John 15:4 - Abide in Christ?
Does John 15:4 have conditions?
John 15:4: "ABIDE IN Me, and-I in you. Just-as the branch is not able to-bear fruit from itself unless it-is-abiding in the grapevine, so neither (are) you (able) unless YOU-ARE-ABIDING IN Me."
Jesus Christ commanded His disciples, saying: "ABIDE IN Me" (John 15:4). The Greek word for "ABIDE" (John 15:4) is in the imperative mood, which expresses a command to the hearer to perform something by the order and authority of the one commanding. The indicative mood in the Greek was not used there, which would simply have been a description of something happening.
Jesus Christ added the conditional particle "IF" a few verses later when He said: "IF anyone is not ABIDING IN Me" (John 15:6) and "IF YOU-ABIDE IN Me" (John 15:7), thus making ABIDING IN Him conditional.
One condition to ABIDE IN Christ is for example to be one eating His flesh and drinking His blood, as Jesus Christ said: "The (one) eating My flesh and drinking My blood ABIDES IN Me, and I in him." (John 6:56).
Another condition to ABIDE IN Christ is for example to let what you heard from the beginning be abiding in you, as it is written: "Let what you-heard from (the) beginning be-abiding in you. 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).
There are descriptions of one who is "ABIDING IN Christ", for example:
Everyone ABIDING IN Christ is not sinning (in the present tense), as it is written: "And you-know that that (One) appeared in-order-that He-might-take-away sins. And there-is no sin in Him. Everyone ABIDING IN Him is not sinning" (1 John 3:5-6).
The one saying that he is ABIDING IN Christ ought to walk just as Christ walked, as it is written: "the (one) saying TO-BE-ABIDING IN Him ought just-as that (One) walked also himself thus to-be-walking." (1 John 2:6).
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