The disciple is a NT concept and is a believer who is dedicated to the word of God, John 15:8

Title: The disciple is a NT concept and is a believer who is dedicated to the word of God, John 15:8.

 

They are on their way from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

John 15:1 I am the true vine [dependable vine means that He rests on the tress work of the Father], and My Father is the vinedresser.

 

John 15:2"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.

 

John 15:3"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

 

John 15:4"Abide in Me, and I in you [ECS]. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

 

To abide in Me is to do what He did. Trust the Father’s plan and do what the Father called you to do. He did it without sin, you do it with confession. Do it and don’t look back.

 

John 15:5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

 

John 15:6"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

 

John 15:7"If you abide in Me, and My words [all this doctrine] abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.

 

If you desire to ask [which will be according to the will of the Father because you abide in the vine] it will come to pass for you.

 

Corrected:

John 15:7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, if you desire to ask it will come to pass for you.

 

John 15:8"By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

 

Clearly stated here is that the Father is glorified when we bear much fruit.

 

 “fruit” - divine good production. The believer that abides in Christ during phase 2 produces much divine good and glorifies the Father who is the Author of the plan.

 

Remember that the Father is the vinedresser. The vinedresser is the one who cultivates the land, prunes the branches, makes healthy soil, protects the vine from parasites, etc.

 

The soil is the grace PPOG which the Father authored in eternity past. Living in the plan produces fruit and so the plan’s Author is glorified.

 

Divine good - application of metabolized doctrine under the power of the Spirit, motivated by love for God, and directed by the word of God.

 

Human good: a thought, word or action motivated by love for self, guided by human viewpoint, and empowered by the sin nature.

 

What seems to be good is not always good. Wrong motivation can take what is well meaning sincerity to do good and turn it into evil.

 

Therefore, spiritual growth is the key to producing divine good and so it is the plan, the doctrine, and the power of the Spirit that gets glorified and not so much the deed itself.

 

Divine good is the production of the mature believer primarily and it comes from the source of God directly.

 

It is your destiny to produce divine good.

 

EPH 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

The destiny of man is not to work for God, but for God to work for him. The ultimate is the real imputation of divine blessing to the mature believer. In this the work of God for man reaches its peak of grace which glorifies the Father and TLJC. 

 

Grace means that God provides everything necessary and the mature believer simply submits to God’s provisions and the doctrines that instruct him on how to exploit those provisions.

 

2 Cor 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.

 

2 Cor 9:7Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.

 

2 Cor 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed [divine good work];

 

Divine good always begins in the soul with proper thinking from a balance of doctrine. It may remain a thought or become a verbal form of good or an overt form of good.

 

2 Thess 2:16-17

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

 

Production of divine good is related to the honor of the royal priest, 2 Tim 2:21.

 

2 Tim 2:21

Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, [false doctrines in context] he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

 

John 15:8"By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

 

 “proves” - future middle indicative of ginomai [ginomai] = to become, to come into existence, to begin to be. “and become My disciples.”

 

You do not prove to others that you are a disciple. There are no fruit inspectors in the CWL. In fact the disciple may not be known to others since part of the uniqueness of the CA is that we become invisible heroes.

 

One of the first doctrinal teachers I listened to put me under bondage because he said that people ought to know that you are a positive believer. So the next day I was at work trying to show just that to everyone. Silliness.

 

Future tense - at the point of momentum for fruit bearing which occurs at spiritual adulthood.

 

Middle voice - the believer benefits greatly by being a disciple in terms of escrow blessings.

 

Indicative mood - Dogmatic fact; when the believer is producing much fruit he is a disciple.

 

 “disciple” - mathetes [mathetes] = disciple, pupil, adherent, a disciplined student of doctrine.