Correspondence: John 15:2; Doing Good at Any Time

Narrator: Chris Genthree
John 15:2  •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 7
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Question: Who is meant by the branch that is taken away (John 15:22Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:2))? Is it like one in 1 Corinthians 11:36, or is it a Judas, or a castaway? (1 Cor. 9:2727But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:27)). Is the man in verse 6 the same as the branch in verse 2 that is taken away? Is it final destruction there? P. W.
Answer: When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was the True Vine. His disciples were the branches. Israel had proved to be a degenerate vine. This was their relationship with Him, and abiding in Him proved their reality.
In such as Judas and the disciples that walked no more with Him, we see the branches taken away by the husbandman, and it means that they were lost forever. (John 6:6666From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66)).
We learn similar lessons, and especially on fruit-bearing, by this parable, and the epistles open up our portion more fully.
We see in 1 Corinthians 9:2727But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:27) how even preachers are lost forever if they have no salvation through the death of Christ. And in such verses as Colossians 1:1515Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15); Hebrews 3:6,146But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:6)
14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:14), the reality of Christians is proved by their “continuing in the faith,” “holding fast the hope.” We also see in 1 Corinthians 11:3030For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. (1 Corinthians 11:30), 1 John 5:1616If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (1 John 5:16), that the Lord sometimes takes away His own people in chastisement, and sometimes puts them on a bed of sickness. And happy it is for us all to recognize His chastening in the many things that are allowed to come to us, and ask Him to help us to profit by them (Heb. 12:5-115And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:5‑11); Rev. 3:1919As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelation 3:19)), and learn the lesson, that without Him we can do nothing.
Question: Is it contrary to any principle of Scripture for Christians to do good and to communicate toward one another, or toward the world at large, at any time of the year? M. G.
But I apprehend that your question has in view this custom of giving gifts on certain religious holidays—church days, they are called. For light on this we might read Galatians 4:10,1110Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. (Galatians 4:10‑11): “Ye observe days, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.”
The Galatians had teachers trying to put them under law, from which the death of Christ delivers us. In Scripture we get no days to keep, except that we own the first day of the week as for the Lord, “The Lord’s Day.” (Rev. 1:1010I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, (Revelation 1:10)). We have no ordinances to fulfill, except that we have been baptized, and now we remember the Lord in His death.