10. Abiding in Christ

We now consider more fully the practical application of abiding in God and in Christ, which we dis­cussed in chapter 8 of the present book. In the four verses from John chapter 15 that we have just cited, the word “abide” occurs seven times (see the boldface), indicating its importance for us. What does it mean to “abide” in the Lord? We need to get an answer to this question because abiding is the key to the new life in Christ.

The parable of the vine and the branches is familiar to us, yet few understand its deeper meaning. Let us consider Jesus’ words:

These words state the reason for the branch’s existence: The branch exists for the express purpose of bearing fruit. Jesus is saying this in the context of his teaching on the Holy Spirit (John chapters 14-16); hence he has in mind what Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal.5:22-23). The fruit of the Spirit in us will result in people being drawn to God and being built up in Him, through us. It results in fruitfulness for the growth of God’s Kingdom.

If any branch does not bear fruit, it is taken away, plain and simple. There is nothing vague about this statement. If you don’t bear fruit, you will be removed or “cut off” (v.2). No one remains in the church — the body of Christ — simply for the purpose of existing there. He or she is there to bear fruit. Referring to those branches which do bear some fruit, Jesus says in verses 2 and 3,

Here the Greek has a play on the words “prune” and “clean”. These represent two related Greek words, kathairō and katharos, but the force of this is lost in the English translation. Hence the con­nection between the two sentences is lost. The point is that we have been made “clean” by the word of God, which functions as a pruning knife (cf. two-edged sword, Heb.4:12) to remove those branches which hinder the growth and fruitfulness of the vine.

Jesus goes on to say, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (v.7). Here the Lord throws us a challenge. If God is not real, you can ask Him for anything but He will not answer you any more than a wall will answer you if you pray to it.

The Lord Jesus is saying, “If you fulfill this con­dition — if you abide in me and my words abide in you — ask what you will and it shall be done for you.” It is wonderful to abide in the Lord! He gives us a great challenge: “Dream what you will, ask what you will, and it shall be granted to you.” If we live in him and he in us, whatever we ask will be in harmony with his will.

The basis of his promise in v.7 is seen in the next verse, “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (NASB). The proof of our being his disciples is seen in our spiritual fruitfulness.

What does it mean to abide in the Lord? As we mentioned in a previous chap­ter, “abide” (menō, μένω) occurs 40 times in John’s gospel and 24 times in First John. The total in all the Johannine writings adds up to 68 occurrences, most of which are used in a spiritual sense. There are only 52 occurrences of this word in the rest of the New Testa­ment. With a few excep­tions, these carry the ordinary literal meaning and are not used in a specifically spiritual sense. Hence abiding is evidently an important concept in John’s writings.

The massive (over 2000 pages) Liddell, Scott, Jones’ Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford, 1973) provides the following main definit­ions for menō (μένω): “1. stand fast, in battle; 2. stay at home, lodge; 3. stay, tarry; 4. of things, to be lasting, remain, stand, stable, perma­nent”.

Similarly, Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1979, Chicago) gives these main definitions: “remain, stay, abide; live, dwell; last, endure, continue”.

James Hastings’ Diction­ary of Christ and the Gos­pels, though an old work, remains important to this day. In discussing the meaning of the word under the heading “Abiding,” and examining its various definit­ions, the dictionary arrives at the conclusion that “The leading idea is that of steadfast continuance” (italics mine).

What does “steadfast continuance” mean? It conveys the idea of remaining, staying, continuing in something or someone (in this case, Christ, or he in us) devotedly, loyally, faithfully, resolutely, unwaver­ingly, and perseveringly.

In discussing the meaning of “abide,” it must not be overlooked that in the Johannine writings, “abide” is often used together with the word “in”. Commenting on this, Hastings remarks that John “presses the idea not only of intimate fellowship, but also of resultant power and blessing” (italics mine).

Bringing all the preceding definitions and observations together, we arrive at the conclusion that to “abide in” Christ is to live in a stable, steadfast continuance in Christ in a close and intimate fellow­ship.

Since abiding carries the idea of steadfast continuance, it basically means to be steadfastly faithful to one’s commitment to Christ. According­ly, Jesus’ words could be paraphrased as: he who contin­ues steadfastly in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. Or equiv­alently, he who continues in his commitment to me and in my commitment to him, he it is that bears much fruit. This understanding of Jesus’ teaching is surely correct, but does the Lord mean something beyond this when speaking of abiding?

We need to go beyond faithful continuance because we could say, “According to my conscience, I am faithful in my commitment to the Lord. Yet I’m not bearing fruit.” Is that your exper­ience? You may be faithful in your commit­ment to the Lord, yet lack the spiritual depth and strength of those who abide in the Lord. Surely Jesus has more in mind than “steadfast contin­uance”. But what is that “more”?

To answer this, let us look at John 15 itself. Verse 4 says, “Abide in me, and I in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.” Here “abide” defines a vital rela­tionship — and not just a continuance — between the vine and the branch. It is true that the branch continues stead­fastly in the vine, but that doesn’t fully define the vital relationship between the two. We don’t normal­ly speak of a branch “continuing steadfastly” in the vine, do we?

Let’s analyze this more closely. Here “abide” describes a relation­ship between the vine and the branch. What kind of rela­tionship? Is the Lord say­ing, “If you are related to me, and I to you, you will bear much fruit”? This statement is correct, but it is vague and in need of fuller elaboration.

The relationship between the vine and the branch exists on two levels. We can speak of the outer relationship and the inner relation­ship. In the outer relationship, the branch is physically attached to the stem, whereas in the inner relat­ionship, the life-giving sap of the vine flows into the branch. The outward connection alone does not result in fruit-bearing. The critical factor is whether the inner life flows from the vine into the branch.

Let us consider the outer con­nection for a moment. If a branch is externally attached to a stem, there may or may not be an inner con­nection. If we glue a branch onto a stem with strong epoxy glue, we will have established an outer bond or relationship. An external bond has been created but not an inner relationship.

Or we could graft a branch into the stem by making a cut in the stem and inserting the branch in it. Grafting as an agri­cultural proced­ure has been known for thousands of years. Grafting is men­tioned in Romans 11:17ff which speaks of a wild olive branch grafted in an olive tree.

The gardener’s immediate concern is whether the graft has “taken”. If the graft has not taken, the branch will wit­her and die because it cannot draw the life sap from the stem. But if the graft is accepted, life will flow from the stem into the branch.

Grafting as a medical procedure (e.g., skin grafting) is also well-known. A heart transplant is a form of grafting. Sometimes the body accepts the graft, sometimes it rejects it.

Hence a living connection must go deeper than a mere sticking on; it must involve an internal graft in the stem. But the question remains as to whether the graft has taken or not. This governs whether it will bear fruit or not. If there is no fruit, it would indicate that the graft has not taken, or that the branch is diseased and dying. Branches, like human beings, are prone to diseases. We see that in the fruit trees. Some­times when we see a diseased branch, we cut it off lest the disease spreads to the rest of the tree.

An outer connection does not necessarily imply a vital, inner connect­ion. Applying this to the Christian life, it means that you may have been baptized, or made a profes­sion of faith, or are doing things commonly associated with being a member of the body of Christ, the church. There is undoubtedly an outer connection, but is there an inner connection? And how strong is it? Are you able to draw life from Christ? That is the point we are getting at.

You may have been visibly attached to Christ through baptism, but the question remains: Is Christ’s life flowing into your inner being? That is why abiding is so important. If the life of Christ, together with the power of that life, is not flowing into us, the inner connection would be missing and we could hardly speak of abiding. The vital thing is the inner connection rather than the outer one.

An internal connection implies that an exter­nal connection exists, but the converse is not necessarily true. If you belong to a church, there is defin­itely an external connection, but it doesn’t prove an internal connection with Christ. Having an external con­nection with the church, or having the label “Christian,” does not necessarily mean that God’s power is operating in your life by His indwelling presence.

That being the case, “stead­fast continuance” must characterize the inner relationship with Christ rather than the outer, if it is to adequate­ly express what Jesus is saying to us. One can, for example, be faithful in the outward sense of attending church regularly. If we never skip church on Sunday, is that not steadfast continuance? The outer connect­ion is not in question, but whether there is an inner steadfast continuance is another matter.

Outward faithfulness is not the same as inward faithfulness. A married couple may be faithful outwardly in the sense of not commit­ting adultery. Outwardly they are faithful to their coven­ant, but the inner communication may be dead. The outer connection is evident. They are legally married, and they wear matching wedding rings. They can produce the legal docu­ments to certify the external connection, but the inward connect­ion may be weak or even dead.

Abiding is not just an outward connection; it is to live in a vital relation­ship with Christ. It doesn’t mean to live in Christ as one would live in a house. That wouldn’t make sense because Christ is not a physical building. We are not talking about dwelling physically but about relation­ships. It is not just living in Christ in some vague sense, but living in a vital internal inter-communication with Christ by which his life flows into us.

Because his life is the bedrock of our lives, supplying us with the spiritual atmosphere which we breathe, we can say that Christ is the spiritual environment in which we live. Physically we live in the world; spiritually we live in Christ. That is why it is said that we are “in the world, but not of it”.

It is now clear that speaking of an inner “steadfast contin­uance,” while correct, is quite inadequate to express what the Lord is saying. “Continuance” in itself does not adequately describe the relation­ship between a vine and its branches. There cannot just be continuance, but the contin­uance of something specific if the relationship is to remain vital or living. What is that some­thing? Surely there needs to be the continuance of the flow of the sap (life) from the vine to the branches, if the branches are to live, grow, and bear fruit.

The inner-outer contrast applies also to the church. In the church there are those who attend cell groups and Bible study groups. There may be an outward connection and even an outward faith­fulness in terms of church atten­dance, but there may or may not be an inner relationship among the people. We know from observation that many churches lack inner communication among the people. It is possible to have an outer relation­ship with Christ through the church, yet without a vital inner communication with him and his people.

1John 2:18‑19 shows us the danger of having only an external connect­ion:

To our shock, John says that antichrists do not come from the heathens outside the church, but from within the church! Antichrists have a Christian origin and identity.

“They went out from us but they were not of us.” This puzzling state­ment is easy to understand if we distinguish the two types of connections. All antichrists have been associated with the church at one time or another. They have a definite external connection to the church of God, but lack a living internal connection to Christ him­self, even if they did have a weak relationship with him in the past. If your relation­ship with the Lord is weak, you are in grave danger of being severed from Christ and falling from grace (Gal.5:4), and even one day ceasing to be a Christian all together. Worse of all, you may end up being an antichrist.

Some of the most hostile enemies of the gospel are not the unbeliev­ers but people who used to be “Christians”. They attended Christian schools and were brought up in Christian families. Once these people turn away from the gospel, they become a great dan­ger to the church because they can boast of a connection to the church. As ex-Christians, they know something about the life of the church and pose a danger to it.

Those of us who pastor churches know from experience that the people in church who have weak internal connections with God and with His church can easily become grumblers, slanderers, and malcon­tents (Jude 1:16, etc). The weak internal connection leads to a defeated life which in turn breeds unhap­piness. They vent their dissatis­faction on the church, making it take the brunt of their discontent.

Such people are a danger to the church already while they are still in the church, indeed long before they leave it. There are people of this kind who cause problems to the church even if they decide to stay, having en­sconced themselves or entrenched themselves in a position of authority. 3 John 9-10 is an example of this dangerous state of affairs in one of the churches.

Therefore to have only an external connection with God and His people is potentially dangerous. Not only do people of this kind fail to produce fruit, even worse they could become active enemies of God and His church.

In speaking of “abiding,” Jesus stresses the internal relation­ship. But what is the character of this relationship? How do we communicate with the Lord?

An inner relationship certainly involves effective communication with the Lord. But how do we attain it? When we pray to God the Father, do we feel that our prayer is going on a one-way street? We pray, but it is all one-way traffic. To use a different picture, our radio trans­mitter may be working but not our receiver. Our monologue then becomes boring even to ourselves.

How do we abide in Christ, the Son of God? How does the life sap flow into us and bring forth the fruit of the Spirit? How can his life flow into us when our hearts are not one with his? There has to be two-way traffic, two-way communica­tion. Can he get through to us if we are not getting through to him?

Several times Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you.” Then suddenly in verse 7, he shifts the concept of abiding towards abiding in his words: “If you abide in me and my words abide in you.” In what sense do his words abide or live in us? You may say, “Oh, read the Bible and memorize Script­ure passages.” That is partially true, but it is nowhere near the heart of what Jesus is talking about.

“If my words abide in you.” A few verses earlier, Jesus speaks of his word: “You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you” (v.3). In the space of five verses, he speaks twice of his “word”. (These represent two different Greek words, logos and rhēma, but we don’t need to go into the technicalities here.) Suffice it to say that the “word” of Jesus is vital to abid­ing.

Again, the idea of “steadfast continuance” is inadequate to define “abide” adequately, for in what sense do spoken words continue stead­fastly in us? The term makes sense only when it relates to life. If the statement is understood as, “If my words live in you constantly,” then its meaning begins to emerge. The words of Jesus convey life; they are more than the printed text or the spoken language. Colossians 3:16 portrays the word of Christ as being alive: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Let his word live in you, dwell in you, reside in you. This makes sense only if Christ’s word is something living, something that has life and conveys life. In John 6:63 the Lord says, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life”.

On a recent trip to Ottawa, I bought a book on theology, Prophecy and Hermeneutics in the Early Church. Having read the book, I don’t need to read it a second time because in the one reading I have taken note of its substance. I have, as it were, squeezed the book like an orange and drunk the juice. What more can you do with it? Squeeze it a second time? You may get a few more drops, but you will be poorly rewarded for your labor. The same is true of other books I have read; I don’t recall reading any book a second time.

But the Bible is different. I have been reading the Bible for more than four decades, yet new riches continue to flow. I have read John chapter 15 many times ever since I was a young Christian. But every time I read it, I discover new depths of mean­ing. You cannot do this with ordinary human writing. The author of the book I just mentioned is a very learned scholar who studied in Germany, England, and the United States. He is a theo­logian, a seminary professor, and one of the more distinguished of North Amer­ican biblical scholars. Yet the one reading was enough. In fact I probably didn’t learn very much from the one reading either, because the subject was quite familiar to me. If I were to read it again and again for three months, I will become utterly tired of the book.

Most people are intelligent enough not to have to go through the same material again and again. By contrast, you can read Scripture carefully and thoroughly, and the next time around you will discover new riches. You will find this to be the case every time you read it attentively, and meditate on it with your heart. “For the word of God is living and active” (Heb.4:12). The word of God is alive and inex­haustibly rich. The Bible is not a mere human book. Understand­ing the Bible is not a matter of intellectual capacity but of spiritual vitality and insight.

In the passage on the vine and its branches, Jesus says,

Do we under­stand this statement? It takes only a basic knowledge of English to understand it. But if I should ask you whether you under­stand it spiritually and not just intellectually, I think few people would say, “Yes, I understand it.”

“All that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” Is that true in your experience? Has the Lord made known to you all the things that the Father has shown him? Probably not for most people. The word “you” is plural here, indicating that he makes all things known to his disciples and his church collectively. He does not necessarily reveal everything to one person. But the question remains as to how much he has revealed to you individually. This, again, is not a matter of knowledge but of life.

God’s word, unlike a human book, cannot be apprehended solely on the intellectual level. It speaks at spiritual levels we cannot under­stand unless it becomes experiential truth for us. Or let us consider something more elementary. Romans 6 says that you have “died”. If you haven’t died, you can read Romans 6 again and again yet fail to grasp the spiritual meaning of the statement. You haven’t died, so how can the statement make sense to you? But if you have died, the meaning would be clear to you even if you don’t understand it in all its depth.

When Jesus says, “Abide in me,” do we know what that means? We may know the dictionary definition of “abide,” but do we know its inner content? We won’t unless we have a living inner connection with Christ. The Lord’s words are alive, but do they live in us? If not, they will remain unintelligible to us and cannot benefit us.

Let us now consider the ways in which God the Father communicates with us. This matter is of vital importance in regard to abiding in Jesus Christ, Son of God, and he in us.

God speaks to us first and foremost through the word He has taught us. When we pray to Him or commune with Him, He res­ponds to us. How? By the word He has spoken. He has already given His answer, if we have ears to hear.

Imagine that you are sitting before God quietly. I would often sit in a reasonably comfortable position for prayer, because if we are in an uncom­fortable position we won’t be able to pray for long. If your knees or your back starts aching, you will be distracted from your fellowship with God and, after a while, will be unable to continue.

It is very good, however, that we begin each day with a time of prayer on our knees if we have no physical disabilities or injuries which hinder us from doing so. You can remain in this position for as long as you are not distracted by pain or severe discom­fort, which affects your praying.

It is of great importance to me that I express my worship and total heart obedience to God in this way daily, even if just for a limited time because of physical constraints. It is certain that the apostle Paul prayed in this way even if he didn’t necess­arily pray only in this way, for he says in Ephesians 3:14, “I bow my knees before the Father”. Those who have no back pain or other physical problems, and prefer to pray in a kneeling position, are of course at liberty to do so.

2 Samuel 7:18 records that David, a man after God’s own heart, “sat before Yahweh” to speak to Him (also 1Chr.17:16). It was evident­ly a fairly long prayer, the essence of which is recorded in verses 18-29.

When we are sitting quietly and praying to God, we tend to keep on talking unless we are people of few words. Soon we will run out of things to say. There is a limit to how long you can carry on like that. Soon you will get tired of talking. “Lord, can I take a rest from talking? Will You please say a few words to me because I’m getting tired of listening to myself?” I am sure that this has been your exper­ience if you have ever tried to pray earnestly. We finally quiet down, and say humbly, “Please, Lord, it’s Your turn. Why the silence? Aren’t You going to say anything?” Does God like our voices so much that He keeps quiet while we keep on talking?

Well, amazingly, God has already spoken. “Before they call, I will answer” (Isa.65:24). And where is His answer? It has been there all along if only we had ears to hear! What will God say to us that He hasn’t already said in His Word? In the Scriptures He has already told us everything we need to know about how to live the spiritual life. The problem is that we read but do not see, listen but do not hear.

What then am I supposed to do? Read my Bible? The point is not in the mere reading. One chapter earlier, Jesus had already dealt with this when he said,

Note these vital words: “Bring to your remem­brance all that I said to you.” The Lord Jesus has told us everything we need to know, whether about discipleship or the Christ­ian life. That is where the Holy Spirit comes into the picture. He will “bring to your remem­brance” all that Jesus has said to us. When we pray, the Spirit of God will com­mun­icate with us, bringing the Lord’s words into our hearts and minds.

But where do I begin in the words of Jesus? Which passage is applicable? Well, that is precisely why we need the Holy Spirit to bring the Lord’s words into our hearts. That presupposes that we have already heard what he has said and know what he has taught. If we don’t even know what he had said in the Scriptures, there would be nothing for us to remember. We can’t remember what we didn’t know in the first place. We must first listen to, or read, the words of Jesus attent­ively, only then can the Holy Spirit bring it to our remem­brance. The Lord’s words cannot abide in us if they haven’t even entered our lives.

“Remembrance” means more than just re­freshing the memory. The word “remember,” as used by John, means that the Spirit of God will bring to our minds the significance of the word for our particular situation (see John 2:17,22; 12:16; 15:20; 16:4); it is not simply re­calling something from memory. The Spirit will cause the mess­age to suddenly take on vivid significance in a way we have not seen before.

When we abide in Christ, we connect with him in an internal relat­ionship that takes place in the depths of our being, in our hearts and spirits. There the Holy Spirit takes his word and applies it to us in a way that speaks to us in whatever situation we are in.

Apply this and you will be amazed at how Jesus’ words speak to you. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God — whose Temple we are, and who in­dwells us as a living presence — will take the words that Jesus has spoken, and apply it to you. It is not merely the printed text but the spirit of the message that comes alive to you. Suddenly you get very excited. At least I do.

When I meditate on the Lord’s words, many times God’s Spirit suddenly opens them up to me, showing me how they apply to my situat­ion. It is not just a matter of memorization because even if I remember a passage, I may not see its signif­icance. The Spirit reveals to me the inner meaning of the passage. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).

When you visit a museum or a tourist site, the guide will explain everything to you step by step. Previously you saw nothing significant about a certain site, but when the guide explains it to you, you see its significance. Previously you could have walked past the place and see nothing. But now, because the guide has shown you its sign­ificance, the whole place “comes alive”. This is what “remembrance” means.

This is not the only way in which the Spirit speaks to us. But as a rule, we need to take this step before going on to the next step.

What is that next step? John 16:12 implies a progression: “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” There are things that Jesus hasn’t told us yet, so these things cannot be brought to our remem­brance. We might not be ready for what he has to say to us now, but when we are ready, or when the need is there, the Spirit will implement the next step: He will speak to us directly, without necess­arily reminding us of any particular passage of Scripture. He will reveal to us what we need to know.

This stage is further along the road. It is for those whose ears have been attuned to hearing the truth in God’s word through the Spirit’s “reminding”. As we progress, God will reveal things to us directly. But it is crucial to point out that what God reveals in direct communica­tion is always in perfect harmony with His Word, the Scriptures. If it contra­dicts the Scriptures, it is not from God.

What things will God reveal to those who commune with Him? In Acts chapter 9, for example, the Lord spoke to “a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias” (v.10) and instructed him what to do for Saul, the persecu­tor of the church who was soon to become known as Paul, the apostle. The Lord even revealed to Ananias some­thing about Paul’s future ministry.

Agabus the prophet (Acts 11:28-29; 21:10-11) knew through the Spirit that a famine was coming to Judea, and that the church must prepare for it.

The Holy Spirit communicates things to those who obey God and have become sensitized to God’s word. The Lord said to Paul in a vision, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack you and harm you, because I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).

God taught Peter the significance of clean and unclean things when He said to him, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (Acts 10:15).

The Spirit of God may speak to you through a vision or a dream, or directly. Not long ago, after I had been awake for some time, God communicated with me, warning me that the time for the church in the world is drawing to a close, and that momentous events will soon take place. I sat up in bed and pondered the things which God was showing me. Suddenly the words “wars and rumors of wars” (Mt.24:6; Mk.13:7) appeared before my eyes in a life-like vision, so much so that I began to sweat at the sight of these things.

If we let the Lord speak to us through the word he has spoken (and applied to us by the Holy Spirit), in due time he will speak to us on other matters. The message to me in that vision was that changes are rapidly tak­ing place in the world; these develop­ments are bringing the world inexorably to the apocalyptic conclus­ion of this age. They are the very things that Jesus fore­warned us about in Matthew 24. The message is: “Press on. The time for the church is short. The relatively peaceful circumstances that you are enjoying now will not last much longer. Press on urgently with the work entrusted to you.”

Wars hinder the preaching of the gospel. That is why we need to pray for peace (cf. 1Tim.2:1-4). But peace is not something that can remain in the world for long. We are now enjoying a period of relative peace, but the Lord’s warning is that the time is not far away when we will be affected in some way by momentous changes in the world. The warning is somewhat like the famine warning given to Agabus for the sake of the church. These warnings reveal how much God loves and cares for His redeemed people.

To summarize, what has abiding got to do with regeneration and renew­al? So long as we abide in Christ, we will not sin. But the mo­ment we stop abiding in him, we will find ourselves slid­ing into sin. Hence we need to abide in him moment by moment. Then we will have neither the desire nor the inclina­tion to sin, and his life and power will flow into us and bring forth an abund­ance of eternal fruit.