By Timothy W. Burnett
Let's start with John 15:1-8 where Jesus taught about abiding in him, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. 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. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples."
To abide in the Lord Jesus Christ is directly related to bearing spiritual fruit. Galatians 5:22-23 gives a beautiful fruit list, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law." When we consider the context of verse 25, fruit is born from walking in the spirit of God. If walking in the spirit results in spiritual fruit, and abiding in the Lord jesus results in spiritual fruit, then abiding in the Lord Jesus is talking about walking in the spirit of God. Jesus Christ was preparing his disciples for the day when they would be filled with holy spirit and be able to bear true fruit.
The scripture in John has been used to teach that unless people abide in the Lord Jesus, they will be cast into a lake of fire. There is no record of Jesus scaring God's people into bearing spiritual fruit. Here Jesus used a figure of speech to relay a message. He said that if we are not abiding in him, then we are compared to a branch that withers away. He was not teaching them that they themselves would be cast away forever into a burning lake, but that there lives would begin to wither. This is so true. When we stop drinking, our bodies start to dry up. Likewise, when we stop letting God's word abide in us and walking in the spirit, our lives start to wither, and we are compared to a branch on a vine that stops bearing fruit and is no longer useful. This figure of speech was not meant to literally put God's people as branches that are cast away, but instead to emphasize the importance of walking in the spirit and letting God's word abide in our lives.
When we are not walking in the spirit our lives and works start to wither, but when we are walking in the spirit our lives flourish and God's word begins to bear true fruit in our lives. According to John 15:7 we shall ask what we desire, and it absolutely shall be done for us to the end that all glory goes to God.
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