The word “abide” appears no fewer than eighteen times in the book of 1 John, and this concept is central to answering the question of incorporating John’s views into our society. John makes certain black and white statements, describing the inability of the believer to continue sinning. Still, even this paragraph is centered around the idea of abiding, and the person who does not sin is the one who abides in Christ. I suspect that the point is not to lay extra burdens on the believer, but to state a promise, or a fact of nature. If someone abides in Christ, then he does not keep on sinning. Sin is simply incompatible with the one who is abiding in Christ.

Still, it cannot be denied that this is a black and white statement. Even if the believer

naturally does not sin, the inverse assumption is that the person who does sin does not abide in Christ. What do we do with this harsh, unpleasant conclusion? We return to “abiding.” John makes the concept fairly straightforward when he explains the result of abiding in the word that was preached, which is abiding in Christ. If you want to abide in Christ, then abide in His word. Thus, while “abiding” itself can be a fairly nebulous concept — there is a very clear relationship between Christ and the gospel. The key to abiding in Christ is abiding in His Word. Christ is not secretive about how to abide in Him, even if the word itself is not the clearest. For our purposes, I think it is safe to understand abiding as remaining in Christ. Overall, what matters is that Christ has invited us into abiding with Him (see John 15), so He is not trying to keep us from doing so. Because He wants us to abide in Him, He seeks us. It is because He seeks us that we can abide in Him. When we do so, we begin to see the promise fulfilled, that we stop sinning. Our emphasis should not be on living out a black and white lifestyle, but on abiding in Christ. Then, the results follow, but we should be seeking Christ, and not the results, in the first place.