What does it mean to abide?

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ 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. (John 15:1-4)

Here Jesus speaks a parable. He says as much in 16:25. Jesus says that He is the true vine. As Jews, the disciples would have understood as Israel was called the vine of the Lord in the prophets, i.e. (Isaiah 5, Jer. 2). Jesus is the true vine, the true Israel. It is He that all the promises of Israel are fulfilled.

Secondly, Jesus states that as the vine, the branch cannot survive without Him. "Without me, ye can do nothing." The "nourishing sap", or life eternal that comes from Jesus Christ comes only from and through him. All that came before Him were thieves and robbers. This shows us that there is no life to be found outside of Christ, and certainly that it does not come in any way through our own selves. What we possess, we possess because we are attached to the vine by faith. Thus, Jesus plainly states that we cannot bear fruit unless we "abide" in Him.

What does it mean to abide? The NIV translates the word as "remain." The idea here is that if we remain in Jesus, we will bear fruit. In another parable, about the sower, Jesus also speaks of those who do and do not bear fruit. The seed was sown on all different types of ground. However, none bore fruit, but one: that which was sown on good ground. The others might have seemed to be flourishing, yet never produced fruit, i.e. the seed sown on rocky soil.

To bear fruit here is to show forth evidence that one has been truly converted. There is no way that the God of all the universe can come and dwell in a person and that not be evidenced by some kind of fruit. The word, "meno" means:

1) to remain, abide

a) in reference to place

1) to sojourn, tarry

2) not to depart

a) to continue to be present

b) to be held, kept, continually

Only those who continue in Jesus, or kept by Jesus, will remain in Jesus. The idea here is not to show that Christians who don't live good enough will be cut off, but rather it shows true and false conversion.

There are those who profess Christ, Jews who professed to be "Israelites indeed," but Jesus said, "Your father is the devil..." Moreover there are those in the Church who make a profession of faith in Christ, yet they never bear fruit. They never demonstrate the consistent evidence of faith in their lives, or that conversion has ever truly taken place.

Peter says that we are to examine ourselves to see if we truly belong in the faith, and that we can have assurance that we do, unless we fail the test. The "test" is what the Bible declares someone who is truly connected to the vine should look like. There must be fruit.

Thus, Jesus states that every branch in Him that does not bear fruit...This raises a question. How can a branch be in the true vine and not bear fruit? Again, if we look at the parable of the sower, Jesus states that they "have no root in themselves." Thus they are only SUPERFICIALLY connected to the vine by profession only. This has nothing to do with those who are truly grafted into the vine.

Thus, Paul refers to the same idea in Romans 11 by stating that those unbelieving Jews who rejected Christ were broken off because of unbelief. These were obviously unbelievers that had never produced fruit. That is the idea. He further warns that those who are high-minded only stand by faith. It could be, says Paul, that you are indeed not truly connected to the root. If you are not connected to the root, then you will also be broken off. How do we know if the branch is connected to the vine? That branch consistently and perseveringly bears fruit.

Those who explain this chapter as having to do with losing one's salvation, are not comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. The idea presented here is consistent with the other things shown in the parables and the rest of the New Testament. The Bible deals with true and false conversion, not about losing one's salvation.