<p>15:6- see on Mt. 13:6; Rev. 14:10.</p><p><em>If a man does not abide in me, he is thrown out as a branch and withers, and these are gathered and thrown into the fire, and they are burned</em>- The language of branches being severed from the vine is used in Romans 11 about how <em>God</em> can do this in judgment. But it is He who can do this, and not us. We are the branches, not the husbandman. Those who choose not to abide in the Lord shall wither. In the primary context, the Lord had Israel in view, the fig tree which &quot;withered&quot; and would then have to be burnt (s.w. Mt. 21:19). The Lord had this figure in view when He spoke soon afterwards, on the way to the cross, of Israel as a withered tree about to be burnt up in AD70 (Lk. 22:31).</p><p>But Israel then, as many today, are living out their own condemnation; they will be &quot;thrown out&quot; or s.w. &quot;cast away&quot; at the final judgment (Mt. 13:48; Lk. 14:35) in response to their conscious decision not to remain in the Lord, in the vine; and refusing the sap of the Spirit. It is they rather than the Lord who have chosen their fate.&nbsp;</p>