John concludes verse 27 with an exhortation to abide in the Triune God. The Greek word translated “abide” is meno, a word that means “to stay (in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy); hence, to abide, remain, and dwell.” To abide in Him is to abide in the Son and in the Father. This is to remain and dwell in the Lord (John 15:4-5). It is also to abide in the fellowship of the divine life and to walk in the divine light (1 John 1:2-3, 6-7), that is, to abide in the divine light (2:10). We should practice this abiding according to the teaching of the all-inclusive anointing so that our fellowship with God (1:3, 6) may be maintained.
The fellowship of the divine life depends on the anointing. This means that maintaining the fellowship of the divine life depends on abiding in the Lord and in the light. To abide in the Lord and in the light is equal to abiding in the Triune God.
The anointing has much to do with our abiding in the Lord. We enjoy the fellowship of the divine life so that we may abide in the Lord. This abiding is altogether a matter of the Lord as the Spirit dwelling in our spirit. Apart from the anointing, we cannot abide in the Lord. If we do not abide in the Lord, we cannot maintain the fellowship. Furthermore, if we do not maintain the fellowship, we cannot enjoy the riches of the divine life. We may also say that to enjoy the riches of the divine life, we need to maintain the fellowship; to maintain the fellowship, we need to abide in the Lord; and in order to abide in the Lord, we need to take care of the inner anointing, which is the moving of the indwelling Spirit in our spirit.
This abiding is the fellowship; to abide in the Lord is to fellowship with the Lord. We are kept in this fellowship, this abiding, by the anointing, which is the moving of the Holy Spirit as the ointment within. This kind of anointing brings us into life. The more anointing we enjoy, the more life we have; the more life we have, the stronger the fellowship we are in; the stronger the fellowship we are in, the more light we have; and the more light we have, the more cleansing of the blood we need. Then more cleansing of the blood brings us into more anointing, and the more anointing we enjoy, the more we have life. This is a cycle. When we have life, we are in the fellowship; in the fellowship we are in the light; as we are in the light, we sense the need of the cleansing; under the cleansing we enjoy the anointing; and the anointing brings us more life.
If we quench the Spirit and neglect the words of the Lord, we will come out of the Lord. But if we neither quench the Spirit nor neglect the instant words of the Lord, we will abide in the Lord. When we abide in the Lord, spontaneously we can exercise our spirit, pray, and give thanks in everything. This is a practical way for us to abide in the Lord.
To abide in Christ is to dwell in Him, to remain in fellowship with Him, that we may experience and enjoy His abiding in us (John 15:4-5; 1 John 2:27). To abide in Christ is to live in the Divine Trinity—taking Christ as our dwelling place (vv. 6, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 24; 4:13). To have Christ abiding in us is to have the Spirit of reality as the presence of the Triune God abiding in us (John 14:17). We abide in Christ so that He may abide in us by caring for the inward teaching of the all-inclusive anointing (1 John 2:27). We abide in the divine fellowship with Christ by experiencing the cleansing of the Lord’s blood and the application of the anointing Spirit to our inner being (John 15:4-5; 1 John 1:5, 7; 2:20, 27).
The Lord’s abiding in us and our abiding in Him are altogether a matter of His being the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; by the bountiful, immeasurable Spirit in our spirit, we know with full assurance that we and God are one and that we abide in each other (1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:19; John 3:34; 1 John 3:24; 4:13). The way to abide in Christ as the empowering One so that He may be activated within us as the inner operating God, the law of the Spirit of life, is by rejoicing always, praying unceasingly, and giving thanks in everything (Phil. 4:13; 2:13; 1 Thes. 5:16-18; Col. 3:17). We abide in Christ so that He may abide in us by dealing with the constant word in the Scriptures, which is outside of us, and the present word as the Spirit, which is within us (John 5:39-40; 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rev. 2:7). By the outward, written word we have the explanation, definition, and expression of the mysterious Lord, and by the inward, living word we have the experience of the abiding Christ and the presence of the practical Lord (Eph. 5:26; 6:17-18). If we abide in the Lord’s constant and written word, His instant and living words will abide in us (John 8:31; 15:7; 1 John 2:14). We abide in Him and His words abide in us so that we may speak in Him and He may speak in us for the building of God into man and man into God (John 15:7; 2 Cor. 2:17; 13:3; 1 Cor. 14:4b).