Let that therefore abide in you
Meaning the word of God, ( 1 John 2:14 ) ; the
Gospel of Christ, which there was reason to believe had a place
in their hearts, and which they had embraced and professed; and
therefore the apostle exhorts them to perseverance in it; and
particularly not to let go the doctrine concerning the Father and
the Son, and this their relation to each other, which is the
foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity, and of the distinct
personality of Father, Son, and Spirit; the contrary to which
leaves the three without either name, or distinction from each
other: the arguments to enforce this exhortation follow,
which ye have heard from the beginning;
they had heard it not externally only, but internally; they had
hearkened to it, and from the heart obeyed it; they had mixed it
with faith, and received the love of it; they had heard it from
the apostles of Christ, who were eye and ear witnesses of the
word; and this they had heard at the first preaching of the
Gospel to them, at the first of their conversion: the apostles of
Christ began their ministry with the sonship of Christ, and
greatly insisted on it, in it, and required a profession of it
before baptism, and which was made in order to it; and these
believers had been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, as standing in such a relation to each other; see ( Acts 9:20 ) ( 8:37 ) (
Matthew
28:19 ) ; and therefore ought not to relinquish this truth,
and receive a new and upstart notion: and for further
encouragement to continue in it, it is added,
if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain
in you,
ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the
Father;
as those that are once in either always will; what is here said
is not either the cause or condition of men being in the Father,
and in the Son, or of their continuance in them, but is
descriptive of the persons that are in them, and is an open and
manifest evidence of their being and continuance in them. Such
are in union with Christ, and at times enjoy sensible communion
with him, and shall never be finally and totally removed from it;
they are in the love of Christ, from whence there is no
separations, and in the arms and hands of Christ, out of which
none can pluck them; and they abide by him in the exercise of
faith and love, and cleave unto him with full purpose of heart,
and will hold on and out, professing his name to the end: and
they are, and abide in the love of God the Father, which is from
everlasting to everlasting; and in the covenant of his grace,
which is sure and inviolable; and in the participation of all the
blessings and promises of it, among which, the following one,
eternal life, is a principal one.