REMAIN AT CHRIST

In John's gospel, chapter 15, there is a talk of Jesus to his disciples, in which He compares himself to a vine and his followers to branches of that tree. In these seventeen verses, the verb "to remain" appears thirteen times, which reveals the emphasis "to remain in Christ”. At first glance one might think that Jesus is talking about the need for his disciples to remain in him so as not to lose their salvation. 

The unattentive reading of this passage from John can make this impression, after all, He says: "he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit...     if you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned" (2:6). But that is not what the Lord is talking about. It is known that not everyone who calls himself Christian and attends the Church of Christ is a person who has had an encounter with God, who has experienced the new birth, about which Jesus spoke to Nicodemus (John 3:1-8). 

Looking at the twelve Jesus’s apostles, one might think that Judas was a branch cut off, while the others had to go through the experience of pruning, before producing fruit, after the death and resurrection of Christ. But the life of Judas reveals that he never understood Jesus and was not converted himself. The same happens to many who are in the Church and these are not "in Christ," they do not remain in Christ. Jesus talks about this in his parable about the weeds and the wheat. The tares are in the Church, they look like wheat, but at harvest time their destiny is to be bound "in sheaves to be burned" (Matthew 13:24-30). Jesus also spoke of false prophets and compared them to trees that bear evil fruit and will be cut down and cast into the fire (Matthew 7:16-20). 

As for the wheat, that is, the true Christian, Jesus says: "and this is the will of him who sent me: that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day" (John 6:39)... my sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:27,28). Note, then, that Jesus is not talking about the possibility of a disciple losing salvation because this possibility does not exist. 

One might then think that Jesus is teaching the need for the disciple to be fruitful in Christian service, otherwise, he may be cut off from the vine. In fact, He says clearly: "no branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me" (v.4). However, this is not the issue He is speaking about either. The believer in communion with Jesus is automatically light in the world and in some way is involved in the work of evangelisation, in Christian service. What, then, is Jesus teaching about? 

The fruits about which Jesus speaks are those acts and attitudes of holy life that glorify God and characterize the "new man" (Ephesians 4.24). Sometimes those who are in Christ are in Him as though they were not. They are living in sin. So, farmer, that is, the Father prunes these branches so that they bear even more fruit. The process of pruning is painful: it involves cleaning and cutting off excesses. Speaking of this, the author of Hebrews says that "the Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son... For what children are not disciplined by their father? (Hebrews 12:6,7). 

This is one of Jesus' last teachings to his disciples. Soon He would die. That is why it speaks about the essence of the Christian life, which is to love God. "If you obey my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commandments, and in his love I abide" (v. 10). Only the life of love for God leads the disciple to bear good fruit, that is, to live in the likeness of his original self, lost in the Fall, clothed "in the new man, created according to God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). This involves renouncing sin. On remaining in Christ, Augustine (2011, p.154) wrote: "It is good for me to hold on to God because if I do not remain in him I will not be able to remain in myself either.

Antônio Maia – M. Div

Copyright

AGOSTINO, Santo. Confissões. Petrópoles, RJ: Vozes, 2011