The Word

Vol. 9 No. 16

April 18, 2010

Upper Room Discourse

John 15:4

Abiding in Christ

This week we have our last clause of John 15:4, “so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” “HOUTOS OUDE HUMEIS EAN ME EN EMOI MENETE.”

HOUTOS is a Conjunction Adverb that can mean, “in this way, thus, so, even so, in the same way, like this.” It introduces a correlative clause and conclusion. It is correlating the analogy with the real, i.e., “branch and vine” with “us and Jesus.”

OUDE is also a Conjunction Adverb from OUK “not” and DE “and”, so it comes to mean “and not, neither, nor, etc.” As the conclusion it is telling us what we can not do, (produce Divine Good), without Bible Doctrine resident in the soul.

Because of the correlation to the previous clause we can add “DUNAMAI” or “are able to / can” to complete the thought.

HUMEIS is a Pronoun in Nominative, Second Person, Plural of SU for, “you all”

EAN ME, once again we have the combination of the Coordinating Conjunction and Negative Particle for “unless”, stating a condition.

EN is the Dative of Sphere Preposition for “in.”

EMOI is a Pronoun in the Dative of Sphere, First Person, Singular of EGO for “I or Me”; Jesus referring to Himself.

MENETE is the Present, Active, Subjunctive, Second Person, Plural of MENO that means “abide”. Here we have the Second Person plural which is addressing the disciples in the Upper Room and by extension all believers, so we say “you all abide.” The same force of Tense, Voice and Mood applies here as noted in the previous clause.

Our translation of the final clause is, “So neither are you all able to (produce Divine Good), unless you abide in the sphere of Me.”

The three “abide(s)” in the verse are all used differently:

1) The first is in the Aorist, Active, Imperative, Second Person, Plural - The Command to believers.

2) The second in the Present, Active, Subjunctive, Third Person, Singular - The Principle from Christ.

3) The third is in the Present, Active, Subjunctive, Second Person, Plural - The Conclusion for the believers.

Our complete translation of John 15:4 is, “You all abide in the sphere of Me, as I want you to, and when you do I will abide in you. As the branch (believer) is not able to produce fruit (Divine Good) by means of itself, unless it (the branch / believer) abides in the sphere of the Vine (Bible Doctrine), so neither are you all able to (produce Divine Good), unless you all abide in the sphere of Me.”

This is speaking of the “Empowerment” we received from Christ, and only from Christ, while standing confidently in the “Environment” of our eternal security, having been “Encouraged” through pruning from the source of “Establishment” to produce Divine Good works.

In verse 3 the context was “the Word that Jesus spoke to them, which is the gospel.” There He reminded them of the environment for fruit production, standing confidently in their eternal security. Now in verse 4 He moves from salvation doctrine to spiritual life doctrine. They are already saved; now the issue changes. The issue now is “Abide in me.” He is talking about what is necessary to experience spiritual growth with the result of Divine Good Production which only comes through Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of consistent intake and application of Bible doctrine through the filling of God the Holy Spirit.

Verse 4 is talking about the fact that fruit bearing is a consequence of being in fellowship / occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. If the believer is not drawing his nourishment from Christ on a day to day basis there is no growth, no advance, no fruit bearing even though the environment and encouragement for fruit bearing has been established.

Verse 4 has to do with relational fellowship between the believer and his Lord. The point is, no matter how much activity you are engaged in, no matter how moral your life might be, no matter what religious activity you might participate in, it is not fruit unless you are abiding in / in fellowship / occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless you are abiding in Him all you are doing is producing human good which is wood, hay, and straw.

So when we look at this, we see that the substance of John 15 is how the believer is to have a life of fellowship, and the importance of that life of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

What, then, are the conditions for fellowship with Christ? First of all one has to enter into union with Christ which occurs at the moment of salvation, (faith alone in Christ alone). At salvation we begin our spiritual life in fellowship with the Lord. But we can break that fellowship through sin. Our sins do not break our union with Christ, only our fellowship with Christ. Our Positional Sanctification is not broken, only our experiential Sanctification.

Sin grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit, Eph 4:30; 1 Thes 5:19; this also means a break in our experiential sanctification, a break in our fellowship with Christ.

Yet in grace, God has provided for our restoration, thereby regaining fellowship with Christ through 1 John 1:9. When we confess our sins to God the Father we regain our experiential sanctification, our walk and fellowship with Christ.

Characteristic of Abiding / Fellowship with the Lord:

(Note that each usage of “abide(s) in” is for application post salvation.)

1) Abiding in Christ begins at the moment of our salvation, 1 John 4:15, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him (going forward), and he in God.”

2) Abiding in Christ is characterized by being filled with and walking in dependence of God the Holy Spirit. This follows the

precedent set by the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 John 1:7; 2:6, 27; 3:24b; 4:13; Eph 5:8-10.

1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 2:6, “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

1 John 2:27, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

1 John 3:24b, “We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

Eph 5:8-10, “For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light ⁹(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), ¹⁰trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”

3) Likewise, the rejection of sin temptation keeps you abiding in Christ, 1 John 3:6, 9.

1 John 3:6, “No one who abides in Him sins.”

1 John 3:9, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him”

4) Abiding in Christ demands a continual relationship with the Word of God, having our minds saturated with the thinking of Jesus Christ, 1 John 2:14; 3:24a; Psa 15:1-2. That is the key.

1 John 2:14 “I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”

1 John 3:24a, “The one who keeps His commandments (His Word) abides in Him, and He in him.”

Psa 15:1-2, “O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? ²He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.”

5) The one who abides in Christ does not depart from the true gospel of Jesus Christ, 1 John 2:24.

1 John 2:24, “As for you, 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.”

6) The abiding Word of God is eternal and everlasting, 2 John 1:2.

2 John 1:2, “For the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.”

7) Abiding in Christ includes the application of Faith Rest, Psa 91:1.

Psa 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

8) Abiding demands the continuous application of the New Commandment: “love one another.” Therefore, abiding in Christ is related to the application of impersonal / unconditional love for all mankind, 1 John 2:10; 4:12, 16.

1 John 2:10, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

1 John 4:12, “If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

1 John 4:16, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

9) Giving is a demonstration of your love and abiding in Christ, 1 John 3:17.

1 John 3:17, “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

10) The rejection of false doctrine and those who teach it is a demonstration of abiding in Christ, 2 John 1:9-11.

2 John 1:9, “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; ¹¹for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”

11) Abiding in Christ gives you confidence for the BEMA seat judgment of your works performed on earth, 1 Cor 3:10-15 cf. 1 John 2:28; 4:17.

1 John 2:28, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

And as our Lord states in John 15:10, “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.”

Finally, a quote from Oswald Chambers states, “It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruit bearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ (John 15:1–4).”

If you would like more information on this subject,

you may listen to lessons 10-041 and 10-042.

A PERSONAL NOTE FOR YOU

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell you that Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you. God the Father also loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son for you by sending Him to the cross. At the Cross Jesus died in your place. Taking upon Himself all of your sins and all of my sins. He was judged for our sins and paid the price for our sins. Therefore our sins will never be held against us. Right where you are, you now have the opportunity to make the greatest decision in your life. To accept the free gift of eternal life by truly believing that Jesus Christ died for you. So wherever you are, pause to reflect on what Christ has done for you and say to the Father:

"Father, I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins."

If you have done that, I welcome you to the Eternal Family of God!

Property of:

Grace Fellowship Church, Pastor James H. Rickard

James H. Rickard Bible Ministries ã

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