I’M A GUY who likes to put down roots. I don’t have the wanderlust of needing to travel the world, and I don’t like to move from place to place. Just before my wife and I married, I had lived in the same house almost all my life. When we went to graduate school, we had to move around a bit as students. But eventually, after the kids were born, we landed in the house where we currently live, where we’ve been living for over 30 years. And I’ve been teaching in the same institution for nearly 40 years now.

I’m a guy who prefers to stay put. To remain. To abide.

Could something similar be said about being rooted in the faith?

Let’s go back once more to the Upper Room. During Jesus’ final meal with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, he spoke one of his famous “I am” metaphors:

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:4-7, NIV)

As he prepares to leave his disciples and return to the Father, Jesus uses the familiar metaphor of a grapevine to speak of his relationship to them, the relationship upon which they’ll need to draw even after he’s gone. He repeatedly uses the word “remain,” which is frequently translated as “abide.” It suggests staying in one place, sometimes with the connotation of endurance.

Jesus is describing the mutual relationship between the branches of a grapevine and its root stock and trunk. The branches are meant to bear fruit; if they don’t, they’re pruned away. For branches to be fruitful as they should, they must remain firmly attached to the trunk and draw life from the roots. From the gardener’s point of view, that’s the kind of life that counts in a branch.

In rendering Jesus’ words into Greek, John uses the verb to “remain” or “abide” seven times in these four verses alone, and he’ll use it four more times yet in the same chapter. Overall, the verb is used 118 times in the New Testament, and John uses it more than anyone else. His gospel and letters account for well over half the occurrences.

Apparently, John is also fond of staying put.

In fact, he uses the verb eleven times in 1 John 2, though you might not know it, because the New International Version mostly translates it as “live.” In verse 6, for example, John says that “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” That sentence could be translated as “Whoever claims to abide in him must walk as Jesus did.” In verse 10, he says, “Anyone who loves their brother or sister lives in the light” — and again, “lives” could be translated as “abides” instead.

Does it matter? I believe so. For example, I could give you my street address, tell you I “live” there, and it would be true. But will it continue to be true, or will I change addresses next week? To say that I currently live in this house isn’t the same as saying that I’ve lived here 30 years and have no plans to move. I’m here, and I’m staying put.

With this in mind, listen to how many times John uses the verb “remain” in 1 John 2:24-27:

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

“Remaining” or “abiding,” as in the passage from John 15, is a two-way street, an ongoing and mutual relationship of stability. On the one hand, John wants his readers to remain or abide in Jesus, and by implication, in the Father as well — for as he’s already said in the verse immediately before these, “whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23).

But on the other hand, John also wants two things to abide in his readers. The first is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He already mentioned this anointing in verse 20 as teaching his readers the truth about Jesus, and here he simply takes it for granted that they are still anointed in this way.

Second, note that this is the first time in the letter that John explicitly mentions that people have been trying to lead others astray. Presumably, he’s referring to the people who left the fellowship, and their distorted ideas about Jesus. When, therefore, he says “see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you,” it’s a way of saying, You already know the gospel. You’ve already heard the truth about Jesus, and by the ministry and anointing of the Holy Spirit, you believed. Don’t let these people confuse you; don’t let them lead you away from the truth. Stay put theologically.

We have to be careful, of course, to remember how John’s words were written for a particular people in a particular situation. Some members of the community had developed heretical ideas, and before they left they had been actively trying to convert others to their way of thinking. That’s not often the case for us. And there’s always a danger that what John says here could be used to justify people being narrow-minded and doctrinaire, or as I’ve suggested before, refusing to listen with patience and compassion.

At the same time, however, we also have to remember that we live in a world of ideas and desires that can distort the truth and tempt us away from what we believe. And in such a world, it may take intentional, conscious resolve to stay put.