The Vine and the Branches - John 15

John 15 contains a brilliant analogy for the relationship between God the Father, Jesus the Messiah, and the Church and its believers.  The first 5 verses get us started and should be very familiar:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."  ----- ESV

In most versions of the Bible, there is an unfortunate translation choice that confuses the analogy, and that is the use of "he takes away" in verse 2.  An equally proper, and I think better, translation of that Greek word (airei) is "he lifts up".  If we are going to apply Jesus' analogy to our lives, let's at least do it correctly, understanding fully the context.  That same Greek word is used in Acts chapter 1 to describe Jesus' ascension into Heaven.  When Jesus was lifted up into Heaven, we surely wouldn't refer to Jesus as being "cut off" or "taken away" with a connotation of judgement. Yet that is what conventional interpretations often do.

This article from a vineyard owner really says it well.  The gardener "lifts up" any branches that trail along the ground, and ties them on to the support structure so that they grow upward.  They are pruned as well, of course, but there's no pruning until they've been tied on and trained to go upward.

Also, the word for "prunes" in verse 2 is also the same Greek word (katharoi) as for "clean" in verse 3.  Those two verses should be translated using the same word (and I think pruned is the better word for both verses).

Later, when the analogy shifts to cutting off branches that are no longer abiding in the vine, and bundling them up to be burned, it's a very appropriate translation.  If a branch breaks off at the trunk, or at the cordon (arm), it loses its connection to the vine and becomes dead.  Nothing for it at that point than to be burned up.  But there's no cutting off and burning for a branch that is trailing along the ground.  Instead, it gets the Vinedressers loving attention; he tends to it in such a way as to help it to grow properly, and produce good fruit.