What is the vine? This expression was used by Jesus in the New Testament, to give his disciples a word that would mark the history of humanity. Well, this is what Christ said and is quoted in the chapter of (John 15:5)“I am the vine, you are the branches; whoever abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
In this atmosphere of celebration and farewell, let us not forget that all this dialogue takes place during the Passover dinner (John 13) makes known to his disciples something as important as the absolute need to remain united with Him. more understandable, take as a reference the vine, whose wine they had tasted during dinner.
I suggest you read: The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit A Special Gift For Those Who Believe.
What is the vine?
What is the vine: in horticulture, the vine is a climbing plant with a twisted trunk with shoots or tender and long, flexible and gnarled branches that sprout from the plant. It has alternate, petiolate, large leaves divided into five pointed lobes; it puts out greenish flowers in clusters that become grapes. The fruit of the vine is therefore the grape. This plant is native to Asia, and is cultivated in all temperate zones.
Biblical meaning of the vine.
In the Old Testament: what is the vine represents the people of Israel (Psalm 80:8-9), who are loved and protected by the Lord, but because of their pride, stubbornness, idolatry and continuous disobedience, they became a vine wild that only produced bitter grapes (Isaiah 5).
In the New Testament: the condition of vine passes from the people of Israel to Jesus. Christ himself says: I am the true vine; Jesus is the true vine because he fulfilled what God had for Israel. Israel’s place as God’s people is now taken by Jesus (the vine, and his disciples the weapons).
It is no longer through Jewish blood that the people of Israel connect or relate to God, it is now through their relationship with Jesus. The old community ceases to exist to establish a new one: the relationship of Jesus with his disciples and with us. It is our relationship with Jesus that connects us to the vine of God.
Which requires a vine.
It requires three (3) things:
1. requires a farmer to take care of it.
2. requires the farmer to prune it.
3. requires branches that produce fruit and more fruit.
In every vineyard there must be a person who take care, clean, water and monitor plants constantly. This person is the farmer or vintner
Every year the farmer has to clean the floor where the plants are, see the condition of the plants, trim excess leaves, prune the branches so that the branches or shoots can grow vigorous and produce a good cropand remove the dry branches, which are then thrown into the fire and burned. sometimes it’s necessary cut the plants down to the very trunk of the bushfor the ones shoots arise with more vigor and produce a crop super abundant.
In the biblical account of the vine, Jesus says that The farmer is his Dad. And if Jesus is the vine and we are the branches or shoots (branches), we too are care by our celestial fatherare pruned to produce better fruit and even removed and thrown into the fire if we are dry.
What are the parts of a vine.
like all fruitful plant, the vine has a trunk, branches or shoots, leaves, flowers and fruit. One of the most important parts of a plant are the branches. Without them, the plant cannot produce fruits.
The branches are of the same nature as the plant, and have one life and one spirit with it. Three important lessons emerge from here:
1. One of total consecration, just as the branches live only to produce fruit, so we must live to produce fruit.
2. One of absolute dependence, just as the branches depend for their subsistence on the food that the vine supplies them, so our dependence on Christ must be.
3. One of absolute trust (comparable to our faith) just as the branches submit and depend on the vine to receive, even health, so we must submit and depend to receive: I can do all things through Christ who it makes me stronger.
how to trim a vine
John 15:2 mentions 2 ways that God trims branches:
1. Removing (eliminating) them completely.
2. Cleaning them so that they produce more fruit than before.
In the natural world:
All dead wood must be removed, because it converts in insect room and diseases that cause the plant to rot.
All living wood should be drastically cut back in order to prevent the life of the vine from being absorbed by the wood of the branch instead of being absorbed by the fruits. For this reason, what is the vine is trimmed almost to the trunk after the harvest, so that later in the fall arise leafy and full of fruit.
Just as the farmer prunes his vineyards, God cuts off the dead wood from among his saints (Judas) and prunes the living wood (Peter). Sometimes the cut is so excessive that it seems unfair; but these are the saints who, having suffered much, produce a greater abundance of fruits, since the life that comes out of the vine to feed the branch and the fruits will produce a superabundant harvest.
In the spiritual world:
Dry branches are identified with people who no longer live in Christ or stop having an intimate relationship with the Lord. These people are rejected by God. An example of this was Judas Iscariot. He was with Jesus, he was one of his disciples, but his fruits were bad.
The living branches are those people who keep and care for their relationship with Christ and to whom God prunes from their lives anything that might divert or hinder the vital flow of the life of Christ in their lives. Example: Peter.
Some branches of the same vine can produce bad fruit and other branches produce good fruit.
Yes, it can happen. In every plant there are branches that produce bad fruit. (Example: Judas.) These are the ones that the farmer rejects and throws into the fire. On the other hand, the living branches like Pedro, are the ones that are going to be cut in order to produce the best fruits.
Spiritually speaking, fruit is the quality of Christian character that God is enthroned through his life and testimony.
Fruit is everything that brings glory to God, showing that we are born again in Christ Jesus and that he is the one who reigns in our lives, being transformed from glory to glory. It is everything we do according to the will of Christ. And allow Christ to live and manifest himself through us.
But, for this to work like this, it is necessary that we are in Christ and He in us, because without Him we can do nothing. (John 15:4 and 5). Our churches are full of people who think that because they have believed, they are saved from hell; but they do not compute in their brain that being in Christ is an indispensable requirement. Others drown the Word because of the cares of life, or for their prosperity, and abandon following Christ. Others it is because their religion or their faith is placed in the wisdom of men and not in the power of God. These are the ones who when problems, temptation or persecution come, withdraw, because they were not anchored in Christ.
we must cast roots in Christbe fed by the Spirit, to give primacy to the work and the glory of Jesus.
How to know what kind of branch I am.
(Matthew: 13:23) when he talks about the land where the seed fell, he says: …the one that was sown on good ground, this is the one who hears and understands the word, and bears fruit.
(Proverbs 11:30) says: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.
(Matthew 7:20) says: ….by their fruits you will know them.
(Romans 7:4) says that we are to bear fruit for God.
(Galatians 5:22) describes the fruits of the Spirit.
The fruit is the quality of the Christian character that brings glory to God through his life and his testimony and its fruit is everything we do according to the will of Christ and the fruit is allowing Christ to live and manifest himself through of one, then I am a living branch.
How could I distinguish between those who lead a spirit-filled life (living branches) and those who do not (dry branches):
The Bible tells us that there is 3 classes of people:
1. The natural man (is the one who has not received Christ) (1 Corinthians 2:14) says: But the natural man does not perceive the things that are from the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them. , because they have to be spiritually discerned, that is, the people that we also call unconverted who have never confessed Christ as their Lord and Savior
2. The spiritual man (it is the Christian who is directed, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit) (1 Corinthians 2:15) says: ….the spiritual man judges all things… and 2:16 says: …we have the mind of Christ.
3. The carnal man (it is the Christian who lives a life of defeat because he tries to live the Christian life by his own means, efforts and concepts; he is the one who tries to feed on the vine through his own efforts without letting it be the vine the one that supplies the food) (1 Corinthians 3:1-3) says: “So I, brothers, could not speak to you as spiritual ones, but as carnal ones, as infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, and not meat, because you were not yet capable, nor are you capable yet, because you are still carnal; Since there is jealousy and contention and division among you, are you not carnal and walk like men?”
The natural man is not a Christian because he never knew Christ. On the other hand, the spiritual man and the carnal man are Christians because both have received Christ, but in the spiritual man the fruits of the Spirit are manifested, and the carnal man does not manifest any type of fruit; but he lives by the flesh.
We can say, then, that connected to the vine, we are spiritual (living branches) and carnal (dry branches).
What are the fruits of both:
Paul, speaking to the Christian Galatians, mentions in chapter 5 verses 19 to 23 the existence of the fruits and works of the flesh.
1. The works of the flesh.
2. The fruits of the Spirit.
This enumeration is given as an example in which we must look at ourselves in the same way that we look at ourselves in a mirror, to see what we are producing; but also, Paul himself says in verse 21, when he enumerates the works of the flesh, that in addition to those he mentions, there are others; this means that the list is even longer.
The works of the flesh: (Galatians 5:19 to 21)
Human beings are selfish by nature, they do things they shouldn’t do. Every person who does not allow himself to be guided by the Spirit will end up giving free rein to the desires of the flesh.
You may be interested in reading: The Parable of the Sower… A Manual to Bear Fruit!
Jesus did not free us from sin so that we would use this freedom to give free rein to the flesh and to subject ourselves back to the yoke of slavery, as the Galatians did (5:13,16,17,24,25; Rom. 6 :1,2), then, by agreeing to be circumcised, they separated themselves from Christ and replaced it with the Mosaic Law; and this would make them return to their old nature and to a carnal life. In this situation they could not be part of the vine, and consequently, its branches would die and would have to be thrown into the fire. That is why the apostle Paul says in Galatians 5:21 … those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.