John 15:6

Jesus appears to have been continuing to speak of abiding in the sense of believers remaining close to Himself. The "anyone" in the context would be any believer. Therefore what He said applies to believers, not unbelievers.

It is not proper to conclude that non-abiding disciples are all unbelievers. Many interpreters who believe that all genuine believers will inevitably persevere in the faith and good works tend to do this. They tend to impose their doctrine on this verse and make the verse fit their theology rather than interpreting the verse in its context. This is an example of allowing theology to determine exegesis rather than allowing exegesis to determine theology. Jesus was speaking in this context of abiding and non-abiding disciple believers and gave no hint that He was speaking about unbelievers.

Many interpreters have taken John 15:6 as an exposition of John 15:2. However the viticulture process that Jesus described in John 15:6 took place in the fall whereas the process He mentioned in John 15:2 happened in the spring. [Note: Derickson, "Viticulture and . . .," pp. 50-51.] In the fall the vinedresser would prune (Gr. kathairo) the vines for the winter by cutting off the dead wood. He would not cut off the unfruitful branches that would produce grapes the next season but only the branches that did not have a healthy connection to the vine. The point of the verse is that branches with other serious problems, not just non-fruit-bearing branches (John 15:2), also experience pruning.

What happens to these branches? Jesus said the vinedresser disposes of them. This has led some interpreters to conclude that they lose their salvation and go to hell, especially since He mentioned burning in fire. Others believe He implied that believers who do not abide in Christ will suffer the loss of reward at the judgment seat of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:15 where fire appears in connection with the judgment of believers). Fire is a common figure that occurs throughout Scripture to describe the judgment of believers as well as unbelievers (cf. Genesis 19:24-26; Numbers 11:1; Isaiah 9:19; Ezekiel 15:1-8; et al.). Still others think the mention of fire is only incidental since vinedressers burned the branches they cut off in the fall pruning. They believe Jesus’ point was that some Christians are as useless to God as these branches were to vine-growers. The point is their uselessness, not their judgment. Pruning may involve premature death or some other form of divine discipline but certainly not loss of salvation and perhaps not even loss of reward. I prefer view three, but I concede that view two may be correct. All interpreters believe Jesus mentioned this pruning to encourage His disciples to abide in Him. Then they would bear much fruit. [Note: See also John A. Tucker, "The Inevitability of Fruitbearing: An Exegesis of John 15:6 - Part I," Journal of Dispensational Theology 15:44 (April 2011):51-68.]