This is the third post taking a deep dive into the Vine Discourse. You can read about who Jesus is referring to and the Father being our gardener here. In the second post, we looked at the word airo as meaning to “lift up” instead of the common understanding of “takes away.” You can read that here. In this post, we focus on pruning, relationships, and when and how to confront.
(2d) and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Here we see a picture of the Father tending to his children, those that are “in” Christ. We’ve discussed some branches that are not bearing fruit, here believers are bearing fruit. We have looked at what fruit could look like in 2b above, and in the future, we will look more closely at what this fruit could be in a more tangible way. But for now, let’s realize the fruit is a result of receiving from the vine what is needed for reproduction of its kind. As believers, we are to be transformed into the image of Christ. So, the seed we are producing as fruit should be changing us to reflect Christ more and more, and the fruit should have the potential to be planted in the life of others, duplicating our lives as believers.
This word “bear” is easy to pass over since we automatically think of ‘bear’ as producing, like an apple tree producing apples. But the Greek word used is phero which is a primary verb meaning to bear or carry, as in carrying a load (Strong’s G5342). Thinking of “bear” in this context makes me think of bearing Jesus’ cross or the work he wants us to do. So we’d need to look at the fruit to see what it is we are actually bearing. We can look at bearing as a responsibility and not just a passive product. After all, it is the branch that is bearing, or carrying, the fruit. I just thought I’d add this bit of nuance. Phero has been translated to mean: To carry, move, or hold up something, to bear up under something as to endure it, or to bring something about. In this verse, the translator decided it meant to bring something about. I just thought it was interesting that it could also have these other concepts implied. Other translations translate phero as “bring forth” or “produce,” meaning believers in Christ are bringing forth or producing fruit.
Because the Father desires to maximize our fruit-production so that we bear the best fruit possible, or as we have seen above, that we carry the load he desires we carry, we can expect to be pruned. The term “prune”, elsewhere translated as “purge” is kathairō, and means to cleanse, properly, from filth and impurity; trees and vines (from useless shoots). Kathairo has been used metaphorically to indicate a cleansing from guilt, to expiate from sin, (Strong’s G2508). The word is derived from katharós, meaning to cleanse or make pure, either physically, levitically, or ethically. It carries the concept of something being free from admixture or adhesion of anything that would soil, adulterate, or corrupt. The interesting thing about this verb is it is a tense indicating an action is completed in the past and the subject has already received the action, (Strong’s G2513).
In God’s eyes, this cleansing is complete when we became His child. God is outside of time and space, and from God’s perspective, the Father sees us through the lens of Jesus’ righteousness. Still, in this life, God desires us to reflect all He is, to be a model to the world of His character, and to be conformed to the image of His Son. So, He cleans us up.
Even though we are bearing fruit, we all come to Christ with baggage that keeps us from reproducing the best and most fruit. The Father desires us to know the completeness of His love and be able to love others. Habits, attitudes and behaviors that may have at one time protected or comforted us now hinder us. He begins to cut away at things which cause guilt or condemnation, would corrupt our witness, would hurt us or others, or anything that would come between us and our relationships, especially our relationship with the Father. The result of this pruning is a new perspective where we possess behaviors and attitudes that reflect characteristics of the Holy Spirit within.
Speaking of relationships, and here I digress a bit.
Relationships often show us our need for change. When we respond to a person or situation in an inappropriate way, or we overreact, this is a clue we are dealing with something that needs to be pruned. There is a proverb that says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend, (Pr 27:17).
In fact, when Jesus talked about the second commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself, he was quoting Lev 19:18, which is couched in a section that is all about relationships. First, God speaks of relationship with Himself, saying that putting Him first is of primary importance. Second, God speaks of relationships to parents, as to those in authority over us. He speaks of one’s attitude in giving, of caring for the poor, of being honest and having integrity, and of being just. But in vs 17-18, God speaks specifically about our heart attitude towards others when He says,
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
I find this connection interesting because it correlates with other scriptures that tell us to speak the truth in love and to not lie. The implication is that loving our neighbor includes correcting them.
Taking the phrase “not bear sin because of him” apart,
- The word “bear” is nasa, a primitive root meaning ‘to lift’ and is translated as bear, take, or carry, among others, (Strongs H5375).
- The word ‘sin’ means a crime or its penalty, an offense, (Strongs H2399).
- The phrase ‘because of’ is a conjunction translated as upon, on the ground of, on the basis of, on account of, or because of, (Strong’s H5921).
Rewording the phrase from these definitions we could read, “we are not to take or carry an offense on account of him”.
Here are some ways to interpret this:
- We could, at least in part, be complicit in the sin of another when we don’t confront. Several translations, such as the NIV, NLT, BSB, MSG, and others translate these words to mean we will share in the guilt of the offender. God holds us accountable not only for what we do but also for what we don’t do. Here are some scriptural references:
- In Ezek 3:18-19, God warns Ezekiel that if he doesn’t warn his audience of God’s judgement, the judgement will still come, but Ezekiel will be held responsible;
- James 4:17 says that if we know to do something, and we don’t do it, then we are in sin ourselves; and
- Romans 1:32 says that when we know something is wrong, yet approve of others doing it, we align ourselves with the guilty.
- We will be affected negatively as a result of the offensive behavior. Paul tells Timothy to not partake in someone else’s sin but to keep himself pure, (1 Tim 5:22).
- We may get entangled in the same sin if we don’t confront it,, (Gal 6:1-2), or
- By not speaking up and confronting a person about their sin, we could hold a grudge or even try to take our anger out on them in some vengeful way, and thus be in sin.
Therefore, let’s love others enough to care for their soul and confront issues when needed. When we speak to a person about their sin, we are actually loving them as we love ourselves. Jesus said this is the second most important commandment, second only to loving God with all we are and have.
Why don’t we confront, then, if it is so important? Could not confronting be akin to hating a person? That may be too strong, but it is definitely loving them less than we love ourselves, which is not obeying the second most important commandment of loving our neighbor as ourselves. So what keeps us from confronting? Is fear, which is self-protection, keeping us from loving another enough to confront? Perhaps pride, caring about what another would think of us and protecting our reputation, keeps us from speaking up? Not wanting to hurt another’s feelings is a big one for most of us. But when you think about it, the person is hurt worse when they are not confronted since sin blocks their relationship with God as well as with other people.
When and how to confront.
Does this mean we are to point out each other’s faults as soon as we see someone in a sin? Proverbs 24:11-12 gives us some guidelines. We are to “Deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” If we say we didn’t know about the situation, God considers our hearts and will deal with each of us according to what we have done or not done. So, failing to intervene in an injustice or when someone is imposing danger on themselves or another, does not go unnoticed by God.
In Speaking the Truth in Love: How to Be an Assertive Christian, Ruth N. Koch and Kenneth C. Haugk gives us guidelines about when we should confront a person:
- When a person is continually doing something that you find so challenging that it is affecting your attitude towards that person, or
- If a person is doing something that harms themselves or another person, or is heading towards destruction.
How we say what needs to be said is another thing to consider. Koch and Haugk suggest using “I” statements, expressing how a behavior affected us personally, to keep the statement short and concise, and to give the person time to process what was said because they will probably be hurt or angry.
Before we confront, it is a good idea to forgive. Forgiving will neutralize our otherwise emotionally charged response so we are able to communicate more effectively when we do address the issue. Forgiving can be challenging, especially when the offense was extremely painful. I’m reminded of hearing the analogy of a courtroom where God is the judge who sits above everyone else and is able to see everything clearly. We are those on the courtroom floor who are all on the same level, meaning we also sin and need to be forgiven. We also have the disadvantage of only seeing part of the situation. Because we are not the judge, we are not in the position to pass judgement on the wrong committed against us. Instead, we put the situation in God’s hands who will judge rightly. We release the offender from the debt we feel is owed to us and allow God to judge the situation as he sees fit. This, in no way, is condoning the wrong behavior, saying it didn’t happen, it didn’t hurt, or it wasn’t wrong. We are simply putting the judgment of the situation in God’s hands and releasing the offender from our own judgement. I personally believe this is the only way we will ever want to pray for our enemies, for it is a fearful thing to be judged by a righteous, holy God!
In addressing wrongs, the dynamic of the relationship also needs to be considered. In 1 Timothy 5, Paul instructs Timothy to “not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
Also, remember, you do not know the whole story of any situation. Only God knows the heart. The offender may have another perspective or information that may change your position on the matter. It is always good to ask questions to get a clearer picture of the situation. Who knows that your whole perspective won’t change with just a little bit more information?
Lastly, the author C. S. Lewis, in Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, said that we should honestly bring to God what is truly in us instead of trying to fix things or creating a spiritual facade. This implies that prayerful stillness should come before any reactive or confrontational action, (Wikipedia). Lewis recognized the importance of gaining a godly perspective and calm emotions before confronting.