John 15:4 - abide

John 15:4 “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.” (ESV)

In verse 4 we see one of John’s key concepts in his theology: menō, which means “abide, remain, dwell, lodge.” This term is found 120 times overall in the New Testament, yet 67 of these occurrences are in John’s writings – 11 times alone just in chapter 15.

What could possibly be so significant about menō that John, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, would use this term so frequently? What does it mean to “abide?”

Breaking this key term down in the Greek, it is written in the second person, imperative mood, aorist tense, and active voice. And you’re saying now, “Yes, that all sounds Greek to me…”

Imperative mood means this word was spoken as a direct command. The imperative expresses a stern order – one that is to be carried out without argument or wavering. Aorist tense here carries the concept of “summary occurrence” without regard for the amount of time taken to accomplish the action, although it may actually take place over a period of time. Second person active voice would be similar to our English concept of the “understood you.” Come here vs. You come here.

Put all that together, this seemingly simple “abide” is a strident command to us as followers of Christ to take our dwelling in Him and remain in that state of dwelling in Him. Not simply in a passive or comatose condition, but in a constant, vibrant, unbroken, and ever-deepening relationship. Abiding is fellowship and communion with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind throughout our entire life here on earth, until we achieve perfect abiding in Him in heaven.

John 1:38 gives a glimpse into the full meaning of abiding: “And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ They said to Him, ‘Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying’?”

The Message translation renders 15:4: “Live in Me. Make your home in Me…” How long does it take to make a home, a home? It is never not home, yet you’re growing in and into your home, until it truly is your home. In like fashion we are to abide in Christ, until we are truly abiding in Him.

What should be our model? The perfect example of such abiding? Just earlier in chapter 14 John quotes Jesus: “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 initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me…” (14:10-11)

The Father abides in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father. That perfect interabiding, communion and fellowship is the model given to the disciples here, and we as Christians by extension, to abide in the Vine.

Can you see why John so highly regarded this term that he would use it 67 times?

The first part of this verse is very straight forward, thanks to the verb we’ve been discussing, “Abide in Me.” However, the follow-up clause doesn’t contain a Greek verb, reading literally, “and I in you.” Due to the uncertainty of the sentence structure in the Greek, there are several varying renderings of this second clause found among modern translations.

Some translations (NIV, NLT, Message, etc.) assume a conditional clause: “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” This connotes the disciples’ perseverance in remaining in Jesus as the condition for His remaining in them. Their consistency is therefore the occasional cause for His presence. The conditional proponents argue the “if” statements later in verses 6 and 7 support such an interpretation. They also site Rev 3:20 (“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.”) as further support for Christ’s response being at times conditional to ours.

Other translations (NRSV, NJB, BBE, etc.) render the second clause “as I abide in you,” which suggests Jesus is the model for the disciples’ abiding. Such a parallelism, however, would mean that Jesus is commanding the vine to abide or remain in the branches. Considering the context of the second half of this verse and the rest of this mashal, this view is not likely. The disciples are clearly the ones being commanded to abide, and the only parallelism drawn regarding Jesus is in verse 9 where His actions are in lock-step with the Father – not the disciples. They are to be in lock-step with Him.

Certain translations (NASB, ESV, KJV, etc.) simply provide the literal translation: “Abide in Me, and I in you.” Some commentators claim such translations are not supplying a verb and therefore leaving this verse to the reader to interpret the meaning. However, the literal translation is the best rendering of this verse. Not simply because the interpretation should be left to the reader, but rather because the wrangling over the Greek sentence structure is a much-ado-about-nothing.

The fact of the matter is, this should not be construed to be a comparison between two separate actions. Nor should the strong command that starts the sentence be seen as the causal condition of the response. Rather, this verse should be understood to mean the one cannot exist without the other. Remaining in Jesus and having Jesus remain in the disciple are parts of the whole. Christianity is Christ. Christianity is nothing without Him. Just as it would be unimaginable for Jesus to not be in the Father and the Father to not be in Jesus, it should be similarly unimaginable for a true disciple to not be in an interabiding relationship with Jesus. Christianity separated from Christ is not Christianity. We may still call it such today, but that was never the intent. If you are truly a disciple of Christ, you are abiding in Him, and He is abiding in you – there should be no other possibility.

This is analogous to the teaching of Jesus as relates to divorce. Recall when the Pharisees challenged Him on the matter of divorce (Matt 19:3-9). His response to their attempt to trap Him was, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” In the divine plan there is no such concept as divorce – oneness of unity of man and wife was the only scenario. Anything less should be unimaginable. The Pharisees shot back, “Why then did Moses…” as their justification. Jesus’ answer to them is the same explanation as to why there could be such a thing as someone who claims to be a Christian when they really aren’t, or why one who is a Christian does not live a life consistent with one who is abiding in Christ: “Because of the hardness of your heart.”

The interabiding of Jesus with the Father is holy and pure. Such is meant to be our relationship with Jesus. The same holds true for those of us who are married. It is only when our sin and our hardness of heart enters into the relationship, that the unthinkable and unimaginable happens – separation.

All who remain in Jesus bear fruit and only those. Standing in stark contrast to human pride and deluded notions of self-adequacy, these vine tendrils are weak and useless in of themselves. Independence is a human concept and term. Jesus is calling us away from ourselves and our own strength, to Himself and His strength. A branch is not a self-contained entity, and neither is the Christian disciple. No branch bears fruit on its own, nor can it even produce its own life. It draws its very life from the vine. As a branch separated from the vine is utterly lacking in the supply of nourishment and therefore cannot produce fruit, neither can the Christian who is separated from Christ bear fruit. Fruit bearing for the disciple is totally dependent on a direct connection to Jesus. We cannot bear fruit on our own.

Oh we may have great intentions don’t we? And just like a branch may seem healthy for a brief time when severed from the branch, we may seem to be able to do just fine thank you, when we attempt to do good deeds on our own. However, just as that severed branch eventually withers and dies, so we also will wither. We’ve all been there. We’ve all tried to be “good” Christians on are own. We may fool others and even ourselves for a time, but then comes the wither.

Attachment to Jesus or abiding in Him is the sine qua non of Christian discipleship – the indispensable condition or essential element. Our abiding in Him should be such that His thoughts, emotions, desires and power are manifested in and through us. Paul expresses this truth when he says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20) and “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me’ (Phil 4:13).

“Abiding in the Vine then comes to be nothing more nor less than the restful surrender of the soul to let Christ have all and work all, as completely as in nature the branch knows and seeks nothing but the vine.” – Andrew Murray, The True Vine