Can We Stop Bearing Fruit?

Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. John 15:2

This verse has been used by preachers my whole life to threaten us with. But let’s dissect the Truth and see if this verse should frighten us or encourage the daylights out of us. The first Truth to be considered here is that to be one with Christ is a gift. Salvation is a free gift from God, Ephesians 2:8. 

The second Truth that our Father tells us is that He never takes His gifts back once He gives them. 

For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.] Romans 11:29

The third Truth to consider, if someone wants to threaten you that you may stop bearing fruit can be found in Ezekiel 36:27: And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.

Now taking all of these verses together we can see that if we are saved, we are only saved because our Father gave it to us. And our Father will never take it back, because He never withdraws a gift once He gives it. We also can see that because we have been given the gift of salvation, or in other words the gift of being one with Jesus, that our Father will place His Spirit within us and cause us to bear fruit. So there is absolutely no chance that if we are saved that we can ever stop bearing fruit and be cast out of our perfect union with Christ.

So why did Jesus say this? Jesus often spoke in parables and in ways that seemed to confound. He did this because the Truth is not for everyone to know, Mark 4:10-12. It is not a lie that if a born again person would stop bearing fruit, that they would be cast out of Jesus. But the greater Truth, the whole Truth, is that it is impossible for a true child of God to not be used by our Father to bear fruit. The wolves in sheep’s clothing will use this verse to try to keep the focus on man and not on Jesus. They will use it for fear instead of sharing the glorious Truth that it is impossible for us to not continually be used by our Father to bear luscious and everlasting fruit. 

John 15:2 is a glorious verse and there is no fear in it at all. The Truth is that our Father will constantly do whatever is needed so that He can always cause us to grow and be used in more and more powerful ways!