15:3
“Already you are clean ...” The words of Jesus may have put fear into the heart of the disciples, Jesus assures them that they are already clean. Whilst washing the disciples feet Jesus told them that they were clean (John 13:10), and the word spoken may be referring directly to that. Or it may be a more general reference to Jesus’ words.
15:4
So fruit bearing is essential, but if we look at ourselves the situation can look pretty hopeless! Am I going to be a bearer of good fruit? On my own merit the answer is definitely not! But it is not just down to me or to you. We will bear fruit if we remain in Jesus and He abides in us. A close connection to Jesus is what makes all the difference. We are branches, the nourishment comes from the main part of the vine itself, which is Jesus. He is the source of life.
15:5
Jesus now makes clear our respective roles. He is the vine, i.e the main body of the plant, we are the branches. The point He is making is our utter dependency upon Him. Without Him we can do nothing, yet so often we try to disprove this! The converse, and the positive point that He is making is that when we abide in Him and He in us, then we will indeed bear much fruit. Note that it is not just a little fruit, but much fruit. Now this fruit is not just seeing others come to Christ, but also the building up of the body, honouring Christ in the face of opposition etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment