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"Therefore let that abide in you..."

Text: 1 John 2:24

THE WORD OF GOD ABIDNG IN US

Is it really possible for the Word of God to abide in us? The Apostle John answers this by his own personal example. He had followed the Lord Jesus faithfully for decades.

“Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you,
you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”
1 John 2:24

1. “Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning”

a) The use of the inferential particle “therefore” is meaningful.

b) That which you have heard in the beginning.

i) This is a reference to the hearing of the Gospel.

ii) The contents of the Gospel must be verified.

iii) The Gospel truth must abide in the heart.

iv) This is logical.

2. “If what you heard from the beginning abides in you”

a) The word “if” is used with a measure of doubt.

b) John seriously raises some questions: –

i) Did they really hear and understand the Gospel message?

ii) Were there good and honest effort put in to let the Word of God abide in the heart?

iii) Was there evidence of a genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

c) John did not provide answers.

d) But there were some who seem to have vacillated in their confession of Jesus as the Son of God.

e) There were some in whom the word of God did not abide.

3. “You also will abide in the Son and in the Father”

a) This statement is the apodosis (the second statement of a conditional statement).

b) If the first statement expresses doubt, then it follows that truth of the second statement would be in question too.

4. Abiding in the Son and the Father

a) To the Apostle John, to abide in the Son and the Father was logical.

b) Who would not desire to abide in both of them? The glorious Gospel message warrants faithful abiding in the Lord Jesus and God the Father.