One more question from John 15

Why does Jesus command people who have been “pruned” and “purified” to “remain” if they can never fall away?

Picture me walking along the Golden Gate Bridge with my squirming 5 year old. I am holding his hand but I point down to the water below and say, “If you were to let go of my hand and fall over the edge, you would hit the water so hard it would kill you instantly. Now, hold my hand!”

I have just uses command and fear of consequences to shape his will to conform to mine, though I have no intention of letting him go.

Jesus does not merely hold us against our will. He uses command and threat and promise, (an appeal to our hedonistic nature – we want to live) to shape our desires so that they conform to his.

Php 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

So Jesus commands his true disciples, “remain in me!” with promise and threat attached to instill in us intelligent desire that honors him, rather than sloth and carelessness and yearning that does not bring him glory and us joy.