2. Jesus Christ authorized the denominations by
His teaching on the subject of the vine and branches in John 15. The vine
represents the true church, and the branches represent the
denominations.
John 15:4 (NKJV)
"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.
John 15:5 (NKJV)
"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.
John 15:6 (NKJV)
"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.
We must understand a context of a scripture or we could be guilty of taking it
out of context. The whole subject mentioned here is found in the context which
actually starts in chapter 13 of John and continues through chapter 16. Jesus
after the last supper was talking to His disciples. Jesus was the vine and the
apostles were the branches. By extension anyone who practiced the true doctrine
of the apostles would in effect also be a branch of the vine. Certain
conditions exist which make this so. One must abide in Christ and His Doctrine
in order to be a part of Christ. One really has to stretch and pervert the
truth to make this mean the denominations.
2 John 1:9 (NASB)
Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not
have God; The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the
Son.
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