The Bible continues to reveal itself to me. Example: I cannot count the number of times I have read John 15 (here in Bible Gateway). I memorized verse 5 probably 40 years ago. John 15 (here in Bible Gateway) is one of the central passages in the workshops that I use to equip men to study the Word of God. I have diagramed the sentence. I have done a verse analysis on that passage. I talk about the verse with men at least once each week.
Yet earlier this year I saw something I had never seen before. You probably have. It is a blatantly obvious observation.
In John 15:1 (here in Bible Gateway) Jesus said that He is the true vine. The implication is, again obvious, there are vines that are false.
That begs at least one question, how do we identify false vines. The answer that could leap to mind is anyone that does not agree with our understanding of the Scripture. While that is an easy answer, it may not be the best, for it may be too narrow. I wonder if 1 John 4:2 – 3 (here in Bible Gateway) gives us some guidance on this.
Many different perspectives on the Scripture exist in the Body of Christ. Some positions that some communities take make it difficult if not impossible for me to regularly engage in those communities. But, should I consider them a false vine? If they confess that Jesus came in the flesh, according to John, they are from God. They are part of the larger Body of Christ.
I am still processing what to do with that.
In John 15:1 (here in Bible Gateway) Jesus said that He is the true vine. The implication is, again obvious, there are vines that are false.
That begs at least one question, how do we identify false vines. The answer that could leap to mind is anyone that does not agree with our understanding of the Scripture. While that is an easy answer, it may not be the best, for it may be too narrow. I wonder if 1 John 4:2 – 3 (here in Bible Gateway) gives us some guidance on this.
Many different perspectives on the Scripture exist in the Body of Christ. Some positions that some communities take make it difficult if not impossible for me to regularly engage in those communities. But, should I consider them a false vine? If they confess that Jesus came in the flesh, according to John, they are from God. They are part of the larger Body of Christ.
I am still processing what to do with that.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteRay, in what sense did you find this interesting?
DeleteMy mother used to tell the story of how on her family farm she and my grandfather accidentally stirred up a large hornets' nest on a tree they were working around. She laughed at the sight they must have been fleeing up a dirt tract into open fields to try and get away. She never told what condition they were in the end.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be potentially one of those. My immediate reaction is think that's a relatively low bar. Many people, even organized churches and whole denominations believe Jesus was a man who walked on the earth at a point of history, but go on to deny that He was anything like the omnipotent God, Messiah who could "take away the sins of the world."
There must be more to it than that - what exactly does it mean, "came in the flesh?" Certainly as Jesus goes on in John 15 "fruit" is prominent, and fruit proves the legitimacy of the the branch that finds life in the Vine.
I'm thinking of two specific congregations that I know of that grew from nothing and became megachurches in a very short time and seemed to bear fruit by conversion affirming Jesus' humanity and deity. But terrible fruit was ripening among the leadership that led to collapse.
Something is missing in the equation in my mind. I would love to see some discussion on exactly it means (Biblically) that Jesus "came in the flesh."