Observation 3: Two Sorts of Branches — Fruitful and Unfruitful

We see this vine has branches of two sorts, fruitful and unfruitful, which is the third thing to be observed.

And in this our Savior follows the similitude; for experience shows the like in vines. And writers of vines observe it, and accordingly distinguish the branches of vines into those that bring forth nothing but leaves, and those that bring forth fruit.

The unfruitful are such as make profession of being in Christ to themselves and others, and receive some greenness from him, but no true fruit: for their profession they are branches, for their emptiness, unfruitful ones.

The only question is, how such as prove unfruitful, are said to be branches, and to be in Christ; 'Every branch in me,' etc.

Many comparisons there are of Christ, as he stands in various relations to his church: of which some serve to express one thing concerning him, some another. That of a vine, here presents him only as he was to spread himself into a visible church on earth, in the profession of him: and so considered, he may have many branches that are unfruitful. That other of a head over all the family in heaven and earth, which imports his relation only to that invisible company of his mystical church, which together make up that general assembly spoken of in Hebrews 12, which are his fullness (Ephesians 1). And agreeable to this meaning, in comparing himself to a vine, in this large and common relation of a root to both sorts of professors, true and false, is that other expression also, whereby he sets forth his Father's office, when he calls him not a vine-dresser, or a tiller of a vineyard, in a strict sense, as Luke 13:7, but the husbandman (as it were at large): as thereby denoting out, not simply and alone, that peculiar care that he has to true believers only, that are branches of this vine, (though including it) but withal importing that common care and providence which he bears to others of his creatures; and this because some of these branches of this vine, are to him but as others out of the church and of no more reckoning with him. The Father's relation therein, answering to, and in a proportion running parallel along with that which Christ bears towards them: those that Christ is head to, those he is a Father to: those whom Christ is but as a vine to, he is but the husbandman to, whose office is seen, as well in cutting off such branches, as in pruning and dressing of those others.

These unfruitful ones are not in Christ's account, reckoned as true branches here: for in the 5th verse, he calls those disciples of his that were there and then present with him, (when now Judas was gone forth before, as appears John 13:30) them only the branches: and therefore repeats it there again, 'I am the vine,' with this addition, 'You are the branches.' Implying hereby, that as he is the true vine, so that these only were the true branches; the other he calls but 'as a branch,' verse 6 — 'He is cast forth (as a) branch,' giving them the name of branches, thereby the better to express his Father's dealing with such, that as they that are dressers of a vineyard use to do with such branches, so my Father with them: but they themselves are but as it were branches; not really and in truth such.

That expression which seems most to make for it, is that in the second verse, when he says, 'Every branch [in me] that bears not fruit,' but those words [in me] may as well, indeed rather be understood to have reference to their not bringing forth fruit [in him] than to their being properly branches [in him:] so as the meaning should be, they are branches that bring not forth fruit in me. Though they do some good, yet it is not fruit; if so, [not in me:] though from me, and from my assistance. And so his meaning is not so much to declare that they are branches in him, as that they bring not forth fruit in him. Which indeed is one of the characteristic differences between true and unsound branches, and one main scope of the parable; and this the Syriac translation makes for also, and confirms it: 'Every branch which in me brings not forth fruit.' And there is this reason that this should be his meaning, that he never reckoned them at all true branches; because that is the difference God puts between these and those others, that those that bring forth fruit, his Father purges, that they may bring forth more fruit. He lets them not run so far out into sin, as to become altogether unfruitful: but these he takes away: so as true branches were never unfruitful.

The use is to stir up all that profess themselves to be in Christ, to examine whether they be true genuine branches of this true vine or no. Here in this kingdom, Christ is spread forth into a fair and pleasant vine in show, as this earth affords: but if we ministers were able with this husbandman here, to turn up the leaves of formal profession, and look with his eyes, we should discern that there are but a few true branches indeed to be found in flourishing congregations, as Isaiah foretold there should be in Israel (Isaiah 17:5-6). Like the gleaning grapes, two or three in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches.

Now for a general help to discern whether you be true branches, consider, that union with Christ is that which makes men branches, that is, men are accounted branches of Christ in regard of some union with him: and such as their union is, such also is their communion with him, and accordingly such branches are they, and such their fruit.

1. Some (and indeed the most) are united to him but by the external tie of the outward ordinances, such as their obligation made in baptism: and are knit to him thereby, no otherwise than many grafts are, that do not take or thrive in their stocks, only stand there as bound about by a thread; and suitable is their communion with him, even wholly external: they continuing to partake of the outward ordinances, but without any sap or inward influence derived, without any inward work of the Spirit, or stirring of affection. And answerable also is their fruit, when no other are found on them, but such as you shall find grow in the waste of the wilderness among heathens, which ingenuity and modesty, and natural honesty and natural conscience do bring forth: but not any such, as an inward sap from Christ uses to produce. Civil men are not true branches; for look on Christ the root, and see what fruits abounded in him most, as fruits of holiness did; and therefore if such were true branches, the same would abound in them likewise: for every tree brings forth according to its kind.

2. You have some (they living in the church) Christ begins to shoot some sap of his Spirit into their hearts, quickening them with many good motions, and stirring up some juiciness of affections in the administration of the word and sacraments, which causes them to bud forth into good inward purposes, and outward good beginnings: but this being not the communication of the Spirit, as sanctifying and changing the branch into the same nature with the root, therefore it comes to pass they are still nipped in the bud, as the stony ground was, and the sap struck in again, like early ripe fruit; which looking forth upon a February sun, are nipped again with an April frost. Many, when young, and their affections are green and tender, are worked upon, and bud, but the scoffs of men nip them, and their lusts draw the sap another way, as hopes of preferment, and the pleasures of sin, and so these buds wither and fall off, and the Spirit withdraws himself wholly into the root again.

Again, 3. some there are, as the thorny ground, in whom this inward sap communicated to them, though not spiritually, changing and renewing them, yet being communicated in a further degree, abides in them longer, shoots up farther, and these prove exceeding green branches, and are owned for true, even by the people of God themselves, as Judas was by the Apostles, and therefore are outwardly like to them; for how else are they said to be cast out (verse 16), who therefore had once some fruit to commend them, for which they were accounted of by the people of God, and received among them, who judge of trees by the fruit. Neither are their fruits merely outward, like Solomon's apples of gold, in pictures of silver, merely painted, but they have a sap that puts a greenness into what they do, and by reason of which they bear and bring forth; for how else are they said to wither also (verse 6) — which is a decay of inward moisture, and outward greenness. And these also have some kind of union with Christ as with a Lord (2 Peter 2:1), he ascending to bestow gifts, even upon the rebellious also (Psalm 68:18), so far to enable them to do him some service in his vineyard. They are not united to Christ as to a head. Neither is it the spirit of adoption which they do receive from him; and such a branch was Judas, who was not only owned by the disciples, who knew him not to be false, but who surely at the first had inward sap of gifts derived from Christ, to fit him for the ministry, he being sent out as an Apostle to preach; whom therefore Christ here aimed at in this place.

Now for a more particular differentiating of these branches and their fruits, it is not my scope to graft a large common place, dealing with all the differences between temporaries and true believers, upon this stock; this root is not big enough to bear them, those differences being many; only I will explain those differences which the text affords, because they are in our way, and will further open the words.

1. That which they do bring forth is not true fruit, the Holy Ghost does not vouchsafe it that name; they are said here, not to bring forth fruit. That speech in Hosea 10:1 will give clear light to understand this; with the ground of it also: Israel is, there called, an empty vine, which brings forth fruit to herself. It implies a seeming contradiction, that it should be called an empty vine, and yet withal to bring forth any fruit. And these bring forth not leaves, good words only, but good works, good actions, and those green, and therefore Jude 12: their fruit is said to wither, as themselves are said to wither here, verse 6. And as there Israel is said to be an empty vine, though it has fruit, so here these are said not to bring forth fruit at all. Now the meaning of both, is one and the same: for a thing is said to be empty, when it wants that which is proper to it, and ought to be in it; as wells are called empty, when they are not full of water, they are full of air. So they are called an empty vine, and these branches to have no fruit, because not such as ought to grow upon them, such as is proper to the root they seem to grow upon. Therefore in Hebrews 6:7, that epithet is added, 'meet herbs,' or fruit; that is, such as should grow there. So Luke 3:8: they are to bring forth fruit 'worthy' of amendment of life, or else they were to be cut down: that is, such as became true penitents, as were answerable, suitable thereto. As we say a man carries himself worthy of his place, when answerable to what is required of him in it. That place cited out of Hosea further acquaints us with the true ground, why their fruits (though green, which Hosea 6:4 is called goodness also, yet) were not to be accounted meet fruit, and so not fruit at all; even because of this, that it brought forth all its fruit, whether good or bad, to itself: that is, those ends that did draw up the sap, and did put it forth in fruit, were drawn but from themselves, they bring them not forth principally to God, and for him. All their prayers, all their affections in holy duties, if they examine the reason of them all, the ends that run in them all, and from where all the motives that do actuate all they do in these, they will find they are taken from themselves. And though the assistance with which they are enabled to do what they do, is more than their own, yet their ends are no higher than themselves, and so they employ but that assistance God gives them wholly for themselves. Now the end for which a true branch brings forth fruit, is, that God might be glorified. Thus Romans 7:8, when married to Christ they are said to bring forth fruit to God; which is spoken in opposition to bringing forth fruit to a man's self. Thus also Christ here uses this as the great and main motive to fruitfulness in verse 8: 'Hereby is my Father glorified, that you bring forth much fruit.' Now whom will this move, into whose affections will such an argument draw up sap, and quicken them? None but those hearts who do make God's glory their utmost end, and so all true branches do, or else this motive should have been used by Christ in vain to them. And as this end makes their performances to be fruit, so this being wanting, all that is brought forth deserves not the name of fruit, for it is not fruit worthy, as the Baptist says, not meet fruit for the dresser to receive, (as was noted out of Hebrews) not such as ought to grow on that tree. They should be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3). Again, not fruit meet or suitable for the root it seems to grow upon, that is, such as Christ did bring forth; for he did all, that his Father might be glorified: and therefore says he, exhorting them to fruitfulness, verse 8 of this chapter: 'If you do likewise, you shall be my disciples.' Again, otherwise it is not such as is meet for the husbandman's taste and relish, it being equal that 'He that plants a vineyard, should eat of the fruit of it' (1 Corinthians 9:7). And in fruit you know above all we regard the taste, and esteem the relish of it. Eve first considered the fruit was good for food, then pleasant to the eye (Genesis 3). It is not the sap that is in fruit only makes it acceptable; crabs are as full of sap as apples. Nor is it the greenness, or color, or bigness, but the relish that is the chief excellence in it, though those others, when joined with a good relish, do make it more desirable. So though your performances be full of life and affection, and green, and long, and many, yet if they relish and taste of none but self-ends, God regards them not; it is the end that gives the relish, and makes them fruits, and acceptable to God.

The second difference this text holds forth, is, that they bring not forth their fruit in Christ: for so the Syriac translation reads it, as making the sense to be, that they bring not forth fruit in me: and so this particle [in me] refers not so much to their being branches in him, as to not bearing their fruit in him. Which indeed seems to have been Christ's meaning, for his scope in this parable is to show how that he is the root of sanctification; and how not the habitual power only, but every act of grace, and the performance, comes from him; 'Without me you can do nothing,' verse 5. And thereupon he exhorts his disciples to fetch all from him, and to abide in him; and therefore also, when he speaks of these unfruitful branches at verse 6, that which here he calls bearing not fruit in me, he expresses there, by not abiding in me, as the cause of their not bringing forth fruit in him. Indeed, the principal scope of that phrase, 'Abide in me,' is, (as evidently appears by verses 4 and 5) to depend upon him for bringing forth of fruit, and to fetch strength from him by faith. There is therefore this essential defect in the work that is upon such, that they do not do all in that dependence upon Christ, such a dependence as a branch has upon the root, in bringing forth its fruit. For, my brethren, this you must know, that as it is essential to evangelical sanctification to do all for another, as your end, namely, to God; so to do all in the strength of another, as your sole assistant, namely Christ, who works all in you, and through whose strength, says Paul, I am able to do all things, and nothing without it. The life we lead is by faith, and it is not I, but Christ who lives in me. Therefore we find both these joined (Philippians 1:11): 'The fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.' The latter [to the glory of God] is mentioned as the final cause; the other [by Jesus Christ] as the efficient cause: both these are necessary to true sanctification. For as we are to honor the husbandman by making him our end, so also the root, by doing all in him, and from him. Now temporary believers, as they do all principally for themselves, so also all as from themselves: and as they do not make God their end, so nor Christ their root. And so some expound that phrase in the parable of the stony ground (Luke 8:13), when it is said they have no root, (though I think he means also inherent habits of grace infused, for it is added, no root [in themselves,] which Job calls the root of the matter which was in him) it is because they fetch not their strength to do all they do from Christ by faith, and from their union with him. And the reason is this, because they are never emptied of themselves, (which is the root we all do grow upon) either in regard of their own ends, or of their own efficiency of working. Whereas we must all be brought to nothing in ourselves, both in regard of self-aims, and also abilities of working; and until our hearts are inwardly taught that lesson, that we are not sufficient, as of ourselves, we will not go out of ourselves, to do all in Christ. And therefore there was nothing which Christ endeavored more to graft upon their hearts than this principle now at his departure, as it is verses 4 and 5. And indeed it is as hard a thing for nature to live out of itself, and fetch all from another, as not to live to itself, but to another. We are full of our own strength, as well as of our own ends. And although these unfruitful branches do indeed receive all their strength from Christ, and so all they do in what is good, is from him: yet they do not honor Christ in receiving it, by doing all as in his strength, and so do not do it as in him. But though they receive all, yet they work with it, as if it were their own stock, and so glory (as the Apostle says) as if they had not received it. And thus though the sap and liveliness which stirs them, is really, and all efficiently from Christ, yet they may be said to bring forth fruit in themselves, because both they neither fetch nor receive it by faith, nor act by faith that strength received, as men that were acted by Christ, and as working all in Christ, but they do all, as if all proceeded from their own root. Even as the ivy, though clasping about the oak, receives much sap from it, which it digests and turns into itself, yet it brings forth all its berries by virtue of its own root, rather than as in the oak, which yet sustains and supplies it with juice and sap; whereas a true believer brings forth fruit in Christ, as a branch that is in and of the oak itself, as its own root, and so from him all their fruit is found (Hosea 14:8). He fetches his assistance from him: whereas the inward assistance of another unsound branch is strengthened and supported by pride, and self-sufficiency of gifts and parts, and not derived by faith, and maintained by confidence in Christ's strength to act all in them; so that, as it is said of the Corinthians, that they reigned, but without us, says Paul. So I may say, temporary believers perform duties, and pray, but as without Christ. But all true believers are emptied first of their own strength and ability, and so walk as those who can do nothing without Christ, as those who are not able to love, believe one moment more without him. So Philippians 4:13: 'I am able to do all things, but through Christ that strengthens me.' And this they lay for a principle in their hearts which they walk by, which therefore Christ presses upon his disciples here, as the main requisite and fundamental principle of evangelical sanctification: 'Without me you can do nothing.' And therefore such a one is sensible of that cursed self-sufficiency in him, and humbles himself, checks himself for it, as for as great and foul a sin as any other; and humbles himself not only for the want of what life, and stirring, etc., should have been in the duty fell short of, in performing it; but also for that he sanctified not Christ, in the strength he received to do it with. But another does not do so; if he finds strength, and power, and vigor to perform, and quickness in the performance, he looks no further. That poor man in the Gospel, as he acknowledged his want of faith, that he had much unbelief in him, so he goes out to Christ for the supply, 'Lord, help my unbelief,' for he knew that it was he was to be the worker of every degree of faith in him. And again, a true believer being thus sensible of his own inability, does (when he is anything assisted) attribute all to Christ when he has done; and honors him as the author of it in himself; confesses in his heart, between Christ and himself, that it was not he, but Christ that strengthened him: 'It is not I,' says the Apostle, 'but the grace of God in me, though I have labored more than they all.' But another, though he receives all, yet not being emptied of himself, boasts as if he had not received it. As the Pharisee, though he thanked God in words, yet in his heart attributed all to himself; such a one is the more full, and lifted up when he has done, but the true branch more empty and humble. A true believer glories not of himself as in himself, but only as he is a man in Christ; and that as a man in Christ, he did thus or thus; as Paul did, and no otherwise. So 2 Corinthians 12:2: 'I knew a man in Christ,' etc., 'of such a man I will glory, but of myself I will not glory.' And yet it was himself he spoke of, but yet not in himself as of himself, but as he was in Christ.

And if it be asked, whether in every act a Christian does thus?

I answer, it is in this as in that other parallel to this — the making God a man's end: now as it does not require, that in every action a man should actually think of that his end, while yet habitually he makes it his aim: (as a man in his journey, does not think of the place he goes into every step he takes, yet so habitually has it in his thoughts, as he keeps in the way to it.) Parallel to this is it in doing all in Christ, it cannot be supposed that in every act a man has such a distinct thought of recourse to Christ; but at the beginning and entrance of greater actions, he still has such actings and exercise of faith; and also often, in the progress he renews them, and in the conclusion, when he has performed them, he does sanctify Christ in his heart, by ascribing the praise of all to him.

If in the second place, the question be, whether every true believer does from his first conversion thus distinctly and knowingly (to himself) fetch thus all power from Christ, and do all in him?

The answer is, 1. that to all believers this principle of having recourse to Christ for acting their sanctification, may (perhaps) not presently be so distinctly revealed as it has been to some; this indeed is common and absolutely necessary to all believers, to constitute and make them such; namely, that their faith should have recourse to Christ, and to take him for their salvation, in the large and general notion of it, as it enfolds all under it that is to be done to save them; and thus many more ignorant do, when yet they have not learned explicitly in every particular that concerns their salvation, to have frequently a distinct recourse to him. It is probable that these very disciples of Christ (who yet savingly believed) had not this particular principle of bringing forth all their fruit of holiness in Christ, as their root, until this very time and sermon whereby Christ informed them in it, so clearly revealed to them, nor until then so clearly apprehended by them; for ignorant they were of, and negligent in having recourse to Christ in many other particulars, and making use of him therein, which are of as much concern as this. They had not so distinctly and explicitly (as would seem) put their prayers up in Christ's name, 'Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name' (John 16:24). Neither had they so frequently exercised faith on Christ in all things as they had upon God. Therefore John 14:1 he calls upon them, 'You believe in God, believe also in me.'

2. Many sorts of principles believers' hearts may secretly have been taught, which also habitually they practice, and yet they may be exceedingly hidden and latent in them in respect of their own discerning them; as was the case also of these disciples, John 14:4: says Christ, 'The way (namely, to heaven) you know': and yet, verse 5, Thomas says, 'How can we know the way?' And then, verse 7, Christ says of them again, that they knew him and the Father; and yet verse 8, Philip again says to him, 'Lord, show us the Father,' speaking as if they were ignorant of him, for Christ rebukes him, verse 9, and tells him he had both seen him and his Father. Those principles of atheism and unbelief, (as those sayings in the heart, that there is no God, etc., of which the scriptures speak so much) they are the principles that act and work all in men that are wicked and carnal, and are the encouragers and counselors to all the sins committed by them, and yet they are least of all discerned by them, of all other corruptions, for they are seldom or never drawn forth into distinct propositions, or actually thought upon; but do lie as common principles taken for granted, and so do guide men in their ways. And thus it is and may be long with some of the contrary principles of faith, they may act all secretly in the heart, and yet not be discerned; until called forth by the ministry of the word, or some distinct information, when it comes more distinctly to clear such a practice to them.

Neither 3. is union with Christ presently cleared up to all believers; which while it is darkly and doubtfully apprehended by them, Christ's communication of his grace and strength to them in every action, remains doubtful also, and is not discerned by them. Of these disciples Christ says, John 14:20, that in that day (namely, when they received the Comforter more fully, of the promise of whom he there speaks) they should know that they were in him, and he in them. But not so clearly was this as yet apprehended by them; and so likewise that intercourse between Christ and them, both for grace and comfort, etc., was not so clearly discerned by them, though continually maintained by him in dispensing all grace and power to them.

And yet 4. in the meantime take the lowest and poorest believer, and he does these five things, which put together, is really and interpretively a bringing forth their fruit in Christ, though not in their apprehensions.

1. In that their hearts are trained up in a continual sensibleness of their own insufficiency and inability for any good thought or word, as of themselves; for poverty of spirit, to see their own nothingness, in this respect is the first evangelical grace (Matthew 5:1). And if the contrary would arise in them, to think through habitual grace alone received, they were able of themselves to do good, it is checked soon, and confuted by their own experience, both of their own weakness, being sure to be left to themselves, (as Peter was) when confident in his own strength; as also by those various blowings of the Spirit in them as he pleases; with which when their sails are filled, they are able to do anything, but when withdrawn, they lay wind-bound, (though all habits of grace be hoisted up and ready) and not able to move of themselves. Now this principle of self-emptiness habitually to live by it, no carnal heart in the world has it, or does live by it.

And 2. for this assistance, they are trained likewise up (from the first) to have a continual dependence, from a power from above, (without which they find they are able to do nothing) to come from God, and from the Spirit of Christ; with a renunciation of themselves, which implicitly is the same with this immediate intercourse with Christ, and is really equivalent to it, though they hit not at first perhaps on the right explicit notion thereof (as having not been taught it by the ministry of the word, or other ways) in that distinct manner that others do. And yet in honoring the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, they honor Christ, who sends that Spirit into their hearts, even as in honoring the Son, Christ says, that we honor the Father also: although our thoughts may sometimes more distinctly be exercised towards one of the three persons more than to another.

And thirdly, when they are once taught from the word, that it is the duty of a Christian, and part of the life of faith, to live thus in Christ, and to bring forth all in him and so come distinctly to apprehend this, as requisite to a right bringing forth of fruit, then their hearts instantly do use to close with the truth of it, as being most suitable and agreeable to that holy frame of their own spirits, which are evangelically worked to glorify Christ all manner of ways that shall be revealed; there is an instinct, a preparedness in their faith to make Christ their all in all, as any particular comes to be revealed to them, in which they ought to exalt him in their hearts; and so this being once revealed to be one way whereby they are to honor him, if they have gone on before in a confidence on their own graces, henceforth they do so no more, indeed they humble themselves as much for so robbing Christ of glory, or neglecting of him, in not having had that distinct recourse to him, as for any other sin.

And 4. though perhaps after all this, yet still their union with him is not cleared to them, and so their communion with him therein (as must needs) does still remain dark also, they therefore neither discern that they have any true communion with his person, nor can say how strength comes from him; yet having been thus taught to fetch all from him, as was formerly explained, they do in a continual renunciation of their own strength, deny all offers of assistance from any other strength, as namely that which their gifts and parts would make; (even as they deny unlawful lusts or by-ends) and they still have their eyes upon Christ, to work in them both the will and the deed, and so by a faith of resting, or casting themselves on him for strength in all, (such as they exercise towards him for justification, Galatians 2:16) they live by faith on the Son of God, and have thereby such a kind of faith, a continual recourse to him. Upon which acts of true faith being exercised by them towards him, He (as he is pleased to dispense it) moves them, and works and acts all in them; although still not so sensibly to their apprehensions, as that they should discern the connection between the cause and the effect; nor can they hang them together, that is to say, know how, or that this virtue does come from Christ, because their union with him is as yet doubtful to them; and also because the power that works in believers is secret; and like that of the heavens upon our bodies, (which is as strong as that of medicine, etc.) yet so sweet and so secretly insinuating itself with the principles of nature, that as for the conveyance of it, it is imperceptible, and hardly distinguished from the other workings of the principles of nature in us: and therefore the Apostle prays for the Ephesians, that their eyes may be enlightened to see the power that worked in them (Ephesians 1:18-19).

Yet so as 5. their souls walk all this while by these two principles firmly rooted in them; both 1. that all good that is to be done, must and does come from Christ, and him alone; and 2. that if any good be done by them, it is worked by him alone, which do set their souls breathing after nothing more than to know Christ in the power of his resurrection. And having walked thus in a self-emptiness and dependence upon Christ by way of a dark resting, when once their union with him comes to be cleared up to them, they then acknowledge as they, Isaiah 26, that he alone has worked all their works in them, that they are nothing, and have done nothing; and though before this revelation of Christ, (as Christ said to Peter, 'What I do now you know not, but you shall know,' so) they knew not then that Christ had worked all in them, yet then they know it, and when they do know and discern it, they acknowledge it with the greatest exaltation of him, they having reserved, even during all that former time of their emptiness, the glory for him alone; staying as Joab did for David, until Christ comes more sensibly into their hearts, to set the crown of all upon his head.

This I thought good to add, to clear this point, lest any poor souls should be stumbled.

This vine has branches of two kinds — fruitful and unfruitful — and that is the third thing to observe.

In this, our Savior follows the comparison accurately, for experience shows the same to be true of real vines. Writers on viticulture have observed it and accordingly distinguish vine branches into those that produce nothing but leaves and those that produce fruit.

The unfruitful branches are those who profess to be in Christ — to themselves and to others — and receive some outward life from Him, but no true fruit. Because of their profession, they are called branches; because of their emptiness, they are called unfruitful ones.

The only question is how those who prove unfruitful can be said to be branches and to be in Christ — 'Every branch in me,' etc.

There are many comparisons of Christ, each one corresponding to a different relationship He holds with His church. Some serve to express one thing about Him, some another. The image of a vine presents Him only in relation to how He spread Himself into a visible church on earth through the profession of His name. Considered in this way, He may have many branches that are unfruitful. But the image of a head over all the family in heaven and earth expresses His relation only to that invisible company — His mystical church — which together makes up that general assembly spoken of in Hebrews 12, called His fullness in Ephesians 1. In keeping with the vine comparison — which applies to Christ in this broader sense as a root to both true and false professors — the language about the Father's role also fits. He is not called a vine-dresser or vineyard tiller in the strict sense, as in Luke 13:7, but simply the husbandman, meaning at large. This indicates not only that specific care He has for true believers who are real branches of this vine (though it includes that), but also the more general providence He exercises over others. This is because some of these branches of the vine are, to God, no more than anyone else outside the church, and of no greater standing with Him. The Father's relationship to such branches runs parallel to Christ's: those to whom Christ is Head, the Father is a Father; those to whom Christ is merely a vine, the Father is merely a husbandman — whose role involves cutting off such branches just as much as pruning and caring for the others.

Christ does not count the unfruitful branches as true branches, for in verse 5 He addresses the disciples present with Him — after Judas had gone out, as John 13:30 makes clear — and calls only them the branches. He repeats it there with the added emphasis: 'I am the vine, you are the branches.' This implies that just as He is the true vine, these only are the true branches. The others He calls only 'as a branch' in verse 6 — 'He is cast forth as a branch' — giving them the title to better illustrate what the Father does with such people, just as a vine-dresser does with useless branches. But they themselves are only like branches, not truly and actually such.

The expression that most seems to support their being real branches is in verse 2, where He says, 'Every branch in me that bears not fruit.' But the phrase 'in me' can just as well — and more naturally — be understood as referring to not bearing fruit in Him, rather than to truly being a branch in Him. The meaning would then be: they are branches that do not bring forth fruit in me. Though they do some good, it is not fruit; if so, it is not fruit in me — though it may be from me and from my assistance. So His point is not so much to declare that they are branches in Him as to say they do not bring forth fruit in Him. This is indeed one of the key distinctions between true and unsound branches, and one of the main points of the parable. The Syriac translation supports this reading: 'Every branch which in me brings not forth fruit.' There is also this reason why He never counted them as true branches at all: the very difference God makes between them and the fruitful ones is that the fruitful ones He purges so they will bring forth more fruit. He does not let true branches run so far into sin as to become entirely unfruitful. But the unfruitful ones He takes away entirely — so true branches were never permanently unfruitful.

The practical use of this is to urge everyone who professes to be in Christ to examine whether they are truly genuine branches of this true vine. In this land, Christ is spread out into a visibly fair and flourishing vine. But if we ministers were able, like this husbandman, to lift the leaves of formal profession and look with His eyes, we would find only a few truly genuine branches even in the most flourishing congregations — just as Isaiah foretold there would be in Israel (Isaiah 17:5-6). Like the gleaning grapes — two or three at the top of the highest bough, four or five on the outermost fruitful branches.

As a general guide to discerning whether you are a true branch, consider this: it is union with Christ that makes a person a branch. People are counted branches of Christ because of some kind of union with Him. Whatever the nature of their union with Him, such also is their communion with Him — and accordingly such branches they are, and such is their fruit.

1. Some — and indeed most — are united to Him only by the external tie of the outward ordinances, such as the obligation made in baptism. They are attached to Him by no more than many grafts are to their stocks when they fail to take hold: merely bound there by a thread, never actually growing. Their communion with Him is entirely external — they keep partaking of the outward ordinances but receive no sap or inward influence, no inward work of the Spirit, no stirring of genuine affection. Their fruit matches accordingly. What you find on them is nothing more than what grows in the wilderness among unbelievers — the fruit of natural decency, modesty, and moral honesty produced by an awakened conscience. But there is nothing that an inward sap from Christ would normally produce. Merely civil people are not true branches. Look at Christ the root and see what fruits most abounded in Him — fruits of holiness. Therefore, if such people were true branches, the same would abound in them, for every tree produces according to its kind.

2. There are some — living within the church — into whose hearts Christ begins to send some sap of His Spirit, quickening them with good impulses and stirring up some warmth of affection through the word and sacraments. This causes them to bud out into good inner intentions and outward good beginnings. But since this is not a communication of the Spirit that sanctifies and transforms the branch into the same nature as the root, it ends up being nipped in the bud, as happened with the stony ground, and the sap is pushed back in — like early blossoms that appear in the February sun only to be killed by an April frost. Many people, while young and their affections are still fresh and tender, are worked upon and begin to bud. But the mockery of others nips them, and their own desires draw the sap a different direction — toward hopes of advancement and the pleasures of sin. So these buds wither and fall off, and the Spirit withdraws Himself entirely back into the root.

Again, 3. there are some — like the thorny ground — in whom this inward sap is communicated not in a spiritually renewing way, but in a greater measure than in the previous group. It remains longer, spreads further, and these become very green branches. They are recognized as true by the people of God themselves, just as Judas was by the apostles. This is why they appear outwardly like genuine believers — for how else could they be said to be cast out in verse 16, having had some fruit that commended them to God's people and gained them acceptance? God's people judge trees by their fruit. Nor is their fruit merely outward — like ornamental golden apples in silver frames, purely for show. They have a sap that puts genuine life into what they do, through which they actually bear fruit. Otherwise, how could they be said to wither in verse 6, which describes a decay of inward moisture and outward vitality? These also have some kind of union with Christ as with a Lord (2 Peter 2:1), since He ascended to bestow gifts even on the rebellious (Psalm 68:18), enabling them to render Him some service in His vineyard. But they are not united to Christ as to a Head. Nor is the spirit they receive from Him the spirit of adoption. Judas was such a branch — recognized by the disciples who did not know he was false, and who surely had at first some inward sap of gifts from Christ to fit him for the ministry, having been sent out as an apostle to preach. Christ had him especially in view in this passage.

For a more specific comparison of these branches and their fruits — it is not my purpose here to develop a comprehensive treatment of all the differences between temporary believers and true believers. This root is not large enough to bear all of those distinctions, which are many. I will only explain the differences the text itself affords, because they are directly in our path and will further open the words.

1. What the unfruitful bring forth is not true fruit — the Holy Spirit does not give it that name. They are said here not to bring forth fruit. Hosea 10:1 throws clear light on this and gives the reason: Israel is there called an empty vine that brings forth fruit to herself. There is an apparent contradiction in calling it an empty vine while also saying it brings forth fruit. And these unfruitful branches do not produce merely leaves or good words — they produce good works and good actions, and those with life in them. This is why Jude 12 says their fruit withers, just as they themselves are said to wither in verse 6. In the same way that Israel is called an empty vine despite having fruit, these branches are said to bring forth no fruit at all. The meaning in both cases is the same: a thing is called empty when it lacks what is proper to it and ought to be in it — just as wells are called empty when they are not full of water, even though they may be full of air. So they are called an empty vine, and these branches are said to have no fruit, because what they produce is not the kind that should grow on them — not the kind that is proper to the root they seem to be connected to. This is why Hebrews 6:7 adds the phrase 'fitting herbs,' or fitting fruit — meaning such as should grow there. So Luke 3:8 calls for fruit 'worthy' of repentance, or they would be cut down — meaning fruit suitable to true penitents, answerable to what genuine repentance requires. As we say a man carries himself worthy of his office when he lives up to what is required of him. The passage in Hosea further explains the real reason why their fruits — though outwardly alive, even called goodness in Hosea 6:4 — are not counted as fitting fruit, and therefore not as fruit at all. It is this: all their fruit, whether good or bad, is brought forth to themselves. That is, the purposes that draw up the sap and push it out into fruit are entirely self-directed — they do not bring forth fruit principally to God and for Him. All their prayers, all their affections in holy duties, if examined — all the motives that drive everything they do — will be found to come from themselves. Though the assistance they receive to do what they do is more than their own, their ends go no higher than themselves, and so they employ whatever God gives them entirely for themselves. The end for which a true branch bears fruit is that God might be glorified. Romans 7:8 says that when we are married to Christ we bring forth fruit to God — which stands in contrast to bringing forth fruit for oneself. Christ presses this same point as the great motive to fruitfulness in verse 8: 'Hereby is My Father glorified, that you bring forth much fruit.' Now, whom will this move? Into whose affections will such an argument draw up sap and quicken them? Only those whose hearts make God's glory their ultimate end — and so all true branches do. Otherwise Christ would have offered this motive to them in vain. And as this end makes their works true fruit, so where this end is missing, nothing brought forth deserves the name of fruit. It is not worthy fruit, as the Baptist says — not fitting fruit for the husbandman to receive, as Hebrews indicates — not such as ought to grow on that tree. They should be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3). Moreover, it is not fruit fitting for the root it appears to grow upon — that is, it is not like what Christ Himself brought forth, since He did all things that His Father might be glorified. This is why He says in exhorting them to fruitfulness in verse 8: 'If you do likewise, you will be My disciples.' And further: it is not fitting fruit for the husbandman's taste, since it is only right that 'he that plants a vineyard should eat of the fruit of it' (1 Corinthians 9:7). In fruit, above all things, we value the taste and prize the flavor. Eve first considered that the fruit was good for food, and then that it was pleasant to the eye (Genesis 3). It is not just the sap inside fruit that makes it acceptable — crab apples are as full of sap as good apples. It is not the greenness, the color, or the size, but the flavor that is the chief excellence, though those other qualities, when joined with a good flavor, make it more desirable. So even if your performances are full of life and feeling, and frequent and lengthy, yet if they taste of nothing but self-serving ends, God does not value them. It is the end that gives the flavor, making them true fruit and acceptable to God.

The second difference this text presents is that the unfruitful do not bring forth their fruit in Christ. The Syriac translation reads it this way, making the sense: they bring not forth fruit in Me. So the phrase 'in me' refers not so much to their being branches in Him as to their not bearing fruit in Him. This appears to have been Christ's meaning, since His scope in this parable is to show that He is the root of sanctification — that not only the habitual capacity for grace, but every act of grace and every performance of it, comes from Him: 'Without Me you can do nothing,' verse 5. He therefore urges His disciples to draw all from Him and to abide in Him. When He speaks of the unfruitful branches in verse 6, what He here calls not bearing fruit in Me He expresses there as not abiding in Me — treating that as the cause of their not bringing forth fruit in Him. Indeed, the primary meaning of the phrase 'Abide in Me,' as is evident from verses 4 and 5, is to depend upon Him for the bringing forth of fruit and to draw strength from Him by faith. There is therefore this essential defect in the work of such people: they do not do everything in that dependence upon Christ — the kind of dependence a branch has on the root in bearing its fruit. For, my brethren, you must understand this: just as it is essential to true sanctification to do all for another as your end — namely, for God — so it is equally essential to do all in the strength of another as your sole helper, namely Christ, who works all in you. Through His strength, Paul says, I am able to do all things — and nothing without it. The life we live is by faith, and it is not I, but Christ who lives in me. Therefore we find both these joined in Philippians 1:11: 'The fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.' The latter — to the glory of God — is the final cause; the former — by Jesus Christ — is the efficient cause. Both are necessary to true sanctification. For just as we honor the husbandman by making Him our end, so we honor the root by doing all in Him and from Him. Temporary believers do all primarily for themselves and all as though it were from themselves. Just as they do not make God their end, so they do not make Christ their root. Some explain the phrase in the parable of the stony ground (Luke 8:13), when it is said they have no root — though I think it also means a lack of the habits of grace infused within, since it adds 'no root in themselves,' and Job calls the root of the matter that was in him — as meaning they do not draw their strength to do what they do from Christ by faith and from their union with Him. The reason is this: they are never emptied of themselves — which is the root we all grow upon by nature — whether in terms of their own ends or their own sense of ability. We must all be brought to nothing in ourselves, both in regard to self-serving aims and in regard to confidence in our own ability to work. Until our hearts are inwardly taught the lesson that we are not sufficient in ourselves, we will not go outside ourselves to do all in Christ. Nothing Christ pressed more earnestly on His disciples' hearts than this principle at His departure, as verses 4 and 5 show. And it is as hard for our nature to live outside itself and draw everything from another, as it is to not live for itself but for another. We are full of our own strength just as we are full of our own ends. Though these unfruitful branches do in fact receive all their strength from Christ — so that everything they do that is good is from Him — they do not honor Christ in receiving it by doing all as in His strength. They do not do it as though they were in Him. They receive everything, yet they work with it as if it were their own stock, and so they boast, as the Apostle says, as if they had not received it. And so though the sap and vitality that stirs them is truly and fully from Christ in an efficient sense, they may still be said to bring forth fruit in themselves. They neither draw it nor receive it by faith, nor do they act in faith upon the strength they have received, as those who are moved by Christ and work all in Christ. Instead they act as if everything flows from their own root. It is like the ivy: though it wraps around the oak and receives much sap from it, which it draws into itself, it produces all its berries by virtue of its own root rather than as in the oak that sustains and supplies it. But a true believer brings forth fruit in Christ as a branch that is in and of the oak itself as its own root. From Him all their fruit is found (Hosea 14:8). They draw their assistance from Him. By contrast, the inward activity of an unsound branch is strengthened and supported by pride and self-confidence in one's own gifts and abilities, not derived by faith and maintained by trust in Christ's strength to act in them. As was said of the Corinthians that they reigned without us, says Paul, so I may say: temporary believers perform duties and pray, but as though without Christ. But all true believers are first emptied of their own strength and ability, and so they walk as those who can do nothing without Christ, as those unable to love or believe for one more moment without Him. Philippians 4:13: 'I am able to do all things, but through Christ who strengthens me.' This they lay down as a principle they live by in their hearts. This is what Christ presses on His disciples here as the main requirement and foundational principle of true sanctification: 'Without Me you can do nothing.' Therefore such a person is sensitive to that accursed self-sufficiency within him. He humbles himself for it and rebukes himself for it as though it were as serious a sin as any other. He humbles himself not only for the lack of life and energy that fell short in the duty performed, but also for having failed to honor Christ in the strength he received to do it with. But another person does not do this. If he finds strength, energy, and vigor to perform and quickness in the performance, he asks nothing further. That poor man in the Gospel, recognizing his lack of faith and seeing that much unbelief remained in him, went to Christ for help: 'Lord, help my unbelief' — for he knew that Christ was to be the one who worked every degree of faith in him. A true believer, being thus aware of his own inability, also attributes everything to Christ when he has done something well. He honors Christ as the author of it within himself. He confesses in his heart, between Christ and himself, that it was not he but Christ who strengthened him: 'It is not I,' says the Apostle, 'but the grace of God in me — though I have labored more than they all.' But another person, though he receives everything, not being emptied of himself, boasts as though he had not received it. Like the Pharisee, who thanked God in words but in his heart attributed everything to himself. Such a person feels more full and elevated after he has done something, but the true branch feels more empty and humble. A true believer does not glory of himself as being in himself, but only as a man in Christ. He glories in what, as a man in Christ, he did — as Paul did, and no otherwise. So 2 Corinthians 12:2: 'I knew a man in Christ,' etc., 'of such a man I will glory, but of myself I will not glory.' And yet it was himself he was speaking of — but not as himself in himself, only as he was in Christ.

But if it is asked whether a Christian does this in every single act —

I answer: this is parallel to that other matter of making God one's end. Just as a man does not have to consciously think of his final destination at every single step of a journey — while still habitually keeping it in mind and staying on the road toward it — so it is with doing all in Christ. It cannot be expected that in every act a person has such a distinct conscious turning to Christ. But at the beginning and start of more significant actions, he does exercise faith in this way. He also renews it often in the course of an action, and when he has finished, he honors Christ in his heart by giving Him the credit for all of it.

If the question is secondly whether every true believer, from his first conversion, consciously and knowingly draws all his power from Christ in this distinct way, doing everything in Him —

The answer is: 1. It may be that for all believers this principle of turning to Christ to enable their sanctification is not immediately as clearly understood as it has been for some. What is common and absolutely necessary to all believers as such is that their faith should look to Christ and take Him for salvation in the broad and general sense — embracing everything under that heading that must be done to save them. Many who are less instructed do this, even when they have not yet explicitly learned to turn to Him in each particular aspect of their salvation. It is quite likely that these very disciples — who were genuinely believers — did not have this particular principle of bringing forth all their fruit of holiness in Christ as their root so clearly revealed to them until this very sermon. They were ignorant of and inattentive to having recourse to Christ in many other particulars of equal importance. They had not yet distinctly and explicitly prayed in Christ's name, as it appears: 'Until now you have asked nothing in My name' (John 16:24). Nor had they exercised faith on Christ in all things as they had on God. That is why in John 14:1 He calls on them: 'You believe in God, believe also in Me.'

2. Many principles may be at work in a believer's heart that they habitually practice, yet those principles may be very much hidden from their own awareness — as was also the case with these disciples. In John 14:4, Christ says, 'The way to heaven you know,' yet in verse 5 Thomas says, 'How can we know the way?' And in verse 7, Christ says again that they knew both Him and the Father, yet in verse 8 Philip says, 'Lord, show us the Father' — speaking as though ignorant of Him. Christ rebukes him in verse 9 and tells him he had seen both Him and His Father. Those principles of atheism and unbelief that the Scriptures speak of so much — such as the silent conviction in the heart that there is no God — are the principles that drive and energize all the actions of wicked and worldly people. They are the encouragers and advisors behind every sin those people commit, and yet they are the least discerned of all corruptions in those people. They are rarely or never drawn out into clear, conscious thoughts or deliberate reflections. Instead they lie as assumed background beliefs, guiding people in their ways without their notice. So it can be with some of the opposing principles of faith — they may work quietly in the heart for a long time without being clearly discerned, until they are brought to the surface by the ministry of the word or some distinct instruction that makes that practice more clearly evident.

3. Union with Christ is not immediately made clear to all believers. While it remains dim and uncertain in their understanding, their communion with Him in this regard — their drawing of strength from Him in every act — likewise remains unclear and unperceived by them. Of these disciples Christ says in John 14:20 that in that day — when they received the Comforter more fully, of whose promise He had been speaking — they would know that they were in Him and He in them. But this had not yet been clearly grasped by them. Similarly, that ongoing exchange between Christ and them — both for grace and for comfort — was not yet clearly discerned by them, though He continually maintained it by dispensing all grace and power to them.

And yet, 4. in the meantime, take even the lowest and most struggling believer, and he does these five things — which taken together are truly and effectively a bringing forth of fruit in Christ, even if he does not perceive it as such.

1. Their hearts are trained in a continual awareness of their own inadequacy and inability for any good thought or word in themselves. Poverty of spirit — seeing one's own nothingness in this respect — is the first evangelical grace (Matthew 5:1). If the opposing thought were to arise — that through the habits of grace already received they were able in themselves to do good — it would be quickly checked and disproved by their own experience. They know that whenever they were confident in their own strength, as Peter was, they were left to themselves and failed. They also experience the various stirrings of the Spirit moving in them as He pleases. When their sails are filled with His wind, they can do anything; but when He withdraws, they are wind-bound — all the habits of grace hoisted and ready, yet unable to move under their own power. This principle of self-emptiness — of habitually living by it — no worldly heart has or lives by.

And 2. for this assistance, they are likewise trained from the beginning to maintain a continual dependence on a power from above — without which they find they can do nothing. This power comes from God and from the Spirit of Christ. They renounce their own strength entirely, which is implicitly the same as this direct intercourse with Christ and is really equivalent to it — even if they have not yet come to express it in exactly those terms, perhaps not having been taught it through the ministry of the word or by other means in that distinct way that some have. Yet in honoring the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, they honor Christ, who sends that Spirit into their hearts. Just as in honoring the Son, Christ says we also honor the Father, even though our thoughts may sometimes be directed more distinctly toward one of the three persons than toward another.

And third, when they are once taught from the word that it is the duty of a Christian — and part of the life of faith — to live in Christ this way, bringing forth everything in Him, they come to recognize it clearly as essential to true fruitfulness. At that point their hearts instantly close with the truth of it, finding it perfectly consistent with the holy disposition of their own spirits, which are evangelically shaped to glorify Christ in every way that is revealed to them. There is an instinct, a readiness in their faith to make Christ their all in all in every particular respect as it is made known to them. So once this is revealed as one way to honor Christ, if they have previously gone on in confidence in their own graces, they do so no longer. They humble themselves as much for having robbed Christ of glory — or for having neglected Him by not explicitly turning to Him — as for any other sin.

And 4. though even after all this their union with Christ may still not be clear to them — so that their communion with Him in this respect remains dark as well — and they can neither discern that they have any real communion with His person nor explain how strength comes from Him, yet having been taught to draw all from Him as explained above, they maintain a continual renunciation of their own strength. They refuse every offer of assistance from any other source — including the kind their own gifts and abilities would provide — just as they refuse sinful desires or selfish ends. Their eyes remain fixed on Christ to work in them both the will and the deed. So by a faith of resting, or casting themselves on Him for strength in all things — just as they exercise faith toward Him for justification (Galatians 2:16) — they live by faith on the Son of God and maintain a continual recourse to Him in this way. Upon these acts of true faith being exercised toward Him, He — as it pleases Him to dispense grace — moves them, works in them, and acts all in them. Yet this is still not sensible enough to their awareness that they can clearly see the connection between cause and effect. They cannot trace it — cannot know that this strength comes from Christ — because their union with Him is still uncertain to them. Also because the power that works in believers is secret, like the influence of the heavens upon our bodies. That influence is as strong as medicine, yet so gently and secretly blends with the natural principles within us that its conveyance is imperceptible and hardly distinguishable from the ordinary workings of nature. This is why the Apostle prays for the Ephesians that their eyes may be opened to see the power that worked in them (Ephesians 1:18-19).

Yet even so, 5. their souls walk all this while by these two principles firmly rooted in them: first, that all good that is to be done must and does come from Christ, and from Him alone; and second, that if any good is done by them, it is worked by Him alone. These two convictions set their souls longing for nothing more than to know Christ in the power of His resurrection. And having walked in this self-emptiness and dependence on Christ — in a kind of dark resting on Him — when their union with Him is at last made clear to them, they then acknowledge, as those in Isaiah 26, that He alone has worked all their works in them, that they are nothing and have done nothing. Before this clearer revelation of Christ — as Christ said to Peter, 'What I do now you do not know, but you shall know hereafter' — they did not know that Christ had been working all in them. But when they do come to know and discern it, they acknowledge it with the greatest exaltation of Him. They had reserved the glory for Him alone all along throughout that earlier period of emptiness — waiting, as Joab waited for David, until Christ comes more fully and sensibly into their hearts to place the crown of all upon His head.

I thought it worthwhile to add this, to make the point clear, lest any struggling souls be troubled by it.