The Word
Vol.
9 No. 18
Upper Room Discourse
John
15:6-7
Divine
Discipline and Prayer
John 15:6, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is
thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into
the fire; and they are burned.”
The clause, “If any believer does not abide in Me, (is not Occupied with Me)”, brings us back into the parable, as our Lord continues the object
lesson of non-fruit bearing branches. In a vineyard, non fruit bearing branches
are: 1) cut off and left to dry, 2) are gathered and thrown into a fire, and 3)
burnt up. Therefore, we have the three phase analogy of God’s Divine Discipline
as also noted in
Because of verse 2 we already know that the object
lesson is that of divine discipline for the believer. In verse 2, “He takes away”, is the word AIRO which means “to raise, take up, lift away, pick or
take away.” That was the cutting away of the branch which by analogy spoke of
the entire process of God’s Divine Discipline. In verse 6 we then see the detail of the three stages of Divine
Discipline, “dries up” - weak,
“cast into the fire” - sick, and “is consumed” – sleep.
Stage One of Divine Discipline - BALLO EXO HOS TO KLEMA KAI EXERANTHE
KAI is the Superordinating Conjunction for, “and”. Superordinating is a type of
conjunction that introduces a clause that is more prominent than the one to
which it relates. Therefore, this defines our analogy of Divine Discipline
telling what happens in Stage One.
EXERANTHE is a Verb in the
Aorist, Passive, Indicative, Third Person, Singular of
XERAINO. It comes from XEROS that means to “dry, shrivel, waste or pine away, or wither.” So
EXERANTHE means “He withers away.” The Gnomic Aorist is another timeless maxim similar to that
used in
Stage Two of Divine Discipline – KAI SUNAGOUSIN AUTA KAI EIS TO PUR BALLOUSIN
KAI is our next Superordinating Conjunction for, “and.” So right away we have the analogy definition of Stage Two
Divine Discipline.
SUNAGOUSIN AUTA is for “they gather them” that tells us about
the servants of the Vinedresser (God the Father) who gather up the cut off
branches. This tells us that God can and does use agents to bring about Divine
Discipline for reversionistic believers. The servants
can be either elect or fallen angels, compare with
KAI EIS TO PUR BALLOUSIN is
“and into the fire they throw”. So this is the analogy for the reversionistic believer as they are “thrown into the fire”
by the Vinedresser’s servants, which means being entered into the intensified
stage of Divine Discipline - Stage Two, which is analogous to being “sick.” We translate this as “And they, (servants of the Vinedresser
- Angels), gather them, (reversionistic believers), and they throw them into the fire.”
Stage Three of Divine Discipline – KAI
KAIETAI
KAI meaning “and”, is our third and final Superordinating Conjunction telling us of the Third Stage
of Divine Discipline that is analogous to “sleep”
in
The entire passage is, “If any believer does not abide in Me, (is not Occupied with Me), He (the reversionistic believer) is thrown away as a branch and he withers
away; and they, (servants of the
Vinedresser - Angels), gather them,
(reversionistic believers), and they throw them into the fire; and they, (reversionistic believers), are consumed.”
Here the apostles are
vividly warned against reversionism. Jesus as the Vine will fulfill His part of
the relationship, (providing spiritual sustenance), as long as the branch keeps
abiding in Him. That means being “Occupied” with Him. But if the branch is not
abiding in Him Divine Discipline will come in.
Principles:
1.
Many read this verse and jump to the conclusion that this is talking about the
fires of Hell. Just because the Scripture mentions fire does not mean that it
is talking about eternal judgment in the
2. To use verse 6 to teach that a Christian loses
his salvation and is burned in Hell if he fails to bear fruit is to twist the
meaning of the parable.
a. In the first place,
such a teaching contradicts the plain teaching of other verses,
b. Furthermore, note
that the branch Christ speaks of “withers” after it is thrown away. If this
branch pictures a reversionistic Christian who loses
his salvation, would it first “wither”, and then “be thrown into a fire”, and
then “be burnt up.” If it were a picture of loss of salvation the reversionistic believer would just be “Cast Out”. Mat
3.
So verse 6 is not a reference to eternal
judgement but a reference to Divine Discipline for the believer. It is talking about Divine Discipline for the believer, not
loss of salvation.
4. This is an analogy just as “weak, sick and sleep” are in
5. Now, as for Divine
Discipline, when you burn the branch it is no longer in the vineyard. When a
believer is removed by the Sin Unto Death he is no
longer on planet earth. It’s that simple.
6.
The emphasis is on the metaphor, not the
believer. The branch of the grapevine has no use but bearing fruit. The stringy
wood cannot be carved or used in building. It can only be thrown out and
burned.
7. Jesus is saying that the
person who does not abide in Him is as useless as the branch that is thrown
away and burnt up.
8. We are called to bear
fruit, and God disciplines or prunes believers so that they will.
9. The Christian who fails
to abide in Christ becomes like a useless branch, like the salt that loses its
taste and is good for nothing, Mat
10. The Christian who fails
to use the gifts and opportunities God gives him will lose them,
11.
To “abide in Christ” does not mean to
keep ourselves saved. It means that His Word is resident within your soul as
displayed in prayer, verse 7, where
you have a sense of the Savior’s love, verse
9, as you obey His commandments, verse
10, and have the Happiness of God (joy), verse 11.
Next we see in
Our corrected translation
is, “If, (maybe), you are occupied
with Me, and, (maybe),
you are occupied with My words, (Bible Doctrine), begin to ask whatever you all
desire and it, (your prayer petitions),
will come to pass, (be answered).”
This astounding command and
promise is not without conditions and limitations. It involves such intimate
union and harmony with Christ that nothing will be asked out of accord with the
mind of Christ and so of the Father. Compare with
Principles:
1. If you can think straight
you can pray right. In Spiritual Maturity all prayer is effective because the
believer has capacity. He has everything necessary to be a great prayer
warrior.
2. The “if” (Protasis) is
having a personal relationship with the
person of Jesus Christ by listening to the Word of God and obeying His
commandments. That is you have a relationship with Bible doctrine, you are
submissive to doctrine, and are applying it in your life.
3.
The “then” (Apodosis) is receiving answers to your prayers.
4.
Not just anybody can get their prayers answered. You must be abiding in Christ,
which means in fellowship and applying God’s Word to the situation including
the protocol for prayer.
5. This promise is standard in
every dispensation. The Psalmist said in 66:18,
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
If you would
like more information on this subject,
you may listen
to lessons 10-048 and 10-049.