“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.
This then is the third statement, abiding in Him.
The first two, how we know we are saved, and we know we are in Him by the love of God practiced by us, were covered in, An Advocate, 1 John 2:1-5 posted on 5-12-18.
In review, the verses concerning, how we know we are saved, and we know we are in Him by the love of God practiced by us, are as follows.
The passage below shows how we know we are saved:
“Now by this we know that we know Him [Jesus], if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:3-4.
The second passage below shows that we know that we are in Him by the love of God practiced by us:
“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him [Jesus].” 1 John 2:5.
We will now continue with our third passage, abiding in Him which we opened with, repeated below.
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.
This word abide has been discussed before in other entries, still it is an extremely important concept, in fact no real progress can be made in Christ without it.
To abide is to live with, as in your own home, which is not just a place to live, but should be a place of harmony, fellowship, love, and learning.
While, sadly, this is not the case in most homes today, it is the way it should be, and when you live a life abiding in Christ that is the way it can be.
In illustrating the principle of abiding, Jesus likens Himself to a vine and us, His children the branches. While contemplating this thought remember that the vine supports the branches by drawing nutrients and water from the ground and through Him comes the feeding of the branch.
At the same time remember that if the branch is cut off it dies, but not the vine. This is how completely we should be dependent on Jesus Christ the vine.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5.
Let that last phrase sink down deep into your heart, “for without Me you can do nothing”. There are many Christians today wandering around doing Jesus things which do not bear fruit because they cannot grasp the meaning of “without Me you can do nothing.”
So, how to abide? What would happen in your ideal home? When you come home, you chat with your folks; they listen to you and you listen, really listen to them. There is harmony.
You tell them that you are having difficulty with someone at school, what should you do? They are older and experienced, and you get good advice. You learn.
They hug you and tell you that they will always be there for you. You are loved.
You help your mother with the dishes because you love her; you take out the trash for your father because you love him and want to show respect for him. You love back.
You do things together, movies, camping, discussing books, or just playing cards or a board game. This is fellowship.
Is there a problem within the household, you love each other, so instead of fanning the flames, you discuss your grievances, and work to accept the solution, which may not be much to your liking.
Is it the same abiding with Jesus? Very similar, you chat with the Lord throughout the day, and you find that things fall into place, and you can feel His presence. If you have been studying the Bible, you will find that He often chats back with you through things you have read about. There is harmony.
You tell Him about someone you are having difficulty with and He gives you the answers to your problem, or you find that He changes that person’s perception of you. You learn.
When you really want to feel Jesus’ presence He will be there, especially as you pray or meditate on His word; when you realize, as one person said, “that God loved us so much that He would rather die than live without us.” Then you realize that you are loved.
It is, by the way, possible to practice His presence continually. And by doing this and confessing your sins as soon as you recognize them, the bond between you will become even stronger, when as you abide in Jesus you serve Him just because you love and respect Him. You love back.
When you take Christ everywhere you go, and include Him in your work, in your fun, in letting Him love others through you, in Bible studies with other Christians, in just being with them. You have fellowship.
Pretty dull huh? The world laughs at people like this; in fact they sneered at Jesus when He was in agony on the cross, and they mocked Him. They have no heart.
They mock you because you waste your life on things other than getting drunk so you can do something stupid, wake up puking the next day and have to ask someone if you made a fool of yourself.
Why are you not taking drugs so you can ruin that excellent, well-functioning mind, burning it to a cinder that is nearly useless, except for having long meaningless conversations with a dumpster or telephone pole?
“For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles – when we walked in licentiousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” I Peter 4:3-5.
If we abide in Him we will walk just as He walked.
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12.
“Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” I John 2:7-8.
The word commandment here, depending on how it is used, pertains to the moral precepts given to us by Christ and His apostles; this would include John since he is an apostle.
So he is saying that he is not giving us a new moral precept, but rather, “an old commandment which you have had from the beginning”, this old commandment is actually the royal law, which is from the beginning of, at least the law, some 1500 years earlier.
“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well…” James 2:8.
James is quoting from the Law.
“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:18.
As you can see, this law is very old.
“Again, a new commandment I write to you”, this new commandment is actually the commandment as given by Jesus, quoted earlier from John 15:12, and again here.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” John 13:34.
This statement confirms from the Lord’s own lips that we are no longer under law, but under grace. And this boils the commandments down to two; to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and you neighbor as yourself, see Matthew 22:37-40.
So, the following is a paraphrase of 1 John 2:7-8 which, hopefully will help in understanding these two verses.
“Brothers and sisters, I am revealing no new moral precept, but an old commandment, which is the royal law that you have had from the beginning. This old commandment is the royal law, which you have heard. This has become a new commandment, which is the law of Christ, to love one another; because of His sacrifice the old law has passed away and the new becomes foremost in Him and is in you because the darkness, the ignorance of who God is, is passing away and the true light, the manifestation of God as revealed in Christ is already shining.” 1 John 2:7-8 paraphrased.
“He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” I John 2:9-11.
He who claims to be in Christ, and hates his brother, is now clearly seen to be a liar.
This word hate may be misunderstood by many because of over-use and has become trite, but the real meaning here is more than, “I hate school!” or “I hate coconut cream pie!”
The word hate here is very strong meaning malicious and unreasonable hatred toward another, this hatred can be expressed outwardly or simply be inward within one’s heart, meaning that the love of Christ is not in there.
An excellent current example is the politically correct term haters. These hypocrites call Christians and anyone who disagrees with them, haters, all the while engaging in the vilest hateful behavior against those they choose to destroy.
“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” I John 3:15.
“He who loves his brother”, interestingly enough the Christian will find himself loving other Christians automatically, and if the love of Christ is shed abroad in their life, that love can extend to all mankind.
It is possible that a Christian may not like another because their personalities clash, or due to some offense, or because they just cannot warm up to this person.
This does not mean that they hate them. While some things should be confessed as sin, or some offense should be reconciled. Often it is a matter of loving someone, yet because of differences in personality, you just agree to disagree.
This could be the case of someone who is rigid and very legalistic and someone who is a little more laid back; you cannot reconcile this so it is not sin for the two to travel in different circles.
Still, we are brothers or sisters in Christ, so if one falls in distress it is up to us to pray or to come to their aid if possible, not gloat.
Anger, strife, and hatred are to be avoided and sometimes separation is the best compromise. But do not use this as an excuse to form cliques and not let others join in; just because they are new or different, this is not love.
No matter what the case, gossip and backbiting are not loving responses.
“Therefore let us pursue [means to pursue intensely] the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.” Romans 14:19.
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” John 14:23.
Walk as He Walked, 1 John 2:6-11 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-5-11, updated on 5-15-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.