Students who desire to get at the full meaning of verb or noun will find all that is needful in the etymological paragrapli sub voc. n4vw in the larger edition of Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon. They will discover how rich in language product is the root of this word. The inquiry cannot be pursued further here. It is enough to say that locality enters very sliglitly into its conception, and that what is dominant is ethical. The leading idea is that of steadfast continuance. This is apparent the moment one turns to the derivative iiiro/jLovi) (cf. Ro 2'), the term of Stoic virtue boldly incor- porated and transmuted in Christian usage and experience. The primitive noun, however (iiovt)), reminds Christians more clearly of the sphere in which it is contained, of a life in which it survives, of a power not its own on which it dejiends, and which in turn it exercises. If, as will be shown, the ethical import of iUvi,j and fiovh is dominant in the Gospels, the instances where the verb has a purely local sense, the sense of stopping or staying, may be dismissed. As a matter of fact, the instances are almost entirely confined to the Synoptists, and occur but in twelve passages ; the use of the noun is purely Joliannine. Only twice in the Synoptists does the verb occur in relation to ])ersons, viz. Lk 24=3 in the patlietic apiioal of Cleopas and his anonymous comrade, and the gracious response of the risen Christ; and even here there is no ethical significance, for the pre- positions which link the verb and the personal pronouns imply only association {ixehov /leff' rnxQn), or joint action (eiirifKeev toO fieim^ avu aiiToh).
As soon as the student turns from the Synoptists to the Johannine literature, the idea of 'mansion' (one could wislx it were a theological term) becomes full, luminous, and suggestive. St. John uses the verb ix^vu only thrice in its literal sense in the • Swcte {St. Mark, ad loc.) suggests that the clause st! ■ A/3i«9io «-px'ipix, which is peculiar to Mark, may be an editorial note.
Gospel (2'- 4* 10^") ; he seems almost jealously to reserve it for metaphorical, i.c.ethical, application. We are not here concerned with St. John's letters, but it is pertinent to observe that fiiva occurs 23 times therein, while it is used in the Gosi)el some 35 times. Moreover, as if the Evangelist and letter- writer would not suH'er the spiritual point to be lost, he jierpetually reminds his readers and chDdren of the sphere of ' mansion,' and the source of its power. With a singular and marked uni- formity, he employs the preposition iv in connexion with the verb. The Evangelist presses the idea not only of intimate relationship, but also of resultant power and blessing.
It is to be observed that, until we reach the great discourses in the chamber and on the way (chs. 14 and 15), we have only passing hints of the nature of the Abiding. The former chapter unfolds its meaning. The difficulties besetting the interpretation of these discourses are familiar to all students of the Fourth Gospel, and need not be dealt with here. They are not adequately met by references to the subjectivity or mysticism of the Evangelist. Our modes of thought, as Bishop Westcott reminds us,* follow a logical sequence ; Hebrew modes of thought follow a moral sequence. The sermon to the Apostles in the chamber, especi- ally, bears this moral impress throughout, and is rightly interpreted as the complement to the Sermon on the Mount. But while the connexion is thus somewhat precarious to the reader, certain great ideas or conceptions of the Abiding stand luminously forth for the devout mind. Here is set forth— (1) the Abiding of Christ in the Father; (2) the Abiding of Christ in the Church, as in the individual believer ; (3) the issues of the Abiding.
1. The Abiding of Christ in the Father. — Here the student is, indeed, on ground most holy. He may not add to the Lord's words, he trembles as he ventures to interpret them. He feels with the patriarch that this place in the Scriptures is dread- ful— full of a holy awe. Thus much, however, may be said, that the abiding of Christ in the Father belongs wholly to the operation and energy of the Holy Spirit. The keynote of this truth is struck by the testimony of the Baptist in the jjreamble of the Gospel (Jn V-'-). It is important to notice that that wliich was the object of sight to tlie Baptist was not merely the descent of the Holy Spirit, but the Abiding. And here the careful student will observe that, though the preposition used in these verses is not in but iiri, yet the emijloyment of the latter is necessary as linking the descent and the continuous indwelling of the Spirit in the Son. But if any hesitation remains as to the view that the character and sphere of Christ's abiding in the Father lies in and through the indwelling Spirit, it must disappear on con- sideration of our Lord's words (Jn 14-°), ' At that day [the day of realized life'] ye shall come to know [by the Spirit what is at present a matter of faith only] that I am in my Father.' The thought is inevitalily linked with the Spirit's work both in Him and for them. When, therefore, the Lord invites His omii to abide in His love (15"), He does not iiicri'ly iniiily that His love is the atmosphere of tlnii (li^i iph-hip, but, as St. Augustinet sug- gests, llr iiniti's them to abide in that Holy Spirit wliDse love as fully permeates Him as it is imperfectly exhibited in His disciples.