Our abiding in the Son is for bearing fruit. Fruit-bearing takes place through the branches abiding in the vine and allowing the vine to abide in the branches. Fruit-bearing is the overflow of the riches of the life of the vine, that is, the overflow of our inner life. When we continually enjoy Christ as our everything, we have the riches of life. From these riches there will be a stream of water reaching men, permeating their living, and bearing fruit. This is the fruit-bearing through the overflow of the riches of the divine life.
Fruit-bearing is for the Father to be glorified. In John 15:8 the Lord Jesus said, “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.” In fruit-bearing, the Father’s life is expressed; hence, in fruit-bearing, the Father is glorified. The vine tree with its branches is the organism for the Father to be glorified. With the vine, the Father is glorified through the expression of the riches of the divine life in fruit-bearing.
The fruit produced by the branches of the vine is the expression of the vine. If the branches do not bear fruit, there will not be the expression of the inner life element of the vine. The fruit produced by the branches is the expression of the inner life of the vine. This attests of the Father’s being glorified through our fruit-bearing.
In verse 8 glory indicates the expression of the Father’s desire, content, inner life, and inner riches. When the vine bears clusters of grapes, the riches of the divine life are expressed. This expression is the glorification of the Father because the Father is the divine life.
The Father is the source and the substance of the vine tree. Without the fruit produced by the branches, the essence, substance, and life of the vine would be hidden and limited. But when the branches bear much fruit, the riches of the inner life of the vine are expressed in the fruit. This expression is the release of the divine substance from the vine. This is the glorification of the Father because this is the expression of the riches of the Father’s life. When we bear much fruit by abiding in the vine, the result is that the Father is glorified.
Through living in the organism of the Divine Trinity, the believers participate in the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. This organism is constituted with Christ and all His members. This is for our transformation, which results in being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. Since the believers are persons living in the organism of the Divine Trinity, the Spirit of reality has convicted us concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. Sin is related to Adam, because sin came through Adam. In Adam, everyone in the world is born in sin; hence, to not believe in the Son is the unique sin that causes people to perish. Righteousness is related to Christ, because the Son went to the Father in resurrection and ascension; this is proof that Christ has accomplished God’s redemption, that this redemption has been accepted by God the Father in fulfilling His righteous requirement, and that the believers can be justified by God through this righteousness. Judgment is related to Satan, because the ruler of this world has been judged; all those who refuse to be transferred from Adam into Christ will suffer with Satan in his judgment. But the believers who believe into Christ are transferred from Adam into Christ to become children of God and members of Christ, living in the organism of the Divine Trinity and participating in the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
In addition, the believers were born as the newborn child through Christ’s going and coming—His death and resurrection. The Lord’s going was His all-inclusive death, which prepared a place for the believers to enter into God; the Lord’s coming was His resurrection for the germination of the believers to produce the church. In His resurrection Christ gave birth to the corporate new man, who is comprised of Himself as the firstborn Son of God and of His many brothers as the many sons of God. This newborn child is the aggregate of all of God’s children (sons), born together with Christ in His resurrection, including Christ as the Head and the many brothers as the Body. Therefore, this newborn child is the new man, the Body of Christ.
Christ the true vine is the universal organism of the Divine Trinity, which includes Christ and the believers as the branches with the Father as the husbandman and the Spirit as the One who testifies. This vine tree is the center of the universal vineyard; all that the Father is and all that He has are expressed and manifested through this center. The believers are the branches. Through abiding in Christ the Son (the vine as the organism of the Divine Trinity), we experience and enjoy Him, and by abiding in the Son with the Father, we become the Father’s expression. Our abiding is for fruit-bearing, which is the overflow of the riches of the life of the vine, and the Father is glorified in the matter of fruit-bearing through the expression of the divine life, because the Father is the divine life.