After a missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch and learned that some Pharisees who were followers of Jesus had been teaching the male Gentiles that they needed to be circumcised before entering the community of Jesus' believers. Paul and Barnabas were opposed to this. They were sent to Jerusalem to discuss this issue with the apostles and elders. This was the first main division of thought in the early Church. It was resolved in the Council of Jerusalem, where it was decided that Gentiles did not have to become Jews to become Christians.

Jesus was outlining the way that Christians can be nourished and sustained in a relationship with him. The only way to have a life of spiritual power was to abide in Jesus. Just as a vine had branches, so the disciples were to remain attached to Jesus, the vine. If they failed to remain in relationship with Jesus, they would wither and die spiritually and be useless like a broken branch. By remaining in Jesus, the disciples were told that they would bear much fruit. How important it is to abide in Jesus and receive the power to live as he taught!