约十五4~5 你们要住在我里面，我也住在你们里面。枝子若不住在葡萄树上，自己就不能结果子，你们若不住在我里面，也是这样。我是葡萄树，你们是枝子；住在我里面的，我也住在他里面，这人就多结果子；因为离了我，你们就不能作什么。

　　基督的信徒作为葡萄树上的许多枝子，乃是神的基督的肢体，在神圣的分赐里形成三一神的生机体。主耶稣在约翰十五章五节宣告说，“我是葡萄树，你们是枝子。”这样的陈述含示基督同祂的信徒是一棵树。……所以，十五章的葡萄树，是宇宙的葡萄树，包含基督和祂作枝子的信徒（新约总论第九册，二○六页）。

　　John 15:4-5 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so 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 bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　As the many branches of the vine, the believers of Christ are members of the Christ of God to form the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensing. In John 15:5 the Lord Jesus declared, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” Such a statement implies that Christ and His believers are one tree… The vine in John 15, therefore, is a universal vine comprising Christ and His believers as the branches. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2930)

　　葡萄树上的枝子不能凭自己而活，因为离了葡萄树，枝子就会枯萎死去。枝子与葡萄树之间的关系，描绘出我们与主耶稣之间的关系。……凡我们所是、所有并所作的，必须是在主里，且凭着在我们里面的主。

　　只要我们住在基督里，祂就必住在我们里面。祂住在我们里面，在于我们住在祂里面。……我们若不住在祂里面，就不能符合祂住在我们里面的条件。……这个互住会产生果子。

　　我们是这生机体的一部分，这是何等的美好、神奇、奇妙且超绝！基督是这生机体，我们也包括在这生机体里面。……就我们这些枝子而言，基督这树活着，乃是我们的支持、供应和一切。基督这树也借着作枝子的信徒作一切事。树需要枝子；离了枝子，树就不能作什么。今天，基督这位三一神的具体化身，若没有我们，就不能作什么。在执行神的经纶—培植葡萄树—的事上，没有我们，基督就不能行事、工作，或有任何一种行动。……为着我们能享受这奇妙、超越和美妙的神圣生命，我们需要祂；为着结果子，祂也需要我们，使这神圣的树得着繁增与扩大。……基督这真葡萄树是满有生命的生机体，像生命树一样（创二9）（新约总论第九册，二○八至二一一页）。

　　我们……怎能与祂接枝？因此，这位基督就需要经过种种的过程。祂所经过的第一个过程，就是成为肉体（约一14），……好使我们能与祂接枝。我们是人；每一个人都是木枝。基督成了大卫的枝子〔亚三8，耶二三5，三三15〕，也就成了木枝，和我们一样一式。这样，我们才能与祂接在一起。

　　接树的人都知道，接枝要成功，就需要两方面的死。第一是需要被接的一方死，第二是需要接上去的一方死。这两方面都死，接枝才能成功。在基督这一面，祂这大卫的枝子，有一天在十字架上死了；祂在肉体里虽然死了，在灵里却复活了（彼前三18下）。祂一经过死而复活，就成了赐生命的灵（林前十五45下）。祂成了那灵，在祂这一面就预备妥当了。在我们这一面来说，我们原来是罪人，我们需要悔改并接受主。……〔然后〕主这赐生命的灵就进到我们的灵里，把神的生命摆在我们里面。……我们与基督接在一起之后，就不能再凭我们自己活着，乃要让那是灵的基督活在我们里面。我们也不能再凭着我们的肉体、天然活着，乃要凭我们里面调和的灵，也就是与基督接枝的灵活着（李文集一九九四至一九九七年第五册，六二五至六二六页）。

　　参读：生命的经历与长大，第二、四、二十五、三十一篇；经历基督的秘诀，第五至六章。

　　A branch of a vine cannot live by itself, for it will wither and die apart from the vine. The relationship between the branches and the vine portrays the relationship between us and the Lord Jesus…What we are, what we have, and what we do must be in the Lord and by the Lord in us.

　　As long as we abide in Christ, He will abide in us. His abiding in us depends on our abiding in Him… If we do not abide in Him, we fail to meet the condition of His abiding in us… This mutual abiding will bring forth fruit.

　　How good, how miraculous, how wonderful, and how excellent it is that we all are a part of this organism! Christ is this organism, and we are included in this organism… As far as we, the branches, are concerned, Christ, the tree, lives to be our support, our supply, and our everything. Christ as the tree also does everything through His believers as the branches. Just as the tree needs the branches and cannot do anything apart from the branches, so today Christ as the very embodiment of the Triune God can do nothing without us. In the carrying out of God’s economy—that is, growing a vine tree—without us Christ is unable to act, work, or to have any kind of activity… We surely need Him for the purpose of our enjoying the wonderful, excellent, and marvelous divine life, and He surely needs us for the purpose of fruit-bearing, the multiplication and the enlargement of this divine tree… Christ as the true vine is an organism full of life, like the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2932-2933)

　　How can we be grafted into Him? This is why Christ needed to pass through various processes. The first process that He went through was His becoming flesh (John 1:14)…that we might be grafted together with Him. As human beings, we are branches, pieces of wood; in like manner, Christ came as the branch of David, as a piece of wood. He is exactly the same as we are; hence, He and we can be grafted together.

　　A grafter knows that in order to have a successful grafting, both of the grafting parts need to be cut and to die. First, the part to be grafted has to die, and second, the part to be grafted into has to die also. Only when both sides die can the grafting be accomplished. On Christ’s side, one day, as the branch of David [Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15], He died on the cross; however, although He died in the flesh, He was resurrected in the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18b). Through death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). By becoming such a Spirit, Christ was ready for the grafting. On our side, as sinners, we need to repent and receive the Lord… [Then] He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our spirit and puts the divine life in us. After we have been grafted together with Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves; rather, we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us. Furthermore, we should no longer live by our flesh or our natural being; rather, we should live by our mingled spirit, a spirit grafted with Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s Life,” pp. 496-497)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” chs. 2, 4, 25, 31; CWWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Secret of Experiencing Christ,” chs. 5-6