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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | What then, is the meaning of John 15:2? | John 15:2 | Parable | 47485 | ||
The idea of comparing John's usage here to the gospel as a whole seems reasonable. Given that you prefer "take away" to "lift up", what is the meaning for us? Do you endorse the interpretation that if we don't bear fruit, we will be discarded? If so, please explain how this fits with the rest of John's theology. |
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2 | What then, is the meaning of John 15:2? | John 15:2 | srbaegon | 47494 | ||
Hello Parable I'll do my best. The theme of this gospel in 20:31 is belief unto life. With that in mind, the proper view is not comparing a fruitful branch to an unfruitful. Rather it's comparing a dead branch (fruitless) to a living one (abiding in the vine and evidenced by fruit). So one may ask how the dead branch can be "in Me." There were many attached to Jesus throughout His earthly ministry who had no life. This is demonstrated in John 6 where thousands are following Him at the beginning of the chapter, but by the end there are only the twelve. And one of those did not have life either. In relation to today, I see the dead branches as false professions which only appear to be attached to the vine but are not abiding in Him. Steve |
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3 | What then, is the meaning of John 15:2? | John 15:2 | Parable | 47512 | ||
I've not heard this interpretation before, i.e. the barren branch is really a dead branch. To a vinedresser, there is cleary a difference between a dead branch and a barren one. If John meant "dead branch", why didn't he just say that? This is hard for me to accept because in this metaphor Christ is the vine, the source of life for all the branches. To suggest that it is possible for a branch in Him to die is contrary to the idea of "everlasting" or "eternal" life. It seems we would then be forced to suggest that those branches that died were never really "in Christ", as your examples may be interpreted, yet the verse clearly describes them as being "in Christ". Alternatively, if we accept that "barren" really means "barren" and not "dead", and "takes away" means just that, then we are confronted with the notion that we must bear fruit to remain in Christ. For confirmation of this, we could appeal to James 2:26 "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead", but I'm not sure this is appropriate. For James, deeds are in fact the fruit of faith, but he is talking about how we glorify God to others; faith alone is useless as even the demons have faith, v19. People are convinced by what they can see, faith in action. To me, John is speaking to theological issues, not the practicalities of daily living, so to take James remark to support this view of John seems like a stretch. However, the harmony of the Bible cannot be denied. To me, the best translation of "take away" is "lift up" and the best interpretation is that the vinedresser is working to bring the branch into fruition. I acknowledge this could just be wishful thinking on my part. Parable |
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