THE WAYS OF THE KINGDOM

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ABIDING OR remaining in Christ is an essential instruction in these words of Jesus, so to understand precisely what Jesus means is of utmost importance. The importance Jesus attaches to this 'abiding or remaining' is seen in the number of times, ten in all, the instruction is repeated in so few verses, in fact in verses 1 to 12. But what does it mean to abide in Christ.

I have used the word 'abide' as I write on this subject because it is the word perhaps most familiar to us due to its use in the Authorised Version of the Bible. The word can mean in the Greek 'abide', 'remain', or 'stay'. The NIV uses the translation 'remain', which I believe is much better. The meaning of this word to 'abide' or 'remain' implies a constant remaining or continuing in one spot or place.

Our problem is that this instruction of Jesus includes in it the idea of the Christian exerting himself to abide or remain. Because of this commentators speak of action which amounts to us trying to get nearer to Jesus, and to hold on to Jesus and so on. We are left with the idea that it all depends on us to maintain our spiritual life and our closesness to Jesus, so that if we don't read our Bibles enough, or go to church enough, or fail in prayer or some other spiritual duty, we are failures and perhaps lose our salvation. This has often been the interpretation set on this allegory. What we are doing in this sort of thinking is to return in some form to the idea that our salvation depends upon our doing, and that if we fail we are going to be lost.

What then is Jesus saying to us here in this idea of Abiding or Remaining in him. In John 6:56 we read these words "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him". Here is this idea of abiding or remaining expressed in another context, and it is very illuminating. When Jesus speaks of eating his flesh and drinking his blood he is not thinking that this is done when we come to Holy Communion. What he means is spiritual eating and drinking by faith, and it refers to the receiving or partaking of Christ by faith so that we benefit from and receive all the blessings of his saving death for us. Thus when we believe for salvation we are actually abiding or remaining Christ. We become 'in him' as the Apostle Paul continually says, and become united to him as our Saviour and Redeemer (Romans 6:5).

This is the same idea that is expressed in the allegory of the Vine and the Branches. A branch becomes or is part of the Vine and becomes one with the Vine. In the same way when we believe on Jesus for salvation the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6 we become united to Jesus in his death and resurrection. This means that we become part of Christ when he died for us, so that his death becomes ours, and so God considers we have died in Christ, and risen in Christ. This union is secured by the soul putting his complete and utter trust upon Christ, and relying only on him forever for forgiveness and acceptance before God.

We are now ready to see what Jesus is asking us to do in this chapter in John 15. He is telling us never to let go or cease to trust in him alone for salvation, and never cease to rest our souls entirely on him to be accounted just before God, and to be adopted as a child of God. Jesus is exhorting us never to let go of this faith and trust in him, and this sole dependence on him for our safety before God, and perseverance to glory. Abiding or remaining in Christ is continually and always living in the blessing of the atonement which Jesus purchased for us, and never trusting in anything else but in him.

This abiding or remaining is not a business of our seeking by our effort to get closer to Jesus so that we may thus be recipients of more of his life. To think and act in this way is in fact to cease to abide or remain, because we are turning from a wholehearted trust only in Christ for our salvation, and returning in some form to achieving God's favour by our works.

Once we have grasped this meaning of Abiding or Remaining, the rest of Christ's words fall into place. In verse 4, as we trust only Christ for our remaining in the love of God, so we find that Christ is very near to us and precious - remains in us and we feel his love. If we are not trusting in Christ alone for our acceptance with God, then we have no salvation, and there can not be any fruit in our lives, as the rest of verse 4 tells us. When we are resting in Christ and his atonement, all the fruits of the Spirit and the fruits of the blessings of the Gospel flourish in us.

It is only when we are resting and trusting alone in Christ for salvation that we can do anything in the Christian life (v5), because it is only through faith in Christ that we are born again and the Spirit is given to dwell within us. We must remain in the gospel faith in Christ, because grace and blessing alone comes through Christ and what he has done for us.

If we introduce any other way of living in the Christian life other than trusting alone in Christ for Salvation, we have no life whatsoever. We are in fact not part of the vine and so are not even a branch, as verse 6 is saying. This includes all the many many people in the visible church who in some way are not trusting solely in Christ, and are trusting in themselves or the religious observances that they perform.

It is by this faith alone in Christ, this abiding, that we show that we are Christ's disciples (v8). When we are abiding in this way we speak of Christ, and witness to Christ, and glorify Christ as the complete and only Saviour, and it is clear that we are Christians, that is Christ's people. As is declared in verse 7, we also find we have our prayers answered, because through Christ we have access to throne in heaven and into the very presence of God.

This meaning of abiding or remaining is confirmed by verse 9 where Jesus exhorts us to remain or abide in his love. This is nothing less than dwelling and living by faith in the love of God shown in his free forgiveness through Christ and his being given to death for us. We remain in his love by continuing to trust only in the Saviour for our acceptance.

It is in this abiding that we know the joy of being a Christian. Joy comes from the wonderful peace of knowing that Christ has won every blessing for us, leaving nothing in our failing hands to be done. We are filled with joy because we are safe in eternal life, and in the Father's love. When we introduce our efforts into the picture in anyway whatsoever, joy flys out of the window, because by introducing our effort, we introduce doubt of success, and so we have no security and thus no joy.

Jesus speaks in verse 10 of obeying his commands. His command in this passage is to abide in him, that is rest in his atonement for us. In this way we remain in his love. Further he tells us what is the essence of his commands in verse 12. He says, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you". We can only obey this command when we are abiding in Christ in the way we have been seeing. If we are abiding in Christ so that our faith is in his atoning work for us, we are living in the experience of his infinite and great love for us. We are experiencing how much God loved us, because he did not spare his Son, his only Son, that we might live. As Jesus tells us in verse 13 - "Greater love has no-one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends". This is precisely the love of God which we experience as we remain in Christ by faith in his death. We see how much he loved us by laying down his life for us.

It is from this experience of love from God and living in this love so gracious, merciful and free, that our hearts are filled with his love, and we find ourselves loving others as Christ has loved us, and so we naturally lean towards the desire of Christ for us in verse 12, which is to love others as he loved us. We will only bear this fruit if we are abiding in Jesus as the Saviour who redeemed us from the consequences of our sins, and are trusting him alone for God's smile and parenthood.

In closing let us see how this fits in with the whole Bible witness to the grace of God. We are united to Christ when we believe on him and so partake of the blessings of his death and resurrection for us. We live our whole lives in this resting faith, and never move from it to any other trust. Thus we are God's children, and God produces in us the character and life that is in the image of Jesus.