When we believe and are baptized into Christ, we are in Christ. In Christ we obtain and enjoy all the riches in Him. To maintain such a position in Christ and to continue to enjoy all the riches in Him, we must continue to remain in Him, with the result that we abide in Him. Therefore, we must consider this matter thoroughly.
1) “I [Christ] am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
There is a difference between being in Christ and abiding in Christ. Being in Christ refers to the fact of our having entered into Christ to partake of Him and to be joined to Him. Abiding in Christ refers to the experience of our remaining in Christ to fellowship with and enjoy Him. In this verse the Lord Jesus speaks to us specifically concerning such an experience. He describes our life of abiding in Him by the illustration of the branches abiding in the vine. He is the vine and we are His branches. This shows us clearly that, if we desire to live in Him to enjoy all His life supply, thus bearing fruit to fulfill our duty as His members, we must abide in Him. This is like the branches of the vine, which must abide in the vine in order to enjoy all the life supply of the vine and bear fruit in order to fulfill their duty. If we are separated from Christ, like branches separated from the vine, we cannot live in Him nor can we receive the life supply from Him to bear fruit for Him. Therefore, if we would live in Christ, we must not be separated from Him.
1) “...and report to you the eternal life, which...was manifested to us...that you also may have fellowship with us [the apostles], and indeed the fellowship which is ours is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:2-3).
These verses tell us that the reporting of the eternal life to us enables us to have fellowship with the apostles, and that the fellowship of the apostles is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. In other words, the eternal life, the life of God in Christ, that is, Christ Himself as life, brings a fellowship to us, that we may have fellowship not only with the apostles but also with God and Christ. This fellowship is the flowing of God’s life in us, causing us to have fellowship with God and Christ, to participate in all that They are, and to enjoy Their life supply. To have fellowship with God and Christ in this way is to abide in Christ. This abiding will result in three conditions, as given below.
1) “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth” (1 John 1:5-6).
When we have fellowship with God, who is light, such fellowship brings us into God’s light that we may be enlightened. Thus, we will not walk in darkness.
1) “But if we walk in the light as He [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin...if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7-9).
When we are enlightened by God in our fellowship with Him, we will see our own sins. If we confess our sins in God’s light, He will forgive us our sins, and the blood of Jesus His Son will cleanse us from all sin. If we do not confess our sins in order to be cleansed, our sins will interrupt the fellowship which we have with God and with Christ. Only when we confess our sins and are cleansed is our fellowship with God and Christ restored. Then we may again abide in Christ without anything between us and Him.
1) “...grows with the growth of God” (Col. 2:19). By abiding in Christ and fellowshipping with Him, the life within us will continue to grow, and we will also grow with the growth of God’s life unto maturity.