Christ's defining metaphor for the believer's living dependence on Him. John 15:5: I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. The image fulfills the OT vineyard tradition (Isa 5; Ps 80; Jer 2:21), in which Israel was God's vineyard but had become a wild vine that produced wild grapes. Christ is the true vine; the Father is the husbandman; believers are branches grafted into Christ by faith. Two warnings follow: branches that do not abide are pruned away and burned (15:6); branches that do abide are pruned for greater fruitfulness (15:2). The metaphor presses organic, not mechanical, union: the believer's life is Christ's life flowing through him, and apart from that flow nothing of true fruit is produced.