John 15:4

The first sentence in this verse is capable of three different interpretations. It may be a conditional statement. In this case Jesus meant that if His clean (i.e., saved) disciples abode in Him He would abide in them. I believe this is the best interpretation. Earlier Jesus had presented abiding in (in contrast to departing from) Him as a real possibility for His believing disciples (cf. John 8:31-32; John 15:10). He did not speak of abiding as the inevitable condition of believers. Jesus’ described His relationship with believers as more or less intimate depending on their love and obedience to Him (John 14:23-24). He did not present abiding and not abiding as white and black categories, as being either completely in or completely out of fellowship. Rather He presented our relationship to Him much more realistically, namely, as having a more or less intimate relationship.

Second, the sentence may be a comparative statement. The meaning would then be that the disciples should abide in Jesus as He abode in them. Obviously Jesus wanted His disciples to abide in Him, but the use of "and" (Gr. kago, from kai ego) is unusual. A comparison would usually contain "as" rather than "and." Moreover the verb "abide" (Gr. meinate) is an imperative, and the possibilities surrounding this verse indicate that not abiding is a real possibility for a believer. Jesus, on the other hand, would always abide in the believer by His Spirit even if the believer did not abide in Him (John 14:17; cf. 2 Timothy 2:12-13).

Third, this may be an imperative statement. If it is, Jesus meant that the disciples and He should commit themselves to abiding in one another. The idea would be, Let us commit to abide in one another. The problem with this view is that Jesus had already committed Himself to abiding within His believing disciples (John 14:17). Furthermore the strong second person imperative in the first clause of the sentence argues against a mutual exhortation. It puts the emphasis on the believer’s responsibility primarily.

The branches then should make a deliberate effort (indicated by the imperative verb "abide") to maintain a close personal relationship to the true vine. We should do this not because failure to do so will result in our losing the life of God that we possess. Jesus promised that He would never withdraw that from us (John 6:37-40; John 10:28-29). We should do it because the extent of our fruitfulness as believers is in direct proportion to our intimacy with Jesus. Divine life depends on connection with the true vine by exercising saving faith in Him, but fruitfulness depends on abiding in the vine by exercising loving obedience toward Him.

Much confusion has resulted from failing to recognize that Jesus spoke of "abiding" in two senses. He used it as a synonym for saving faith (John 6:56). Some interpreters have imported that meaning into this verse. [Note: E.g., Blum, p. 325.] However, He also used it to describe the intimate relationship that those who have exercised saving faith need to cultivate with God (John 8:31). All believers abide in Jesus in the first sense, but all do not abide in Him in the second sense (cf. John 15:10; 1 John 3:24). It is in this second sense that Jesus spoke of abiding here (cf. John 15:9-10). He stressed the importance of believers abiding in Him by using the word meno ("abide") three times in this verse alone. It occurs 11 times in this chapter and 27 times in John’s epistles, where John expounded Jesus’ teaching on this subject further.

"The imagery of the vine is stretched a little but the point is clear: continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance upon him, persistent spiritual imbibing of his life-this is the sine qua non of spiritual fruitfulness." [Note: Carson, The Gospel . . ., p. 516.]