I was thinking about this earlier today!
Jesus is the vine. That would make the Father, the Root? The Holy Spirit is the Sap?
Apart from me, you can do nothing. Whoa. How many times have I prayed that? I have proven that I can do nothing and would die without God. I have to have Him. He has to be there. Or I'm dead. You have proved it also, and him and her, and that guy over there too. We're all in the same boat and struggling for survival. Struggling to find our way back to the Lord from whence we came forth!
I can almost hear God thinking about it. What would happen if I created man, and gave him amnesia and free will then put him on a strange planet, the valley of the shadow of death, could they overcome that and find their way back to me?
Maybe. and come to find out at this late date in time that Christianity is not Doctrinal. It is Relational. A spirit relationship where everything is unseen and you just have to trust Him, and you will live. Very spiritual and not any Doctrinal if you think about it! Doctrine is for the slow learners, myself included! Now there's a whole new side to Christianity...In Spirit, and in Truth...
Praise the Lord! He is such a Nice Guy!
I think all we really own is our thoughts and our hearts and spirit. All are unseen. And I couldn't even do the seen part in the world in a way that was pleasing to God. So yes, that's a very true statement. Apart from God, we can do nothing.
@Edward429451, notice the context. In Jesus' metaphor with the background of Psalm 80:8-16, Jesus is the vine; the Father is the vineyard keeper; and, later in the chapter, the Holy Spirit is the Helper/Witness on behalf of the Father so that we can become his witnesses too (the "grapes" that result in our witnessing about him):
Psa 80:8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
Psa 80:9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
Psa 80:10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
Psa 80:11 It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.
Psa 80:12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
Psa 80:13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
Psa 80:14 Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
Psa 80:15 the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
Psa 80:16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
Joh 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Joh 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you....
Joh 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
Joh 15:27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Joh 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
