What Does It Mean to Abide in Christ? Andrew Murray on John 15
To abide in Christ means to live in continual, trusting dependence on Jesus, the way a branch lives in a vine. That is the short answer Andrew Murray gives in Abide in Christ. It isn't a special state for a few advanced believers, and it isn't a work we keep up by effort. It is staying where God has already put us, in Christ, and letting His life flow through us. The fruit of it, as John 15 says, is much fruit, answered prayer, love for one another and full joy.
Here's how Murray reaches that answer, using Jesus' own words in John 15 and Murray's own words from the book.
The words of Jesus
The phrase comes from the parable of the vine, spoken on the night before the cross.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
John 15:4
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
John 15:5
"Abide" is an old word for stay, remain, dwell, live on in a place. Murray points out in a note that the King James Version uses three English words for one Greek word in this chapter:
It is difficult to understand why in our English Bible one Greek word should in the first sixteen verses of John xv. have had three different translations: abide in ver. 4, continue in ver. 9, and remain in vers. 11 and 16.
Abide in Christ, Day 21
So when verse 9 says "continue ye in my love" and verse 11 says "that my joy might remain in you," it's the same idea. Jesus is talking about one thing all the way through: staying in Him.
A living union, not an outward one
Murray starts his explanation of John 15 in Day 4, As the Branch in the Vine. The first thing the parable teaches, he says, is that the union is alive. A branch isn't tied onto a vine with wire. The same sap runs through both.
The connection between the vine and the branch is a living one.
Abide in Christ, Day 4
That life is the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit who lived in the Son now living in the believer. The union is also complete. The branch can do nothing without the vine. And in a surprising turn, Murray says the vine has chosen not to bear fruit without the branches:
Such is the wonderful condescension of the grace of Jesus, that just as His people are dependent on Him, He has made Himself dependent on them.
Abide in Christ, Day 4
So abiding is not only about our own spiritual health. Christ means to feed the world through His people.
God put you there
Who makes the branch a branch? Murray answers from verse 1:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
John 15:1
In Day 6 and Day 12 he presses this hard. If you are in Christ, it is the Father's doing, and the Father who began it will finish it.
He would have us not only remember our union to Christ, but specially that it is not our own doing, but the work of God Himself.
Abide in Christ, Day 6
This matters because many Christians, Murray says, believe they were saved by faith but must now stay saved by diligence. He calls them back to the way they started:
Not less essential than for the commencement, is faith for the progress of the spiritual life. Abiding in Jesus can only be by faith.
Abide in Christ, Day 5
Abiding is trust, not strain
The most common fear Murray answers is that abiding sounds impossible. Who can think about Jesus every moment while running a business or raising children? His reply in Day 3 is that abiding is meant for exactly those people:
Dear souls! how little they know that the abiding in Christ is just meant for the weak, and so beautifully suited to their feebleness.
Abide in Christ, Day 3
Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, and in us, and through us.
Abide in Christ, Day 3
In Day 13 he adds that abiding doesn't require the mind to be fixed on spiritual thoughts every second. It's like a father working far from home whose love for his family stays real even in his busiest hours.
It is an entrusting of oneself to the keeping of the Eternal Love, in the faith that it will abide near us, and with its holy presence watch over us and ward off the evil, even when we have to be most intently occupied with other things.
Abide in Christ, Day 13
The Father's pruning
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
John 15:2
Murray reads trials through this verse in Day 19. The vine, he notes, needs pruning more than any plant. Suffering is the Father's way of pressing us deeper into Christ.
In the storm the tree strikes deeper roots in the soil; in the hurricane the inhabitants of the house abide within, and rejoice in its shelter.
Abide in Christ, Day 19
What abiding produces
From Day 20 to Day 26, Murray walks through the rest of John 15 one promise at a time.
Fruit (Day 20). Fruit is for others, not for the branch. The believer's one concern is to stay in the vine.
The soul need but have one care, — to abide closely, fully, wholly. He will give the fruit.
Abide in Christ, Day 20
Prayer (Day 21).
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:7
Murray says abiding brings our wishes under Christ's, so our prayers become His prayers.
It is because we abide in Him that we can ask what we will, and it is given to us.
Abide in Christ, Day 21
Love and obedience (Days 22 to 24).
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
John 15:10
Works don't bring us into Christ, but keeping His commands is how we stay in His love. Murray insists the commands are love too:
They are the commandments of Him who loves thee. They are all love, they come from His love, they lead to His love.
Abide in Christ, Day 24
Joy (Day 25).
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
John 15:11
ABIDING fully in Christ is a life of exquisite and overflowing happiness.
Abide in Christ, Day 25
Love for one another (Day 26).
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
John 15:12
How to begin
Murray's practical counsel comes down to a few plain steps, spread across the book:
- Believe that God has already joined you to Christ (Day 6).
- Trust Him for this day only, like the manna (Day 14), and for this moment (Day 15).
- Give up what competes with Him (Day 16) and be still before Him (Day 18).
- Bring your weakness to Him instead of hiding it (Day 28).
- Look at who Jesus is, because abiding grows out of knowing Him:
It is as we see what Jesus is, and is to us, that the abiding in Him will become the natural and spontaneous result of our knowledge of Him.
Abide in Christ, Day 30
Read more
The Abide in Christ summary covers all 31 chapters. The Abide in Christ quotes collects Murray's best lines by day. To read it as a daily devotional, follow the 31-day reading plan. Murray's whole answer is worth reading in his own words: open Abide in Christ and start with Day 1, free.