Jesus said, A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed. (40)
Outside of the Father
Any situation, person, or object that is not planted and rooted in the awareness of God, or in the purpose to realize God, must be drastically ejected from our life. If we do not do this, its destruction will happen as a consequence of the nature of things, the problem being that we may be spiritually (and even physically) destroyed along with it.
Being in the “shadow”
This translation by Lambdin and four others give significant nuances regarding the state of being outside the providence of God.
Lambdin: “Unsound” in the sense of being defective, lacking what is necessary for growth and survival.
Patterson and Maeyer: “Not strong” and therefore weak and without stamina or health.
Nancy Johnson: “Not supported” the way a plant is by a stake. In other words, we will not have God as a support to guide and protect us and be our reservoir of strength.
Brown: “Not viable,” not even legitimate, because of being contrary to the divine order and evolutionary plan. Also it cannot work or succeed.
Brill: “Not established” or rooted and made safe and secure in God.
These descriptive phrases can be applied to us and to anything not within the greater life of God. Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, a twentieth-century authority on mystical life in the Eastern Christian tradition, wrote a book entitled His Life Is Mine. That pretty well says it all. It is God’s intention to live in us so we may live in him in the state of theosis, the state of deification. This is the condition of total unity of being, a far cry from the feeble condition popularly called “a good Christian life.” This is not the state of a mere Christian, but the state of a Christ. That is the essence of Christianity, and must be our intention and eventual attainment. Otherwise in the summing up after death known as the judgment, lifetime after lifetime we will hear the words: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15, 16). It is not enough to be a good Christian, we must become a true Christ.
Read the next article in the Gospel of Thomas for Yogis: Spiritual Gain and Loss