Christ's command in John 15: abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me (v. 4). The Greek meno means to remain, dwell, continue — a settled staying rather than a sporadic visiting. The image draws on the OT vineyard of Israel (Isa 5; Ps 80), now eschatologically fulfilled in Christ as the true vine. Abiding is not effort to attain union but the constant cultivation of one already given: through the word abiding in us (15:7), through obedience (15:10), through love (15:9). Apart from the vine, the branch withers; in the vine, the branch bears fruit it could never have produced alone.