1. Ego sum vitis vera: et Pater meus agricola est.1. I am the true vine; and my Father is the husbandman.

1. After they had left the supper-room Christ again addresses the Apostles. The fact that the Evangelist gives the discourse that follows without any introductory remark, such as: And Christ said, or: And while they went Christ said—favours the view that only a slight break separated this discourse from that recorded in the preceding chapter. This would, therefore, render it very probable that what follows was spoken in the vicinity of the house in which they had supped rather than on the outskirts of the city.

As Christ was about to leave His Apostles, He now impresses upon them the necessity of abiding in Him by faith and love. For this purpose He compares Himself to the stem of the vine, and the Apostles to its branches. As the branches draw all their life and nourishment from the stem, so must the Apostles draw all their spiritual life from Him. This idea would be illustrated by the relation between the trunk of any tree and its branches. The chief reason, then, why He compares Himself to the vine is because it was customary to prune its branches, and He was about [pg 267] to speak of the pruning of His mystical branches by the Father.[98] He is the true, that is the perfect vine, because He nourishes His members more perfectly than does any vine tree its branches. In a similar sense He is the true light (John [i. 9]), and the true bread (John [vi. 32]).

“He is the ‘vine’ in His humanity, in which the branches of the same nature are united with Him. But it is from His Divinity the branches derive the spiritual and life-giving influence that leads to eternal happiness” (MacEv.)

It is needless to say, that in calling Himself the true vine, Christ does not mean to signify that He is really a vine. The language is plainly metaphorical, and is so explained by our Lord Himself in verses 4 and 5. Hence it bears no comparison with the words used by Christ in instituting the Blessed Eucharist. In the latter case He declared that what He held in His hands was His body, and there was nothing in His words, or in the circumstances in which they were uttered to point to a figurative sense. On the contrary, His discourse delivered twelve months beforehand in the Synagogue of Capharnaum, and recorded in the sixth chapter of our Gospel, prepared the Apostles to receive His words, mysterious though they must have seemed, in the literal sense.

And my Father is the husbandman. The Father attends to and purifies Christ's followers in a manner similar to that employed by the vine-dresser, that so they may produce more abundant fruit. The Arians appealed to this text to show that Christ was inferior to God. For as the vine and the husbandman are not of the same nature, so neither, they said, are Christ and the Father of the same nature. We answer that in metaphorical language the comparison is not to be pressed too far, only indeed in that particular, or in regard to that point, for the illustration of which the metaphor is employed. See above on [x. 3]. Now in the present instance Christ points out (in verse 4) that His metaphorical language is designed to show the necessity for the Apostles of union with Himself. Nothing therefore can be inferred in regard to His nature and the Father's. In reality, Christ, as God, was husbandman, as well as the Father; but as it would not suit the comparison to call [pg 268] Himself both vine and husbandman, He attributes the office of husbandman to the Father. “Numquid unum sunt agricola et vitis? Secundum hoc ergo vitis Christus, secundum quod ait: Pater major me est. Secundum autem id quod ait: Ego et Pater unum sumus, et ipse agricola est.” (St. Aug.)[99]

2. Omnem palmitem in me non ferentem fructum, tollet eum: et omnem qui fert fructum, purgabit eum, ut fructum plus afferat.2. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

2. Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit. From this it follows that branches may be unfruitful and yet really remain branches, and members of Christ's Church. The sense of Christ's words is: Every Christian that beareth not the fruit of good works, the Father takes away (Gr. present), either in this life, by permitting them to fall into heresy, or at death when they shall no longer remain members of the Church. They are therefore lopped off like useless branches. The good, too, are purified by the Father, who prunes their hearts, removing therefrom all impediments to perfection, taking away everything that would hinder or impede the vital power in the production of spiritual fruit. As even the best branches are improved by judicious pruning, so the just are rendered more perfect by the purifying action of the Divine Husbandman. Αὐτο in both cases is redundant.

3. Iam vos mundi estis propter sermonem, quem locutus sum vobis.3. Now you are clean by reason of the word which I have spoken to you.

3. Now (already) you are clean. The meaning is that the Apostles were already pruned, that the obstacles to their spiritual growth had been taken away by His words addressed to them that night. It is possible that, as some think, there is reference to all Christ's teaching; but we believe there is at least special reference to the discourse of that last night. For He had that night perfected their knowledge ([xiv. 6-11]); guarded them against an unavailing sorrow ([xiv. 1-2, &c.]); checked the presumption of some ([xiii. 38]), and supplied motives to confirm the faith of all ([xiv. 29]).