αἴρει / καθαίρει

Πᾶν κλῆμα ἐν ἐμοὶ μὴ φέρον καρπὸν αἴρει αὐτό, καὶ πᾶν τὸ καρπὸν φέρον καθαίρει αὐτὸ ἵνα καρπὸν πλείονα φέρῃ. — κατὰ Ὶωάννην 15:2

Pan klema en emoi me feron karpon airei auto, kai pan to karpon feron kathairei auto hina karpon pleiona fere. — kata Ioannen 15:2

“Every branch in Me not bearing fruit He carries off, and every branch bearing fruit He prunes (cleanses) so that it may bear much fruit.” — John 15:2, translation mine

Dead branches require little to no provocation to break off from a trunk or vine. Without a link to the main sap line, the branch can no longer produce. It is not fed, and cannot in turn feed any flowers or fruit that might have sprung from it. So it is with those who claim Christ and yet harden their hearts against His Word.

Living branches, on the other hand, flower and fruit as they receive the sap and its nutrients. Yet a good gardener will frequently prune back branches in order to increase their yield. Although this often leaves the branch bare and exposed at its core, it will come back twofold or threefold. So it is with those who claim Christ and let the Father, the earth-worker, prune them.

John plays the verbs αἴρει and καθαίρει against each other phonetically to amplify this dichotomy in the ancient Greek. The verb αἴρει signifies the carrying off of the dead branches. There is no resuscitating the branches that are already dead. The dessicated limbs which can only be trashed or burned did not dry out in having sap pushed into them from the roots but in resisting the sap through their own hardening.

Likewise, God has not been stingy with His blessings to all men, for as God told Adam, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is one the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food” (Gen 1:29, ESV). But man's stubbornness in rejecting God's gift and seeking his own sustenance sealed his fate, and God turned Adam over to his own desires. Yet all the advances from Adam's time until now in farming, hunting, or even genetic engineering cannot create matter ex nihilo. The raw materials must still be provided by God.

Conversely, the verb καθαίρει signifies the pruning back of the living branches. Τhe adjective καθαρὸς (katharos), or clean, forms the root of this verb, and pruning is the cleansing of the branch. Just as a gardener trims the branches of a vine to remove dying tendrils or unnecessary and twisted growth, so God applies His discipline to the faithful who accept His pruning of all that is dying, unnecessary, or twisted in them.

The hardening or yielding of the individual's heart to God's direction and tending is a response to didactic pain. Ironically, the one who hardens his heart to escape the pain will eventually, unless he repents, suffer the eternal pain of the second death, whereas the one who yields to accept the pain will suffer for the moment but grow into new life. The apostle James admonishes us, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4, ESV) and again, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12, ESV). By accepting God's pruning in our lives, we may come before Him at the last, sanctified by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ and nourished and cleansed by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.