Bible Question: John 15:6 - what is this verse actually saying? Most people who are advocates of "conditional security" rather than "eternal security" use this verse among many others. Can anyone please explain the matter of "thrown into the fire..." and "burned." |
Bible Answer: Jesus was speaking to His disciples in this passage. But many people were 'following' Him at this point in His ministry. Some followed because they believed Him to be the Messiah. Some followed just to see miracles. Some followed (Pharisees) looking for ways to discredit Him and prove Him false. Some followed for physical healing. In vs 3, Jesus tells His disciples that they are already clean because they believe Him to be Messiah. But they did not have Christ's life - the Holy Spirit in them. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given to 'seal' believers. In other words, though the disciples believed by faith, they hadn't yet received that 'life' of the vine. The vine (trunk, main root) is the source of life for the branch. The branch has no life of it's own. It draws it's sustenance from the vine i.e. if you cut it off, it dies. Until the day of Pentecost, people could follow Christ as He went to the cross, burial, and the tomb, for various reasons. And He stated time and again that He was the source of divine life - "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life.." "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life. They tell of Me, but you won't come to Me for life." So, many people 'attached' themselves to Christ for various reasons. And many 'detached' themselves at various places in His ministry. Because they (and we) are born dead in trespasses and sin, if they didn't stay believing in Christ back then until the Spirit was given, they stayed spiritually dead if they forsook Him. But at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, came to 'indwell' believers, sealing them forever. Because the cross 'makes us clean,' the Spirit can now indwell all believers and permanently 'grafts' us into Christ. He is in us. We are in Him. A believer who comes to Him by faith, can NEVER be thrown away as a branch now, because the wages of sin - death is taken away by the blood of Christ. And the gift of God is eternal life. The only thing that could make the Spirit depart from a believer was sin. BUT, all sin was forgiven at the cross. So, now, after the cross, His life can NEVER depart from us. Before the cross, people could believe and have their sins forgiven but life could never be given on a permanent basis. That is why David, after he sinned, pleaded that the Spirit wouldn't be taken from him. We don't have to pray that prayer because, in God's eyes, believers are 'abiding in the vine,' baptized, identified with Christ. I hope this helps. |