Branches of His Vine

In his book The Bonsai Conspiracy Paul Anderson-Walsh offers a concise explanation of what it means to be branches of Christ's vine:

". . . A Christian is a container or a conduit of Christ. . . . The New Testament describes this condition as being 'in Christ.'

"The implications of the above statement might not be immediately apparent but when we see that a spirit needs a body to manifest itself, we stand on the threshold of revelation, i.e., God, who is Spirit, manifests Himself through Man who is flesh.

"In other words, we are the earthen vessels in which He has placed a treasure and that treasure is the indwelling Spirit of God. God is Spirit [John 4:24]. As such, He makes Himself known through His creation, the pinnacle of which is Man. It is through Man that God manifests His nature which is described by the Apostle John in one word--'love' [1 John 4:16]. God is love.

"Therefore, in the same way that trees bear fruit through their branches, Christ in us bears His fruit [Gal. 5:22-23] through His 'branches', i.e., His body which is the church. This is so that Jesus is able to say, 'By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another' [John 13:35]. This is Agape Love which the Apostle Paul defines for us in the famous Love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible.

"Love is the fruit which we bear and in so doing, the church, like the vine, expresses its inner life and its hidden resources through its branches. Moreover, the analogy does not end there but extends itself to the fact that branches do not produce fruit--they bear fruit by virtue of abiding in the vine. Moreover, they bear fruit not for themselves but for the benefit of others."