πῦρ

Ἐὰν μή τις μένῃ ἐν ἐμοί, ἐβλήθη ἔξω ὡς τὸ κλῆμα καὶ ἐξηράνθη καὶ συνάγουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ πῦρ βάλλουσιν καὶ καίεται. — κατὰ Ἰωάννην 15:6

ean me tis mene en emoi, eblethe exo hos to klema kai exeranthe kai synagousin auta kai eis to pyr ballousin kai kaietai. — kata Ioannen 15:6

“If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown outside like the cutting and is dried up, and they gather the cuttings and throw them into the fire, and the cuttings are burned up.” — John 15:6, translation mine

Damnation is not a popular topic. The current zeitgeist condemns the mere concept as antiquated, intolerant, and unfair. I have heard the subject characterized as Old Testament thought in opposition to, as C.S. Lewis called it, the allegedly indulgent grandfather God of the New. Though caked with centuries of patina, this particular gnostic heresy must still be addressed as it perpetually tries to creep into the Church like poison oak.

Proponents of this erroneous ditheism cite Old Testament prophets speaking of God's coming wrath in juxtaposition to Christ's admonition to “judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1, ESV) or other cherry-picked verses to make their point. God does explicitly speak of the execution of His wrath against false vines that bear Him no fruit:

• And now I will tell you
• what I will do to my vineyard.
• I will remove its hedge,
• And it shall be devoured;
• I will break down its wall,
• and it shall be trampled down.
• I will make it a waste;
• it shall not be pruned or hoed,
• and briers and thorns shall grow up;
• I will also command the clouds
• that they rain no rain upon it.
• Isaiah 5:5-6, ESV

The consequences of not following God, particularly when claiming His favor, are bleak. Yet Isaiah is not the only witness to this aspect of God's justice and righteousness.

Christ Himself speaks of the same damnation and judgment. John records the same reaction to fruitless branches from Jesus' mouth (John 15:6) as Isaiah records from from the Father's. Matthew witnesses Jesus saying, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19). Mark tells of Jesus preaching, “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43, ESV). Luke testifies the same through recalling Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man was condemned to eternal fire for his lack of compassion and rejection of God's ways (Luke 16:19-31, ESV). All four evangelists depict Jesus describing God's wrath as fire and damnation as eternal torment. In this, the Son and the Father agree, for as Christ Himself said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works” (John 14:10b, ESV).

As man cannot separate the Father and the Son, the next heresy condemning damnation is the belief that God is a sadist. This belief must rest on the premise that man deserves everything he thinks he desires without question. The selfishness that screams, “I am too lovable to be damned” exalts the man above the Maker, thinking that God loves man on man's own intrinsic worth. Yet man's intrinsic worth comes from what God has put into him, namely the breath of life and creation in God's image.

Accordingly, the man who refuses the Father's tending refuses the very thing that gives him life. The spiritual sclerosis that blocks the sap of the vine from entering the heart is an act of suicide, cursing God for what He has made out of the overflow of love inherent in His character. It is the limb that rejects the body, attacking the thing meant to save it. Consequently, the hardened cutting falls out of the vine and dries up.

The one active verb in John 15:6 of which man is the agent is μένῃ, to remain. After deciding not to remain in Christ, the dried out man can do naught but passively wait to be gathered and thrown into the fire. The fall from the vine is not because of the sadism of the Father, but rather the masochism of man, born out of hatred of self on account of origin unto eternal death. It is useless to curse God for stamping into us an indelible reminder of Him and our need for His presence in our lives. As we stem from the Father's work, remaining in Christ and the Father's will is the only viable option.