Abiding in Christ: The expression “abiding in Christ” has become Christian vocabulary that everybody thinks they understand, even though very few people could define it without using other undefined devotional expressions. Ask someone: “What does abiding in Christ mean?” They may answer: “Living in constant fellowship with Christ.” “What does fellowship mean?” “A shared inward communion with Christ.” “What is an inward communion with Christ, and how is that inward communion lived out?” “By walking with Christ.” What does walking with Christ mean? “Living every moment in dependence upon Him.” What does living every moment in dependence upon Him mean? “Remaining in Christ.” And what does remaining in Christ mean? “Abiding in Him.” We’ve completed the circle and still haven’t defined anything.
Yet every expression in that little exchange sounds completely normal to our ears. More than normal, it sounds deeply spiritual. “Communion with Christ.” “Walking with Christ.” “Depending upon Christ.” “Remaining in Christ.” Who could possibly object to any of that? The language is so familiar that we may almost feel embarrassed to ask what any of it actually means. After all, these are the ABCs of the Christian life. Christians walk with Christ. Christians fellowship with Christ. Christians abide in Christ. Everybody knows that.
But perhaps that familiarity is part of the problem. We can repeat an expression for so long that eventually it begins to feel like a definition. One devotional phrase explains another, which is then explained by another, and because every expression sounds reverent and Christ-centered, we seldom notice that we may not have defined anything at all. Familiarity has taken the place of clarity.
And once these expressions become established Christian vocabulary, questioning them can almost sound irreverent. What do you mean you do not know what it means to “walk with Christ”? Surely a real Christian understands fellowship with Jesus. Isn’t this Christianity 101? Isn’t abiding in Christ one of the most elementary realities of the Christian life?
That is where undefined language can begin carrying a surprising amount of spiritual weight. “Abiding in Christ” may no longer simply describe a reality Scripture declares; it becomes an inward condition we are expected to recognize and maintain. Those who are said to be abiding are close to Christ, enjoying communion with God, and living moment by moment by faith in conscious dependence upon Him.
Those who are not abiding may be described as distant, cold, distracted, spiritually weak, or perhaps even backslidden. In its strongest forms, failure to recognize this experience in ourselves may even become a reason to question whether we truly know Christ at all.
That is quite a burden to place upon language we have not clearly defined. So before asking whether we are abiding enough, communing deeply enough, walking closely enough, or maintaining a sufficient sense of dependence upon Christ, perhaps we should ask a much simpler question: What does Scripture actually mean when it speaks of abiding in Christ? Not what we have learned to associate with the expression. Not what generations of devotional literature have taught us to feel when we hear it. What does the language mean in its biblical context?
There is much more that could be said about this language, and I expect to return to some of these larger questions later. For now, I simply want to pause over the expression “Abide in me” in John 15 and ask what Christ means by it before attaching to those words an entire theology of Christian experience.
I do not ask that because affection for Christ, prayer, dependence upon Him, or communion with God are somehow unimportant. Quite the opposite. They are too important to be left resting upon vague inherited expressions. If Christ says, “Abide in me,” then surely we ought to examine what He means in context, and not merely rely upon the meaning Christian tradition has taught us to associate with the words. Because abiding in Christ may turn out to be far less mysterious than we have made it, and perhaps far more certain.
So before trying to explain “abiding in Christ,” perhaps we should first pay attention to the word itself. This language is not unique to John 15. John uses the same word repeatedly throughout his writings, often with the sense of abiding, remaining, or continuing. People abide in a house. Words abide in people. God’s seed abides. Love abides. Truth abides. Christ abides. Believers abide. The word itself is not mystical. At its most basic level, it speaks of remaining, continuing, dwelling, or staying.
That alone should make us cautious about loading the expression “abiding in Christ” with an elaborate inward spirituality. It may be that the idea is far more objective, doctrinal, and gospel-centered than the moment-by-moment spiritual condition we have often been taught to associate with it. And John gives us an important clue elsewhere: “If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.” I John 2:24.
Notice where John places the emphasis. “That which ye have heard from the beginning” is to remain in them. And if that truth remains in them, they shall “continue in the Son, and in the Father.” Here abiding begins to sound much less like maintaining a continual inward consciousness of Christ’s presence and much more like continuing in the truth concerning Christ that they had received from the beginning. That does not answer every question raised by John 15. But perhaps it gives us a better place to begin. MPJ