The Concept of Abiding in Johannine Literature
2003-01-31
Introduction
In one look at any concordance for the word ‘abide’ in John’s gospel or first epistle one can see its frequent occurrence. The concept of abiding is a theme of great importance in Johannine literature. The main word that is used is the verb meno, and throughout his writings John will develop a theme that is important for the audience to whom he is writing.
Background
Outside of the New Testament canon in other Greek works, meno would mean “to remain in one place, at given time, with someone” (Brown 224). Metaphorically, it also can mean “to keep an agreement” or “to remain in a particular sphere of life” (Brown 224). There are also connotations of continuing existence.
In the Septuagint, it translates a variety of Hebrew verbs, including amad (stand, remain), kum (to arise or stand), yashav (to dwell), and layan (to remain in a place). It also can have the context of existence or validity of something (Brown 224). One example of this is in Psalm 112:3, 9, where the righteousness of someone who fears the Lord endures forever. This steadfastness, therefore, is usually used of God in the Old Testament. The “abiding of God and the things and persons relating to God is of religious and theological significance” because anything of human and earthly existence is transient (Kittel 575).
Usage in the New Testament Canon
Brown defines meno in the context of the New Testament as 1) to stay in a place with someone, or to wait for someone, 2) a characteristic of God who maintains His word and counsel, 3) Pauline usage of ‘remaining as you are,’ i.e. a slave, unmarried, etc., and 4) the concept of Christ dwelling in the believer. Danker adds also to continue to exist, remain, last, persist, or continue to live. Some of these definitions have secular uses, but often in Johannine literature, there is a Christological force behind the word. The latter usage will be the focus of this study.
Usage in Johannine Literature
The usage of the word meno in Johannine literature accounts for fifty-four percent of the 118 occurrences of its usage in the entire New Testament. Many times, it is of ordinary usage, which is the primary usage of the word in the former half of the gospel of John. An example of this is in John 1:38, when two disciples asked where Jesus was staying. In the following verse, the disciples went to follow Jesus, and they remained with Him, therefore, showing another use of the ordinary meaning for meno. But the majority of the uses in John’s writings have rich theological meaning to it.
There seems to be a couple of patterns that come throughout the writings. First, there is a concept of relationship. It is either the disciples and Christ, or Christ and the Father, but nonetheless, it is always the relationship between two parties. There also seems to be a lot of ‘if-then’ statements. For example, it might read, if you abide in ‘x,’ then such and such is true. Also, there is a lot of abiding within the Godhead. It is used to show the oneness of God. Lastly, believers are the ones who ‘abide.’ Unbelievers do not ‘abide’ in this sense, but even believers can abide in negative things such as death (1 John 3:14). Not only that, considering the if-then statements, not all believers ‘abide,’ and the object of the abiding tends to be different in various times. For example, abiding in Jesus and abiding in His love in John 15 are apparently synonymous, though the different phrases are used (Dodd 196). These things seem to be apparent throughout the John’s writings.
The Usage of meno When Revealing the Person of Christ
John uses this word often to convey who Christ is. First, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and remained on Him (John 1:32-33). This abiding of the Spirit on Him “lifts Him above the prophets, who are honoured only with temporary inspiration” (Kittel 575-576). Before Jesus, the Spirit never remained on anyone; for example, when Saul was disobedient before God when charged to destroy King Agag and the spoil in entirety in 1 Samuel 15, the kingdom was torn from Saul and the Spirit left him. In 1 Samuel 16:13-14, the Spirit of the Lord moved from Saul to the new anointed king, David. Even David was afraid that he would lose this special anointing when he intentionally sinned with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:11. The corollary to this can be found in 1 John 3:9, for the one who was born of God (cf. John 3) does not sin, but God’s seed remains in Him, and no longer has sin from a justification-salvation standpoint. This is to say, that all believers have the Holy Spirit, the assurance of our salvation (Romans 8:9). Though abiding in Jesus depends on us (John 15:4), the Spirit always abides in us (John 7:39).
Jesus often stated that the works that He does is a valid testimony to who He is (John 5:36). In 14:10, Jesus says that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Furthermore, He says the Father that is in Him does the works He does. This surely is a testimony that the Father dwells in Him, and that there is a unity between the Father and the Son (cf. John 10:30). Bernard records that this is also to emphasize that Jesus said that the works themselves are of His Father, hearkening back to 5:19 (542). Jesus does what He sees the Father doing. The use of meno in this case shows the union of the Father and the Son.
Jesus, in His “Bread of Life” discourse, in John 6:27, challenges His disciples to look for the food that endures to everlasting life. The concept of ‘enduring’ is present in the meaning of meno here. One finds in verse 35 that Jesus is the bread of life, and those who believe will not hunger or thirst. Also, these people, given to Him by God, will be raised to eternal life in the last day (John 6:40). The analogy continues as He explains what He means: that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood will abide in Him, and He will abide in them (John 6:56). People will live on this bread alone (cf. 6:57). Jesus is the food that endures, and is the source of eternal life. The use of ‘abide’ here has a justification sense, that the shedding of the blood will justify them before God.
Jewish people have read in the Law that the Christ is to ‘remain’ forever (John 12:24), and this is true. They would know passages such as Isaiah 9:7 and Ezekiel 37:25. Jesus does endure forever, as it has been said that He is the bread that leads to eternal life. Though Jesus said He would die in the previous verse, He was also speaking of Scriptures that testify to His crucifixion in Isaiah 53 and Daniel 9:26. Jesus, who endures forever, does not focus on His own eternity, but on the people’s eternity that He might bring them eternal life.
These are the main cases of meno John uses to speak of the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. We see this also in the High Priestly Prayer in John 17:21 also, though the word meno is not used. The Holy Spirit remained on Him since the day of His baptism. Those who believe also share in this. Even in these cases, one can see the unity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit, but also the believers as well.
Relationship of the Believers and Jesus Christ
The use of abiding most often includes the relationship between believers and Jesus Christ. It often appears in conditional statements, but not always. Therefore, much of what one can expect is an exhortation to the believer in a particular way he should exercise his faith. The most information one can attain is in the Upper Room discourse and the following events, along with the usage in the epistle of 1 John. These are integral to the argument since this is where there is an audience of believers only. The Upper Room discourse was in the presence of the Eleven, and the recipients of the epistle were the original audiences who had heard the message and were urged not to continue sinning (1 John 2:1). The contemporary audience can also learn from these, as we seek to be disciples of Jesus and do as He commands.
It is good to ask an important question: how does one abide? What does it mean to abide? There is obviously something more than just believing here, since in John 8:31, Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him already, “If ye continue [meno] in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” There is obviously a distinction between a believer and a disciple. The disciple believes in Jesus and believes what He says to be true, in which, by the context of chapter 8, the latter was certainly not true (Bernard 305). This will be discussed in a future section.
First, the concept of abiding is a command. Jesus tells us in John 15, that we are to abide in Him. He has already established in His ministry years that this is neither prerequisite to salvation, nor does it necessarily accompany salvation. He was telling eleven believers, as questioning and as afraid as they were, that they could do nothing apart from Him. They need to trust in Him. We already know that if they abide in His word, they will be His disciples. Jesus is now saying the same thing to the Eleven: now that you believe... abide, continue, and remain in Me!
Continuing in John 15:4-5, Jesus compares two outcomes of whether one abides or not. If they abide, then they will bear fruit. If they abide, their belief comes to life and is useful. Likewise in James 2:14-26, the writer explains the futility of faith without allowing it to work. In eternity future, there is security in what Jesus did to save us, but there is an urgency to allow God’s work to abound now. Now considering what is said in all of these cases, there is a downside to one who continues in disobedience to this command. They are cast out, withered, thrown into the fire, as all kinds of visions of judgment suggest. To avoid lengthy discussion, it is good to mention that these statements are spoken for believers; therefore the imagery in John 15:6 is not an image of eternal damnation. Derickson and Radmacher state that this description of the non-abiding believers is not hell, but a description of useless vine branches that are separated at the beginning of the dormant season (178). The concepts of viticulture were more commonplace in first century Israel, and this is why Jesus explained the concept to the disciples in this way. This is to stress the uselessness of the branches instead of judgment. The ‘men’ in verse 6 can be explained as the world according to the context (Derickson 179). There is a rejection of the believer in the world, because they are not distinguished as different from the world. If they abide, then the world can know that they belong to Jesus. The world can identify a genuine believer from the works they do.
Now Grudem in his systematic theology argues primarily two different viewpoints, and refutes one of them (795). He argues that the branches that do not abide are not believers. He sees that if one were to hold to them representing believers, one would hold to an Arminian theology, i.e. they had lost their salvation. Grudem therefore argues that these were false believers that were associated with Jesus. It would be unrealistic to hold to this, for the gospel message does not say anything about the requirement to bear fruit, but to trust in Christ alone. This is so in Johannine theology (John 3:16), Pauline theology (1 Corinthians 15:1-8), and anywhere else where one may look. There is one soteriology for the entire Bible. There are no commandments other than to believe in what Jesus did for us unto salvation. The obedient disciple is the one who seeks to imitate Christ, in which not all believers are disciples (cf. John 8:31).
Now it is a mere abstract concept to ‘remain’ in Jesus. Does this mean to continue to believe? Trust Him? There could be any number of things that this could mean to the Eleven. So Jesus offers them clarification. He states, if you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love (John 15:10). This makes sense because He had just given them a new commandment: to love each other as He has loved them (13:34-35). This would be a testimony to the world that they are Jesus’ disciples. If they have no love, how can they be different from the world? This is a critical part of what it means to abide.
Biblical Study: Obedience and Abiding
In the Synoptics, there is a discussion of what the greatest commandment might be. In Matthew 22:37-39 and Mark 12:29-31, Jesus tells the Pharisees that all of the Law and the Prophets rest on loving God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength and loving their neighbor as themselves. The lawyer in Luke 10:25-28 also confesses that the law can be summed up in these commands. These commands come from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, respectively.
The Johannine writings take these commands a step further. Jesus raised the seriousness of the latter commandment, to love one’s neighbor as himself. He calls for a ‘new’ commandment, that His disciples ought to love one another as He has loved them (John 13:34). As Derickson and Radmacher point out, this is a new standard, a “freshness” of the old command in that we ought to imitate our teacher (81). But this observation is not limited to the gospel alone.
This commandment is one that Jesus spoke throughout John’s gospel, but it is also an exhortation and major theme that John writes in his first epistle. John speaks of an old commandment and a new commandment, and there will be an amazing parallel between these and the two greatest commandments of the Synoptics. First, one must identify what these commandments are (1 John 2:7-8, cf. 2:24). The old commandment is the person of Jesus Himself. John writes that the old commandment was something that the recipients have heard since the beginning. More specifically, it is the word which they have heard from the beginning. In 1 John 2:7, the minority of manuscripts omit the phrase ‘from the beginning’ the second time. This is no matter, because again in 1 John 2:24, John states, “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.” What had this epistle’s audience heard from the beginning? This is the same word that the apostles heard, seen, and touched from the beginning concerning the Word of Life (1 John 1:1). This is the very Word that has existed from eternity past (John 1:1). The person of Jesus has always existed. Again, the person of Jesus and His message are virtually interchangeable, because when we believe in Him, we receive eternal life. We receive His life. The old message is to believe in Jesus, God in the flesh, Savior of the world (see John’s prologue in John 1:1-18). There is remarkable parallel in loving God as in Deuteronomy 6:5 and this concept, for no one has ever seen God, except in the form of Jesus Christ (John 1:18, 1 John 4:12). Likewise, the Jewish people were told in Moses’ day to look for a Prophet that would arise just like Moses who spoke with God face to face (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).
The new commandment is just the same as it was formerly discussed. Love your neighbor, or more specifically, love your brother (fellow believer). The evidence in John’s first epistle is just as ample. One cannot hate their brother and say that he is in the light, for he is truly in darkness, but the one who loves his brother abides in the light (1 John 2:9ff). Once again, obedience to commandments is requisite for ‘abiding,’ something that we do (Ryrie 314). Loving one’s brother in this new way, as Jesus had loved them, is evidence that they abide in the light, just as Jesus had said in John 13.
The epistle, therefore, brings us a ‘glorified’ version of the two greatest commandments in 1 John 3:23: “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” The following verse (3:24) demonstrates these as what it means to ‘abide’: “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” Looking at 3:23, we see now the dependency of the second commandment on the first one. The first commandment is to believe. Believe in whom? Jesus Christ. The person of Jesus Christ, inseparable from His gospel message, is the commandment. Obedience to this commandment results in eternal life (John 3:16). Obedience to the second command, which logically comes from the first command, is the beginning of ‘abiding.’ The second command came directly from the first command. If the first command is Jesus, then the First Command (to personify the phrase) gave us the second command, to love, though not required for justification-salvation.
Why the second command? It has been established that no one has ever seen God at any time, and also Jesus alone has declared Him. Now John goes a step further by saying in 1 John 4:20 that one cannot truly love God, whom they had not seen, if they do not love their neighbor, whom they have seen. The link between God and humankind lies in the fundamentals of biblical anthropology: that people were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), but also Christology, that Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). The link between the commandments is strong: to love God and the images of God.
Consequences of Non-Abiding
There is good question if the person who does not abide is a true regenerate person who is saved. This takes into account many passages in Johannine literature. First, in John 8:31, Jesus speaks to believing Jews, that if they abide in His word, they will be His disciples. The negative would be, that if they do not abide, they would not be His disciples. Again, in 15:6, considering its context, there is a concept that someone who is a believer can possibly not abide. As we have seen, a believer has the ability not to abide. In other words, someone who is a believer and not obedient to Jesus’ commandments, by means of process of elimination they are not obeying the new commandment in 1 John 2:8 and 3:23, and also John 13:34, to love their brother. There are consequences if one does not abide in Christ.
Naturally, that one who does not abide will not experience the unity of the fellowship of the community of believers, and will not experience the unity of how the Father and the Son abide in him. In 1 John 2:3-4, John writes to the audience that he who keeps Jesus’ commandments know Him, and those who do not are liars. In 2:5, John had just written that he who keeps His word has the love of God perfected in Him. In verse 6, John then says that the one who abides ought to walk as Jesus walked. In 1 John 2:9-11, the one who hates his brother walks in darkness, while the one who loves his brother walks in the light. The summation of these verses is amazing, that obedient believers know God, have the love of God perfected in them, walk as He walked, and abide in the light. This does not speak of all believers, just the ones who seek to do His commandments, which are reminiscent of John 8:31. There is an experiential unity between Jesus and His disciples. This is what Dodd states on abiding on the critical passage in John 15. It is “made clear that what is meant is the unity of the disciples in the love which is perfectly mutual between the Father and the Son, manifesting itself, once again, in obedience to the word or command of Christ (which is the word of the Father given to Him) which issues in action” (Dodd 196). These are the very things that Jesus prays in the High Priestly Prayer in John 17. There is unity between the Father and the Son (John 17:5). But Jesus also prays for all the believers for all time that they would be one just as they are One (John 17:21ff), and that they would be one with Them.
The Importance of Abiding in Christ
Having said all of these things, if one is disobedient, they will not experience this oneness. An example can be seen in the process of church discipline (Matthew 18). If one sins against a brother, the offended individual goes to him, and if rejected, brings with him witnesses. If the one persists, and rejects the witnesses, and also the congregation (Matthew 18:17), then love is not abiding in him, and he is going to be cast out for the sake of the body. This is the darkness and separation that he will face.
The importance of abiding in Christ is self-evident: it is to experience eternal life now. As it was mentioned, it is imperative that we love one another to experience the unity of Christian life. Trusting in Christ is more passive in the believer’s life; Jesus initiates our initial salvation. The command to love one another is something that we initiate (Ryrie 314). Out of gratitude of His glorious salvation that we freely received, we are motivated to serve our Lord, and unconditionally love other people in His power.
Another reason is because of the apostasy that has influenced the church. In 1 John 2:18ff, there is the warning of various antichrists that have arisen. Beginning in verse 24, John encourages the believers: “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.” Then he says, “If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life” (1 John 2:24b-25). Eternal life of course is the experience of blessing now in the present, not only in the future eternal state. But the context is in the world of apostasy, where it is imperative to let God abide in us (of course, if we abide, then He abides in us, cf. John 15:4). This is because, we can prove that the truth that is within us is indeed the truth (1 John 2:26-27), and know that the apostasy is false. Likewise, as it is written in John 13:34, we see that if we keep Jesus’ commands, the world will know that we are His disciples.
If one takes the commandment of love to heart, then one will truly grow in the knowledge of who Jesus is. We will be able to show that we belong to Him, testify that He lives, and people might come to know Him through our actions. This concept of abiding, continuing, remaining in Him is dire to Christian living. Imagine if everybody sought Jesus’ face to do what He desires everyday, and how our churches would radically be changed! How radically the world would be changed! This should be the heart of every believer in these latter days.
References
Bernard, J. H. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Volume 2. Edinburgh, Scotland: T & T Clark, 1928.
Brown, C. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Volume 3: Pri-Z. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986.
Danker, Frederick W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (3rd ed). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 2000.
Derickson, Gary, & Radmacher, Earl D. The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most To Jesus. Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001.
Dodd, C. H. The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel. Cambridge, Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1953.
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.
Kittel, G. (ed.). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. 4: L-N. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1967.
Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999.