I am the vine, ye are the branches
Christ here repeats what he said of himself, "the vine", for the sake of the application of "the branches" to his disciples: which expresses their sameness of nature with Christ; their strict and close union to him; and the communication of life and grace, holiness and fruitfulness, of support and strength, and of perseverance in grace and holiness to the end from him:
he that abideth in me, and I in him;
which is the case of all that are once in Christ, and he in them:
the same bringeth forth much fruit;
in the exercise of grace, and performance of good works; and continues to do so as long as he lives, not by virtue of his own free will, power, and strength, but by grace continually received from Christ:
for without me ye can do nothing;
nothing that is spiritually good; no, not anything at all, be it little or great, easy or difficult to be performed; cannot think a good thought, speak a good word, or do a good action; can neither begin one, nor, when it is begun, perfect it. Nothing is to be done "without Christ"; without his Spirit, grace, strength, and presence; or as "separate from" him. Were it possible for the branches that are truly in him, to be removed from him, they could bring forth no fruits of good works, any more than a branch separated from the vine can bring forth grapes; so that all the fruitfulness of a believer is to be ascribed to Christ, and his grace, and not to the free will and power of man.
Jesus describes here the essence of a fruitful Christian life. By faith, we must stay connected to Christ every second of every day to live the most God-honoring and abundant life of peace and fruitfulness in Christ. After explaining to his disciples how his Father is the gardener that prunes each branch so that it can bear more fruit, Jesus urges them to stay grafted in. The image is powerful, but how does one stay connected this way?
God intends us to be mindful of him and to pray without ceasing. He instructs us to be filled continually with his Spirit so that we can walk by his Spirit. The fruit that Jesus means for his disciples to bear is that of the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 6:22-23) and also that of effective ministry. Both are impossible apart from Christ and the life-giving presence of his Holy Spirit in us. For the Christian, it is not necessary to learn one by one to display each fruit of the Spirit, merely abiding in Christ will cause us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt 22:37-38). In this way we will exhibit all the fruit there is, guided by God, and having put to death the works of the flesh (Ro 8:13).
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
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John 15:5
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