Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit . . . every branch that beareth fruit—As in a fruit tree, some branches may be fruitful, others quite barren, according as there is a vital connection between the branch and the stock, or no vital connection; so the disciples of Christ may be spiritually fruitful or the reverse, according as they are vitally and spiritually connected with Christ, or but externally and mechanically attached to Him. The fruitless He "taketh away" (see on John 15:6); the fruitful He "purgeth" (cleanseth, pruneth)—stripping it, as the husbandman does, of what is rank (Mark 4:19), "that it may bring forth more fruit"; a process often painful, but no less needful and beneficial than in the natural husbandry.
DISCOURSE AT THE SUPPER TABLE CONTINUED. (John 15:1-27)
The spiritual oneness of Christ and His people, and His relation to them as the Source of all their spiritual life and fruitfulness, are here beautifully set forth by a figure familiar to Jewish ears (Isaiah 5:1, etc.).
I am the true vine—of whom the vine of nature is but a shadow.
my Father is the husbandman—the great Proprietor of the vineyard, the Lord of the spiritual kingdom. (It is surely unnecessary to point out the claim to supreme divinity involved in this).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing John 15:2:
Job 33:14
Psalms 119:67
Song of Solomon 2:12
Isaiah 18:5
Matthew 20:1
Luke 13:6-9
1 Corinthians 6:17
Hebrews 12:10
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