In the previous chapter we saw our organic union with Christ. In this organic union we are actually one with Christ in the Spirit. Based upon this union, the New Testament tells us that we need to abide in Christ. The Gospel of John tells us that Christ is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). As the branches we should abide in Christ as the vine all the time. The branches and the vine not only give us a good illustration of the organic union, but they also illustrate how the branches abide in the vine. When the branches abide in the vine, the vine also abides in the branches. This mutual abiding actually causes the vine and the branches to grow. The growth of the entire vine depends upon this abiding. Christ is the vine, and we are His branches. For us to grow in Him and for Him to grow in us, we need to abide in Him. The matter of abiding in Christ is a central teaching in the New Testament, especially in the writings of John and Paul. The foundation of this teaching of abiding is in John 15. Then Paul in his Epistles goes on to develop this teaching of abiding.
To abide in Christ is to remain in Him. All the branches abiding in a vine remain in it. Once a branch is removed, it dies. On the one hand the tree must support the branches, and on the other hand the branches must remain in the tree. As believers, we should remain in Christ, but there are many things that would distract us from Him. Therefore, in order to remain in Christ we must avoid being distracted by any of these things.
The first category of things that can distract us from Christ is heresies. Some of the teachings among Christians today are good, but some are heretical. One of the greatest heresies today is a movement whose founder claims to be another Christ. He says that Jesus Christ was defeated, but he will be victorious. What a great heresy this is! Anyone who would accept this kind of heresy would surely be distracted from Christ. We must not be distracted from Christ but rather remain in Christ. First John 2:21 says, "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth." The word truth in John's writings refers to Christ as the reality of the Triune God, and the lie refers to a teaching denying this truth of Christ being the reality of the Triune God. First John 2:22 says, "Who is the liar if not he who is denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who is denying the Father and the Son." At John's time, there were some who taught that Jesus was an earthly man, the son of Joseph and Mary, and that Christ was another person. These were heretics who taught that Jesus was not the Christ. In this verse John says that whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ is an antichrist. Such a person is anti-Christ, that is, against Christ. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny the Father and the Son. If you say that Jesus is not the Christ, then you deny both the Father and the Son because the Triune God is one. The New Testament tells us that Jesus is the Christ, that Christ is the Son of God, and that this Son of God is always together with the Father and one with the Father (Matt. 16:13, 16; John 16:32; 10:30). If you say that Jesus is not the Christ, that means you deny Christ. If you deny Christ, you deny the Son of God and you also deny the Father who is one with the Son. This is surely a heresy.
Verse 23 says, "Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also." This verse also shows that the Father is one with the Son. If you have the Son, then you have the Father. But if you deny the Son, you reject the Father, and you have neither the Son nor the Father. On the positive side, he who confesses the Son has the Father also. If we confess the Son, then we have the Father also. This is the truth. To deny the Son is a heresy. Such a heresy distracts the believers from Christ.