a man joined to the company of my people, but not joined to me."
The true meaning of the verse I believe to be this : " My Father deals with my mystical body just as the vine-dresser deals with the vine and its branches. He will no more allow any of my members to be fruitless and graceless, than a vine- dresser will allow barren branches to grow on the vine. My Father will take care that all who are in Me give proof of Iheir union by their fruitful lives and conversation. He will not tolerate for a moment such an inconsistent being as an unfruitful believer, if such a being could be found. In a word, fruitfulness is the great test of being one of my disciples ; and he that is not fruitful is not a branch of the true vine."
Calvin remarks, " Many are supposed to be in the vine, ac- cording to man's opinion, who actually have no root in the vine."
Hengstenberg thinks that the Jewish Church is primarily meant here, as a fruitless branch compared to the Christian Church.
[And every branch. ..purgeth... fruit.] The meaniug of this part of the verse is happily more easy than the other. " Just as a vine-dresser prunes and cuts all healthy branches of a vine, in order to prevent it running to wood and have it bear more fruit, so does my Father deal with all my believing members. He prunes and purifies them by affliction and trouble, in order to make them more fruitful in holiness."
Let us remember that this sentence throws light on many of the afflictions and trials of God's people. They are all part of that mysterious process by which God the Father purifies and sanctifies Christ's people. They are the " pruning " of the vine- branches, for good and not for harm, to increase their fruitful- ness. All the most eminent saints in every age have been men of sorrows, and often pruned.
Clement of Alexandria, and many writers in all ages, remark, on this verse, that the vine-branch, which is not sharply pruned, is peculiarly liable to run to wood and bear no fruit.
After all, in leaving this difficult verse, we must not forget that a man may appear to us to be a " branch in Christ," and a true believer, and yet not be one in the sight of God. The end of that man will be death. He will be " taken away " at last to punishment. " Every one that seems and appears to be a branch of the true vine, and yet is not really one, will be lost." — Two principles in any case we must never let go. One principle is that no one can be a branch in Christ, and a living member of His body, who does not bear fruit. Vital union with Christ not evidenced by life is an impossibility, and a blasphemous idea. — The other principle is that no living branch of the true vine, no believer in Christ, will ever finally
JOHN, CHAP. XV. IQjl^
perish. They that perish may have looked like believers, but they were not believers in reality.
3. — [Now ye are clean...word...unto you.] Having described the relation between Himself and His people generally, our Lord now turns to His disciples, and shows them their present posi- tion and immediate duty. " Now you are comparatively cleansed and purified by the doctrine which I have tauccht, and you have received and believed. But do not be content with past attainments. Attend to the counsel which I am about to give you."
When our Lord calls His disciples " clean " or " pure " in this place, we cannot doubt that He uses the phrase in a compara- tive sense. Compared to the unbelieving Scribes and Phari- sees, compared indeed with themselves before their Lord called and taught them, the disciples were a cleansed and purified people, — imperfectly and very partially cleansed no doubt, but cleansed.
We should carefully note how our Lord speaks of His " Word" as the great instrument of cleansing His disciples. It is the same mighty principle that is found in Eph. v. 2G and 1 Peter i. 22. God's Word is God's grand means of converting and sanctifying souls.
Henry remarks here, " Those who are justified by the blood, and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, are in Christ's account clean already, notwithstanding many spots and manifold imper- fections."
4. — [Abide in Me. ...I in you.] Now comes the direct instruction which our Lord desired the disciples to receive : — " Abide in Me. Cling to Me. Stick fast to Me. Live the life of close and intimate communion with Me. Get nearer and nearer to Me. Roll every burden on Me. Cast your whole weight on Me. Never let go your hold on Me for a moment. Be as it were rooted and planted in Me. Do this, and I will never fail you. I will ever abide in you."
This word " abide," or " remain," is used no less than ten times in the first eleven verses of this chapter. It implies a constant remaining or continuing in one spot or place. A true Christian must be always " in Christ," as a man dwelling al- ways inside the walls of a fortified city.
[As the branch.. .abide in Me.] Here our Lord returns once more to the figure of the parable : — " Just as the branch of the vine cannot bear fruit separately and of itself, and must keep up living union with the parent stem, and out of it draw life and strength, just so you cannot bear Christian fruit and walk in Christian ways, and live a Christian life, except you keep up constant union and communion with Me."
5. — [1 am... Vine...ye...hranches.'] Once more our Lord repeats the