The Branches Of The Vine
THE BRANCHES OF THE VINE
In the Gospel of John 15:12-17 we see that the branches should love one another to express the divine life in fruit-bearing. These verses re veal that fruit-bearing has very much to do with our loving one another. We must keep a right re lationship with one another in life, that is, in love by life. We must keep our relationship in love and love one another by the life that is in us. This life is the Lord Himself. Loving one another is the church life, the Body life. The Body life is a life of love and a life in love. We should not love one another with a human love but in the divine life and with the divine love.
We are not branches of many separate trees; we are all branches of the same tree. So we need to maintain a good fellowship with all the other branches as well as with the tree. This is why in this chapter the Lord also tells us to love one another (vv. 12, 17). If we do not love one another, it will be very difficult to bear fruit. If we do not love one another, it means that our fellowship with the vine tree has been cut off. Therefore,