What did Jesus mean when He said "I am the True Vine" (John 15:1)?

This weighty passage of scripture has suffered immensely through theological controversy and religious strife. It is as plain as it is practical, and only needs to be taken as it stands, in its own divine simplicity. If we seek to import into it what does not belong to it, we mar its integrity and miss its true application. In it we have Christ, the true vine, taking the place of Israel who had become to Jehovah the degenerate plant of a strange vine. The scene of the parable is obviously earth and not heaven; we do not think of a vine and a husbandman (georgos) in heaven. Besides, our Lord says, "I am the true vine." The figure is very distinct. It is not the Head and the members, but a tree and its branches. Moreover, the subject of the parable is as distinct as the parable itself; it is not eternal life, but fruit-bearing. If this were borne in mind, it would greatly help to an understanding of this much misunderstood passage of scripture.

The olive tree is introduced by the Apostle for teaching as to the sharing in the promises made to Abraham, who is represented as the root of the tree. Jews by natural birth belonged to the tree. Gentiles were now, like branches of a wild olive, grafted into a good one — grafted into the olive tree, and so partaking of its root and fatness. The fig tree illustrates religious profession. Plenty of leaves there might be on a fig tree, and yet it be destitute of fruit. An example of that we have in Mark 11:13. How like such a state were the Jews in the Lord's day — much profession, but, as a nation, no real fruit. Then the vine is brought forward to teach that fruitfulness of the branches could only be produced if in living connection with the vine stem. So there is the need of abiding in Christ, the true vine, in order to be fruitful for God. This subject now comes before us in the Lord's teaching for His disciples on that night before His cross.

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 am the true vine." Jehovah had planted a vine brought out of Egypt (Psalm 80:8). This is Israel after the flesh; but it was not the true Vine. The true Vine was His Son, whom He brought up out of Egypt — Jesus. He presents Himself thus to His disciples. Here it is not that which He will be after His departure; He was this upon earth, and distinctively upon earth. We do not speak of planting vines in heaven, nor of pruning branches there.

The disciples would have considered Him as the most excellent branch of the Vine; but thus He would have been only a member of Israel, whereas He was Himself the vessel, the source of blessing, according to the promises of God. The true Vine, therefore, is not Israel; quite the contrary, it is Christ in contrast with Israel, but Christ planted on earth, taking Israel's place, as the true Vine. The Father cultivates this plant, evidently on the earth. There is no need of a husbandman in heaven. Those who are attached to Christ, as the remnant of Israel, the disciples, need this culture. It is on the earth that fruit-bearing is looked for. The Lord therefore says to them, "Ye are clean already, through the word which I have spoken unto you"; "Ye are the branches." Judas, perhaps it may be said, was taken away, so the disciples who walked no more with Him. The others should be proved and cleansed, that they might bear more fruit.

Thus the Lord sets aside Israel as any source of fruit-bearing for God. Long since had the prophets denounced the nation as bearing wild grapes, as an empty vine, or as only fit for the burning. But the Lord brings to light Himself as the true and only stock acceptable unto God. This was an immense truth for Jews to learn. In Israel was all that they trusted for religion. There was the temple, there the priesthood, there the sacrifices, there the feasts; there every ordinance, public or private, great or small, instituted of God. Outside Israel were the heathen who knew not God. Now the Lord does not merely strip the veil from the elect people's hollow state, but make known the secret. He is the Vine — the true Vine. He is not merely a fruitful branch, where all others were unfruitful; He is Himself the true Vine. Thus we have the positive object before us, the one source of fruit-bearing.

"And My Father," He adds, "is the husbandman." But there is another truth needed, the revelation of His Father (not yet fully revealed as theirs, though soon to be in His resurrection), no longer of Jehovah as once in the vineyard of the nation, nor as the Almighty known to their fathers. As Father, He deals with the branches of the Vine, which is Christ Himself on earth, object of all the active and watchful interest of His Father Who looks for fruit. But it is not Himself alone; there are branches in Him. It is here their responsibility enters: for they are the Lord's disciples, once but Jews in their natural condition, henceforth called to bear fruit unto God.283

The Lord introduces the subject of fruitbearing with the words, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman." Such words would have a strange sound in the ears of the Eleven, accustomed, as they were, by the Psalms and the Prophets, to think of Israel as the vine. The 80th Psalm had spoken of Israel as a vine brought out of Egypt. Isaiah, in the song of the Beloved touching His vineyard, sets forth, under the figure of the vine, the love and care which Jehovah has bestowed upon Israel. Jeremiah speaks of Israel as "a noble vine." Alas! Israel had brought forth no fruit for God. Isaiah mourns that they brought forth only "wild grapes:" and Jeremiah complains that the "noble vine" became "the degenerate plant of a strange vine." In like manner Hosea speaks of Israel as an "empty vine" only bringing "forth fruit to himself," but nothing for God (Isa. 5:1-7: Jer. 2:21: Hosea 10:1).

It would seem that the words, "Arise, let us go hence," mark their departure from the upper chamber, and that what we have in the following two chapters was spoken on the way to Gethsemane. The change in position was matched by a change in the themes and in John 15 Jesus contemplates His disciples as in the world with corresponding privilege and responsibility rather than as in their new place and state as before the Father, which was the theme in John 14. Just as there He gave them His place before the Father so now they are identified with Him in His place before the world. He is the true Vine and they the branches.

IN SPEAKING OF Himself as the Vine the Lord adopted a figure which in the Old Testament had been applied to Israel, notably in such passages as Psalm 80:8-18; Isaiah 5:1-7. In the Psalm the desolation of the vine is declared, but mention is made of "the Branch" and "the Son of Man," that "Thou madest strong for Thyself." In Isaiah the reason for the desolation is made plain. Israel as the vine brought forth nothing but wild and worthless grapes. There was no fruit for God. Jesus Himself was the Branch made strong for Jehovah, and He now presents Himself as the real Source of all fruit for God on the earth.

"I," He says, "am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman." He puts Himself in the place of all to which they had been attached and belonged here below, and the Father in lieu of Almighty God, or the Jehovah of Israel. So had He been known to the fathers and the children of Israel; but it was His Father, as such, to whose care He commends them now. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit;" for fruit was what God looked for, not merely acts or obligations, but bearing fruit: "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." This is the general statement. There is a two-fold dealing with those who took the place of being branches of the true vine. Where no fruit was borne, there was judgment in excision; where fruit appeared, purging followed, that there might be more.

He declares to them that He is the Father's True Vine. He and He alone was the One in whom the Father could find His full and unfailing delight. All that He said and did was devoted to the Father's pleasure. From Him only could the Father find fruit for Himself, yet as the figure unfolds He shows that there are also branches in Him to which the Father attends.

The Father is seeking fruit from those who are branches in the True Vine. It is a privilege given and jealously watched over by the Father. The fruit He seeks and values is the reproduction of the virtues of His Son. Therefore as a true Husbandman He removes what does not bear fruit and prunes and helps on what does, to increase yet more the fruit He delights to see.

He declares to them that He is the Father's True Vine. He and He alone was the One in whom the Father could find His full and unfailing delight. All that He said and did was devoted to the Father's pleasure. From Him only could the Father find fruit for Himself, yet as the figure unfolds He shows that there are also branches in Him to which the Father attends.

The Father is seeking fruit from those who are branches in the True Vine. It is a privilege given and jealously watched over by the Father. The fruit He seeks and values is the reproduction of the virtues of His Son. Therefore as a true Husbandman He removes what does not bear fruit and prunes and helps on what does, to increase yet more the fruit He delights to see.

In this chapter the Lord Jesus speaks of Himself as the true vine, the source of all vitality and spiritual power to the branches. The eleven disciples, to whom He spoke, were the branches, for it was while He was on earth that the blessed Lord was the true vine. They were connected with Him that they might bring forth the fruit that would give joy and delight to the Father's heart. This could only be through their abiding in Jesus, through dependence and communion with Him. Nothing from the natural heart could bring pleasure to God, only that which is derived from His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.