The True Vine

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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.

John 15:1-2

Jesus uses the analogy of a vineyard to refer to himself as the “true vine” and those who believe in him as the branches. He identifies God the Father as the “vinedresser.” It is true that this passage speaks of the union that we share with Christ when we become a Christian. The relationship that we share with Jesus is so organic that to be cut off from him is to be dry and dead, like a branch that is cut off from its root.

But there is more that Jesus is alluding to here. The vineyard imagery was used by the Old Testament prophets to describe how God related to Israel (Isa. 5:1-5). They were to be like a vibrant vineyard, producing the fruit of righteousness, justice, and peace, so that they would reflect God’s glory to the other nations. Sadly, they failed at this. But in John 15:1, Jesus makes a claim. “I am the true vine…” Jesus is saying that what Israel was meant to be, he has come to be. Where Israel failed to reflect who God is, Jesus has revealed him fully and perfectly. In essence, Jesus is saying that he himself is the “true people of God,” and only those who are in him can be called the people of God (Jn. 1:12).

The heart of the matter is not whether we are Jew or Gentile but whether we are connected to the true vine. To truly bear fruit, we must be connected to the One who has already born perfect fruit for God by living a perfectly obedient life, dying a sacrificial death in our place, and defeating death for us through his resurrection. To be the people of God and bear fruit, we must abide in Christ, the True Vine.