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SUBJECT:
John 15:2
QUESTION: What does the phrase “he taketh away” mean?
ANSWER:
John 15:2
Every branch in me that
beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth
more fruit.
First look at the Strong’s
definition:
G142
αἴρω
airō
ah'ee-ro
A primary verb; to lift; by implication to take
up or away; figuratively to raise (the
voice), keep in suspense (the mind);
specifically to sail away (that is, weigh
anchor); by Hebraism (compare [H5375])
to expiate sin: - away with, bear (up), carry, lift
up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).
~Strong’s
Now the commentary…
He taketh away -
The vine-dresser cuts it off. God removes such in various
ways:
1. by the
discipline of the church.
2. by
suffering them to fall into temptation.
3. by
persecution and tribulation, by the deceitfulness of riches,
and by the cares of the world
Matthew _13:21-22;
by suffering the man to be placed in such circumstances as
Judas, Achan, and Ananias were such as to show what they
were, to bring their characters fairly out, and to let it be
seen that they had no true love to God.
4. by
death, for God has power thus at any moment to remove
unprofitable branches from the church.
~Barnes Notes
Now another one that is more on point:
taketh away--removes them from that sort of being
which they had in Christ. By some means or another he
discovers them to the saints to be what they are; sometimes
he suffers persecution to arise because of the word, and
these men are quickly offended, and depart of their own
accord; or they fall into erroneous principles, and set up
for themselves, and separate from the churches of Christ; or
they become guilty of scandalous enormities, and so are
removed from their fellowship by excommunication; or if
neither of these should be the case, but these tares should
grow together with the wheat till the harvest, the angels
will be sent forth, who will gather out of the kingdom of
God all that offend and do iniquity, and cast them into a
furnace of fire, as branches withered, and fit to be burnt.
~John Gill |