The Fruitless Branch and the Eternal Security of the Believer

Anthony Yaw Badu  ORCID iD &  Jonathan E.T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.8  No.2 February 2022 Issue  Article 1 pp.13-21
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2022821  |   Published online 2nd February 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 1,379
554 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF

The quest for the identification of the fruitless branch has been an enduring theological battleground between the Calvinists and the Arminians who argue as to whether or not the removal of the fruitless branch indicates the loss of eternal salvation. Using a qualitative approach, this study sought to examine the various interpretations on the eternal security of the believer with a focus on three phrases in the passage namely; ἐν ἐμοὶ, (in me) and airō (cut off) and μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί (abide in me). Findings show that the analogy of the vine is a critique to the belief of once saved, forever saved because of the use of “in me” and the “cutting off” of the fruitless branch which cannot happen without a prior linkage to the stem of the vine. Since the fruitless branch can only represent one of the various views, it is recommended that fruitfulness should be the key to one’s walk with the Lord to
avoid eternal separation.

Keywords: Eternal, Salvation, Fruitless, Vine

Barclay, William. The Gospel of John, 2, rev, ed., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Westminster Press, 1975.

Barton, Bruce B. The Life Application Study Bible: New King James Version, Carol Stream, Illinois: 2016.

Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament, New York: Doubleday, 1997.

Calvin, John. Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Vol.2, trans. William Pringle, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Accessed March 29, 2021. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom35.html

Chafer, Sperry Lewis. “The Eternal Security of the Believer,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 106, (1949): 402.

Clarke Adam, The New Testament with Commentary and Critical Notes, I, New York: Lane & Scott., 1850.

Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism with study guide by Roy. Fish, Tarrytown, New York:Fleming H. Revell Company, 1991.

Coogan, Michael D. ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: Augmented Third Edition with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Derickson, Gary W. “Viticulture and John 15:1-6,” Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, (2005): 23-43.

Dillow, Joseph C. “Abiding is Remaining in Fellowship: Another Look at John 15:1-6,” Biblotheca Sacra 147, 1990.

Haubeil, Helmut. Abiding in Me, 3rd ed. Wien, Austrian: Top Life Wegweiser-Verlag, 2019.

Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Ethereal Library. Accessed May 21, 2019. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhcc.html

Ironside, A. Harry. The Eternal Life of the Believer, Chicago, Illinois: 1934.

Kramm, Hans H. The Theology of Martin Luther, London: Clarke & Co. Ltd., 1946. Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies, 3 no. 4 (2012): 575-579.

Laney, John C. “Abiding is Believing: The Analogy of the Vine in John 15:1-6,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 146, (1989).

_________. Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels, Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.

MacArthur, Jr. John F. The Gospel According to Jesus, rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.

Marsh, Cory. “Jesus, The True Vine: An Exegesis of John 15:1–5.” M.A. Diss., Southern California Seminary, 2017.

Marshall, Ian Howard. “The Problem of Apostasy in the New Testament Theology,” Perspectives in Religious Studies, Aberdeen, Scotland: University of Aberdeen.

McGrath, Alister E. ed., The Christian Theology Reader, 3rd ed., USA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.

Robertson, Gregory. “Eternal Security: A Biblical and Theological Appraisal,” A Paper prepared for the Doctrinal Dialogue for the 119th North American Convention of the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana, 2005.

Simon, the New Theologian. “Salvation as Deification,” The Christian Theology Reader, 3rd ed. Alister E. McGrath, editor. USA: Blackwell Publishing, (2007): 355-358.

Smith, Charles R. “The Unfruitful Branches in John 15,” Grace Journal, 9, no. 2, (1968): 2-22.

Water, Mark. The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000.

Wiersbe, Warren W. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed., Italy, David Cook, 2007.

Anthony Yaw Badu is a graduate of Baylor University, Waco, Texas-USA. He is currently the Head Pastor of Ascension Baptist Church, Kumasi – Ghana and pursuing PhD program at the Department of Religious Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor is an Associate Professor in New Testament and Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics in the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology – Kumasi Ghana.

Badu, A.Y. & Kuwornu-Adjaottor, J.E.T., “The Fruitless Branch and the Eternal Security of the Believer,” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 8 no.2 (2022): 13-21  https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.2022821 

© 2022 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Articles in this Issue

About Journal