κλῆμα

ἐγὼ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα. ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ, οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν, ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν. — κατὰ Ὶωάννην 15:5

Ego eimi he ampelos, hymeis ta klemata. Ho menon en emoi kago en auto, houtos ferei karpon polyn, oti choris emou ou dynasthe poiein ouden. — kata Ioannen 15:5

“I am the vine; you, the cuttings. The one who remains in me and I in him, this one bears much fruit because without me you can do nothing.“ — John 15:5, translation mine

Christ's words planted an image of the connection between Himself and His disciples that has lasted two millennia. Calling Himself ἡ ἄμπελος (he ampelos), or the vine, Christ claims the role as root and life source. The individual cuttings, κλήματα (klemata), or branches, only have life within them insofar as they remain connected to the root vine. Just as a branch would wither and die if cut off from the sap provided by the vine, so Christ's disciples cannot live without Him.

The image of the vine and the branches is well-known, as evidenced by its popularity in the names of Christian churches. Yet popular usage does not always entail comprehension, and Christians can treat Christ's words as mere stock words and catchphrases. Repetition without reflection is mere regurgitation.

As most people in America do not grow their own food, I suspect this disconnect with the specifics of viticulture has left a deficiency in our understanding of the image Christ intended. There is a further linguistic disconnect in the translation from the ancient Greek of the Gospels to modern English. Though we usually translate κλήματα as branches, the word itself stems from the verb κλάω (klao), “I break” or “I break off.” Thus, κλῆμα literally means “a thing broken or broken off,” hence, cutting.

Is the Christian then a thing broken off in Christ? How can one remain in something and be broken off? The answer is that the breaking does not refer to our connection with Jesus. Christ wants His followers to know and understand that they are ingrafts, branches broken off from their previous lives of separation from Him and grafted into new life in communion with Him.

Just as no cutting can graft itself into a vine, so too must the Christ follower be grafted into Christ by the Father through the calling of the Holy Spirit. This is not to say that God only calls an elite few. Many are called, but in order for a gardener to graft a cutting onto a vine, the cutting must be yielding and pliable. In this way, the graft can take and the cutting's fibers be inextricably connected to the vine's over time so that the cutting may become a branch that does not fall out or wither.

Christ deliberately chose His words to invoke all the time, trouble, and toil of the ingrafting process in the listener's mind. If man is by nature apart from Christ and must be grafted in to live, then the man has no vital strength of his own. Rather, just as vine ingrafts are susceptible to disease, drought, and detachment, man is vulnerable to being corrupted, crushed, and cut off. This raises a question: how may one remain in Christ?

The exploration of that question is the primary goal of κλῆμα 15:5, specifically:

• to equip followers of Christ with a deeper appreciation for and understanding of the richness of God's Word,
• to invite believers and non-believers to seek deep into the Word of God, which is Christ (John 1:1), and engage in civil discussion about its implications,
• to go beyond rote repetition of crafted phraseology (Matthew 6:7) in the understanding and conveyance of God's Word,
• and to encourage participants to digest the heart and guts of the Word, i.e., Christ, in line with His admonition to take and eat (John 6:53) and assimilate this into their daily lives.

To achieve this, some ground rules are necessary. Differences of opinion and interpretation may be expected, but insults, slander, and profanity will not be tolerated. Incendiary comments will be pruned, and open discussion will be limited to the first day of each post. Comments will be moderated thereafter.

Creating a community and an atmosphere for civil conversation is my sincere hope and prayer for κλῆμα 15:5. I hope you will join me in this examination of God's Word. Μενῶμεν ἐν αὐτῷ (Menomen en auto. Let us remain in Him).