THE GARDENER'S JOB

There are two levels of fruitlessness in the analogy of the vine and the branches (John 15:2). There are "no fruit" branches and "some fruit" branches, but both are still branches (Christians). God, the Father, is the gardener. He intends that all branches will bear "much fruit" so He cultivates the branches in order to make them fruitful.  What does the gardener do to make us fruitful Christians?

LEVEL ONE, NO FRUIT CHRISTIANS: "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away." The verb translated "takes away" (αιρει) has three possible meanings (BAGD, p. 24). The first meaning is to lift up or pick up. The verb is used of picking up stones to stone Jesus (John 8:59). The second lexical meaning is to lift up and carry.  The man Jesus healed by the pool of Bethesda lifted up and carried his pallet (John 5:8,10,11,12). The third meaning is to take away or remove with the sense of killing someone.  The crowds screamed about Jesus to Pilate, "Away with this man" (Luke 23:18). So which interpretation would be correct in John 15:2?

Many translations understand the verb in the sense of take away, remove or cut off.  This interpretation would be a judgmental action, and verse 6 is used to bolster the argument that this is an act of judgment by God. Some even view it as the "sin unto death" where God removes a person from this life (1 John 5:16). I think it is better to understand the verb in the sense of lift up. This fits better with the sequence of "no fruit" and "some fruit" in this verse. It also conforms to the normal process of gardening. The branches of the vine grow heavy and trail across the ground. If left on the ground they not only become fruitless but eventually rot. The gardener's first job is to lift up the branches so that they can become fruitful.  God does this in our lives whenever we become fruitless because we are mired in the dirt of life. God's first action with fruitless Christians is not to condemn us but to assist us. He lifts us up from the dirtiness of the life into which we have fallen.

LEVEL TWO, SOME FRUIT CHRISTIANS: "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit." The verb translated "prune" (καθαιρει) originally meant to clean, sweep or cleanse (NIDNTT, 3:102). The noun form was used as a technical term in agriculture for the use of chemicals to get rid of parasites or fungus. The gardener cleanses the branch of impurities and cuts away the extra woody growths that will hinder the production of fruit. The gardener's goal is to help he branch produce more fruit.

God, the spiritual gardener, takes both of these actions in our lives as needed.  When we become mired in the dirt of life and stop producing fruit, God lifts us up so we can grow spiritually. When we are struggling to produce fruit because parasites are affecting our lives or distractions are impeding our growth, the gardener cleanses us with the insecticide of grace and cuts away the distractions in our lives.  He will not let us continue as we are but will work to clean us up and prune us down.  We may not like the process, but the product is God's luscious fruit.