6. Abide not in me The assumption is that his union with Christ is not merely apparent, but real. For surely Christ would not require in any part of this passage a false and hypocritical abiding in or adherence to him. Such a requirement would be an injunction to hypocrisy; and an apostacy therefrom would be an apostacy not from holiness, but an apostacy from hypocrisy, that is, from the worst of sin, which would be no apostacy at all. The Calvinistic comment, therefore, which implies that this disunion is but a seeming one is preposterous.

He is cast forth as a branch Separated from Christ; no longer justified through his blood.

Withered The last spark of spiritual life extinct; the last susceptibility to renewal destroyed. The apostacy is, therefore, total.

Men gather them We have now the apostates as a class, them, collected like withered branches into the bundle. It cannot, therefore, plausibly be said that no apostates have ever existed. Their collective existence is here described as an actual reality, and their destiny depicted under the most terrible imagery. For they are next cast into the fire, and, finally, there burned. Surely, from such apostacy there is no recovery. This description of the dark side of possible destiny is brief and terrible. It stands opposed to the fuller picture, drawn for the encouragement of the apostles, of their possible advancement in Christian grace and happiness.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“If a man does not remain dwelling in me he is thrown out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and toss them into the fire, and they are burned up.”

The branch whose connection with the Vine is not fully functional, which is not abiding in Him, will soon reveal its fruitlessness by the way it lives, and the result will be that it will be thrown out, tossed on to the fire and be burned up (compare Mat 13:41-42 where this is said to be the work of the angels at the end time). So its end is worse than its beginning. There was one among the disciples of whom, alas, that would soon be true. Judas would not remain in the vine and he would be cut off. The branches of a vine are of such a nature that they are useless for anything but fruitbearing (see Eze 15:3-5). They have no other use, they are worthless. All who are not His are spiritually worthless.

There could be no more vivid description of the Christian life. It cannot be too strongly stressed that it is not the church which is the vine, but Christ. Indeed parts of ‘the church’ are too often like the vine that God condemned, dead and fruitless. The Vine is Christ. And if we are His then it is to Him that we must be attached, and from Whom we must be receiving life. If our church is being faithful it will be stressing to us our need for a personal response to Christ and seeking to enable us to maintain our full connection with the Vine. If it is not pointing us towards such a responsive faith in Him then it is failing in its responsibility, and betraying us.

As Jesus is telling us here, we must have Him dwelling within us, and we must remain dwelling in Him by trust, obedience and prayer. The test of whether we are Christians is not whether we have joined the church, but whether we have received Christ in personal faith; whether He has entered our lives and made us His own;, whether we are continuing in Him. Baptism may connect us to the church, but it will not necessarily connect us to Christ. It is only the work of the Spirit that ‘baptises, inundates’ us into the true body of Christ by our being united with Him (1Co 12:13). That comes from responsive faith alone, and is finally revealed by godly, compassionate, and considerate living. The secret of the Christian life is in letting Christ live through us. “It is no longer I who live”, says Paul, “It is Christ Who lives through me” (Gal 2:20).

As we shall see later we are exhorted to love one another and to demonstrate that love to the world. And that does include the ‘gathering of ourselves together’ (Heb 10:25) to worship and pray together as ‘a church’ composed of living members. The church, however, must direct us towards Christ, not make us look to itself. We gather together because we are ‘in Christ’, we are not ‘in Christ’ because we gather together.

It should be noted that as with all pictures different people interpret the details differently. But doctrine must never be established on the basis of the interpretation of these pictures. A picture illuminates a truth but can never give the full picture and becomes dangerous if overpressed. The truth is that there can never be such a thing as a permanently fruitless genuine Christian as the New Testament makes clear. ‘By their fruits you will know them’ (Luk 6:43-49; Mat 7:16-20; Luk 3:8-9; Jas 2:18). If they were fruitless it would mean that God had failed in His purpose towards them to work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). It is strange how some of those who strongly affirm the sovereignty of God in salvation can then affirm a different doctrine with regard to the fruitfulness which is a part of that salvation. Carnal Christians there may be, but not totally fruitless Christians, for, if they are truly His, God will have done a work in them which must reveal itself, even if only gradually.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The earnest application:

v. 6. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

v. 7. If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

v. 8. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.

v. 9. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; continue ye in My love.

v. 10. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.

Ten times in these ten verses is the necessity of abiding in Christ emphasized, the need of keeping a firm hold on the Savior by love. So much depends upon that fact that every believer, having once been implanted into the true Vine, maintain his close connection. For if anyone does not remain in Christ, the consequences are disastrous. He is thrown out as a useless branch, for he is withered. There can be no dead wood lying about in the vineyard of God’s Church; so all the dead branches are heaped on a pile and thrown into the fire, and it burns. According to the common usage in such cases, there is inevitable and complete destruction for the dead branches. Every person that does not remain in Christ, after once having gained the saving knowledge, thereby becomes a dead member. He cuts off his own supply of spiritual life and power. And as for real fruit, actual good works, he no longer is able to perform them. There may be some Christian show and semblance, but the reality of Christian virtue is lost. “So long as the branch remains rooted in the stem or stock and its sap and power remains in him, his fruits must be and remain good, though they may in some way be stung by a worm or be attacked by caterpillars or some other vermin. Thus also, if a man abides in Christ and receives and keeps energy and power from Him by faith, that Jesus works in him with His power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, then the remaining weakness, which is incited by the devil and this sinful nature, will do no harm, only that he oppose such weakness with the continual battle of faith and sweep out such vermin. But if thou wouldst give up the doctrine of faith or subvert it and, leaving Christ, depend upon thine own sanctity, or publicly live in sin and shame, and yet glory in the Gospel and in the Christian name: then thou shalt know that thou art a false branch and hast no part in the Vine, but, cast out and condemned with wood and fruits, belongest to eternal hell-fire. ” But to those that abide in Jesus, or, what is identical with that condition, to those that abide in the Word of the Lord, a further beneficial effect and result of that blessed intimacy is the hearing of prayer by Jesus and the Father. By means of His teaching, of His Gospel, Jesus abides in His disciples, and by the power of that same Word they are enabled to bear fruit which is acceptable to Him. But this same relationship also teaches them to pray in the proper manner. For the words: You may pray what you will, are not to be taken in an absolute sense, in the sense of arbitrary choice. The relation of the believers to Christ precludes such an understanding. The prayer of Christians will always be made in the way of love and of God’s Word, in accordance with the new life which governs their every thought and action. Such prayers are the expression of the intimacy between Christ and His disciples, and are heard as a matter of natural consequence. For by this granting of prayer, flowing out of the intimate relationship between Christ and the believers, the Father is glorified. And the result is a strengthening of the bonds of love, an increase in the amount and in the quality of the good works, and a confirming of discipleship. The obedience of Christians is not a galling servitude, but a cheerful, joyful expression of their love. The same measure of love that the Father has toward the Son the latter has toward His own, and so the union and intimacy is a most perfect one, and should be kept by all means. Every person that abides in the love which Christ has for him and for the whole world is safe by reason of that love. But this abiding is done and accomplished by keeping and observing the commandments of Jesus; this rings the full possession and enjoyment of Christ’s love. Just as Christ kept the will of His Father and carried it into execution, so the Christians will naturally find their delight in observing all the commandments, all the sayings of their Master, above all that one concerning the clinging to the Word of the Gospel as the one Word of salvation. This abiding in Christ, in the Word of the Gospel, faithfulness in confessing; is the result and working of God’s grace. He that began the good work in us by planting us into the true Vine, Jesus Christ, will also perform it until the great day of glory.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Joh 15:6. If a man abide not in me, “To shew you further the necessity of abiding steadfastlyin this union and communion with me, and, ofcourse, in the experience of the power of my religion, producing the fruits of holiness internal and external, I would propose to your consideration the dreadful effects and punishment of apostacy. By apostacy you separate yourselves from me, and deprive yourselves of the advantages which flow from the influences of my Spirit, the direction of my word, the protection of my Providence, the pardon of your sins, and the enjoyment of heaven. Nor is this all: you shall be punished as apostates; for you shall be cast out of the presence of God, and gathered into hell, where you shall be burned as withered branches, as persons fit only for the flames.” The loppings of the vines, in those countries where they are cultivated, are carefully gathered, and make a considerable part of their fuel. See Eze 15:2; Eze 15:4.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 15:6 . , Euth. Zigabenus; and how terrible in its tragic simplicity!

] nisi quis manserit . See Baeumlein, Partik . p. 289. Comp. Joh 3:3 ; Joh 3:5 .

, . . .] The representation is highly vivid and pictorial. Jesus places Himself at the point of time of the execution of the last judgment , when those who have fallen away from Him are gathered together and cast into the fire, after they have been previously already cast out of His communion, and become withered (having completely lost the higher true ). Hence the graphic lively change of tense: In case any one shall not have abided on me; he has been cast out like the branch, and is withered (already before the judgment), and (now what takes place at the last day itself ) they gather them together , etc. The aorists therefore neither denote what is wont to be (Grotius), nor do they stand for futures (Kuinoel, B. Crusius, and older expositors), nor are they to be explained “par la rptition de l’acte aussi longtemps que dure l’opration de la taille” (Godet); nor are they designed, as in Mat 18:15 , to express that which is at once done or appointed to be done with the non-abiding (so most expositors, including Lcke, Winer, Tholuck, De Wette, Luthardt, Weiss, Hengstenberg; comp. Hermann, de emend. Grammat . p. 192 f.; Buttmann, N. T. Gram . p. 172 [E. T. p. 199]). To the latter interpretation is opposed the circumstance that, in point of fact, the being cast out and being withered cannot be appointed or effected immediately at and with the falling away, but that conversion and re-adoption must remain open (comp. , Rom 11:15 ), if , . . . is not to have in view the time of the judgment at the last day. The , . . . appears as a definite result and as a completed act of the past , [162] and that, as the further pictorial description, . , . . ., shows, from the standpoint of the last day (comp. also Heb 6:8 ; Heb 10:27 ), and further in such a way that it is accomplished between the beginning of the falling away and the last day on which the gathering together and burning is now performed. [163]

] as the branch , which has not remained on the vine, but has been broken off or cut off, and cast out of the vineyard. But the vineyard represents the fellowship of the Messianic people of God, out of which he who has fallen away from Christ has been thrust. Hence refers to the vineyard , so far as this is the community . Outside it, the of the man who has fallen away, which he had derived from Christ, has completely perished and is dead. This is expressed by , by which the man is identified with the withered branch, which is his image. Euth. Zigabenus well remarks: .

. , . . . ] Jesus now represents as present what is done with these cast-out and withered branches at the last day. The polysyndeton (comp. Joh 10:3 ; Joh 10:12 ; Mat 7:27 , et al. ) and the simply solemn expression has much in it that seizes the imagination. The subject of . and . is understood of itself; in the figure it is the servants of the , as to the thing, the (Nonnus), the angels , are intended (Mat 13:41 ).

(see critical notes): into the fire , already burning for this purpose, by which, in the interpretation of the figure, Gehenna is intended (Mat 13:42 ; Mat 25:41 ; Mat 3:10 ; Mat 7:19 ; Mat 5:22 , et al. ), not also the fire of the divine anger generally (Hengstenberg).

] and they burn! The simple form ( , Euth. Zigabenus) as in Mat 13:40 . “Magna vi positum eximia cum majestate,” Bengel.

[162] Hence the aorist, instead of which the perfect was not required, as Luthardt objects. The of Joh 3:18 is conceived of differently.

[163] The reading (see critical notes) would not essentially alter the sense; it expresses: nisi quis manet , i.e. until the judgment.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Ver. 6. Cast them into the fire, and they are burned ] So they must needs be, may some say; but his meaning is, that temporaries, of all others, make the fiercest, hottest fire, because they are trees most seared and fuel fully dry. Nahum tells us that such are but as stubble laid out in the sun to dry, that it may burn the better, Joh 1:10 ; or like grapes, let to hang in the sunshine till they be ripe, for the winepress of God’s wrath, Rev 19:15 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

6. ] This verse is a most important testimony against supra-lapsarian error, shewing us that falling from grace is possible , and pointing out the steps of the fall. Observe this is not said of the unfruitful branch , which the Father takes away (in judgment): but of one who will not abide in Christ, becomes separate from Him: (1) is cast out (of the vineyard, or of the Vine) like a ( , scil. , Euth.) branch in such a case: (2) becomes dried up , having lost the supply of life-giving sap (“quenched the Spirit,” 1Th 5:19 ): (3) is gathered up with other such ( Mat 13:40 ) by the angels at the great day: (4) is cast into the fire, as the result of that judgment; and finally (5) ‘ burneth; ’ not ‘is burned,’ in any sense of being consumed; und muss brennen , Luther.

The aorists I take with Meyer as a consequence of the whole being spoken by our Lord as if the great day were come: hence also the presents, and .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 15:6 . , “if any one shall not have abided in me”. , the gnomic aorist, cf. 1Pe 1:24 ; and see Burton, M. and T. , 43, and Grotius: “Hi aoristi sine designatione temporis significant quid fieri soleat, pro quo et praesens saepe usurpatur”. The whole process undergone by the fruitless branch is described in these six verbs, Joh 15:2 , , , , , , and each detail is thus given for the sake of emphasising the inevitableness and the completeness of the destruction. , “is cast out,” i.e. , from the vineyard, as the next words show; here this means hopeless rejection. The result is , the natural capacity for fruit-bearing is destroyed. The figure derived from the treatment of the fruitless branch is continued in , cf. Mat 13:49-50 ; and Mat 13:41-42 . On , Euthymius remarks “but are not consumed”. And in Exo 3:2 , the bush , but “burns, but was not consumed”. But this only shows that without the miraculous interposition it would have been consumed.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

If a man . . . not. Greek. ean me tis. App-118and App-123. See “except” in Joh 15:4. It is no longer “you “or “ye” but “any one”, speaking generally.

is cast forth . . . is withered. (Both verbs are in the Aorist) = was cast forth, &c., perhaps referring to the fig-tree (Mat 21:19, and App-156). Compare Mat 13:6.

a = the.

men = they. Compare Mat 13:30, Mat 13:39, Mat 13:41.

into. Greek. eis. App-104.

the fire. No art. in received text, but added by T Tr. A WI R, making it emphatic. See Mat 13:40, Mat 13:42. Rev 20:15.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

6.] This verse is a most important testimony against supra-lapsarian error, shewing us that falling from grace is possible, and pointing out the steps of the fall. Observe this is not said of the unfruitful branch, which the Father takes away (in judgment): but of one who will not abide in Christ, becomes separate from Him: (1) is cast out (of the vineyard, or of the Vine) like a ( , scil. , Euth.) branch in such a case: (2) becomes dried up, having lost the supply of life-giving sap (quenched the Spirit, 1Th 5:19): (3) is gathered up with other such (Mat 13:40) by the angels at the great day: (4) is cast into the fire, as the result of that judgment; and finally (5) burneth; not is burned, in any sense of being consumed; und muss brennen, Luther.

The aorists I take with Meyer as a consequence of the whole being spoken by our Lord as if the great day were come: hence also the presents, and .

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 15:6. , in Me) as in the vine.-) By that very fact he is (he renders himself) deserving of being cast out: and accordingly he shall surely be cast out. The first Aorist. The expression , if a man shall not abide in Me, is in the Future: and so in the Apodosis the , [He is at once cast out] denotes that which forthwith ensues. A similar Aorist, , If he shall hear thee, thou hast (by the very fact) gained thy brother, occurs in Mat 18:15.-, out) from the vineyard.-, he is withered) as a branch cast into the highway. See Mat 13:12.-, gather together) Mat 13:40-41.-, them) viz. all the rejected (worthless) branches.-, they are burned) The simple verb is here employed with great force and striking majesty.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 15:6

Joh 15:6

If a man abide not in me,-This expression-a man”-is a statement of a general truth. It applies to any and all men. A person must be in Christ before he can be or abide in him. [A Christian neglecting the means of grace.]

he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;-If he abides not in him he loses his life, withers, and dies, is unworthy of Christ, or of any good and is fit only for destruction. [This is true whether what is called church action is taken or not. We can see such branches all around us. But well may we tremble as we read the next words. They are words of doom, but they cannot be set aside.]

and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.-This indicates the manner of their destruction. [The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them in the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. (Mat 13:41-42).]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

he: Job 15:30, Psa 80:15, Isa 14:19, Isa 27:10, Eze 15:3-7, Eze 17:9, Eze 19:12-14, Mat 3:10, Mat 7:19, Mat 13:41, Mat 27:5, Heb 6:7, Heb 6:8, Heb 10:27, 2Pe 2:20, 1Jo 2:19, Jud 1:12, Jud 1:13, Rev 20:15, Rev 21:8

Reciprocal: Jdg 19:18 – receiveth 2Sa 23:7 – and they shall Job 15:32 – and his branch Job 24:13 – nor abide Psa 1:3 – shall not Psa 80:16 – burned Pro 3:21 – let Isa 27:11 – the boughs Jer 11:16 – with Eze 15:4 – it is cast Eze 17:10 – shall it Mat 13:30 – burn Mat 13:47 – and gathered Mat 15:13 – Every Mat 21:19 – and found Mat 25:30 – cast Mar 11:14 – No Mar 11:20 – General Luk 3:9 – General Luk 8:13 – which Luk 8:14 – and bring Luk 13:7 – cut Luk 14:35 – but Luk 23:31 – General Rom 11:17 – some Col 1:23 – moved Heb 6:4 – it is 2Pe 1:8 – unfruitful 2Jo 1:9 – abideth not

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

6

Observe the phrase, if a man, which is too general to be restricted to the apostles. Everything that is said here is true of all disciples of Christ, therefore all of them are branches of one vine. Cast forth as a branch means he is rejected because of being separted from the vine and has become withered. As all such dead branches are burned by the men caring for the vineyard, so all disciples who are severed from Christ will be cast into the fire at the judgment day. (See Mat 25:41.)

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

[As a branch.] See Eze 15:2; where D. Kimchi paraphrases in this manner: “O Son of man, I do not ask thee concerning the vine that beareth fruit (for so it ought to be accounted), but concerning the branch which is amongst the trees of the wood, unfruitful, even as the trees themselves are.” Where, by branch (for so it is commonly rendered), we are to understand the wild vine. So R. Solomon in loc.: “I do not speak (saith God) of the vine in the vineyard that bears fruit, but of the branch of the wild vine that grows in the woods.” So that the sense of the prophet is, “O son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree?” viz. a branch of the wild vine which grows amongst the trees of the forest, which is unfruitful, even as they are.

And this is our Saviour’s meaning; “Every branch in me that bringeth not forth fruit is cast forth like the branch in the vine that grows wild in the forest, which is good for nothing but to be burned”…

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Joh 15:6. If any one abide not in me he is cast forth as the branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they burn. The branch here is simply the branch of Joh 15:4, the branch considered in itself: the words cast forth and is withered are so used in the original as to denote the certainty, the immediateness, of the doom referred to: the last three verbs of the verse carry our thoughts to a later period than that to which the casting out and the withering belong. Instead of exhibiting beauty of leaf and bearing clusters of fruit, these branches shrivel up, die, and are consumed. It is to be observed that, although the branches spoken of are barren, it is not their barrenness that is the immediate thought here, but the fact that they do not abide in the vine.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here our holy Lord discovers the sad and deplorable condition of such professors, who pretending relation to Christ, do yet bring forth no fruit unto him: he calls them withered branches, fit only for the fire.

Learn hence, That such as have had a long standing in God’s vineyard, and contented themselves with a withered profession, are in great danger of having God’s blasting added to their barrenness. All their parts and gifts, and common graces, will wither, and their fair blossoms of profession will drop off, and at the great day the angels will gather these fruitless branches together, and cast them into hell-fire.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Ver. 6. If any one abides not in me, he is cast forth as the branch, and is withered; then they gather these branches, they throw them into the fire, and they burn.

It was in Palestine precisely the season of the vine-dressing; perhaps, as Lange observes, Jesus had before His eyes at this very moment the fires which were consuming the branches recently cut off.

The threatening of Joh 15:6 cannot be referred to the Jewish nation and its destruction by the Romans, as Hengstenberg has asserted. Jesus is thinking of the unfaithful believer; it is a warning which the disciples should recall to mind after they had received the gifts of Pentecost.

The aorists , has been cast forth (out of the vine), , has been withered, are explained, according to Baumlein, as in the numerous cases where this tense serves to designate a truth of daily experience. Meyer thinks rather that Jesus transports Himself in thought to the time when the judgment shall have been already pronounced. Is it not more simple to suppose that the punishment is so regarded as forming only one thing with the fault (not abiding), that it seems already accomplished in it?

As subject of , they gather, we must understand the servants of the vine-dresser; in the application, the angels (Luk 12:20, Mat 13:41).

The fire, emblem of the judgment; comp. another image in Luk 14:34-35. , they burn, the present of duration takes here its full force. The thought remains suspended in view of this fire which burns, and burns always.

It appears clearly from Eze 15:5 that the wood of the vine, when once cut, was regarded as no longer able to serve any use except for burning. Hence the expression of Augustine: aut vitis, aut ignis.

Joh 15:7-8 describe the glorious results of the perseverance of the believer in the communion with Christ.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Jesus appears to have been continuing to speak of abiding in the sense of believers remaining close to Himself. The "anyone" in the context would be any believer. Therefore what He said applies to believers, not unbelievers.

It is not proper to conclude that non-abiding disciples are all unbelievers. Many interpreters who believe that all genuine believers will inevitably persevere in the faith and good works tend to do this. They tend to impose their doctrine on this verse and make the verse fit their theology rather than interpreting the verse in its context. This is an example of allowing theology to determine exegesis rather than allowing exegesis to determine theology. Jesus was speaking in this context of abiding and non-abiding disciple believers and gave no hint that He was speaking about unbelievers.

Many interpreters have taken Joh 15:6 as an exposition of Joh 15:2. However the viticulture process that Jesus described in Joh 15:6 took place in the fall whereas the process He mentioned in Joh 15:2 happened in the spring. [Note: Derickson, "Viticulture and . . .," pp. 50-51.] In the fall the vinedresser would prune (Gr. kathairo) the vines for the winter by cutting off the dead wood. He would not cut off the unfruitful branches that would produce grapes the next season but only the branches that did not have a healthy connection to the vine. The point of the verse is that branches with other serious problems, not just non-fruit-bearing branches (Joh 15:2), also experience pruning.

What happens to these branches? Jesus said the vinedresser disposes of them. This has led some interpreters to conclude that they lose their salvation and go to hell, especially since He mentioned burning in fire. Others believe He implied that believers who do not abide in Christ will suffer the loss of reward at the judgment seat of Christ (cf. 1Co 3:15 where fire appears in connection with the judgment of believers). Fire is a common figure that occurs throughout Scripture to describe the judgment of believers as well as unbelievers (cf. Gen 19:24-26; Num 11:1; Isa 9:19; Eze 15:1-8; et al.). Still others think the mention of fire is only incidental since vinedressers burned the branches they cut off in the fall pruning. They believe Jesus’ point was that some Christians are as useless to God as these branches were to vine-growers. The point is their uselessness, not their judgment. Pruning may involve premature death or some other form of divine discipline but certainly not loss of salvation and perhaps not even loss of reward. I prefer view three, but I concede that view two may be correct. All interpreters believe Jesus mentioned this pruning to encourage His disciples to abide in Him. Then they would bear much fruit. [Note: See also John A. Tucker, "The Inevitability of Fruitbearing: An Exegesis of John 15:6 – Part I," Journal of Dispensational Theology 15:44 (April 2011):51-68.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)