Abiding in Christ
The Christian life comes with a plethora of biblical motifs to describe it. The most popular is the Christian “walk.” There is another image primarily given to us by the Apostle John. It is the theme of “abiding.” It is closely linked to the Christian’s union with Christ in baptism (Rom 6), where we are baptized into Christ, and at the same time, baptized with the Holy Spirit. This produces a mutual indwelling. Christians are said to be, “in Christ,” and Christ is “in us,” as our hope of glory. Let us consider this mutual abiding by looking at the features of what we have through abiding in Christ, and what is ours by the Holy Spirit abiding in us.
We are abiding in Christ (Jn 15:1–11). In the teaching of Jesus during the evening with His disciples before His arrest, our Lord gave abiding imagery, while walking in garden spaces near the Kidron Brook, between the Temple mount and the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Jesus explained that He was the true vine (Jn 15:1). His instruction to His disciples was for them to abide in Him, even as He abides in them (15:4). Here is the mutual indwelling.
If the object of the tree is to bear fruit (15:8), then it is impossible for the branch to produce any fruit apart from the life-giving vine (15:5). The life of God flows from Jesus Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit in Christians, who produce spiritual fruit (Gal 5:22–23). The key is one’s attachment to Christ. Without the Vinedresser, who is God the Father (15:1), grafting the branch on to Christ, the vine, no spiritual life is even possible (15:5). Jesus said, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me drags him; and I will raise him up on the last day (Jn 6:44).” The Father and the Son have sent the Spirit to dwell in Christians, as the true life nectar (Jn 14:26; 15:26).
He that is spiritual is known by the fruit manifested in and through him (1 Cor 2:12–13), and this proves one is a disciple of Jesus Christ (15:8b). You shall know them by their fruit because of the type of tree they are attached to (Mt 12:33; Lk 6:44). The tree of life is Christ, the true vine. Contrast the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which man attached himself to, by eating of its fruit in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9). Man sucked the nectar of death, and his spiritual life was sucked out of him.
“Spiritual things” are actually the Word of God, demonstrated by the Spirit (Jn 15:7; 1 Cor 2:4), which the world cannot see or know (Jn 14:17). The abiding Word and Spirit are life giving agents to the branch (15:7). The Word of God is life (Jn 1:1; 14:6), and the Spirit of God is the life giver (Jn 6:63). God gives His people His Word, by His Spirit. Christians must first be attached to Christ, the Vine, in order to receive the life of God flowing through them. Dead broken branches do not decide to attach themselves to living vines, they must be grafted in. Elect sinners (Eph 1:4–5), dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1–3), are chosen for attachment to Christ (Jn 15:16), and they pass from death to life (1 Jn 3:14).
Unattached branches that God the Father does not choose to graft into the Vine are discarded to be burned (15:6). These people were cursed for not abiding in the written Law of God (Gal 3:10). They did not abide in Christ’s teaching (2 Jn 1:9). They abide in death because they have no love for God in them (1 Jn 3:14). The wrath of God abides on them (Jn 3:36). Dry branches gathered and cast into the fire is an allusion to hell and the lake of fire (Rev 19:20; 20:10, 12, 14–15), as God’s judgment against vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:22).
Abiding in Christ means abiding in His love (Jn 15:9; 1 Jn 4:16). God is love (1 Jn 4:8), and love gives itself away (Rom 5:8). God gave His Son in love for His church (Eph 5:25). God the Father loves us by attaching us to the life of Christ, and this love comes to us through the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). The power of God’s love causes us to obediently abide in the law of love (Jn 15:10; Rom 13:10), which is the greatest of all His manifested blessings (1 Cor 13:13). If we claim to abide in this law of liberty (Jam 1:25), but do not love other Christians (1 Jn 3:14, 17), then how do we say we abide in Christ, when we do not keep the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21)?
Abiding in Christ means we have the Holy Spirit in us (1 Jn 3:24). As John writes, “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world (1 Jn 4:12–14).”
Abiding in Christ means we have God’s Word in us (Jn 15:7; 1 Jn 2:14). We have noted this is the word of life (1 Jn 1:1). The seed of the word is planted in our hearts and begins to grow, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). The Word and the Spirit are the agents of God’s sanctification of His people (Jn 17:17; 1 Thess 4:3), who are clean because of Jesus’ words (Jn 15:3).
Abiding in Christ means we abide in the Light (1 Jn 2:10). God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Jesus is the light of the world (Jn 8:12; 9:5), whose Spirit has shone in our hearts to pierce the darkness (2 Cor 4:6). The day has dawned, and the light in us is growing ever brighter, as we come into His marvelous light, and walk in the light, as children of light. The light of Christ shining in us is the light we shine before men (Mt 5:16), so they might see the truth of Christ (Jn 14:6) and be saved and sanctified (Jn 17:17). The dark night of sin is no longer the abode that holds the Christian captive to sin (1 Jn 3:6). Christians abide as children of light, born of God’s Spirit, and therefore we do not practice sin as a way of life (1Jn 3:9).
Abiding in Christ means we have a confession to proclaim (1 Jn 4:15). Proof of God’s Spirit living in a person can be heard by her confession, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Lord of all.” Christians confess what they believe, and they have come to know and believe the love God has for them (1 Jn 4:16). The truth of God abides in the believer (2 Jn 1:2). Love and truth, revealed by God’s Spirit, through God’s Word comes with a powerful anointing to make Christ known to others (1 Jn 2:27). Shedding light on the subject of God’s love comes through the spoken word of truth via the inspiration of the Spirit. We hear, we believe, we confess because we are convinced.
Because we abide in the Father and Son (1 Jn 2:24), and the Spirit (1 Jn 2:27), our Triune God’s will and purpose is for us to bear witness of Christ with all of the abiding blessings in us. The Word abides in us, so we preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2). The Spirit abides in us, so we preach when the Holy Spirit comes upon us (Acts 1:8). The truth abides in us, so we destroy the lies of Satan, who holds others in dark captivity. The light of God exposes darkness in the world, so we shine truth with spiritual words proclaimed. The love of God abides in us, so we love God, the brethren, our neighbors, and our enemies when we follow in Christ’s missionary steps with beautiful feet (Rom 10:15).
In summary, we have considered the mutual indwelling of God and His people. We have been indwelt so that we might dwell in His presence. We have surveyed the biblical imagery of “abiding.” We have looked at the blessings for those who are in Christ, and the blessings of Christ in the people who have His Spirit indwelling them.
In conclusion, we have learned the life of God flows from Christ through the Spirit into Christians, who demonstrate their attachment to Christ by the manifestation of spiritual fruit (Gal 5:22–23). This blessed life flow is produced by God and evidenced through Christian witness to the world. It is something to behold, but it must not be manipulated. We are to enjoy witnessing God at work in us and through us for His glory. Christ lives in us, and we share the hope of glory. He is at work fulfilling God’s will and good pleasure, and the praise from our lips tells of His work in our hearts. He who began a good work in us will bring it to perfection. He abides in us, today, and we will abide in Him, forever.
David E. Norczyk
Beaverton, Oregon
January 10, 2021
