In John 15, Jesus describes Himself as the true vine and His disciples as branches. He instructs His disciples to abide in Him.
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. (John 15:4-6.)
When we come to Jesus in faith, we turn from our sins and are baptized into Him (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). This is only the beginning. We must continue to live and abide in Him. Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Paul exhorted, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6, 7).
Abiding in Christ means we hold firmly to His teaching. Jesus went on to explain in John 15:7-10:
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
Earlier in the book of John, Jesus said to those who believed on Him, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:31, 32).
“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (I John 2:24). Our fellowship with God is contingent on our abiding in the doctrine of Christ, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).
Some advocate that the context of Second John defines the doctrine of Christ as the doctrine about Christ—that He came in the flesh. Indeed, 2 John 7 says, “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” Those in John’s time who did not confess that Jesus had come in the flesh were cutting themselves off from fellowship with God by failing to abide in the doctrine of Christ. But to restrict the application of 2 John 9 to a doctrine about Christ, such as His incarnation, and say that the principle cannot apply to other false doctrines that go against what Christ taught places limits on this passage that do not fit the context of letter nor the teaching of the New Testament as a whole. Jesus warned “of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:12). This was obviously not the doctrine about the Pharisees and Sadducees, but the doctrine which they taught. The doctrine of Christ is what Christ has taught: the gospel, the truth, the faith. The “truth”—referring to the body of doctrine to which Christians adhere—is mentioned five times in the first four verses of 2 John. The context points to the “doctrine of Christ” having an equivalent meaning to the “truth” so often mentioned in this short letter. Moreover, the New Testament provides several examples of individuals who had left the faith and cut themselves off from fellowship with God due to other false doctrines that do not hinge on the incarnation of Christ.
In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul highlighted the danger of leaving true doctrine for false doctrine; he had dispatched Timothy to Ephesus to charge some to teach no other doctrine
(1 Tim. 1:3). He then wrote, “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:20). In his second epistle, he mentioned that Hymenaeus and Philetus had turned away from the truth and taught the resurrection is past (2 Tim. 2:16-18). He told Timothy to conduct himself in contrast to their example: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them” (2 Tim. 3:14). He charged Timothy to preach the word, warning of a time when people would not endure sound doctrine but would instead gather false teachers to scratch their itching ears (2 Tim. 4:2-4). Doctrine matters. What we believe matters greatly.
Abiding in Christ is more than an intellectual exercise. Our entire lives are to be transformed to be more like Him. We are to abide in Him, the true vine, and bear much fruit as His disciples (John 15:8). We keep His commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10). Consider how the apostle John further explains this in his first epistle:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:3-6.)
James instructs us to not merely be hearers of the word, but doers (Jas. 1:22-25). The foolish man who built his house on the rock heard the words of Jesus; his destruction came because he did not put them into practice (Matt. 7:26).
The most vital relationship we will ever have is our union to Christ, the true vine. We are dependent on Him for producing fruit and having eternal life. Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Don’t let anyone or anything tear you away from Christ. Abide in Him.
–Mark Day