Dr. Robert P. Martin
“My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (15:1,2).
Having seen in some measure the relation of the vine and the branches, we will now consider the Father’s role as vinedresser. This part of our Lord’s imagery often is overlooked; however, it is important that we understand the role that the Father plays in our lives as Christians. As Carson says, “Although the Son’s role is central in these verses, the Father’s is not mere background: he trims and prunes the branches.”1
Our Lord here likens his Father to a vinedresser. The word γεωργός properly means “farmer.” In the present setting, the translation “vinedresser” conveys the correct idea. The context in which γεωργός is used often tells us much about the person in view. In some cases, the farmer is a servant who labors for the landowner (cf., Jer. 52:16, LXX). In other cases, the farmer leases the land from the landowner, usually for a share of the produce (cf., Matt. 21:23). Neither of these images fits the case here. In still other cases, the farmer is the landowner, who works the land and receives all its fruits for his own use (cf., Gen. 9:20, LXX). This is closer to the image here, although the “revenue” produced by the fruitfulness of the branches to some degree returns to them, i.e., in the case that our Lord here has in view, blessedness also comes to the branches (his disciples) as the result of the vinedresser’s labors.
The church (the true Israel) is Jehovah’s vineyard. His Son is the vine, his disciples are the branches; but the Father is the vineyard’s owner and the vinedresser, whose diligent labors promote its optimum fruitfulness. This image of the Father is plainly suggestive of the vital role that he has in Christ’s thinking about the church and the individual disciples that comprise it.
Consider the overarching relation that this image suggests between the Father and the church and between the Father and the individual believer. In the ultimate sense the Father owns both. Although the church is Christ’s body and his disciples are members of his body (cf., 1 Cor. 12:12ff.), in the supreme sense, whether individually or corporately, we are the people and property of God the Father. Individually, “You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).2 Corporately, the church is “the church of God” (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; cf., Acts 20:28). Now, as Jehovah said of Israel, so he can say of the church of the New Covenant: “This is my vineyard and my vine.” In the final resolution of the question then, the Father owns the church and all of its individual members, i.e., the vine and each of its branches. Jesus here points to this fact and to his Father’s role as the owner/vinedresser, who has an obvious interest in the fruitfulness of his property.
We will be wrong, of course, if we limit our thinking to mere commercial imagery. The relation between the Father and the Son (the vine) and the Father and his disciples (the branches) is much more personal and intimate than any merely economic image can convey. Jesus already has said that the relation that exists between his disciples and the Father is like that which exists between himself and the Father, i.e., a relation marked by love and intimate fellowship (cf., 14:23). In this relation, the Father’s care for his vineyard takes place in a context much more personal than that of mere commerce. In this setting, his labor as the vinedresser is undertaken in a significant degree for the blessing of the vine and its branches, i.e., out of his love for his own, the Father labors for the blessing of Christ, for the blessing of the church that is his body, and for the blessing of the branches that are its individual members. In his role as the divine vinedresser, therefore, for purposes that fulfill his plan–a plan that provides both for his profit and for our blessing, the Father is deeply interested in our fruitfulness and deals with us (both corporately and individually) in such a way as to produce in and through us the increasing fruits of righteousness.
The image that captures the essence of the vinedresser’s present dealings with the branches is that of pruning (15:2,6). Jesus speaks of two kinds of branches that have some kind of connection with himself. Both the unfruitful branches and the fruitful branches are “in me,” he says, but their history is very different.
One branch is barren. Season after season it bears no fruits of righteousness. The Father (the vinedresser) eventually “takes it away.” It is “cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” The image is that of the spiritual and moral barrenness of the individuals envisioned, of the Father’s decision finally to separate them completely from his Son, and of their complete destruction in hell.
Who are these branches–who have some kind of connection to the Son of God but who are barren of the fruits of righteousness? It would be wrong to speak of them as “carnal Christians”–in the way that this expression is used by many, i.e., as true Christians who nonetheless are generally ungodly in their conduct and unfruitful in their walk but who will be saved in the end because they are joined to Christ by faith. No such person exists in the Bible’s description of Christians, though they allegedly abound in our day. It is clear that here Jesus does not speak of such a class of people, since he says that the connection of these branches to himself is temporary and in the end they are to be separated from him and perish.
Jesus does not speak of “carnal Christians” but of formalists who fit Paul’s description in 2 Tim. 3:4-5. “Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” Formalists have only an outward connection to Christ. They claim to be joined to him, may appear to others to be joined to him, but their faith is notional, merely consent to a body of religious ideas. Their religion is not a “walking with God” or “abiding in Christ” by genuine, saving faith. They are strangers to repentance, strangers to warfare with their indwelling sin, strangers to dependance on Christ for the doing of any good, strangers to the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, strangers to delight in God’s presence, strangers to a vital, fruitful Christian life.
They are “in Christ” by an outward connection but not joined to him in the only way in which sap runs from the vine to the branches. They have no living connection to the life-giving vine. They are saintlings, not saints, mere formalists, not Christians who abide in Christ and in whom Christ abides by the Holy Spirit. And thus, season after season they are barren of the fruits of the Spirit. God may for a great while endure their presence in his church and in his world; but sooner or later, he cuts them off and delivers them to judgment. Then even the life that they seemed to have is taken away (the charade of union with Christ is at an end), they wither under the judgment of God, and in the end he gives them over to eternal destruction.
It greatly behooves you to take care that you are not such a branch. Terrible sorrow awaits those who have only a notional faith and an outward connection to Christ. The Father takes away the branches that bear no fruit–either in this world, by prosperity or adversity (Matt. 13:21-22), or in the world to come (Matt. 13:40). A day is coming when he will separate true and false believers. What of you? Is it not in your interest to know if you are really joined to Christ? Can you stop short of knowing living communion with the vine? Can you safely be satisfied as to the state of your soul when there is little of the fruitfulness in godliness that is proof of that communion?
One kind of branch is barren. The other, however, is fruitful. It has what the barren branch lacks–a living, nourishing connection to the vine that shows itself by actual fruitfulness in godliness and service to Christ. It bears the fruits that the vinedresser intended when he planted the vine. It does not do so all at once–the fruits are varied and they do not all mature at the same rate. Moreover, even healthy branches do not always bear fruit without interruption or always to the same degree as other branches. In every case, however, cultivation is needed. There is work for the vinedresser in every case and in every season before the vine fulfills his overall plan and produces the fruits that he intends. And so he very deliberately and patiently cares for each branch–doing for it and to it what is necessary to its producing at its optimal level. All is done according to the vinedresser’s wisdom and all is done by the application of the vinedresser’s hand. The relationship between the vinedresser and the vine and its branches is very much hands-on. And this is especially the case with what Jesus here describes using the imagery of pruning.
The purpose of pruning is to take away from the vine and the branches anything that is unfruitful or that impedes optimal fruitfulness. This means that the vinedresser will cut off unfruitful branches (we have already seen this) and that he will trim away anything from the fruit-bearing branches that hampers the growth of more and better fruit. Even very fruitful branches receive his attention and care.
In the natural world, pruning has several benefits. In the case of a tomato vine, whenever the suckers3 are removed, the main stem is made stronger, the fruit is larger and matures faster, the plant is protected from disease, the leaves have more exposure to sunlight, and the plant’s energy (sugars) is used not in maintaining a mass of fruitless branches and leaves but in the production of recurring fruit. This pruning is done not just once but repeatedly, so that the plant bears fruit throughout the whole season of its life. The Father treats branches in his Son much the same way. He cultivates and nurtures and where and when necessary prunes his people and his church. This is his continual activity as long as we are in this world. The result is that he takes away the fruitless parts of our lives, e.g., besetting sins, evil companions, unproductive habits. In this way he protects us from spiritual disease, increases in us his empowering grace (cf., 2 Cor. 12:7-9), and makes us more fruitful than if we were left to grow without his wise attention.
Pruning involves cutting, and if a branch had feelings, it would fret and complain under the vinedresser’s shears. It would not always understand the necessity of what was happening to it. At times it might even think of the vinedresser as a cruel enemy. But if it really knew the vinedresser and his ways, though the pruning still would be painful, the branch would rejoice that it was going to be more fruitful because of the vinedresser’s nurture.
Very commonly God’s pruning comes in the form of trials and afflictions. This seems to be the point in a number of familiar texts. By God’s appointment, “tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope,” even a hope that “does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:3-5). “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (Js. 1:2-4). “Now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7). If tribulations sent by God may be likened to the vinedresser’s pruning shears, according to these texts the Father’s purpose in pruning Christians is to produce in us increasing measures of godly graces and holy blessings, all to “be found to result in (God’s)4 praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:7, NASB). And what do the words “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (Js. 1:4) imply but that the pruning process is in the interest of optimal fruitfulness? None of these texts, of course, directly imply that God’s pruning us in this way is the result of our sin. Hebrews 12:5-13, however, points to a kind of pruning that is of the nature of chastening.
You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
In some cases, the afflictions that come upon us are due to our sins.5 In such cases, God acts in love through those afflictions to discipline, correct, and purify us. Solomon spoke of this at Prov. 3:11-12. “My son, regard not lightly the discipline (upbringing, child-rearing) of the Lord, nor faint when you are corrected by him; for whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he spanks every son whom he receives (i.e., into his family).”6 God’s fatherly discipline aims at correcting, purifying, and maturing us in the way of holiness and righteousness. Christian, what you endure in such seasons, “you endure for the purpose of discipline;7 God is dealing with you as with sons.” What has come upon you is rooted not in God’s wrath but in his fatherly love and is intended not for your destruction but for your correction and maturity in holiness. In pressing this truth home, the writer draws on an analogy between earthly fathers and the heavenly Father. From this analogy he makes three observations:
First, the proof of sonship is the concern that a father has to correct his child. The principle in view is derived from common grace and general revelation as well as from special revelation. The writer uses a rhetorical question to express the commonly held truth (i.e., among Jews and Gentiles alike) that as a general rule fathers discipline their children. He asks, “What son is there whom a father does not discipline?” (12:7). While this question will make little sense to many modern fathers, the biblical answer is “none.” The deduction that the writer draws from this is that if you are not the object of God’s fatherly discipline, it is because you are not his child: “But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons” (12:8). Therefore, Christian, expect God’s fatherly discipline. Expect the vinedresser to prune you. It is a sign that God is your Father and that you are his child.
Second, we should be thankful to God and respectfully submit to his discipline, especially in view of the goal that he has in view–that we may live and be partakers of his holiness. “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness” (12:9-10). Pruning is painful. We recognize that it is a distressing experience. But are we thankful for it? And should not our esteem for our heavenly Father rise even higher when we consider that he is not only a loving but also a principled parent who will not let his children simply go their own way? Shall we regard our earthly fathers in this way and not esteem our heavenly Father when he disciplines us for our good and for his glory?
Third, the value of discipline must not be gauged by our present experience of it but by its long-term results. “Now no discipline seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (12:11). Albert Barnes says,
It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. It is a tree that bears good fruit, and we do not expect the fruit to form and ripen at once. It may be long maturing, but it will be rich and mellow when it is ripe. It frequently requires a long time before all the results of affliction appear–as it requires months to form and ripen fruit. Like fruit it may appear at first sour, crabbed, and unpalatable; but it will be at last like the ruddy peach or the golden orange. When those fruits are ripened, they are (1) fruits “of righteousness.” They make us more holy, more dead to sin and the world, and more alive unto God. They are (2) “peaceable.” They produce peace, calmness, submission in the soul. They make the heart more tranquil in its confidence in God, and more disposed to promote the religion of peace. The apostle speaks of this as if it were a universal truth in regard to Christians who are afflicted. And it is so. There is no Christian who is not ultimately benefitted by trials, and who is not able at some period subsequently to say, “It was good for me that I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word.” When a Christian comes to die, he does not feel that he has had one trial too many, or one which he did not deserve. He can then look back and see the effect of some early trial, so severe that he once thought he could hardly endure it, spreading a hallowed influence over his future years, and scattering its golden fruit all along the pathway of life. I have never known a Christian who was not benefitted by afflictions; I have seen no one who was not able to say that his trials produced some happy effects on his religious character, and on his real happiness in life. If this be so, then no matter how severe our trials, we, should submit to them without a murmur. The more severe they are, the more we shall yet be blessed–on earth, or in heaven.8
With these great truths in view, the Apostle exhorts us to strengthen our running lest we be turned out of the way. “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed” (12:12-13). As he had at 12:1, so here again the writer takes up the imagery of a foot race. As one nears the end of a race, the hands begin to droop, the knees become weak, and the feet begin to stray from a straight course. In view of what the writer has said about perseverance, here he exhorts us to strengthen our running (to reach, if you will, for “a second wind”–not from within ourselves, but from Christ and the Holy Spirit) and to press on, not swerving from the straight path that the Father has marked out before us, lest our weakness and lameness lead to dislocation, i.e., lest our unheeded and unremedied deterioration in perseverance become a deserting of the race in apostasy.
Returning now to the imagery of John 15, if you are a living member of the vine, expect the Father’s pruning work in your life and in the life of the church of which you are a member. “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (15:2). Don’t expect to grow in grace or fruitfulness without this. Recognize and submit to your Father’s right to deal with you in this way. Don’t surrender to a fretful, complaining spirit, especially when you do not see all that God is doing or yet find the mature fruit that he purposes. Recognize that God deals with you in love and wisdom, for his glory and your good. Be patient. James says, “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (5:7-8).
In light of the vinedresser’s purpose, which is that branches in his Son should “bear much fruit,” the Bible has much to say about the branches’ duty in the accomplishing of this purpose. Most of the Bible’s admonitions addressed to Christians should be considered in the light of our Lord’s imagery on this occasion. We cannot begin to harvest such a rich field in the short space allotted to an article. Let us at least glimpse, however, at one familiar text. In Psa. 1:1-4, we read:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Bringing forth “in its season” the fruits of godly living and godly service is the great business of the Christian life. Is this not the background of all that David says in this psalm? And is this not also the business that our Lord’s imagery in John 15 implies? Avoiding the counsel, conduct, and character of the ungodly, the Christian is to aspire to be like a tree planted not beside one but beside many nourishing streams. There, Christian, in such a favored place, you will bring forth “fruit in its season.” There you will enjoy an abundance of spiritual blessing, i.e., your “leaf will not wither.” And there your Christian life “will prosper,” i.e., will be visited with God’s blessing. Should you not then desire to “be like a tree planted by the rivers of water”?
But what means does David point to in the interest of seeing this happen? Of all the “rivers of water” (i.e., of all of the means of grace) that God has provided for our nourishment, growth, and fruitfulness, to which does David here direct our attention? The plain answer is that he directs us to delight in and to meditate continually on God’s word! David describes the blessed man as the man whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.” I will not try to open up these words beyond simply saying that our use or disuse of God’s word greatly influences our fruitfulness. Apart from daily meditation on the Scriptures, where the voice of our Lord is heard, and where a deep and wide river of living water flows, we will be barren. Would you be a fruitful tree? Would you know the full blessing of union with the vine? Then sink your roots daily into the river of God’s word and drink deeply!
Notes:
1. Carson, 513.
2. At 1 Cor. 6:20, the words καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν ἅτινά ἐστιν τοῦ Θεοῦ likely are not original; however, they nonetheless represent the logical extrapolation of Paul’s idea as expressed in the undisputed part of the verse.
3. On tomato plants, new growth that emerges at the juncture of the stem and an already bearing branch is called a “sucker,” from the fact that it usually is barren and only “sucks” nutrients (and life) from the plant, thus decreasing its overall fruitfulness.
4. The Geneva Bible reads “might bee founde unto your praise, and honour and glorie,” but the insertion of the word “your” seems out of place. Surely the “praise, and honour and glorie” belongs to our Triune God.
5. John 15:3 (cf., 13:10) seems oddly placed: “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” There is, however, a play on words between καθαροί (“clean, pure”) at 15:3 and καθαίρει (“prune”) at 15:2. Jesus is saying that the pruning process is not the beginning of the work that fits Christians for fruitfulness. A fundamental work in that direction occurs at conversion and in the new birth, in which the believer is purified from sin by Christ. This work is carried on by the Father’s work of pruning (or “cleansing”) the branch further as it matures. This flow of ideas at this point seems to imply that uppermost in Jesus’ mind as he speaks of the Father’s pruning work is his dealing with our remaining sin(s) as the greatest hindrance to optimal fruitfulness.
6. Hebrews follows the LXX. In some cases the word μαστιγόω means “to scourge,” but that is too strong a translation to express the idea of fatherly child-training. The image plainly is that of the Father’s spanking his children in the interest of their moral correction and character formation.
7. In the phrase εἰς παιδείαν, εἰς with the accusative expresses the idea of purpose.
8. Albert Barnes, Hebrews, in Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974), 302.
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