Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wondering

A question arose in my mind about John 15:5-7, which reads, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, will bear abundant fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. Unless a man abides in Me, he will be cast aside like a branch which is withered, which they pick up and throw into the fire to be burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, whatever you ask shall be done for you..."
Abide has, to me, a sense of being able to move in and out (and that is one of its meanings). In Gal. 2:20, it reads, "I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ LIVES IN me..." If Christ is IN me, and we are ONE, then...there is no "moving in and out."
So, my thought is that the verse in John is "pre-Cross", while in Gal. 2:20 is "post-Cross". You can cut off a branch of a vine, but you don't cut a "limb" off of a body.
Also there, in John, Jesus says that "without Him we can do nothing," while in Christ, we are told that we can "do all things through Christ who strengthens us."
I know that the scripture in John is very precious to many Christians, and so any thoughts contrary to the standard understanding/belief are suspect. That is the wonderful thing about a blog - you can express your thoughts without people decrying your "spirituality".
Also, since it is Israel who is called the vine all through the OT, and the Christian is not so named, have long thought that this is specifically referring to Israel.
God knows, and so I rest in knowing that He will show me what is true.