Y2 Abiding in Yeshua in Order to Bear Fruit. [Make a Comment]
We are to abide in (stay united with) Yeshua in order to bear fruit.
This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):
Key Scriptures
John 15:4-7
(NKJ)
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless
it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the
vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me,
he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw
them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words
abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Alternatively:
John 15:4-7
(CJB)
Stay united with1
me, as I will with you - for just as the branch can't
put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can't bear fruit
apart from me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay
united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because
apart from me you can't do a thing. Unless a person remains united with
me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered
and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up. If you remain united
with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will
happen for you.
1. The CJB renders μείνατε ἐν in John 15:4 (BGT) as "stay united with", whereas other translations render μείνατε ἐν as "abide in" or "remain in."
John 15:16
You did not choose me, I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and
bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father
in my name he may give you.
Romans 7:4
Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to the Torah through
the Messiah's body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the
one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for
God.
Supportive Scriptures - Abiding In (Staying United with) Yeshua
John 17:20-23
I pray not only for these, but also for those who will trust in me because
of their word, that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are united
with me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with us, so that the
world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given to me, I
have given to them; so that they may be one, just as we are one - I united
with them and you with me, so that they may be completely one, and the world
thus realize that you sent me, and that you have loved them just as you have
loved me.
Romans 6:3-5
Don't you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah
Yeshua have been immersed into his death? Through immersion into his death
we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father,
the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be
united with him in a resurrection like his.
1 Corinthians 6:16-17
Don't you know that a man who joins himself to a prostitute becomes
physically one with her? For the Tanakh says, "The two will become one
flesh"; but the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation - the
old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new!
Galatians 3:26-28
For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this
trusting faithfulness; because as many of you as were immersed into the
Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom there is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in
union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.
1 John 5:20
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment, so
that we may know who is genuine; moreover, we are united with the One who is
genuine, united with his Son Yeshua the Messiah. He is the genuine God and
eternal life.
Supportive Scriptures - Bearing Fruit
Matthew 7:16-20
You will recognize them by their fruit. Can people pick grapes from thorn
bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every healthy tree produces good
fruit, but a poor tree produces bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad
fruit, or a poor tree good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit
is cut down and thrown in the fire! So you will recognize them by their
fruit.
Matthew 13:22-23
Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but
it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth,
so that it produces nothing. However, what was sown on rich soil is the one
who hears the message and understands it; such a person will surely bear
fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Galatians 3:26-28
For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this
trusting faithfulness; because as many of you as were immersed into the
Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom there is neither
Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in
union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one.
Galatians 5:22-26
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands
against such things. Moreover, those who belong to the Messiah Yeshua have
put their old nature to death on the stake, along with its passions and
desires. Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be
through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day. Let us not become
conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Philippians 1:9-11
And this is my prayer: that your love may more and more overflow in fullness
of knowledge and depth of discernment, so that you will be able to determine
what is best and thus be pure and without blame for the Day of the Messiah,
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Yeshua the Messiah
- to the glory and praise of God.
Colossians 1:9-10
Therefore, from the day we heard of it, we have not stopped praying for you,
asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all the wisdom and
understanding which the Spirit gives; so that you may live lives worthy of
the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and
multiplying in the full knowledge of God.
Commentary
It is not possible for a man to bear no fruit at all. By merely being alive, man will bear either good fruit or bad fruit, and Scripture makes it plain that the choice is ours. Only good fruit results from our abiding in (being united with) Yeshua, and he is quoted to have said: "apart from me you can't do a thing."
That is not to say that isolated instances of good fruit can never come from a person who is not united with Yeshua or that God cannot work His will through an unbeliever. However, Scripture is exhorting us that if we want to bear good fruit for God we must be (and remain) united with Yeshua, and then (and only then) will good fruit from us be assured.
Classical Commentators
This Mitzvah is not addressed by any of the Jewish classical commentators.
NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm