Austin Krause

Jesus’ Love Through Menein

The word menein consistently appears throughout the Gospel of John.  It can be

translated as abide, remain, continue, endure, or stay.  The meaning of menein develops as the

Gospel progresses and proves to be an important theme of John’s writing.  As John makes clear

in his Gospel, the word menein is intended to reveal the depth of intimacy that relationship

entails by demonstrating that is a mutual abiding, how to abide, and what this abiding looks like.

John shows the reader the means through which we abide in Jesus with the Bread of Life

Discourse.  John begins to reveal what mutual abiding looks like for the disciple in this chapter

when Jesus says, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to

eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal,”

(John 6:27).  This scripture comes shortly after Jesus feeds the five thousand with bread and fish,

which reveals that the crowds are searching for perishable food.  He knows that they do not

follow him because he worked a miracle, but they are following him because he fed them (cf.

John 6:26).  Jesus invites them into a deeper relationship with him.  He wants those disciples not

to come for perishable food but for food that “endures to eternal life.”  Who is going to give

them this food?  The Son of man, upon whom the Father has set his seal.  The reader of John

knows that the Father set his seal on Jesus at the Baptism when the Spirit came down and

remained on Jesus (cf. John 1:32). The food Jesus gives will endure, will remain, to eternal life,

which draws the reader's attention to the manna from the Exodus.  This was the bread that

sustained the Israelites, but it was still bread that perished. Jesus parallels this with the feeding of

the five thousand, as that was also perishable food. He invites them to long for something that

will last, which He will give them. “For the bread of God is that which comes down from
heaven, and gives life to the world” (John 6:33).  Jesus begins to explain what the Father has

done, though it remains somewhat incomprehensible to the crowd. The people tell him to “give

us this bread always” (John 6:34).   Jesus then reveals most explicitly what the culmination of

abiding in Christ means: He is the bread of life, and those who come to him will no longer

hunger or thirst (cf. John 6:35).  This is crucial to the understanding of menein in John’s Gospel

because he uses it again to show what this relationship needs.  “He who eats my flesh and drinks

my blood abides in me, and I in him,” (John 6:56).  This is what is needed to menein, to remain,

in Christ. One must eat and drink of Him to be in an intimate relationship with Jesus.  If they do

not believe this, they do not have the Father’s word abiding in them (cf. John 5:38).  This is a

relationship that is entirely different than any other relationship that has been proposed.  John has

shown that menein is more than just a friendship or communion with a person.  He establishes

the means through which this relationship is to take place.  Not only is this how one abides in

Jesus, but it is also how he abides in them.  Jesus gives himself to his disciples in order for him

to be deeply united with them.  He gives over his entire self, so the disciples can give themselves

back.  It is a mutual abiding, which imitates the love between the Father and Son, something that

John continues to expand upon throughout his Gospel.  Therefore, Jesus invites his disciples into

a deeper relationship through eating and drinking his flesh and blood, so they can remain in

Christ and Christ in them.  

John continues to develop the theme of abiding by providing different images and

conditions.  Remaining in Jesus’ word allows a disciple to know the truth, and the truth sets them

free (cf. John 8:31).  This shows that there is a connection between remaining and freedom.  The

condition of freedom is to remain in Jesus’ word, in what he says and does.  Being faithful and

remaining in this aspect is necessary to have this intimate relationship Jesus wants to have with
his followers.  He does not want people to be slaves to sin who do not remain in the house but

wants the disciple to continue with him forever (cf. John 8:35).  In order to remain in Christ, one

must be faithful to his word. Faithfulness is another facet  John reveals about the word menein.

To remain in Christ means to be in the light, not the darkness (cf. John 12:26).  John further

emphasizes that in order to be in a deep, intimate relationship with Jesus, one must be faithful

and expel the evil, sin and darkness in order to step into the light through Jesus.

John gives his reader a further explanation of what he means by menein when Jesus

describes his relationship to the Father.  “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the

Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father

who dwells in me does his works,” (John 14:10).  Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in him,

just as  he wants to abide in us and us in him (cf. John 6:56).  The disciple is being invited to see

something much deeper when Jesus says this.  God the Father dwells in Jesus.  They are one, and

this is what Jesus wants with his disciples.  John further explains what it looks like to remain in

Jesus through his use of menein.   

A key image John uses to show the nature of this intimate relationship is the

image of the vine and the branches.  Throughout this passage, John uses a form of the word

menein eleven times.  The image of the vine and branches is  important for the reader to see what

John means with this word.  The only way a branch can bear fruit is by being on the vine.  If it is

not with the vine, then it will not bear fruit.  As was shown with the grain of wheat, bearing fruit

is an essential element to abiding in Jesus.  Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  He

who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do

nothing,” (John 15:5).  This, again, is a mutual abiding, not a solitary affair.  The mutual abiding

reminds the reader of the promise that Jesus made in the Bread of Life Discourse.  The vine and
the branches are connected as one, although they can be separated.  If one does not abide in

Christ, then he is cast out like a branch and withers, then thrown to the fire and burned (cf. John

15:6).  If one chooses to abide, then they bear fruit and will have eternal life.  If one denies Jesus,

then he will be cast out.  Jesus is always making the invitation, and the disciple must respond.

Heaven or hell is offered depending on the choice that is made.  How does one abide in Jesus and

Jesus in him?  “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my

Father’s commandments and abide in his love,” (John 15:10).  Keeping his commandments is

how a disciple abides in his love.  Jesus loves his disciples with the same love as the Father loves

him.  “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love,” (John 15:9).  Jesus

invites his disciples into the relationship that he has with his Father with the same love.  This is

an eternal, everlasting love that empties itself out to the other.  This is the type of relationship

that Jesus desires between him and his disciples.  John gives his reader an image through his use

of the word menein to develop the theme of intimate relationship with God.

John also shows the reader what it does not look like to remain in Jesus through anti-

types.   The first anti-type is when Jesus encounters a blind man who believes in him.  Jesus

heals this man’s sight, and the Pharisees question if they are also blind (cf. John 9:40).  Jesus

rebukes them by saying, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We

see,’ your guilt remains,” (John 9:41).  Claiming to see and not following what Jesus says is a

way that guilt remains.  He wants to remain in people and for them to remain in him, not guilt.

Guilt does not lead to eternal life.  John shows that being knowledgeable of the Scriptures, but

not following them leads to guilt remaining in the person.  

Another anti-type is when Jesus discusses the grain of wheat.  “Unless a grain of wheat

falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit,” (John 12:24).
Jesus is showing that the disciple is not meant to remain alone, but they are supposed to die and

bear fruit.  Jesus reveals this in full when he dies and rises in order to bear fruit.  Remaining in

Christ is not a solitary affair but is one of communion.  One must be willing to die, either

physically or to desires, in order to bear fruit. This is accomplished by doing the will of the

Father.  These anti-types show the reader that they must convert their lives to Christ and submit

to God’s will in order to abide with Christ.  

  John, throughout his gospel, is consistently using menein.  He wants to show his reader

that this is a central theme of Jesus’ ministry.  There is a deeper meaning to this remaining than a

simple dwelling place, home, or friendship.  It is a relationship that goes deeper and beyond what

words can express.  Therefore, Christ uses various images to invite the disciples to an ever-

deeper understanding of what it means to abide in him; to love his disciples with the same love

as his Father loves him.