John 15:6
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If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch . . . withered . . . cast into the fire . . . burned--The one proper use of the vine is to bear fruit; failing this, it is good for one other thing--fuel. (See Eze 15:1-5). How awfully striking the figure, in this view of it!
Open source ↗It is generally agreed that Christ's discourse in this and the next chapter was at the close of the last supper, the night in which he was betrayed, and it is a continued discourse, not interrupted as that in the foregoing chapter was; and what he chooses to discourse of is very pertinent to the present sad occasion of a farewell sermon. Now that he was about to leave them, I. They would be tempted to leave him, and return to Moses again; and therefore he tells them how necessary it was that they should by faith adhere to him and abide in him. II. They would be tempted to grow strange one to another; and therefore he presses it upon them to love one another, and to keep up that communion when he was gone which had hitherto been their comfort. III. They would be tempted to shrink from their apostleship when they met with hardships; and therefore he prepared them to bear the shock of the world's ill will. There are four words to which his discourse in this chapter may be reduced; 1. Fruit (Joh 15:1-8). 2. Love (Joh 15:9-17). 3. Hatred (Joh 15:18-25). The Comforter (Joh 15:26, Joh 15:27).
Open source ↗15:6 Anyone who does not remain in Christ is separated from the vine and its life. A living branch produces clusters of grapes (15:5). Connection with the vine allows the life of Jesus to flow fruitfully through the disciple. Those who claim to be attached to Christ but yield no fruit are useless and will be burned.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.
but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.
They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.
And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
So you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Will it flourish? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it shrivels? All its foliage will wither! It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by its roots.
But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.