15 "“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned."
John 15:1-6
What our Lord goes on to say in this chapter is in some senses a further explication and elaboration of the theme of fellowship with God, for abiding in Christ is simply another way of describing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He abides in us, we abide in Him. A good deal has already been said about the tremendous reality of God in three Persons indwelling our poor hearts, and now Jesus speaks of the other aspect of the same reality, as if to underline the source of power for living in the way He wants His disciples to live. To do so, He uses the metaphor of the vine and the branches. It may be that Jesus sensed that His teaching about the Spirit's indwelling was something strange and unfamiliar to His disciples, and hard for them to grasp. It is as if, seeing the struggle for comprehension on their faces, He were saying, 'let me illustrate what I mean, by putting it this way, I am the Vine, ye are the branches.' And if the teaching about the Spirit was unfamiliar, that about the vine must immediately have struck a chord in them, for they were men deeply taught in the Old Testament Scriptures, and this was a very familiar picture, rich, fruitful and significant, and one whose import they would immediately grasp. The vine figured in Old Testament writings as the national emblem of Israel. Israel had been planted of the Lord, but had become a degenerate vine (Isaiah 5), bringing forth wild grapes instead of true fruit. In other words, Israel had failed in her God- given and God-appointed task and function to be a means of life and light to the world, of salvation to mankind. When Jesus, therefore, said 'I am the true vine', He was explicitly indicating that He had superseded the nation as the instrument of divine revelation and blessing. He, along with His disciples, was the new Israel of God - the vine and the branches - and the appointed medium of salvation to the nations of mankind.