And he that keepeth his commandments
Attends to those instructions and declarations concerning faith
in Christ, and love to the brethren, and acts according to them:
dwelleth in him, and he in them;
that is, he dwells in Christ, and Christ dwells in him; the same
is said of believing in Christ under the figurative expressions
of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, (See Gill on
John
6:56);
and hereby we know that he abideth in us;
or dwelleth in us, as before,
by the Spirit which he hath given us;
which if understood of private Christians, as the preceding
verses incline to, the sense is, that union to Christ, and the
continuance of it, or his indwelling as a fruit of union, and the
permanency of that, are evidenced by the Spirit of God; who is
given in consequence of union and relation to Christ, as a spirit
of regeneration and sanctification, of faith and love, of
adoption, and as the earnest of the heavenly inheritance; but if
of the apostles and ministers of the word, it may regard the
gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed on them, fitting them for their
work and office, and who is a spirit of truth, and not of error;
and by having and enjoying these, they knew that Christ abode in
them, and had reason to believe, according to his promise, that
he would be with them, and with his ministering: servants in
succession, to the end of the world; and this sense seems to be
encouraged by the former part of the following chapter.
