5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Imagine John, the gospel chronicler, writing this account many years after the fact. He had apparently made it into his 90s, as the 2nd century writer Irenaeus mentions his living until emperor Trajan’s reign which began in A.D. 98. The date he wrote his gospel account is not certain, but most conservative scholars put it between A.D. 85-90. And historians believe he composed this account while living in Ephesus, before his exile to the island of Patmos where he wrote the Book of the Revelation (Rev 1:9).
John, for one, knew the true value of Jesus’ promise of perfect recall for all that He had taught the disciples (John 14:26). This disciple’s mind was still sharp, his memory clear and his words inspired (2 Tim 3:16). He had had much time to see the truth played out, of Jesus’ illustration of being the vine and the requirement for fruitfulness being to abide in Him. Fifty to sixty years had passed between the time the Lord spoke those words and the time when John published them. He had witnessed the explosive Pentecostal event with its mass conversion (Acts 2). He had experienced miracles like Jesus had done (Acts 3). He was present at the Samaritans’ baptism into Christ (Acts 8). Yes, he saw much fruit in the immediate aftermath of the beginning of the movement of the promised Holy Spirit. The disciples constantly preached Christ, and they saw great results. He must have continually seen fruit over the next half century until penning these words of Christ for all to hear. “Abide in me” (vs. 4). There is no reason to believe otherwise.
So how do we abide in Christ? What does John have to say to us about this? Does he not begin with, “In the beginning was the Word …”? To abide in Christ, means to immerse ourselves in His truth, His Word (“I am the truth …”). We need to be in the Word, studying the Word, meditating on the Word and living the Word. John tells us why he wrote his gospel account of the Lord, “These [things in this book] have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30–31). Life in Christ is abundant (John 10:10), and therefore is a fruitful life.
Abiding in Him means drawing our life from Him like a branch draws sap from the stem of the plant. It means praying to Him, relying on Him, trusting Him and growing in “the grace and knowledge” of Christ (2 Peter 3:18). That is the only way to fruitfulness in the Christian life, to abide in Christ.
Lord, I want to be fruitful, so I abide in You and You only.
0 Comments