μενων

"Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son." 2 John 1:9

In this warning to the members of the church about taking in teachers who teach theology contrary to the Scripture, I was struck by the use of the word "abide" to describe the correct way of relating to Christ's teachings. Abide (meno - μενων) means to continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry (for), thine own. Our relationship to the teachings of Christ is to be extreme, encompassing, and eternal - not a casual and regulated. In these teachings we are to live, and move and have our being, they are to be and shape all that we are and do. A fairly high standard but we can expect nothing less for the result we are told comes from this - having God. We often try to add the Word of Truth onto our lives, to the place we already live when it should be the other way around. Where we live should first be defined and structured on the teachings of Christ, and we interact with the world from that position.