Does the vine and branches passage in John 15 mean that salvation can be lost?

Israel is called a vine in the Old Testament (Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:1-8; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1) and Christ here in this parable takes the place of Israel and is the true vine. His disciples are the branches. Israel under the law covenant could not bear fruit for God, as the law cannot be the source of fruit-bearing. Fruit unto God can only spring from union with Christ. (See Romans 7:4.) He as the true vine on earth brought fruit unto God. The true believer is as closely united to Him as the branch is to the vine. The branch is in Him and He is in the branch. The life-sap of the vine circulates in the branch. And this life and nature in the believer produces the fruit. Our Lord said: "The Father who abideth in me, He doeth the works." And believers should confess: The Lord Jesus Christ Who abideth in me and I in Him, He produces the fruit. Apart from Him we can do nothing. This vital union with Christ, dependence on Him, the result--fruit unto God, is more fully revealed in the Epistles.

He told His disciples, "now ye are clean (literally: purged) through the word that I have spoken unto you." In Chapter 13 He said, "ye are clean, but not all." Judas was then present, but he had gone out to betray Him. But what does it mean: "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away," and again, "if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned"? These words are often taken to teach that a believer's salvation and safety depends upon his fruit-bearing and his faithfulness. These two statements have been much perverted and misapplied as if they taught that a true branch in the vine, one who is really in Christ, may be cut off and be cast away to perish forever. If this were the meaning of these words our Lord would contradict His previous teachings. The branch in the vine which beareth not fruit is not a true believer at all, but one who by profession claims to be a branch in the vine. Note in verse 6 the change from "ye" to "a man." If our Lord had said "if ye abide not in me, ye shall be cast forth as a branch, etc.," it would mean a true believer. But the change makes it clear that no true disciple is meant, but one who makes a profession without being born again.

"These are awful words. They seem, however, to apply specially to backsliders and apostates, like Judas Iscariot. There must be about a man some appearance of professed faith in Christ, before he can come to the state described here. Doubtless there are those who seem to depart from grace, and to go back from union with Christ; but we need not doubt in such cases that the grace was not real, but seeming, and the union was not true, but fictitious. Once more we must remember that we are reading a parable. After all, the final, miserable ruin and punishment of false professors, is the great lesson which the verse teaches. Abiding in Christ leads to fruitfulness in this life and everlasting happiness in the life to come. Departure from Christ leads to the everlasting fire of hell."-- J.C. Ryle.

Still the Lord speaks, and now in words of warning, as well as in words of encouragement. And here, when warning, we should observe the change in His language. He has been addressing the Eleven as true branches of the vine. He will address them again as such (7, 8). But in the word of warning He changes from "ye" to "a man." "If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (6). Empty profession, if persisted in to the end, will meet with its deserts. Condemnation must be the portion of all those characterised by it. Was any doubt then to be harboured by a real believer, lest such after all might be his doom? The language of verse 6, "If a man," etc., clearly shows that none of the Eleven were there contemplated. Had the Lord said, "If ye abide not in Me," etc., or had He been thus reported by the Evangelist, some justification might be pleaded for the grave mistake, that a real believer could after all be lost — a child of God to-day, a lost soul tomorrow. But the Lord's language was guarded. And the Apostle, guided of the Spirit, faithfully reproduced it, we may be sure. No room for a doubt as to a true believer can be evolved from it.

(V. 6). In verse six we have the solemn case of the dead branch — the mere professor, who takes the name of Christ, but has no vital link with Christ. Such can bring forth no fruit. In the figure used the dead branch does not come under the personal dealing of the Husbandman, but is dealt with by others. So the fruitless, and therefore lifeless, professor is not dealt with by the Father but, under the government of God, is dealt with by the executors of His judgment. And here the branch is not "taken away" but "cast forth," "withered," "cast into the fire," and "burned." Was not Judas a solemn and fearful example of a withered branch. In the case of those to whom the Lord was speaking the link with Himself was vital, for had He not just said "Ye are clean"? For this reason the Lord does not say, "If ye do not abide" but "If a man abides not in Me." The terms are changed in order to exclude the thought of a true disciple being cast forth and burned.

However, while the discourse of the Lord introduces us to that which takes the place of Israel on the earth, it hardly presents Christianity in its heavenly relations. It does not contemplate relationship with Christ in heaven as members of His body by the Holy Spirit — a vital relationship which cannot be broken; but relationship with Christ on earth by the profession of discipleship. This profession may be real or it may be mere profession, hence the Lord speaks of two kinds of branches, those that have life and prove their vitality by bringing forth fruit, and those that have no life and are cast forth and burned.

But here the Lord insists on more — the necessity and the importance of dependence on Him, of intimacy with Himself. This is to abide in Christ; and His word is, "Abide in Me, and I in you." It is not sovereign grace to the sinner, but His call to the disciple; and hence His abiding in us, as a matter of daily communion, depends on our abiding in Him. "As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abide in the vine, so neither (can) ye, unless ye abide in Me." Nothing simpler than the fact outwardly, nothing surer in our experience than that so it is inwardly. He, and He only, is the dwelling-place for the soul in this world of snare and danger, in this desert where no water is. Make Him the resource, make Him the object; and the sap, as it were, flows without hindrance, and fruit is borne. Without Him no teaching avails, and all religious excitement fails; bring Him in, confide in Him, and, no matter what the difficulty or the pain or the shame, no matter what the opposition or the detraction, He sustains the heart, and fruit-bearing follows.286 Apart from Him we can do nothing; with Him, all things. So said one who had learnt it well, "I have strength for all things in Him that giveth me power" (Phil. 4:13).

It seems scarcely needful to remark that the relation of head and body serves quite another purpose in Scripture, and must be kept wholly distinct. Heavenly grace forms that one body by the one Spirit united to the glorified Head; and therein we do not hear of rending, maiming, or cutting off. It is the church viewed as the object of Christ's unfailing love, till He present it to Himself in glory. Responsibility on earth under Divine government is another thing; and this, not the unfailing heavenly relationship of the Church, is taught by the Vine and its branches. Hence Calvinistic devices are as uncalled for as the Arminian assaults they are meant to avert. No one doubts that profession may fail. Life is eternal for all that; and in Christ there is nothing short of eternal life; but this is not the teaching of the Vine, any more than the unity of the body. It is a pity that learned commentators do not read with faith and care the Scriptures they essay to comment on.

The parable of the vine and its branches, though simple enough to the one taught of God, has been the cause of a good deal of contention among Christians. It is even brought forward to prove that a child of God may be lost for ever. This would be so at variance with the plainest teaching of Scripture that one wonders to find anyone clinging to such a notion. And to lay hold of a parable like this to support the error does nothing but reveal the self-will that lies at the foundation of it. Though it is absolutely necessary to be in vital relations with Christ to bring forth fruit, yet the figure used takes in as branches all who profess faith in Christ. The branch that bears fruit is “in Me,” and so also is the branch that bears “not fruit.” Both are in the vine, the one as truly as the other, and yet one may bear fruit and the other not.

As to John 15:2, the real secret of the difficulty felt by so many in this scripture is that they seek to make it a question of life and security, whereas it is simply a question of fruitbearing. If we do not abide in the vine we shall prove fruitless branches, and all such branches the gardener removes from the place of fruitbearing. The question of salvation is not touched.

The True Vine. — Israel in the Old Testament is likened to a vine (Jer. 2:21), and to a vine brought by God out of Egypt. A branch of it portrayed the royal house, from which after the flesh the Lord was to come — the Man of God's right hand, the Son of Man whom He made strong for Himself (Ps. 80:8-11, 17). But the Lord in our Gospel here presents Himself (15), not as Messiah, the Son of David, a branch, but as the true vine — the stem, of which the Apostles whom He was addressing were the branches, whilst the Father was the husbandman. True blessing and fruitfulness for God depended not now on being children of Abraham by natural descent, able to call Jacob their father; but all depended on vital connection with Christ. He was the true vine here on earth; for, as one has remarked, there are no vines in heaven. No forgiveness is there apart from the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:22) no fruitfulness apart from vital association with Christ. Hence the question of profession comes up, and that of fruitfulness is now brought forward. Branches in a vine there might be which did not bear fruit. Profession of discipleship to Christ there could be, yet lacking in reality. And as the husbandman removes the barren branches of a vine, so the Father, presented here as the husbandman, takes away those who are not real as to discipleship. "Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away" (John 15:2). Here we must note the difference of being in the vine from being in Christ, of which last we are taught elsewhere. And noting the difference will serve to help us to interpret rightly our passage. The being in Christ, or being Christ's, for these mean the same (Gal. 3:28-29), is true only of real children of God. And such come to be in Christ, or Christ's, through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost (Rom. 8:9). Those of whom this is true can never be lost. Of them there is no question of excision from Christ. With the branches in the true vine we are taught it is different. A branch, if unfruitful, will be taken away. So it is plain, that being in Christ and being in the vine are very different matters. And the last indicates profession, which, whether it be real or not, is demonstrated by fruitfulness or the reverse. So Judas, as numbered among the Twelve, appeared as a branch in the vine. But unfruitful, he was to be taken away.

I do not think that living union with Christ is here spoken of, because verse 2 speaks of branches in Him not bearing fruit, which cannot be where Christ is the life. Compare also verse 6, which, if living union were in question, would contradict the everlasting life which the believer has. There is some analogy thus far with Rom. 11, the olive-tree of testimony on earth, as the vine is of profession. Of course, in both cases, the saints are living branches; but there are other branches which are broken off. Oneness with Christ, as members of His body, depends on the baptism of the Spirit, which was unknown before Pentecost.

John 15:2. Jesus not only brought forth fruit Himself, but He is the source of fruit in others. "Every branch in Me that beareth fruit," He says, shewing that the branch must be in Him, the true Vine, in order that it may bring forth fruit. This sentence gives us the key to the passage: it shews us that the union here spoken of is an earthly union, for vines do not grow in heaven, and in heaven there is no fruit bearing in the sense of this passage. The heavenly union of Christ with His body was not yet formed or manifested, for Christ was not yet glorified, and until He was we do not hear of a Head in heaven and members on earth. Our union then with Christ as members of His body is not here alluded to; that is indissoluble, and independent of us altogether. The union here spoken of may be dissolved, and is dependent upon our abiding in Him.

It may be said, None are disciples, but those who are true disciples, and as such must bear fruit; but that is a misinterpretation of the word "disciple." In the Bible we read of true and false disciples. If men will call themselves by the Name of Christ and profess to belong to Him, they will be taken on their own profession, and fruit will be sought from them. They will have made themselves responsible to bear that fruit to God which can only be borne by abiding in Christ. "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away;" not "cast forth" as in the sixth verse. The distinction is drawn between the false and true professor; if we, His own beloved ones, cease to bear fruit the husbandman must take us away. This may be done in various ways; it may be by removing us from our position of service for Him, perhaps by laying us on a bed of sickness. There may be also a taking away by temporal life being cut off, which was what happened in the Corinthian church, as we read in Corinthians 11, on account of the manner in which they partook of the Lord's Supper.