In part II of our exposition of John 15:1-17 entitled: “Making Fruitfulness a Priority” we uncovered that “remaining” or “connecting” with Christ is evidenced by Jesus “words” (see v.7) remaining in us. In v.3 Jesus uses the singular “word” (logos) which represented his person and mission in totality – He is the Messiah. Now, however, Jesus uses the plural (“words”) to represent His teaching.
Jesus is communicating that a mark of a person remaining or connecting with Him will be that he or she will always stay true to the teachings of Christ. Any deviation will represent a disconnect from the life in the vine. Why? Because the Holy Spirit who moves through Christians will never be diverted from representing Christ and His teaching (see 16:12-15). When a person believes or teaches ideas or doctrine contrary to Christ’s teachings they are evidencing that they are disconnected from Christ. In other words, they are not “remaining” or “abiding” in the vine.
This is nothing new to the disciples, Jesus has been very clear throughout His ministry as to the exclusivity of His life and teaching. In John 6:68, after a “hard teaching” to the masses on eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood the masses that were following quickly became a small group (not a good message to foster church growth!). Jesus then turns and asks the disciples if they also want to leave (see v.66-67). Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the WORDS of eternal life” [emphasis mine]. Peter and the others were determined to remain since Christ’s teaching, although hard to understand at times, was true.
Regardless of how difficult the teaching of Christ may be, we remain with Christ since all other options give us no hope in this life or the life to come….
Uh don’t you mean…”Now, however, Jesus uses the PLURAL ‘word’ to represent His teaching.” Just wanna clarify if I’m reading this right. 🙂
Also when you say…
…wouldn’t that be everybody? Even some of the greatest Christians believed some rather unbiblical things. Take the two grand ideas of Calvinism VS Arminianism for example. Based on that criteria, it means that one group is clearly disconnected from Christ.
Can you abide with Christ and yet still have more to learn? It is a process isn’t it?
First, thanks for the grammatical catch – my fault. I corrected it and it now reads correctly.
Second, I would draw a distiction between points of view or degree of difference and error. A clarifying point would be later in this teaching when Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will “guide you [disciples] into all truth” (see 16:13). The word “guide” in ths section is made up of two words that individually mean “to lead” and “the way.” Christ is saying that the Holy Spirit will lead the way into truth as a guide. This idea is expanded when Christ says that “He [Holy Spirit] will speak only what He hears.” The immediate application is the launching of the Church at Pentecost and how the Holy Spirit authored this truth.
An extended application of this would be doctrinal, orthodox teaching we get from the Apostles. When a person, or better – a teacher, begins to teach things that are fundementally wrong (9 Gods in the Godhead – Benny Hinn, or christians are little gods (since Christ is in us), unique divine beings – Kenneth Copeland, etc.) it is not coming from the Holy Spirit since this is not the teaching that the church was founded on. Now, the question of degree comes in. How much error can a person have and does it matter who the person is? There is a difference between false teaching and bad believing. False teaching is a violation of orthodox beliefs by a person who has studied and is convinced of a legitimate position. Bad believing can happen since people may be immature in their walk, have cultivated a reliance on his or her understanding instead of a steady diet of studying God’s Word, or have never been exposed to Biblical teaching via a local church. However, a person who “remains” in the vine will, maybe over time, renounce unorthodox teaching and bad believing. We can hold differing points of view (pre-trib vs. post-trib) or have varying understandings or application of a subject due to spiritual maturity, but no Christ-follower will repudiate His orthodox teachings and live in refusal to His Word. It may happen for a time, but the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God will correct us. Yes, it can be viewed as a process, but there are many today who are not in process, they are simply hardened in their teachings that are not remaining in the vine. If they continue in unorthodox positions they are not disciples of Christ. Jesus said that those who follow Him will hold to His teachings – 8:31, 14:15, etc. I would place people in Calvanism vs Arminianism in a different camp since these are more related to maturity and exposure to God’s Word. I have great, Christ-loving friends who I disagree with on certain items (in degree or kind – almost always in secondary issues), but we would never disagree on orthodix teaching since it’s fundemental to our relationship with Jesus.
Does that make sense? It’s a big subject with variations depending on maturity and environment so I welcome more comments that will help to clarify for all of us.