I was listening to an online
sermon by Pastor Alan Robinson from Community Baptist Church titled "Abiding in the Vine" and wanted to know more about what abiding in Christ means.
Pastor Robinson mentions that
in John 15:1-7, Jesus uses the word abide multiple times (emphasis mine):
I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he
taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may
bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken
unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the
vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not
in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and
cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Robinson defines abiding as
remaining or continuing in Christ by reading His Word, praying, and going about
our daily business as a disciple as Christ.
I wanted to know if
Scripture could tell me more about how we are to abide in Christ. I did a word search and was
surprised to find that there are no mentions of abide in the NIV. There are, however, 103 mentions in the KJV.
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Every jot and tittle is important, which means we should pay attention to even the smallest details.
So I used the online Net Bible to look up those 103 Scripture verses. I
discovered that Jesus always used the root word meno (Strong 3306) for abide. At times like these, I really wish I could read biblical Hebrew and Greek because while God’s Word is infallible, the translators are not. But according to Strong, meno can mean (emphasis mine):
1) to remain, abide
1a) in reference to place
1a1) to sojourn, tarry
1a2) not to depart
1a2a) to continue to be present
1a2b) to be held, kept,
continually
1b) in reference to time
1b1) to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure
1b1a) of persons, to
survive, live
1c) in reference to state or
condition
1c1) to remain as one, not
to become another or different
2) to wait for, await one
Thanks to this exercise, I have a much better understanding of what it means to abide in Christ Jesus.
