Sold

 Yesterday as I was going through my "verse of the day" type calendars for the month of May. The one with a focus on mother's sent me to 2 Timothy 1:5 "I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well."

Vocabulary and word study is predominantly what my study time is focused on. It has a way of opening up the Word of God and drawing me in as I meditate on its meaning(s). Yesterday, the word for dwell stood out to me. 

Let me back up a little to say that there are certain passages of Scripture that take up permanent residence in my mind. I may not have them memorized but the topic and the teaching is there. John 15 contains one of those passages. It's the "abide" chapter, where Jesus tells His disciples (and therefore us) to abide in Him and He will abide in us. Some translations will say "remain". 

Whenever I read this verse, I connected dwell to abide/remain 

Here in 2 Tim 1:5 the root of Greek word for dwell is oikeó (οἰκέω)  and it means to dwell, inhabit, or live. The exact word used is enoikeó (ἐνοικέω) which means to dwell in, am settled (stationary), indwelling.

I John 15 the word for abide is menó (μένω) and it means to remain, abide, stay, continue, dwell, endure. 

They're both verbs, so what's the difference between oikeó and menó? I decided to as Microsoft Copilot to help me break down the differences and the analogy it gave really helped it make sense. 

Imagine a house:

Oikeō is like owning and living in the house—it’s your permanent home.

Menō is like staying in the house—you remain there, but it emphasizes the act of continuing rather than ownership.

Enoikeó is moving in and making it a home—influencing from within. 

Something else to make note of is that in Scripture, we the believer NEVER oikeós we menō. 

This understanding makes verses like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body." and 1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells (oikeó) in you?"

Whenever we become believers, we profess Christ as Lord. We accept the transaction. God pays for us with the blood of His Son, Jesus, and we hand over the keys. But what John 15 and the word menō is saying is "the house" is bought and paid for. It's no longer yours. But We want you to keep living here, with Us. But there are some changes we'd like to make. 

But He doesn't go about it with this egotistical "my way or the highway" attitude. He doesn't kick us out if we don't make changes. We just don't live to our full potential. Because not only did God buy this "house" with the blood of Jesus, He also designed this house.  (Isaiah 40:9-31, Romans 11:35-36, Col 1:16-17). He knows the best way to utilize all the built-in amenities. But here's the thing, these amenities need a special key, even with all the knowledge we can't make these amenities work to their fullest potential without His presence in the home, because He IS the key. We (this house) was designed to need Him in order to live life to it's fullest. 

This is what Jesus was talking about in Luke 6 whenever He says, "Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built."

It's not just about knowledge. It's about Him. 

That's why Jesus tells us to abide (menō) in Him. He asks us to stay here, and then He begins to look around at all the "improvements" we made without Him. We tried to patch a hole here, or close off a room there, slapped some paint on the walls hoping to cover up that water stain from a leak we had. Nothing we've done is really "up to code". So, Jesus takes us by the hand and shows us we need to completely tear down some walls and rebuild them. He won't force us. Even though the house is His, bought and paid for, He asks our permission. We have to be willing. And whenever we are, He does the work. We give permission and then He begins renovation. The walls come down, cobwebs are swept up, dark drapes are removed, and the Light comes flooding in. 

All of this reminds me of a song a lady at my childhood church used to sing, The Secret Place.