Day 26

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

Of the miracles Jesus performed, of the remarkable teaching that came from His lips, of His deep impact on so many around him, He put in a surprising disclaimer. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing…" (John 5:19). Later, He said, "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me" (John 5:30). Still later, He said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am who I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (John 8:28).

The claim of Jesus was, "I do nothing myself". What about his miracles? Didn't he perform those? And what about his teaching? He denied being responsible for either. He said to his disciples, "Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (John 14:10). The words you hear from my lips and the works you see from my hands, are not mine! Do not congratulate me for them, for they do not come from me, but from my Father 'who is doing His work'.

Jesus was never less than God as to His being, but He lived on earth as though He was never more than a man as to his function. He did not live as we do in our fallen condition, but as Adam was in his perfect condition. Jesus is called, 'the second man' (1 Corinthians 15.47) and 'the last Adam' (1 Corinthians 15.45). The second man, that is, to function as God had created Adam to function, but which Adam had spoiled in the Fall, leaving humanity by nature, 'separated from the life of God' (Ephesians 4.18). This is the natural condition into which all humanity is born. The new birth restores the life of God to human experience. We then live in dependence on His life indwelling us, as Jesus lived in dependence on His father indwelling Him.

If Jesus' explanation of Himself in John 14 was that he could do nothing himself, that "it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work", then in John 15 in the same discourse with his disciples, he says the same thing is to be true of them. "Abide in me, and I will abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15.4-5). 'Nothing' was as much as Jesus could do, apart from the work of His Father in Him, and 'nothing' is as much as we can do apart from the work of Christ in us. As he was abiding in his Father and his father in Him, so we abide in Christ and He in us and the consequence of both is fruitfulness. The fruit of our lives have their root in God's activity in and through us!