Gospel Dictionary Online course<\/a> and here is a brief summary of how a few of the texts from 1 John can be understood when we properly define the word “Abide.”<\/p>\nThe word “Abide”<\/h2>\n The word abide <\/em>means to remain, continue, or to dwell. It can refer to living in a house or dwelling place, or to following the rules of a particular game or contest.<\/p>\nThe Greek word for abide <\/em>is men\u014d<\/em> (3531) and just like its English translation, men\u014d <\/em>means to abide, remain, stay, continue, or dwell. It does not mean “to have, own, or possess.”<\/p>\n1 John 2:6<\/h2>\n He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.<\/em><\/p>\nThe first use of the word abide<\/em> is in 1 John 2:6. In speaking of our life as a follower of Jesus, John writes that the one \u201cwho says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.\u201d<\/p>\nJohn is stating the truth that if we are abiding, or remaining, in fellowship with Jesus, then we will follow Jesus wherever He leads so that we will live and love like Jesus. There is nothing here about how to know that you have eternal life, but there is much truth here about how to know whether or not you are truly following Jesus in discipleship.<\/p>\n
So it is extremely inaccurate to translate this verse as we find it in the NIV: \u201cWhoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.\u201d The implication is that if you want to have eternal life in Jesus, you need to walk as Jesus did. But this verse is not about whether or not we eternal life, for that life is a free gift of God to anyone who simply believes in Jesus for it.<\/p>\n
Instead, 1 John 2:6 is about how to follow Jesus in our earthly lives. John says that if we are following Jesus, our lives will look like Jesus. John is not saying that if we do not walk as Jesus did then this means we do not actually have eternal life. If we do not walk as Jesus did, then we cannot claim to be His follower, and therefore, we will not have fellowship with God or with one another.<\/p>\n
1 John 2:17<\/h2>\n And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.<\/em><\/p>\n A similar understanding can be drawn from 1 John 2:17.<\/p>\n
Again, the NIV unhelpfully makes the reader think that doing the will of God is a requirement for eternal life (\u201cthe man who does the will of God lives forever\u201d). But John is not writing about living forever, but about abiding<\/em> forever.<\/p>\nIf you want to remain in fellowship with God, then you must do what God says. You can be a member of the family of God without being in fellowship with God. Just as the Prodigal Son did not have fellowship with his father while he was in the far country (Luke 15:11-32) yet continued to be a son the entire time, so also, those who are children of God will stay a member of His family even when they stray into sin and rebellion, but they will not abide or remain in fellowship with God when they are away from Him.<\/p>\n
John says that if we want to remain forever in fellowship with God, then we must do God\u2019s will. John goes on to say that this is not only how we remain in fellowship with God, but also how we abide or remain in fellowship with each other (1 John 2:19).<\/p>\n
1 John 3:14-15<\/h2>\n We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.<\/em><\/p>\nAstute readers may object to the explanation above that a few passages in 1 John do talk about eternal life. First John 3:14-15 is one of those.<\/p>\n
Once again, however, the NIV translation is most unhelpful when it completely removes the word abide <\/em>in its translation of 1 John 3:15. It reads \u201c\u2026 you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.\u201d From this verse, some people teach that a murderer can never be forgiven or go to heaven. John disagrees, as do Moses, King David, and the Apostle Paul (for they were all murderers).<\/p>\nJohn put the word abide <\/em>in this statement for a reason and we must not take it out.<\/p>\nWhen a person murders, John says, it is because they were not abiding or remaining within the reality of eternal life, that is, in the reality of their life with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would never lead one of His followers to hate or murder someone else.<\/p>\n
So if a Christian lives in hate toward someone else (as frequently happens) or even ends up murdering someone (as occasionally happens), it is not because <\/em>they are following Jesus, but because they have failed to follow Him. Jesus does not lead us toward hate and murder, but toward love and light.<\/p>\nThat this is what John means is clearly indicated by the following context, especially in 1 John 3:17\u00a0where John writes that when the love of God abides in us and we are living in light of God\u2019s love, we will help our brothers in need rather than hate them (Once again, the NIV unhelpfully deleted the word abide<\/em> from 3:17).<\/p>\nJohn is not saying that if you hate your brother, you do not have eternal life. He is saying that if you hate your brother, you are not abiding <\/em>in eternal life. In other words, when you hate others, it is not the eternal life you have from God that is leading you to do so, but is instead because you are following the principle of death which comes from this world.<\/p>\nSo what about 1 John 3:9?<\/h2>\n Well, it does contain the word “abide.” It talks about God’s seed “abiding” or “remaining” in the one who is born of God. Based on what you learned above, can you understand what John means? Feel free to offer your input in the comment section below, or join us in the Discipleship Area of RedeemingGod.com to learn more about this passage.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Understanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel.<\/strong> Take my course, \"The Gospel Dictionary\" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.<\/p> \r\n\r\nThis course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group<\/a>, you can to take the entire course for free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To properly understand the Gospel, we need to understand the biblical terms related to the gospel. One of these key words is the word abide. This article provides a short definition and looks at a few key texts from 1 John that use the word abide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2297,2230,2231],"tags":[2802,2803,2631,2801,2615,2614,2800],"class_list":{"0":"post-46390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-redeeming-god","8":"category-redeeming-scripture","9":"category-redeeming-theology","10":"tag-1-john-217","11":"tag-1-john-26","12":"tag-1-john-314-15","13":"tag-1-john-39","14":"tag-abide","15":"tag-gospel-dictionary","16":"tag-remain","17":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n
Does 1 John teach that believers will not sin?<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n