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The Lord's Word
Read What the Word Says about Vines, Trees and Branches
Quotes about Vines, Trees and Branches
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The Old Testament
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| Genesis 9:7 |
And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth… |
| Leviticus 19:10 |
And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God |
| Psalm 80:14-15 |
Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine
And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted,
And the branch that You made strong for Yourself.
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| Psalm 92:13-14 |
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing….
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| Isaiah 4:2 |
In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing….
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| Isaiah 3:10 |
"Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them,
For they shall eat the fruit of their doings."
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| Isaiah 27:2-3 |
In that day, a vineyard of undiluted wine, answer unto her,
I Jehovah am keeping it, I will water it every moment.
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| Jeremiah 5:10 |
"Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
Have dealt very treacherously with Me," says the Lord.
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| Jeremiah 17:10 |
I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
And according to the fruit of his doings.
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| Micah 6:8 |
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
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The New Testament
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| Matthew 7:16-20 |
"You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" |
| Matthew 22:37-40 |
"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" |
| Luke 6:43-45 |
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" |
| Luke 13:6-9 |
He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down'" |
| John 3:27 |
"A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven" |
| John 15:1-2,4-12,16-17 |
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit….
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.
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you….
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
These things I command you, that you love one another."
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The Heavenly Doctrines
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I AM THE VINE, YOU ARE THE BRANCHES
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| Arcana Coelestia 10773 |
Everything good that is an aspect of love and every truth that composes faith originates in Him, and none of it whatever in any human being
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| see Arcana Coelestia 5113:15, 16 |
The understanding of a spiritual person is made new and regenerated by truth which is from the Lord alone, therefore the Lord compares Himself to a "vine." And those who are implanted in the truth which is from Him, and consequently in Him, He compares to the "shoots" and the good therefrom to the "fruit" in John 15. In the supreme sense a "vine" signifies the Lord as to Divine truth, and in the internal sense a vine symbolizes the intellectual part of a person who is spiritual
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| Arcana Coelestia 9445 |
No person left to himself is able to do what is good or think what is true; he can do so only with the Lord's help, as is clear in John 3:27 and John 15:5. Nor can anyone draw another away from sins, that is, forgive them, except the Lord alone
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| Matt. 7:17-20; 12:33 |
Falsities which have evil within them are like trees which bear bad fruit, which must be uprooted and thrown into the fire, in accordance with the Lord's words in Matthew:
Every good tree bears good fruit, but a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
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| John 15:4-6 |
And in John:
Jesus said, As the branch cannot bear fruit by 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, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you cannot do anything. If a person does not abide in Me he will be cast forth as a branch and be withered; and they gather it and throw it into the fire, and it is burned. John 15:4-6.
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| Arcana Coelestia 9259:4 |
From this it is evident that all good which is going to bear any fruit begins in the Lord, and unless it comes from Him it is not good
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| Arcana Coelestia 2343:5, 6 |
That no one can believe in the Lord unless he is in good, that is, that no one can have faith unless he is in charity, is evident in John: "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). And again: "I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing. If one abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. As the Father hath loved Me, I also have loved you; abide ye in My love. This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you (John 15:5-6, 9, 12). From these passages it can be seen that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the life of faith
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| Coronis 47 |
God is the All in all of the church and its religion. The acknowledgment of God in it, is like the soul in the body, which vivifies both its interiors and its exteriors. And it is like the prolific element in seed, which, abiding inmostly in all the sap drawn from the earth by the root, accompanies it from the first germination even to the fruit, in which it also is, and it disposes the vegetative process so that it proceeds in its own order. For this reason, the person of the church, without the acknowledgment of God, is in the eyes of the angels a brute like the wild beasts of the forest, or like a bird of night, or like a monster of the sea. Yea, without the acknowledgment of God, he is like a tree the branches of which are cut off, and the trunk cut in pieces, and the whole piled up together in a heap reserved for the fire; for the Lord says: "Without Me ye can do nothing; if anyone abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather him, and cast him into the fire, and he is burned" (John 15:5-6). Without the acknowledgment of God, a person, inwardly, as to his rational things, is like the ruins of a burned city. He is also like food when its nutritive value is boiled out it and it becomes refuse
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| Charity 126 |
A person is born that he may become charity; but he cannot become charity unless he perpetually does the good of use to the neighbor, from affection and delight
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| True Christian Religion 435 |
[T]he first thing of charity is not to do evil to the neighbor; and to do good to him holds the second place….Willing evil and doing right are two essentially opposite things; for evil belongs to hatred towards the neighbor and good belongs to love towards the neighbor |
| Arcana Coelestia 6737 |
[W]hen people who are perceptive have feelings of compassion they know that they are being alerted by the Lord to offer help |
| Charity 202 |
No one can have charity from the Lord unless he shuns evils as sins…. Anyone can do good to the neighbor, an evil as well as a good person; but no one can do it from good in himself unless from the Lord; nor unless he shuns evils as sins…. [T]hat no one can do it unless he shuns evils as sins, is because the Lord can flow into no one with good, so as to be received, unless the evils in him are removed. For evils do not receive good, but reject it |
| Arcana Coelestia 4783:5 |
The works of charity consist in each person doing what is right and fair in his employment, from a love of what is right and fair, and of what is good and true |
| Last Judgment 39: 9, 11, 12, 13 |
There is no knowledge of what good and truth are without knowledge of what love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor are, since all good has to do with love and charity, and all truth has to do with good…. Charity consists in an inward affection for doing what is true, and not in an outward affection without an inward one. Charity equally consists of performing services for their own sake and its nature depends upon the services performed. Charity is a person's spiritual life…. A person resembles a garden when charity and faith are linked in him, a desert when they are not |
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THE FRUIT OF CHARITY
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| Charity 127 |
[A]ll goods which are of love to the neighbor or charity are uses, and all uses are goods |
| Arcana Coelestia 997 |
…[T]here is no charity apart from works of charity; it is in its practice or use that charity consists. He who loves the neighbor as himself perceives no delight in charity except in its exercise, or in use; and therefore a life of charity is a life of uses. Such is the life of the whole heaven; for the kingdom of the Lord, because it is a kingdom of mutual love, is a kingdom of uses. Every pleasure therefore which is from charity, has its delight from use. The more noble the use, the greater the delight. Consequently the angels have happiness from the Lord according to the essence and quality of their use
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| Divine Wisdom 11:5 |
[T]he proper and genuine uses of charity are the uses connected with any one's function or administration; when any one carries them out from spiritual faithfulness and honesty-and all do this who love their uses because they are uses and who believe that all good is from the Lord-then their uses become goods of charity in which love to the Lord has existence, or with which that love is conjoined.
But in addition to these uses, there are other general uses as well, namely, faithfully loving one's married partner, duly bringing up one's children, and managing one's domestic affairs with prudence. These works become works of charity when they are done from a love of use, and in respect of a married partner, when they are done from mutual and chaste love.
There are other general uses, too; such as making suitable and due contributions towards the functioning of the Church, which good works become uses of charity in so far as the Church is loved as neighbor in a higher degree. Amongst general uses, too, is the expenditure of money and labor on the building and maintaining of orphanages, hospitable lodges, educational establishments and other institutions of the kind; not all of these are obligatory.
Rendering assistance to the needy, to widows and to orphans, merely because they are needy, widows or orphans, and giving to beggars, merely because they are beggars, are uses of external charity…they are not uses of internal charity except in so far as they are actuated by the use itself and by a love of it…
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| True Christian Religion 422 |
Charity itself is acting justly and faithfully in the office, business, and employment in which a person is engaged, because all that such a person does is of use to society, and use is good, in a sense abstracted from person is the neighbor
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| True Christian Religion 774 |
The Lord's presence is unceasing with every person, both the evil and the good, for without His presence no person lives; but His Coming is only to those who receive Him, who are such as believe on Him and keep His commandments. The Lord's unceasing presence causes people to become rational, and gives him the ability to become spiritual. This is effected by the light that goes forth from the Lord…and that a person receives in his understanding; that light is truth, and by means of it a person has rationality. But the Lord's coming is to him who joins heat with that light, that is, love with truth….
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