What does it mean to "Abide in Christ"? What does that Look like and how do we do it?
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What does it mean to Abide?
What does it mean to Abide?
To “abide” is to live, continue, or remain; so, to abide in Christ is to live in Him or remain in Him.
When a person is saved, he or she is described as being “in Christ.”
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
They are held secure in a permanent relationship
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Taking this into account, we see that abiding in Christ is not a special level of Christian experience, rather, it is the position of all true believers.
The difference between those abiding in Christ and those not abiding in Christ is the difference between the saved and the unsaved.
Abiding in Christ is taught in 1 John 2:5–6, where it is synonymous with “knowing” Christ (verses 2 and 3).
1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Later in the same chapter, John equates “remaining” in the Father and the Son with having the promise of eternal life.
24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
Biblically, “abiding in,” “remaining in,” and “knowing” Christ are references to the same thing: salvation.
The phrase abiding in Christ pictures an intimate, close relationship, and not just a superficial acquaintance.
In John 15:4–7, Jesus tells His disciples that drawing life from Him is essential, using the picture of branches united to a vine: “Abide in Me, and I in you.
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Without that vital union with Christ that salvation provides, there can be no life and no productivity.
Elsewhere, the Bible likens our relationship with Christ to that of a body with a head—another essential union.
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Some people take the warning of John 15:6 (branches that do not abide in the vine are thrown away and burned) to mean that Christians are always in danger of losing their salvation.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
In other words, they say it’s possible to be saved but not “abide,” in which case we would be cast away.
But this could only be true if “abiding” were separate from salvation, referring to a state of intimacy with Christ we must strive to attain post-salvation.
The Bible is clear that salvation comes by grace and is maintained by grace.
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Also, if a branch could somehow fall away from the vine, resulting in the loss of salvation, then other, very clear passages of Scripture would be contradicted.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”
The correct interpretation the True Vine metaphor.
The correct interpretation the True Vine metaphor.
is that: Jesus is the True Vine. The branches who “abide” in Him are the truly saved—they have a real and vital connection to the Savior. The withered branches who do not “abide” in Him are the unsaved pretenders who feigned an attachment to the Vine but drew no life from Him.
In the end, the pretenders will be seen for what they were: hangers-on who had no authentic attachment to Jesus.
For a while, both Peter and Judas seemed identical in their walk with Christ. But Peter was attached to the Vine; Judas was not.
John restates the withered-branch principle this way:
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
One of the proofs of salvation is a sustained abiding in Christ.
One of the proofs of salvation is a sustained abiding in Christ.
The saved will continue in their walk with Christ (see Revelation 2:26).
26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—
That is, they will “abide” or remain in Him.
God will complete His work in them , and they will bring forth much fruit to the glory of God.
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Those who fall away, turn their backs on Christ, or fail to abide simply show their lack of saving faith.
Abiding is not what saves us, but it is one of the signs of salvation.
Proofs of abiding in Christ (i.e., proofs that one is truly saved and not just pretending)
Proofs of abiding in Christ (i.e., proofs that one is truly saved and not just pretending)
Obedience to Christ’s commands .
10 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.
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Following Jesus’ example.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Living free from habitual sin.
6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Having the awareness of a divine presence within one’s life.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.