You Are a Branch of the True Vine Part 2

In part one we looked at how we have mistranslated “airo” in John 15:2 as “takes away” rather than “lifts up” and people have come to the erroneous conclusion that if we didn’t bear fruit for God that He would “cut us off”. That we would lose our salvation or that we probably weren’t saved in the first place. As we saw in part one, the truth is that God doesn’t cut us off when we fall into sin; rather He lifts us up and carries us. Now we’re going to look at the second half of verse two.
John 15:2 reads; “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it might bear more fruit”. The way we have traditionally translated this verse has not made the Christian life too appealing for the unbeliever. If we don’t bear fruit we’re thrown away, if we do were “pruned”. Nice! We’ve already seen that “takes away” should have been translated “lifts up and carries” but what about this idea of pruning? Let’s read on and look at verse three.
John 15:3 reads; “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you”. The word used for clean in verse three is the same word used for prune in verse two. It is the Greek word katharos and it means; to cleanse. Of 28 times that it is used in the New Testament, 17 times it is translated; to purify and 10 times it is translated; to cleanse. Strong’s defines katharos as; “to free from corrupt desire, sin and guilt, to free from every admixture of what is false, to be sincere or genuine, to be blameless or innocent, and to be unstained with the guilt of anything”.
In accordance with the culture of Jesus’ day and the Greek language; John 15:3 should read; “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He lifts up and carries; and every branch in me that bears fruit He cleanses and purifies that it might bear more fruit”. How does God cleanse us? Verse three tells us; He cleanses us with the word.
The Holy Spirit will never come to you and tell you you’re an idiot, you’ve had it, you’re not bearing fruit. No He will tell you who you have become in Christ and what you have in Him, just as Paul did in the Epistles. He will take the scriptures and reveal them to you, cleansing you from all guilt and shame, telling you that which is true. That my friend is our God and that is what Jesus was talking about.
In part three we will look further into John 15 to better understand the analogy of the vine and the vinedresser.