God. Real. Right.

I teach and find biblically indisputable the doctrine of eternal security—once saved always saved. But there are passages which leave even those who agree with the doctrine scratching their heads. John 15 contains one of those passages. However, as with every similarly “offending” passage, the offense is all in the reader, and not in the text. Here are the first six verses of John 15:

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.  2 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.  3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.  4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  6 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.

The confusion in the passage is built on the assumption that there are disciples who are a part of salvation at one point (verse 2) but end up being cast into hell (verse 6).

Here’s a summary of the pertinent claims actually made in the passage, verse by verse:

1. Jesus is the one in whom things grow;
   His Father is the one who expects, measures, and harvests the growth.
2. All non-fruit-bearing branches are branches which are removed by the Father;
   All fruit-bearing branches are branches which are pruned (cleaned up, refined) by the Father.
3. The disciples (to whom Jesus is speaking in the upper room) are fruit-bearing branches which have been pruned with the Word.
4. The disciples are commanded to continue in their dependance on Christ as He will continue His relationship with them; No one can produce what God wants outside of a relationship with Christ.
5. The key claims of verses 1-4 are repeated; with the addition that in Christ disciples will produce much of what God wants.
6. Those who do not abide in Christ are not pruned so they could make more fruit, but instead are entirely removed from the vine and then cast into a fire.

The key to clarifying the passage is in the transition between verses 5 and 6. The disciples (as in verse 5) are among those described starting in verse 2 as bearing fruit, then being pruned, then continuing to abide. The man in verse 6 neither abides, nor is pruned, nor bears fruit. Instead, he and others like him are discarded entirely.

One other aid to understanding the passage is in the meaning of the command, “to abide”. It has nothing to do with hanging on to salvation “or else.” Instead, as verse 10 makes clear, it is simply the command to continue practicing and growing in obedience to Jesus. “10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

Finally, the idea in verse 16, that Jesus has chosen and ordained the disciples to produce fruit which remains, cements that the disciples are not among the branches which will be cut off and discarded in the fire.

In short: everyone depends on Jesus. Disciples produce fruit, face pruning, and ought to grow in obedience. Those who are not disciples do not produce fruit, are cut out of the vine (Jesus), and are cast into the fire. Since disciples and non-disciples are not the same people, there is no challenge whatsoever to the doctrine of eternal security.

And that fact makes me happy.

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Tags: Eternal Security

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Exegesis and Interpretation, Isolated Texts, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.