The Possibility of Apostasy (5)

(John 15:1-6)

Mike Johnson

John 15:1-6 records the Parable of the Vine and the Branches.  It says:

  I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

We learn that Jesus is the vine, and his disciples are the branches.  If a branch does not produce fruit, Christ purges it, and it is then cast into the fire and burned.  He points out the need to abide in Him, and we do this by bearing fruit.

This parable conclusively teaches the possibility of apostasy.  It seems apparent that these verses discuss lost people as they would be thrown into the fire and burned.  Therefore, the advocate of the “Impossibility of Apostasy” doctrine must conclude that these verses speak of one who only professes Christianity.  They would say the one represented by the “unfruitful branch” was never saved from the start.  Ben M. Bogard, a well-known Baptist debater from many years ago, responded to John 15 in this way.

Now notice.  There is the vine and the branch.  There are two sorts of professed Christian—the real and the nominal.  The professors and possessors—you can’t tell the difference by looking at them, for some of them camouflage so completely they seem to be in the Lord.”

In another debate, D.N. Jackson stated,

The vine was in Christ in the sense that your heart may be in a thing sometimes.  How is that?  You’ll say my heart is with you, and yet it may be just a profession.

There is no doubt he is speaking of saved people.  In verse two, Jesus said, “every branch IN me” that beareth not fruit.  So the branch would be “in Him.”  It does not say, “every branch in me professionally that does not bear fruit, he takes away.” Nor does it mean, “every branch not in me, but is so camouflaged that people cannot tell if they are in me, that beareth not fruit he takes away.”   He also told them (v. 3), “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”  Does this not describe a saved person?  When he said, “abide in me,” this indicates they were “in Him” at that time.  Jesus was not urging those who “professed” to be in Him to “abide in Him,” but those who were actually in him.

There may be cases where we cannot tell if a person is a genuine Christian or not.  Yet, Christ knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19), and Jesus said, “every branch in me.”

Jesus is clearly showing that those in a proper relationship with God could, by not bearing fruit, cease to be in a proper relationship with God and thus be lost!