The Complexity of Abiding

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide.
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

It is a beautiful hymn, and a compelling cry of the heart. Stay with me Jesus. Walk with me through this. It is a cry we make to the one who cannot lie and who has promised, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.”¹

Abide – μένω (meno) – stay, remain

Calls to “abide” abound in scripture but it is not typically the same call put forth in the hymn above, wherein we ask Jesus to abide with us. Rather, the call is for us to abide in Christ, to abide in the vine, to abide in Jesus’ love, to abide in his word, obeying it, thus demonstrating our love for him.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
– John 15:4-5, ESV

This is so much more than beautiful, poetic language. Jesus is teaching something critical here.

The quotation above is pulled from a larger narrative that runs from John 14 through John 16. In what is recorded there, we find Jesus using the term μένω eighteen times. Jesus is getting very close to the end of his life. He knows that, and his teaching is growing increasingly earnest and intense.

In their attempt to convey the idea Jesus is pressing upon the disciples, we find the translators using terms like abide, remain, continue, be present, dwell . . .

The Father Abides

Below, we see that the Father dwells in, or abides in the Son. I do not claim to fully understand this, but it a truth that we cannot deny.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
– John 14:10, ESV, bold mine

The very next words Jesus speaks, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”¹ They are one, inseparable, abiding, dwelling. It is a mystery that I find delightful to ponder. But there is an even deeper mystery.

The Spirit Abides

Just as the Son abides in the Father and the Father abides in the Son, so the Spirit of God abides in us.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
– John 14:16-17, ESV, bold mine

This deepens the mystery because now we are involved. The Holy Spirit of God is both with us and in us. We have something that the world simply cannot wrap its mind around. It should be no great shock to us that the world is the way it is. The world neither sees nor knows the Spirit of truth.

But the mystery deepens even more.

The Father and The Son and You Abide

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
– John 14:20, ESV

The Father abides in the Son. We abide in the Son and the Son abides in us. The Son also abides in the Father. If we abide in the Son and the Son abides in the Father then, by some extension, we must also abide in the Father even though he doesn’t say that explicitly. And the Spirit abides with and in us. This is all very mysterious and somehow lovely.

Abiding and Abiding Not

There is an outcome of abiding just as there is an outcome of not abiding. One is pleasant and productive. The other is unpleasant and tragic.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
– John 15:4-5, ESV

There is a beautiful symbiosis in that relationship. But, what of those who choose not to abide?

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
– John 15:6, ESV

Every year, Alean and I work the full circle of our property, pruning, trimming, pulling, hacking, getting the yard ready for winter. We attack the yard in ways that often feel brutal and cruel. But there is a reason for it.

Without pruning, cutting, trimming, removing what is unproductive, the rest of the plant cannot be productive. For example, by removing the unproductive or less productive grape canes, the remaining canes produce better, more useful fruit. If we do not remove the unproductive branches, they use up nutrients that are put to better use elsewhere.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.
– John 15:16a, ESV

Jesus chose us for the purpose of bearing fruit, good fruit. Fruit that abides, or remains. Fruit that is healthy and lasts.

Abide in Christ’s Love

Jesus commanded that we abide in his love, sayng, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love.”² So, the Father abides in the Son, the Son abides in the Father, we abide in the Son and the Son abides in us, and the Holy Spirit abides in us. Now we are told to abide in Christ’s love! How do we do that?

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
– John 15:10, ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
– John 14:23-24, ESV

Don’t underestimate the importance Jesus places on obedience. If we keep his word, Jesus and the Father will come and make their home with us. If we love him, we will keep his word, his commandments.

So why all this focus on loving and abiding and obedience? What’s it all about?

Immediately on the heels of saying, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,” Jesus explained why he demands our obedience.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
– John 15:11, ESV

Jesus demands our obedience, not because he is on a power-trip, but because he wants us to have joy, and not just a bit of joy. He wants our joy to be full!

1. John 14:11
2. John 15:9, ESV