Can a born again child of God be cut off from God according to John 15? Can a child of God basically lose or forfeit their salvation if they are failing to bear fruit? Does John chapter 15 mean that you, as a born again child of God, will be cut off from God, from His salvation, that is, from being in Him, and then ultimately be thrown in the fire as though you were an unbeliever or not a child?
Let’s find out what the Bible says. Let’s test this interpretation and perspective, and find out is this truth or lie, according to John 15 in context.
John 15:1-2a
1 “I am the true vine,
and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
Now, a person who reads this scripture immediately says that it says “in me,” and assume that those who are “in me” and who bear no fruit will be cut off. Lookout, because fear based interpreters of the bible will threaten you, a born again child of God, with condemnation! They’ll threaten you that God’s gonna cut you off and throw you in Hell, and burn you, his child!
They’ll say, “staying in God’s good graces depends on you bearing fruit!” What they are really saying in a slighted way is, “Your fruit is your responsibility, and you are saved and kept by your fruit bearing, but not by the sacrifice and fruit bearing of Jesus Christ.” That is NOT what this scripture is saying.
Follow me closely because this is going to be really good. This is the scripture that had me in fear for years.
Now we can agree, HE IS talking about saved children of God, who are “in Christ that is, in Him,” this part is obvious, HOWEVER we must read this scripture in light of its historical context, it’s professional context and also in light of all the PROMISES OF GOD, that is in the full context of the entire bible!
John 15:2b
while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes (cleans)
so that it will be even more fruitful.
So we have two types of the children of God. We have the ones that bear no fruit and those that bear fruit.
But, what does this word “cut off” mean?
The word for cut off in Greek, is “Airo“.
Airo primarily means to raise up, elevate, or lift up.
NOT CUT OFF
Now, the translators at the time were not gardeners or they may not have understood this concept. The translators at the time were not speaking as gardeners. Which some may not have understood this concept. Some of them may of had a fearful heart and believed in loss of salvation themselves. Many words have multiple uses, multiple translations. It’s difficult to know which translation or which definition to use. Therefore, we have to look at context both historically and professionally. If you look at context and you’re not a professional gardener or even have gardening experience, considering he’s speaking about gardening terms, you may not understand the fullness of this scripture.
Here’s a gardener’s testimony:
“New branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground. Before English and early European times, during the time of Jesus, they didn’t lift them up off the ground and raise them up off the ground. The majority of the vines were actually have a tendency to grow along the ground. They don’t bear fruit there. When branches grow along the ground, their leaves get coated in dust. When it rains, they got muddied and mildewed and the branches become sick and useless. So what do you do? Well you don’t throw it away, no not at all, in fact, the branch is too valuable for that. We go through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches.”
“We then LIFT THEM UP and we wash them off.
Then, we wrap them on trails and we tie them up off the ground.”
You have these two types of branches that are in Him. One is bearing fruit, one is not. The one it says, ‘He LIFTS UP so that it can bear fruit’, because it needs to come off the ground before it dies. Since there’s too much dirt, it’s being stuck in the mud. What He does is He lifts it up. It says then the other branches ‘He prunes’. Those who are not bearing, he lifts up closer to the sun and lifts up off the ground away from the elements, the roads, and the insects. He lifts it up off the ground. The second He prunes, but both are the body of Christ. He LIFTS US UP or He cleanses us, washes us and He prunes us.
The Bible DOES NOT SAY
that He cuts us off from the branch.
HE LIFTS US UP and he prunes us. Amen! Now, that’s the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ! This actually correlates with all the promises of God, all of them, and validates and concludes them. Jesus would not contradict himself. He would not say that everyone born of God overcomes the world and then conversely say, “Whoops, over here. You know what? There’s a select few of my children I need to burn.” He would not say, “I will not cast any away” and then say, He’s going to throw some in hell later on. That DOES NOT line up with all of the totality of what God has said. Verse two, we can conclude that instead of saying “He cuts off”, it can be translated as He lifts up.
So let’s also look at the conjunction word, “while” between the two types, in the greek…
John 15:1-2
2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He lifts up;
“while” every branch that bears fruit,
He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
Now, this word that is primarily translated “while” or “and” never means “however.” It actually means “MOREOVER.” It never means, “This group does this. However, this group does this.” In other words, that word that conjuncts the first group of children and the second group of children, never means they are complete opposites contrasting them, however of the same type. It literally means moreover, that they are the same and their outcomes are the same. He prunes, cleans and washes BOTH groups. He just does it in a different way. That doesn’t mean the second group is different than the first group. It does not mean that they are opposites, but actually supports the truth that they are the same, however the solution to their situations are both positively different. They are the same! They are not cut off, but they are pruned, washed, AND THEY ARE LIFTED UP.
Let’s move on to verse 3…
John 15:3
3 “You are already clean
because of the word
which I have spoken to you.
He says that the disciples are already clean because of the Word. Some might say, but wasn’t Judas in this group? Well, the answer is NO. This is located in John 15. I submit to you that in John 13, Judas already betrayed the Lord, and is not amongst this group when he is speaking. So he is not included in this group. Judas was not pruned or cleansed. For Jesus says in John 13:11 “Not all of you are clean.” However in this scripture he says, “you are already clean.” This means HE IS NOT SPEAKING TO SAVED AND UNSAVED BOTH, BUT ONLY THE SAVED.
Why am I pointing this out? Because otherwise fear based proponents of forfeiting your salvation would argue, “You see in this verse he is speaking to those who are saved and Judas was included, which proves you can be saved and then be cut off and find yourself unsaved.” But this is not true. Judas was never saved in he first place, NOR was he included in this group, nor was he with the disciples when Jesus was speaking to them here. AND YOU ARE NOT A JUDAS! You are those that were washed and cleansed in the word and are continuing to trust in Christ and not yourself, for your salvation! Amen.
Let’s go on to the next verse and discuss more faulty fear based perspectives on this scripture…
John 15:4
“Abide in me as I also abide in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself.
It must abide in the vine.”
There it is again, “you must remain” in the Lord, they threaten! They say, “It’s your responsibility!!” The fear mongers say, “This scripture proves that you are responsible for saving yourself.” Remain in the Lord, otherwise the Lord is not going to remain in you. He’s going to cut you off. He’s going to throw you in the fire. Is all this true? Absolutely not! That is NOT what the Bible says. However if you couple this scripture with a miss-translation of John 15:1, and then add a whole lot of fear based threats, and convince a few people. But his is not the heart of God towards his COVENANT CHILDREN OF GOD. But scripture interprets scripture, so let’s look at another scripture in 1 John 3:6, to rightly divide this word and uncover the true character and nature of God’s heart… It says in,
1 John 3:6,
“No one who abides in Him keeps sinning.”
Okay? There it is. But the fear mongers will conversely pound in you that this scripture is a works based command, rather than A GLORIOUS PROMISE! They’ll tout, that this scripture means, “you must abide so that you won’t keep on sinning, therefore abiding is still your responsibility, and therefore you are saved by your ability to abide in Christ yourself, and to keep yourself!”
But let’s see what does scripture also says three verses later? Remember, scripture interprets scripture. When you have 5,000 promises about salvation, you must look and interpret the other scriptures according, to the unconditional promises of God, for the covenant children of God!
1 John 3:9,
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin,
because God’s seed remain in them.“
That’s good news! No one who is born of God will continue to sin! Now before I lose you, let’s compare these two scriptures side by side.
John 3:6 and John 3:9,
“No one who abides in him will continue to sin.
No one who is born of God will continue to sin.“
Here’s the logic. That means, that whoever abides in Him is born of God, and their destiny is the same! Did you catch that? Let’s put it this way. Everyone that’s born of God will abide in Him, and His seed will abide in them. The result, for both groups, is they will no longer continue to sin. Why? Because hey are saved by faith, and changed into children of God. God never then turns and says, “Now it’s all up to you to keep yourself saved.” NEVER. YOU CANNOT FIND THAT IN THE BIBLE.
The same Jesus who saves, is the same Jesus that is able to KEEP YOU, unto the end!!! When the Bible says, “Abide in me”, that means to be saved, be born again, trust in Christ, trust in Him, abide in what He’s done and not in what you’ve done or can do for yourself. Not trusting in your own works for salvation. Not trusting in yourself and what you’ve done. But, trusting and resting in what He’s done. This is how one becomes a child of God.
You are not saved by your abiding,
however abiding is proof positive that you are saved!
We can go further in what it means when abiding in His love and what is His love. We can break that down too. It all goes back to the crucifixion on the cross of Jesus Christ, the finished work of Christ and the atoning sacrifice, which makes you perfect forever. Amen.
Isn’t that awesome? That is awesome!
John 15:6
6 “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”
Don’t get me wrong, this is a very serious verse to interpret, however it must be put in context and we must realize that applies to those who have no covenant, and haven’t been born of God. Those who have been born of God and do have a covenant are LIFTED UP, WASHED, AND PRUNED!!
NOT BURNED!!
Now the fear mongers can say, “There it is! Aha! I got you again! This is a clear command to the children of God, that if you don’t remain in Christ, then you’re going to get thrown in the fire!” However, is that what it says? First, It doesn’t say, “If you do not remain in me.”, but says, “If anyone…” That’s what the NIV translation writes, the only translation. EVERY OTHER TRANSLATION SAYS…
John 15:6
“If anyone does not abide in Me,
The NIV says, “If you do not”. Every other translation, including the New American Standard, King James, Berean, Homes, or English Standard says, “any”. “If you do not remain” is completely different than “any”. It says, “If anybody does not remain in me”. Why is this important? Because, “you” would mean that he is speaking directly to the disciples only, verses, “any” which means he is teaching them how to teach the world, and the disciples and speaking to both covenant, and non-covenant people alike. Therefore the children of God, who have been born again do not have to take this threat personally, he is NOT TALKING TO YOU!
Ok, let’s conclude this message.
John 15:1 does not say, “Cut off,” yet is rightly translated, “Lifted up, elevated, and raised up.” This changes the tone and direction and the context of the rest of John 15, and is a glorious promise of God, not a fear based threat used to whip the children of God into good behavior!
Abiding in Christ is not a work by which men must be saved. Abiding IS HOWEVER, the result of being born again, and is the fruit of salvation, not the ROOT OF SALVATION. The destiny of both abiders and born again children of God is the same, so we can conclude that we are speaking about the same group of people.
No, it is not your responsibility to FINISH THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST, by bearing the responsibility of KEEPING YOURSELF SAVED BY ABIDING.
John 15:6 is truly saying if you are born again you will be saved, if you are not born again and do not abide in the Lord you will not. It DOES NOT SAY, that if you are born again, you will be unborn again and thrown into the fire and burned. Let’s be clear the Good Father does not burn his children,
ONLY SATAN DOES!
and then