The Truth Will Set You Free
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
This is the preface to John 8:32 that ends in a comma linking the two verses together. That makes this verse important in how to achieve the second, to know truth. Now English is a tricky language and some wording can lead to the wrong conclusions,
“Had believed” implies they no longer believed. I do not know the heart and mind of those people and I need to be concerned with my own understanding and beliefs. The assumption here is that being a disciple leads us to know the truth. Since a disciple is a student then we will once again assume that being a student is enough to know truth.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
A better understanding comes to us about abiding here in John 15:7. There was a lot to learn between 8:31 and 15:7 for this better understanding. So what does it mean to abide in Him and for His words abiding in us?
International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia
Abide:
a-bid’: Old English word signifying progressively to “await,” “remain,” “lodge,” “sojourn,” “dwell,” “continue,” “endure”; represented richly in Old Testament (King James Version) by 12 Hebrew and in New Testament by as many Greek words.
Since there are many Greek words describing abide, then let us not assume it means one thing.
It is interesting to attach the word progressive to this explanation which tells us that this experience has multiple stages beginning with “await” and ending in “endure”. Some of these words imply stillness while others imply movement. They are various states of being.
Focus on the issue of “I in you and you in me” as it relates to our state of being. It implies intimacy, relationship and reminds us of the marital bond, to become one flesh. Since He is the unchangeable God then in order for us to become one with Him, we are the ones that are changed in this relationship. It is His abiding presence that performs those changes. His Word.