His departure because what He was doing for them was so much better than they could possibly guess.

In reality, our true self interest lies in seeking Christ's greater interests where we experience real joy. Jesus longs for us to love Him so deeply that we can rejoice in Him even in our losses. The deepest love rejoices in the greatest loss by looking beyond our loss to see His love.  The depth of my love for Him is measured by the joy I feel in His love even in my loss.