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. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Nothing can be more beautiful in the illustration of that sweet and precious doctrine, of the oneness and union of Christ with his Church, than the figure of the Vine and its Branches, which the Lord Jesus hath here been pleased to explain it by. He is indeed the One true Vine, and as the Prophet calls him, the Branch; to which the Evangelist, under the same authority, gives testimony when saying: the Branch (for so it should have been rendered, and so it is indeed in the margin of our old Bibles), from on high hath visited us. Luke 1:78. See Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8 - Zechariah 6:12. And it is a very blessed part in this figure, wherein Jesus speaks of his Father, under the character of the Husbandman. For all Christ is, as Christ, is of Jehovah. Hence the Prophet, speaking of the sufferings of Christ, under this similitude, saith; And the Branch that thou madest so strong for thyself, it is burnt with fire and cut down. Psalms 80:15-16. And another servant of the Lord, when speaking under the same spirit of prophecy, in relation to the glories of Christ, saith: In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. Isaiah 4:2. It hath been supposed, that in the memorable prophecy of the dying Patriarch Jacob, the Vine unto which the foal he said should be bound; referred to the same. And when it be considered what went before in the Patriarch's prophecy of the Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people should be, there seems a great connection with the whole. Genesis 49:10-11; Matthew 21:7; Matthew 21:7. I do not think it necessary to dwell upon the several characters of a Vine and its branches, by way of illustrating the doctrine, concerning the union and communion between Christ and his people. Every way by which the dependance of the Church is shewn to be wholly on Christ; a branch on a Vine strikingly displays. It springs from the Vine, derives all its life, sap, moisture, fruitfulness, wholly from the Vine. And Jesus is all this, and infinitely more, to his people. In his divine nature, deep rooted in his own self-existence, in common with the Father, and the Holy Ghost. In his human nature, the Branch of growth arising from the root of Jesse. And in both, the source of all fruitfulness, to the Church, in time, and to all eternity. Hail! thou Lord of Joseph, the fruitful bough, whose branches run over the wall! Genesis 49:22
I detain the Reader to remark to him, that the second verse should be read, as the original will truly allow; Every branch that beareth not fruit in me. For there can be no Branch, really, and truly in Christ, but what must bear fruit. But there may be many, that appear as branches in the Lord's garden the Church; and yet have no union with him. So that what fruit soever they bear, it is not in Christ, neither from Christ; and therefore their root is in themselves, and shall be, as rottenness, and their blossom go up as the dust. Isaiah 5:24; Deuteronomy 32:32. Whereas the true branches, in the true Vine, derive all from the Vine. Every portion of life, and fruitfulness, come from Christ. From me (the Lord saith), is thy fruit found. Hosea 14:8. Reader! be very jealous over your own heart, on these grand points. See to it, that not only in the first grafting upon Christ, when taken from the old olive tree, which is wild by nature, thou art grafted contrary to nature, (being wholly an act of free sovereign grace in God, and nothing of man concurring with it), into this true Olive Tree, Christ Jesus; but in all the after actings of life, see to it that it is all upon Christ, and all from Christ. Grace is no self acting principle. All our fresh springs are in Him. Of his fulness do we all receive, and grace for grace; meaning, that we need daily, yea momently, grace from Jesus, to act upon and keep alive, the grace we have before had from Jesus. Christ is all. Romans 11:24; Psalms 87:7; John 1:16
I detain the Reader one moment longer to remark, respecting what our Lord saith; Abide in me, and I in you. I humbly apprehend, that this is not a mere precept of Christ, but rather a promise. Jesus meant by the expression to say, that by his Holy Spirit, which he was going from them purposely to send, they should be enabled to abide in him. The words, according to my view, are similar to that sweet scripture of Christ, when Jesus breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. John 20:22. This was no precept: commanding them to receive what they had no power to take hold of, without the Lord making them receivers, of what he communicated. In like manner here. Abide in me. Jesus undertakes for them, that they shall abide in him. And I in you. How, but from his own sole grace, could they receive this abiding of Christ in them? But if the Lord Jesus with the precept, wills them into the apprehension of the blessing; and while he thus speaks, communicates the power to receive, and enjoy: how very blessed are our Lord's words read in this sense? Ye shall abide in me; and I will abide in you. And all this is in perfect conformity to our Lord's own everlasting Covenant with his people; in which he hath undertaken, both for himself, and for them. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them; that I will not turn away from them to do them good: but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me, Jeremiah 32:40. Here we behold the security. The Lord engageth (and well it is that he doth) for both. I will not, saith the Lord, and they shall not. I leave the Reader to his own conclusions, under God the Holy Ghost's teaching, on this subject. But I venture to observe, that there are numberless portions in the word of God, which in their first view, however they may seemingly appear as precepts; yet, explained upon Gospel principles, will be found more in the sweet language of promises, and such as tend to refresh, rather than alarm the soul, in a conscious inability of performance. See Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15.