JOH 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me [fellowship with God], and I in him [through residual doctrine], he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

 

            The “Vine and Branch” metaphor is repeated. Our Lord is the Vine; we are the branches. Abiding in Christ is the filling of the Spirit. Christ “in us” is a result of cognition of Bible doctrine. These spiritual skills are required for us to produce what this verse calls “much fruit.”

            The phrase, “for apart from Me you can do nothing,” speaks of dead works (the function of production skills without spiritual skills). The production of divine good is a grace provision from God, which meets God’s perfect standards. God provides the means for bearing fruit through the filling of the Holy Spirit, cognition of Bible doctrine, and the attainment of spiritual adulthood.

 

 

JOH 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me [the believer out of fellowship], he is thrown away like a branch [the judgment of the dead works of a believer], and dries up; and they [angels] gather them, and cast them [dead works] into the fire, and they are burned.”

 

            The believer who does not abide in Christ is out of fellowship and therefore lacks the first spiritual skill, the filling of the Spirit. This is a descriptive analogy, as opposed to a true analogy. All dead works are judged and burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ immediately after the Rapture of the church.

 

2CO 5:10* For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be rewarded for his deeds done in the body, on the basis of what he has done whether good or worthless.

 

             Many things in life that are considered commendable by other believers are absolutely worthless because they do not measure up to divine standards.