Abiding
Abiding
As in the Gospels, so in Acts and Ephesians we find both the local and the ethical connotations of this word, which in almost every case is used to render or one of its numerous compounds (-, -, -, -, -). With the purely local usages we have here no concern; but there is a small class of transitional meanings which lead the way to those ethical connotations which are the distinctive property of the word. Among these may be mentioned the several places in 1 Corinthians 7, where St. Paul, dealing with marriage and allied questions (? in view of the Parousia), speaks of abiding in this state or calling. In the same Epistle note also 1Co 3:14 If any mans work abide, and 1Co 13:13 And now abide faith, hope, love.* [Note: Popular opinion, based on a well-known hymn (Par. 4913f.), very erroneously makes faith and hope pass away, only love abiding.] Similarly we are told of the persistence (a) of Melchizedeks priesthood (Heb 7:3), (b) of the Divine fidelity even in face of human faithlessness (2Ti 2:13), and (c) of the word of God (1Pe 1:23).
It is, however, in the 1st Ep. of John, as in the Fourth Gospel, that we get the ethical use of abiding most fully developed and most amply presented. But, while in the Gospel the emphasis is laid on the Sons abiding in the Father and Christs abiding in the Church, in 1Jn 2:24; 1Jn 2:27 the stress is rather on the mutual abiding of the believer and God (Father and Son). Note the following experimental aspects of the relation in question.
1. The believer as the place of the abiding.-A somewhat peculiar expression is found in 1Jn 2:27, where we read: The anointing abideth in you. By is meant the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2Co 1:21), whose presence in the heart gives the believer an independent power of testing whatever teaching he receives (cf. He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you, Joh 16:15). [Note: As indicated in HDB i. 101b, the words of 1Jn 2:27 gave rise to the practice or anointing with oil at baptism.] In 1Jn 2:14 it is said that the word of God abideth in young men; but it is also the meaning in 1Jn 2:24; while in 1Jn 3:24 Christ is mentioned as abiding in them by the Spirit. In each passage we have a subtle instance of the perfectly natural way in which the operation of the risen Christ on the heart is identified with that of the Spirit. The believers soul is thus mystically thought of as the matrix in which the Divine energy of salvation, conceived of in its various aspects, is operative as a cleansing, saving, and conserving power, safeguarding it from error, sin, and unfaithfulness.
2. The abiding place of the believer.-In 1Jn 2:24 we have the promise that if the [word] heard from the beginning remains in the believers heart, he shall continue in the Son and in the Father (cf. 1Jn 3:6). This reciprocal relation between the implanted word and the human environment in which it energizes is peculiarly Johannine. Secondary forms of the same idea are found in 1Jn 2:10 (he that loveth his brother abideth in the light), and in 1Jn 3:14 (he that hateth his brother abideth in death). In 1Jn 2:6 we have the fact that the believer abides in Christ made the ground for a practical appeal for consistency of life, and in 1Jn 2:28 the reward of such living is that the believer abideth for ever, i.e. has eternal life. As a general principle, in the use of this word we find a striking union of the mystical and the ethical aspects of the Christian faith.
Literature.-G. G. Findlay, The Things Above, 1901, p. 237; G. H. Knight, Divine Upliftings, 1906, p. 85; F. von Hgel, Eternal Life, 1912, p. 365f.; and also the article Abiding in Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , and the literature there cited. ote: Tar
E. Griffith-Jones.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Abiding
ABIDING.Of the three possible renderings of the Greek and , remaining, to remain, dwelling, to dwell, abiding, to abide, the last is the most satisfactory. The first has the advantage of being akin to the Greek in derivation, but it is too passive in its sense, and in so far as it includes the conception of expectation it is misleading; the second is too local, and is rather the fitting rendering of , ; the last is an adequate though not a perfect rendering. Mansions ((Revised Version margin) abiding-places) is the stately rendering (Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ), through the Vulgate mansiones, of the noun in Joh 14:2; but it becomes impossible in Joh 14:23 of the same chapter when the translators fall back on abode. Further, in the English of to-day mansion suggests merely a building, and that of an ostentatious type. The Scottish manse, self-contained, modest, and secure, would be a nearly exact equivalent if it carried with it more than the idea of a dwelling-house; yet neither it nor mansion has any correspondent verb.
Students who desire to get at the full meaning of verb or noun will find all that is needful in the etymological paragraph sub voc. in the larger edition of Liddell and Scotts Greek Lexicon. They will discover how rich in language product is the root of this word. The inquiry cannot be pursued further here. It is enough to say that locality enters very slightly into its conception, and that what is dominant is ethical. The leading idea is that of steadfast continuance. This is apparent the moment one turns to the derivative (cf. Rom 2:7), the term of Stoic virtue boldly incorporated and transmuted in Christian usage and experience. The primitive noun, however (), reminds Christians more clearly of the sphere in which it is contained, of a life in which it survives, of a power not its own on which it depends, and which in turn it exercises. If, as will be shown, the ethical import of and is dominant in the Gospels, the instances where the verb has a purely local sense, the sense of stopping or staying, may be dismissed. As a matter of fact, the instances are almost entirely confined to the Synoptists, and occur but in twelve passages; the use of the noun is purely Johannine. Only twice in the Synoptists does the verb occur in relation to persons, viz. Luk 24:29 in the pathetic appeal of Cleopas and his anonymous comrade, and the gracious response of the risen Christ; and even here there is no ethical significance, for the prepositions which link the verb and the personal pronouns imply only association ( ), or joint action ( ).
As soon as the student turns from the Synoptists to the Johannine literature, the idea of mansion (one could wish it were a theological term) becomes full, luminous, and suggestive. St. John uses the verb only thrice in its literal sense in the, Gospel (Joh 2:12; Joh 4:40; Joh 10:40); he seems almost jealously to reserve it for metaphorical, i.e. ethical, application. We are not here concerned with St. Johns letters, but it is pertinent to observe that occurs 23 times therein, while it is used in the Gospel some 35 times. Moreover, as if the Evangelist and letter-writer would not suffer the spiritual point to be lost, he perpetually reminds his readers and children of the sphere of mansion, and the source of its power. With a singular and marked uniformity, he employs the preposition in connexion with the verb. The Evangelist presses the idea not only of intimate relationship, but also of resultant power and blessing.
It is to be observed that, until we reach the great discourses in the chamber and on the way (chs. 14 and 15), we have only passing hints of the nature of the Abiding. The former chapter unfolds its meaning. The difficulties besetting the interpretation of these discourses are familiar to all students of the Fourth Gospel, and need not be dealt with here. They are not adequately met by references to the subjectivity or mysticism of the Evangelist. Our modes of thought, as Bishop Westcott reminds us,* [Note: to the Gospel of St. John, Joh 2:7.] follow a logical sequence; Hebrew modes of thought follow a moral sequence. The sermon to the Apostles in the chamber, especially, bears this moral impress throughout, and is rightly interpreted as the complement to the Sermon on the Mount. But while the connexion is thus somewhat precarious to the reader, certain great ideas or conceptions of the Abiding stand luminously forth for the devout mind. Here is set forth(1) the Abiding of Christ in the Father; (2) the Abiding of Christ in the Church, as in the individual believer; (3) the issues of the Abiding.
1. The Abiding of Christ in the Father.Here the student is, indeed, on ground most holy. He may not add to the Lords words, he trembles as he ventures to interpret them. He feels with the patriarch that this place in the Scriptures is dreadfulfull of a holy awe. Thus much, however, may be said, that the abiding of Christ in the Father belongs wholly to the operation and energy of the Holy Spirit. The keynote of this truth is struck by the testimony of the Baptist in the preamble of the Gospel (Joh 1:32 f.). It is important to notice that that which was the object of sight to the Baptist was not merely the descent of the Holy Spirit, but the Abiding. And here the careful student will observe that, though the preposition used in these verses is not but , yet the employment of the latter is necessary as linking the descent and the continuous indwelling of the Spirit in the Son. But if any hesitation remains as to the view that the character and sphere of Christs abiding in the Father lies in and through the indwelling Spirit, it must disappear on consideration of our Lords words (Joh 14:20), At that day [the day of realized life] ye shall come to know [by the Spirit what is at present a matter of faith only] that I am in my Father. The thought is inevitably linked with the Spirits work both in Him and for them. When, therefore, the Lord invites His own to abide in His love (Joh 15:10), He does not merely imply that His love is the atmosphere of their discipleship, but, as St. Augustine [Note: in Joan. xiv. No. lxxiv, ad fin.] suggests, He invites them to abide in that Holy Spirit whose love as fully permeates Him as it is imperfectly exhibited in His disciples.
2. The Abiding of Christ in the Church, as in the individual believer.Our Lords teaching as to the Abiding in Him refers even more closely to the Church than to the individual. John 14, 15 are penetrated through and through by Pentecostal costal thought and Pentecostal expectations. Christ looked eagerly forward to the birthday of the Spirit-bearing body. He could and does, indeed, fully abide in the heart of each individual believer; but that believer is not a mere unit standing solitary and unsupported. The individual disciple will be a terrible loser unless he realize his incorporation, his oneness with the universal body, the body of Christ. But as if to make sure that this great truth should never escape His own down the ages, Christ introduces the great figure of the Vine and the branches (Joh 15:1-6). The vine was already the symbol of the ancient Church;* [Note: Hos 10:1, Isa 5:1 ff., Jer 2:21.] Christ speaks of Himself as the true, the ideal Vine. But it is as a formula incomplete without the complement of Joh 15:5 I am the Vine, ye are the branches. As a vine is inconceivable without branches, [Note: Westcotts Commentary, in loco.] so in all devoutness it may be said He is inconceivable without His disciples. Again, they draw their life from abiding in Him. The life may be imperfectly realized, the fruitage may be disappointing, it may be nothing but leaves (Mat 21:19); the task of discipline, or of cleansing ( Joh 15:2 f.) is in the hands of the Great Husbandman. Thus as in ancient Israel union with the Church nation was the condition of life, so in the new dispensation the condition of life was to be the abiding in Christ. As apart from the vine the branches are useless since the living sap is therein no longer, so separated from Christ there can be no productiveness in Christian lives. St. John bears record of one more thought of the highest consolation to Christian hearts. There is a true analogy and correspondence between the abiding of Christ in the Father and the abiding of believers in Him (Joh 15:10). Our abidings in Christ, often so sadly brief, uncertain, precarious, through the consequences of sin, have still their sublime counterpart in the abiding of Christ in the Father.
3. The issues of the Abiding.We have seen that the Abiding finally depends upon the Spirits work, whether in the Church or in the individual heart. The first fruit of that Spirit is love. The Spirit moves in this sphere, He manifests and expresses Himself in love. Thus love furnishes the test of the indwelling, as truly as it contains the pledge of a fruitful issue. According, moreover, to Johannine teaching, this love spread abroad in the hearts of believers is not a stagnant or sentimental affection. Of the basal or abiding virtues (1Co 13:13) it is the greatest because of its fruitful action. St. John presents another aspect of this truth when he shows that obedience and love are strictly correlated (Joh 15:10). This love is seen in action. It doeth the will, and the reward of such loving obedience is final and complete. Those who in this dutiful and affectionate temper keep the commandments are raised by Christ from the base of bond service to the height of friendship. It is enoughthe fiat has gone forthsuch ones I have called friends. [Note: Joh 15:15.]
Literature.A. Maclaren, Holy of Holies. 190; A. Murray, Abide in Christ; T. D. Bernard, Central Teaching of Jesus Christ, 219; J. H. Jowett, Apostolic Optimism, 225; B. F. Westcott, Peterborough Sermons, 49, 61; Sir A. Blackwood, Christian Service, 46; G. B. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 258.
B. Whitefoord.