I AM THE TRUE VINE

Isaiah used the vine as a type of Israel, planted and tended by the Almighty as the husbandman.(Isaiah 5:1). Israel was not the true vine. Christ is the true vine (John 15:1). In John 14 the Lord had just said to the disciples, “Arise, let us go hence.” He had just eaten the last supper with the apos-tles. He said that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine again on this earth. Likely on the table from which they had just risen was the fruit of the vine. And now he says, “I am the true vine.”

In the first eight verses of John 15 we find the following outstanding lessons about the vine and the branches.

1. That morality alone cannot save.
2. That there is but one true church.
3. That we should get in Christ, stay in Christ, and stay out of everything else or be lost.

Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Morality alone cannot save. Men can be morally good apart from Christ. Yet apart from Christ they can do nothing. There is no spiritual life apart from Christ. Cornelius was a moral man apart from Christ but he was unsaved (Acts 11:14). If morality alone can save then Jesus died in vain. There were just as good men morally to be found in the Mosaic age as there are now. If a man can be saved by his own goodness then Jesus died for no purpose at all. Why did he die if they could be saved by their own goodness? Let the moral man remember these words, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” There is no spiritual life apart from Jesus Christ, the true vine.

Thus we see that one must get into Christ to be saved. Paul says that we are baptized into Christ. That makes baptism necessary to salvation in Christ Jesus. You cannot do anything apart from Christ but you can’t get into Christ unless you are baptized (Galatians 3:27).

This “true vine” is the true church. The vine is the spiritual body of Christ. The church is His body (Colossians 1:18). There is one body (Ephesians 4:4). There is but one body (I Corinthians 12:20). Paul does not say “churches” but “the church.” If one desires to be united with Christ let him obey the gospel and thus be added to the “one body,” the church, the “true vine.”

The objector says that Christ is the true vine and all the denominations are branches. Christ said, “I” am the vine and “ye” are the branches. “He” that abideth in me. Note the use of the per-sonal pronoun. Do men refer to churches as “he” and “ye”? Is that the way they talk where you live? Is that the way your preacher talks? Would you say about the Baptist Church—he is a large church? The use of the personal pronoun shows that Christ was talking to his disciples and not to “churches.” Individuals are the branches and not organizations. But just suppose for a minute that the branches are churches. In what branch are you? You say that I am in the Baptist branch. Yes, but wait, Christ said abide in “me.” You should not abide in a branch but in the vine. If you are in a branch you ought to get out of it and get in the vine. Get out of the branch and get in the vine. “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” Abide in the vine or be burned. Do not abide in a branch. You cannot abide in a branch. A branch is a disciple or a Christian. Individuals are the branches and not denominations.

Did God set denominations in the vine? If so, which ones did He put in? If God set denominations in the vine it is strange that He never said anything about it. If He did mention them will someone please tell where?

For one to claim that denominations are the branches is an apology for something they know that is not mentioned in the Bible and a rank per-version of the fifteenth chapter of John. Denominations came into existence hundreds of years after Christ. They are of human origin and no one has a Bible right to belong to any of them.

The “true vine,” the church, was established by Christ and all Christians are members of it (John 3:5). The church is God’s house. God’s house is His family (I Timothy 3:15). God has no children out-side of His family.

From this chapter we learn that we must bear fruit to please God. “Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples.” You cannot bear fruit apart from the vine. To bear fruit you must be in the vine. How does one get in the vine? He must believe (Mark 16:15-16.) He must repent. (Acts 2:38.) He must be baptized (Galatians 3:27.) These steps put one into Christ. Yet it is not enough to get into Christ. In Christ the branch must bear good fruit. The fruitless branch (disciple) will be lost. He will be cast forth and be burned (John 15:6.) Our duty in regard to this is clear. We must get in Christ, stay in Christ, and stay out of everything else.

Someone may ask, “Can a man be saved and go to heaven and stay out of the vine?” No, for Christ says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” It is Christ or nothing. It is the true vine or no vine. It is the true church or no church. Christ here teaches that you cannot be saved out of the church and you cannot be saved unless you stay in the church.

G. K. Wallace

Denominationalism Is Sinful

In the discussion of denominationalism and its evils, I am discussing the question, "Is it possible for one to know for certain when he is in the church the Lord had in mind when He said in Matthew 16:18, '...I will build my church..."? If I can find that church, and how to enter it, then I will have paved the way for the destruction of all denominations, for they will be of no more use in this world. 

It is common to hear people say, "How can you know which one is the church the Lord built?" They say, "Since you cannot know which one He built, then we just get in a branch of the church." The Lord said, "I will build my church..." He never said, "I will build branches of my church." Now for one to know that the "branch" of which he is a member is a "branch" of the church the Lord built, he would have to find the church the Lord built. If he could not find the one the Lord built, how could he know that the thing he is in was a "branch" of it? Well, if he found the one the Lord built, then why not just come down out of the limb and get in that which the Lord said He built? 

Now turn with me to Acts 2, and find out just how we become members of the church of the Lord. It is the day of Pentecost. The promise of the Lord to His disciples of the Spirit has been fulfilled (Acts 2:33). They are now speaking as moved by the Spirit, (Acts 2:1-4), Who came to guide them into all truth (John 16:13)? That truth is now being spoken. It is from heaven, and not from men. 

On that day, Peter told them they had crucified the Lord of Glory, and that they did it by wicked hands. He brought the Old Testament prophets to witness that the things taking place there that day were the things spoken of by them, that Christ was raised in fulfillment of them, and that He was raised up to sit on the throne of their father, David. He declared that Christ was at that time exalted at the right hand of God, and commanded them to know assuredly that this same Jesus whom they had crucified was then made both Lord and Christ. 

They were cut to their hearts by this message. Nothing but faith, or belief, in that message would have cut them to the heart and made them inquire, "...What shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). Thus faith comes before repentance, Baptist preachers notwithstanding. Then, guided by the Holy Spirit, Peter answered that question in these words: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:38). Not a denominational preacher that I know will give that answer and stay with it all the way through. Did you ever hear a Methodist, Baptist, or Presbyterian preacher give that answer? Why do they not give it? It is not the doctrine of denominationalism. The Lord is the author of Peter's answer. Man has made an answer to fit his denomination. God did not build a denomination, branch, or limb of the church, and neither has He given the various doctrines that govern those "limbs." He built the church and gave the terms of admission into it, and here those terms were given. 

How do I know that to believe the word of the Lord, repent of sins, and be baptized for the remission of sins are the conditions of membership in the church of the Lord? Hear the book as it speaks in verse 41: "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Verse 47: "...And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." 

Now we have a question or two to ask. The Lord said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church..." In Acts 2:47, the record says "...the Lord added to the church..." To which church did the Lord add them? He said He was going to build His church, and here we find Him adding to the church. To ask that question is to answer it. He added them to the church He built. What had they done? Those who believed what Peter preached were told to, "Repent, and be baptized...for the remission of sins..." So they were not members of a church that will not preach that same thing. But those who did that back there were members of the church the Lord built, and it looks like all preachers could see this. 

Did you know that the Lord did not take 500 of them and add them to the Baptist Church, then add 500 to the Methodist Church, 500 to the Nazarene Church, etc., until He got them all situated? There were no such denominations then. These denominations are the products of error taught in our land, and if all taught today just what Peter taught then, there would be no denominations and we would all be one. Someone is teaching error, and that is the church — or churches — that deny what Peter preached as being necessary today. If you are in one that will not teach what he did, then you are in the wrong one. It could not even be a "branch" or "limb" — if there were such a thing — for you would have the branch trying to destroy the trunk! 

What is the danger in being in that which the Lord did not build? In Matthew 15:13, Jesus said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Be it remembered, He never did say, "I will build branches of the church as warring denominations." He said, "I will build my church," and it was one body (I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 2:16). 

Now, since He never promised to build "branches" of the church — one teaching one thing and the other denying it — but since He promised, and built His church, and has definitely said He will root up all He has not planted, don't you think you'd best be thinking whether you are out on a limb that has no connection with the Lord's building program, or whether you are in that which the Father sent His Son to build? 

Friends, get out of denominations now and come to the sermon preached by Peter and obey it, and let the Lord add you to the church, as we of the church of the Lord beg you to do. We have done just what they did on Pentecost. Since God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11), He has added us to the church He built, just as He did those on the day of Pentecost, and will add you to that same church if you will obey Him.

E. R. Harper