ACC ~ John 15 v4 - 11

OVERVIEW:

The vine is a living parable (AMBROSE) of the life-giving nourishment the Spirit provides for those who remain attached to that vine by remaining in intimate union with Christ (CYRIL). This union is of more advantage to the fruit than to the vine (AUGUSTINE). The vine of the cross was planted in Golgotha, but its branches have spread far beyond there to the world through the Spirit coursing through the branches of the apostles and the church (ANONYMOUS). In the Old Testament, Jacob had prophesied of a spreading vine in his son Naphtali, foreshadowing the vine of Christ and his spreading church (AMBROSE). Christ’s body, which is the vine, serves as the root for our bodily resurrection and salvation (THEODORET).

Our weakness ensures that we can do nothing good apart from the vine (MAXIMUS). We should stop relying on the decorative foliage of our good works (PROSPER) since everything we are able to do is only by grace (AUGUSTINE). When we do accomplish something good, we should remember the words “without me you can do nothing” (MARK THE HERMIT). The Father, as vinedresser, is both cultivator and judge (THEODORE). Christ tells us first to abide in the Word and then to ask since the Word is a possession that lacks nothing (CLEMENT). To abide in the Word, however, is more than just acknowledging God’s existence (CYRIL). Abiding in Christ governs what we desire (AUGUSTINE), which in turn brings glory to God as we live out the faith and life given to us by God (AUGUSTINE). Love is the underlying motivation for such living (BASIL). As we abide in Christ’s love, we become like him (IRENAEUS) and enjoy the security that comes with obeying his call to love through keeping the commandments (CHRYSOSTOM). Jesus speaks of the joy we can have through him as we face life’s trials (CYRIL) as well as the joy he has over us through the grace he has given us (AUGUSTINE).

15:4 | Reciprocal Abiding of Branch and Vine

THE VINE AS A LIVING PARABLE

AMBROSE: It seems clear, therefore, that the example of the vine is designed, as this passage indicates, for the instruction of our lives. It is observed to bud in the mild warmth of early spring, and next to produce fruit from the joints of the shoots from which a grape is formed. This gradually increases in size, but it still retains its bitter taste. When, however, it is ripened and mellowed by the sun, it acquires its sweetness. Meanwhile, the vine is decked in green leaves by which it is protected in no slight manner from frosts and other injuries and is defended from the sun’s heat. Is there any spectacle that is more pleasing or any fruit that is sweeter? [1] What a joy to behold the rows of hanging grapes like so many jewels of a beautiful countryside, to pluck those grapes gleaming in colors of gold and purple! … Let them praise you who behold you, and let them admire the marshaled bands of the church like the serried rows of vine branches. Let everyone among the faithful gaze on the gems of the soul. Let them find delight in the maturity of prudence, in the splendor of faith, in the charm of Christian affirmation, in the beauty of justice, in the fecundity of pity, so that it may be said of you, “Your wife is a fruitful vine on the sides of your house,” [2] because you imitate by the exercise of your abundant and generous giving the bountiful return of a fruit-bearing vine. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 3.12.52. [3]

[1] See Cicero De senectute 15.53.

[2] Ps 128:3 (127:3 LXX, Vg).

[3] FC 42:106-7*; CSEL 32 1:94-95.

THE SPIRIT NOURISHES THE FRUIT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Unless the branch is provided with the life-producing sap from its mother the vine, how will it bear grapes or what fruit will it bring forth—and from what source? … For no fruit of virtue will spring up anew in those of us who have fallen away from intimate union with Christ. To those, however, who are joined to the one who is able to strengthen them and who nourishes them in righteousness, the capacity to bear fruit will readily be added by the provision and grace of the Spirit, which is like a life-producing water. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.2. [1]

[1] LF 48:386**.

CHRIST NOURISHES WITH THE SPIRIT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Just as the root of the vine administers and distributes to the branches the benefit of its own natural and inherent qualities, so too the only-begotten Word of God imparts to the saints, as it were, a likeness to his own nature and the nature of God the Father by giving them the Spirit, insomuch as they have been united with him through faith and perfect holiness. Christ nourishes them in piety and works in them the knowledge of all virtue and good works. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.2. [1]

[1] LF 48:364*.

THE BRANCHES BENEFIT MORE THAN THE VINE

AUGUSTINE: Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you.” They are not in him in the same kind of way that he is in them. And yet both ways tend to their advantage, not to his. For the relation of the branches to the vine is such that they contribute nothing to the vine but derive their own means of life from it, while that of the vine to the branches is such that it supplies their vital nourishment and receives nothing from them. And so their having Christ abiding in them and abiding themselves in Christ are in both respects advantageous not to Christ but to the disciples. For when the branch is cut off, another may spring up from the living root. But that which is cut off cannot live apart from the root. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:345*; CCL 36:530.

15:5a | I Am the Vine, You Are the Branches

THE BRANCHES OF THE SINGLE-STEMMED CROSS

ANONYMOUS:

There is a place in the center of the whole world, so we understand,

Golgotha it is named in the Jewish homeland, they say:

Here there is an oak tree hewn from a sterile stump

Planted, I recall, to bear life-giving fruits.

Nevertheless, not for those who had settled there were these fruits

Proffered: strangers from another land were to have this blessed fruit.

This species of tree arose from a single stem,

And then extended outward in a pair of branches:

Like the heavy yardarms on which sails are stretched,

Or like the yoke under which oxen pull the plow

Through the earth which took its first ripe seed as it fell

Conceived: soon after (an amazing thing happened)

On the third day—terrifying to both those on earth and above—

It again spouted a branch, its blessed fruit full of life.

And over twenty days, times two, it became stronger,

It grew immensely, the tops of its branches up to the highest heaven

Reached, and then hid its sacred head on high;

Meanwhile, twelve huge heavy branches

It produced, and spread them out over the entire world:

To all the nations nourishment and eternal life

They were to bring, and to teach them that death itself could die.

And then, after fifty more days had gone by,

From the very top of the tree a draft of divine nectar

Began to flow into the branches, the breeze of the heavenly spirit:

The leaves were saturated everywhere with a sweet dew, and

Behold! under the shadow of the canopy of heavy branches

There was a fountain: here the waters were undisturbed, serene,

Clear and bright, and the surrounding grass

Offered a splendor of color among its variety of flowers.

Innumerable nations and peoples gathered around this spring,

Coming from various races, sexes, ages and ranks,

Unmarried and married together, widows and daughters-in-law,

Infants, young boys, and men—both young and old!

THE TREE OF THE CROSS 1-33.

THE VINE OF NAPHTALI FORESHADOWED CHRIST AND THE CROSS

AMBROSE: [The spreading vine of Naphtali] [1] is a beautiful reference to a shoot clinging to a spiritual vine, of which we are the branch and can bear fruit if we remain on the vine. But otherwise we are cut off. The holy patriarch Naphtali was an abundant shoot. [2] This explains why Jacob had called him a spreading vine. That is, through the grace of faith he was stripped of the bonds of death, and the people of God are foreshadowed in him, called to the liberty of faith and to the fullness of grace and spread over the whole world. It clothes the crossbeam of Christ with good fruit and encompasses the wood of that true vine, that is, the mysteries of the Lord’s cross. It does not fear the danger of acknowledging him, but rather, even amid persecutions, it glories in the name of Christ. ON THE PATRIARCHS 10.42-3. [3]

[1] Gen 49:21 (LXX).

[2] Deut 33:23.

[3] FC 65:265*; CSEL 32 2:148-49.

CHRIST’S BODY THE ROOT

THEODORET OF CYR: Just as the branches are of the same substance as the vine and [come] from it, so we, who have the same kind of body as the Lord’s body, receive from his fullness and have it as a root for resurrection and salvation. And the Father is called the vinedresser, because through the Word he took care of the vine, which is the Lord’s body. DIALOGUE 1.36. [1]

[1] FC 106:75-76.

15:5b | Apart from Me You Can Do Nothing

WE COULD DO NOTHING WITHOUT GOD

MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR: The Lord told us, “Outside of me you can do nothing.” This is because our weakness, when moved to do good things, is unable to bring anything to completion without the giver of good things. The one who has come to understand the weakness of human nature has had experience of the divine power. And such a person who because of divine power has succeeded in some things and is eager to succeed in others never looks down on anyone. For he knows that in the same way that God has helped him and freed him from many passions and hardships, so can he help everyone when he wishes, especially those who are striving for his sake. THE FOUR HUNDRED CHAPTERS ON LOVE 2.38-39. [1]

BRANCHES DO NOTHING APART FROM THE VINE

PROSPER OF AQUITAINE:

Hope is not in the fading flower of the field.

For just as no one is able to eat the fruit of the branch

Unless the branch remains in the vine which brings

Sap to the leaves from the root and fills the grapes with must—

So also those who are barren in virtue and without fruit

Shall be fuel for the perpetual fire: those who leave the vine

Dare to put their faith in the immoderate liberty of the leaves,

So that their fruitfulness is not dependent on the fruitfulness of Christ:

And even more, they believe they are able to excel on their own,

As if God is not the author of the virtues that please him… .

[But] why would they be ashamed, especially in this valley of tears,

If their power came from God, that they have a minimum of mortal works,

When it is nothing but sin which has destroyed

Liberty to which alone evil deeds recur?

And yet, when we focus the mind on holy acts,

When a chaste mind refuses carnal desires,

When we do not give in to temptations, and through harsh

Vexing punishments, we remain in our hearts unyielding;

Then we are acting freely; but with a freedom redeemed,

And over which God is ruler as light from the highest light, [there is]

Life, health, virtue, wisdom: It is the grace of Christ

By which freedom runs, rejoices, endures, takes care, chooses, stands,

Believes, hopes, loves, is cleansed and is justified.

For if we are right in anything we do, Lord, we do it only with your help;

You move hearts, you command prayers—those you want to grant you bestow, bestowing Lavishly and producing merit from merits and enriching the gifts of your crown.

But this does not mean I should diminish my care and become lax in the pursuit of virtue, or Become complacent by letting mental apathy hold sway,

Because the good works of the saints are yours,

And whatever in them is pure or strong, depends on you:

So that none of the actions of human beings is seen as occurring entirely apart from your will: For without you what is achieved by the will except to be exiled far away from you?

The paths are always precipitous and the ways twisting

When advancing alone: When our will is exhausted, you are kind; when feeble

You lift it up, you carry it back, you keep it warm, you watch over it and provide it with dignity.

Then it will make rapid progress, its eyes actually seeing, its freedom free, its wisdom wise,

Its justice just, its virtue strong and its senses healed.

ON THE UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE 954-97. [2]

[1] MCSW 52*.

[2] PL 51: 145A-147A.

GRACE

AUGUSTINE: A great encomium on grace, my brothers—one that will instruct the souls of the humble and stop the mouths of the proud! Let those now answer it, if they dare, who, ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Let the self-complacent answer who think they have no need of God for the performance of good works. … They say, It is of God that we have our existence as human beings, but it is of ourselves that we are righteous. What is it you say, you who deceive yourselves and, instead of establishing free will, cast it headlong down from the heights of its self-elevation through the empty regions of presumption into the depths of an ocean grave? Why, your assertion that a person of himself works righteousness, that is the height of your self-elation. … For whoever imagines that he is bearing fruit of himself is not in the vine, and whoever is not in the vine is not in Christ, and whoever is not in Christ is not a Christian. Such are the ocean depths into which you have plunged.

Look further into what the Truth has to say. … For just to keep anyone from supposing that the branch can bear at least some little fruit of itself, after saying, “the same brings forth much fruit,” his next words are not, without me you can do but little, but “you can do nothing.” Whether then it is a little or a lot, without him it is impracticable. For without him nothing can be done. For although, when the branch bears little fruit, the husbandman purges it that it may bring forth more, yet if it does not abide in the vine and draw its life from the root, it can bear no fruit whatever of itself. And although Christ would not have been the vine had he not been man, yet he could not have supplied such grace to the branches had he not also been God. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.2-3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:345-46**.

IN THE FACE OF PRIDE

MARK THE HERMIT: When you have done something good, remember the words, “without me you can do nothing.” ON THE SPIRITUAL LAW 41. [1]

[1] TP 1:113.

15:6 | Destroying Dead Branches

VINEDRESSER AS CULTIVATOR AND JUDGE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The Father is like the vinedresser, for, if he sees some who do not love me, he cuts them off like fruitless branches and sends them off to the fire, but if he sees the opposite, he takes care of them so that they may bring forth even more fruit through the spiritual gifts he gives. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.15.1-6. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:282.

15:7 | Abide in the Word, Then Ask

THE ONE WHO HAS THE WORD LACKS NOTHING

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: He who has the almighty God, the Word, lacks nothing and never is in dire straits for what he needs. For the Word is a possession that lacks nothing and is the cause of all abundance. If someone says that he has often seen the righteous person in need of food, this is rare, and it happens only where there is not another righteous person. Notwithstanding, let him read what follows: “For the righteous one shall not live by bread alone but by the word of the Lord,” [1] who is the true bread, the bread of the heavens. The good person, then, can never be in difficulties so long as he keeps intact his confession toward God. For it belongs to him to ask and to receive whatever he requires from the Father of all and to enjoy what is his own if he keeps the Son. And he also should feel that he lacks nothing. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 3.7. [2]

[1] Deut 8:3; Mt 4:4.

[2] ANF 2:281*.

ABIDING IS MORE THAN ACKNOWLEDGING GOD’S EXISTENCE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Shall we say that faith bare and alone is sufficient for one to attain the fellowship that is from above—will even the band of demons rise up to fellowship with God, since they acknowledge God’s unity and have believed that God exists? How could this be? For the mere knowledge that the one God is the creator and producer of all things is useless. But I think it necessary that the confession of piety toward God should accompany faith. For one who does this abides in Christ and will be seen to possess his words, according to the text in the book of Psalms, “I have laid up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” [1] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.2. [2]

[1] Ps 119:11 (118:11 LXX).

[2] LF 48:390**.

ABIDING IN CHRIST GOVERNS WHAT YOU DESIRE

AUGUSTINE: “If you abide in me,” he says, “and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” For when someone abides in Christ in this way, is there anything he or she can wish for besides what will be agreeable to Christ? When they abide in the Savior in this way, can they wish for anything that is inconsistent with salvation? Some things, indeed, we wish for because we are in Christ, and other things we desire because we are still in this world. For at times, in connection with our present living quarters, we are inwardly prompted to ask what we know would not be expedient for us to receive. But God forbid that such a thing should be given to us if we abide in Christ, who, when we ask, only does what will be for our advantage. Abiding in him when his words abide in us, we shall ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us. For if we ask, and the doing does not follow, what we ask must not be connected with our abiding in him or with his words that abide in us. Instead they must be connected with that craving and infirmity of the flesh that are not in him and do not have his words abiding in them. For to his words, at all events, belongs that prayer that he taught and in which we say, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” [1] Let us only not fall away from the words and meaning of this prayer in our petitions, and whatever we ask shall be done unto us. For his words may only be said to abide in us when we do what he has commanded us and love what he has promised. But when his words abide only in the memory and have no place in your life, the branch is not in the vine because it does not draw its life from the root. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 81.4. [2]

[1] Mt 6:9.

[2] NPNF 1 7:346**; CCL 36:531.

15:8 | Bearing Much Fruit

OUR LIVES BY GOD’S GRACE BRING GLORY TO GOD

AUGUSTINE: The Savior, in thus speaking to the disciples, commends still more and more the grace whereby we are saved when he says, “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and be made my disciples.” Whether we say glorified or made bright, [1] both are the translation of one Greek verb, namely, doxazein. For what is doxa in Greek is “gloria” in Latin. I have thought it worthwhile to mention this because the apostle says, “If Abraham was justified by works, he has glory, but not before God.” [2] For this is the glory before God, whereby God, and not man [humankind], is glorified, when man is justified, not by works, but by faith, so that even his doing well is imparted to him by God. Just as the branch, as I have stated above, [3] cannot bear fruit of itself. For if God the Father is glorified in this, that we bear much fruit and are made the disciples of Christ, let us not credit this to our own glory, as though we had it from ourselves. For such grace is from him, and the glory in this is therefore not ours but his. And so, in another passage, after saying, “Let your light so shine before people that they may see your good works”—to keep them from the thought that such good works were of themselves—he immediately added, “and may glorify your Father who is in heaven.” [4] For here is where the Father is glorified, that we bear much fruit and are made the disciples of Christ. And by whom are we so made, but by him whose mercy has preceded us? For “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” [5] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 82.1. [6]

[1] Glorified = glorificatus; made bright = clarificatus.

[2] Rom 4:2.

[3] See his Tractates on the Gospel of John 81.2.

[4] Mt 5:16.

[5] See Eph 2:10.

[6] NPNF 1 7:346-47**; CCL 36:532.

15:9-10 | Abiding in Jesus’ Love

LOVE AS AN UNDERLYING MOTIVATION

BASIL THE GREAT: Now, if observing the commandments is the essential sign of love, it is very greatly feared that without love even the most effective action of the glorious gifts of grace—even of the most sublime powers and even of faith itself and the commandment that make a person perfect—will not be of help. … It is evident, therefore, and undeniable that without charity—even though ordinances are obeyed and righteous acts are performed, even though the commandments of the Lord have been observed and great wonders of grace effected—they will be considered as works of iniquity … because those who perform these acts have as their aim the gratification of their own will. CONCERNING BAPTISM 1.2. [1]

[1] FC 9:381-82.

ABIDE IN CHRIST AND BECOME LIKE HIM

IRENAEUS: Whoever holds, without pride and boasting, to the true glory regarding created things and the Creator (who is the Almighty God of all and who has granted existence to all) and continues in his [i.e., God’s] love and subjection and continues to give thanks shall also receive from [God] the greater glory of promotion, looking forward to the time when he shall become like him who died for him. AGAINST HERESIES 3.20.2. [1]

[1] ANF 1:450**; SC 34:342.

JESUS’ LOVE BRINGS SECURITY

CHRYSOSTOM: Again, Jesus’ discourse proceeds in a human way. For certainly the lawgiver himself would not be subject to commandments. Here again, as I keep on saying, this is spoken because of the infirmity of his hearers. He is primarily speaking to their suspicions, and by every means he tries to show them that they are safe and that their enemies are being lost. He is showing them that everything, whatever they have, they have from the Son and that, if they demonstrate a pure life, no one can prevail against them. And observe how authoritative he is with them. He did not say, “Abide in the love of my Father,” but “in my love.” Then, in case they should say, “When you have put us at war with everyone, that is when you leave us and depart,” he shows that he does not leave them but is as joined to them as the branch is to the vine. Then, in case they get so confident that they become lazy, he tells them the blessing can be removed if they are not vigilant. And, so that he does not refer the action to himself and make them even more apt to fall, he says, “Herein is my Father glorified.” For everywhere he demonstrates his own and his Father’s love toward them. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 76.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:280**; PG 59:412.

15:11 | Fullness of Joy

THE POWER OF CHRISTIAN JOY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Here it is as though when Jesus says, “All this I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you,” he’s saying that those things which encourage me may give you encouragement as well. You can face danger bravely, fortifying yourselves with the hope of those who will be saved. And, if suffering comes upon you in this work, don’t be brought down into the feebleness of apathy, but rejoice more abundantly when you fulfill the will of him that wills that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. [1] For I too rejoiced at this, [Jesus says], and thought my sufferings very sweet. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.2. [2]

[1] 1 Tim 2:4.

[2] LF 48:400**.

JOY IN REJOICING OVER US

AUGUSTINE: And what else is Christ’s joy in us except that he is pleased to rejoice over us? And what is this joy of ours that he says is to be made full, but our having fellowship with him? … His joy, therefore, in us is the grace he has bestowed on us, and that is also our joy. But he rejoiced over this joy even from eternity when he chose us before the foundation of the world. [1] Nor can we rightly say that his joy was not full. For God’s joy was never at any time imperfect. But that joy of his was not in us. For we, in whom that joy could exist, had as yet no existence. And even when our existence commenced, it began not to be in him. But in him it always was, who in the infallible truth of his own foreknowledge rejoiced that we should yet be his own. Accordingly, he had a joy over us that was already full when he rejoiced in foreknowing and foreordaining us. And there could hardly be any fear intermingling in that joy of his that might imply a possible failure in what he foreknew would be done by himself. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.1. [2]

[1] Eph 1:4.

[2] NPNF 1 7:348**; CCL 36:534-35.