“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”
– John 15:5-6 (ESV)
Charles Ryrie1 has a bizarre twist to John 15:5-6 in his book So Great Salvation when he writes: “If we are to understand that He cuts them off, then this means that He removes them from the earth through physical death…So if these fruitless believers, then either the gardener removes them in judgment or, more likely, in my opinion, He lifts them up in blessing and guidance, positioning them so that they can bear fruit.” Daniel Corner summarizes Ryrie’s view as teaching:
- John 15:5-6 and being cut off from the vine means physical death or
- Being lifted up in blessing and guidance so that one can bear fruit.
Either way, writes Corner, Ryrie’s teaching leads rebellious “Christians” to believe that either way they win in their sin. Ryrie basically is saying that a sinning saint can continue in sin and the Lord will remove them out of this world to take them to heaven which is better by far (Philippians 1:21, 23)! Amazing!
Clearly John 15:5-6 teaches that the believer must abide in Christ and failure to do so results in destruction (v.6). I know that Calvinists will argue that those who don’t abide were never saved to begin with, but Jesus is speaking to His already clean disciples (John 15:3). In fact the context of John 15 is Jesus speaking to the Eleven (minus Judas who has left to betray Jesus to His death). Jesus is clear in His words to His Apostles; they must abide in Him in order to bear eternal fruit and failure to remain in Him, the Vine, results in death.
Notice in John 15:6 that Jesus says that the branch is thrown away and withers (ESV). This implies previous life. How can a branch wither unless it was able to wither? Therefore, Jesus is not speaking to “half Christians” or those who perhaps heard the gospel but have not followed Him as their Lord, but Jesus is speaking directly to those already alive in the Vine. His words are clear: Abide in Me and if you don’t abide in me then you will be cut off and will die. Notice also, as Dan Corner points out in his book The Believer’s Conditional Security, whom it is that is thrown into the fire. It not the person’s works or rewards that are burned up but the people themselves (John 15:6). Some want to try to tie John 15:6 with 1 Corinthians 3:15 (which is not addressing Christians’ salvation but the Apostle’s building upon Christ (vv.10-14) as trying to show that we lose rewards by sinning, but this is simply unbiblical and not the case. The only thing we receive from sinning is death (Romans 6:23; Galatians 6:7-9; James 1:12-15)!
These words parallel two other passages. Luke 13:6-9 and Romans 11:19-24. Both of these passages, like John 15:5-6, show that God takes seriously us abiding in Christ by faith.
So what is the point of this? The point is that we need to stress abiding in Christ by faith. He alone is the source of our eternal salvation and not we ourselves. Eternal life is found in an eternal Jesus, and if we abide in Him we have the assurance of our eternal salvation (2 Peter 1:3-11). But if we fail to remain in Christ by faith (1 Peter 1:5) then we have no assurance of our eternal salvation in Him (2 Peter 3:17 NIV). We must abide in Christ!
Further, we must not try to avoid the issue here in John 15:5-6. Apostasy is real and we need to stress that apostasy is a very real possibility for the believer (Hebrews 6:4-20). We need to call people to holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16) and to faithfulness to Christ and His Word (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46-49; 11:28; John 8:51; 1 Corinthians 15:1-2; 2 Corinthians 1:24; Galatians 5:1-4; Philippians 2:12-15; Colossians 1:21-23; 3:1-4; etc.). We need not try to teach people some loop hole theology where we call people to repentance and holiness but then turn around and try to assure them that they can abide in sin and be saved. Jesus came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Many want to be His people but not be saved from their sins (John 8:11). God has not called us to preserve the sinner but to call the saints to persevere.
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1 Some Calvinists might argue that Ryrie is not an Orthodox Calvinist since he rejects the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election, he believes in an unlimited atonement, and rejects Lordship salvation. But Ryrie strongly holds to eternal security of which most Calvinists would have no problem with.
[Link to original post and comments at Roy Ingle’s website.]
