is cast forth …” (15:5–6).10 Hence the imperatives: “Abide in my love” (15:9); “Little children, abide in him” (1 Jn 2:28). It is crucial to note that it is possible to possess eternal life and yet not remain in it, which paradoxically proves that such possession was only appearance: it was not real. “You [the Jews] do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent” (Jn 5:38). “The slave [the sinner] does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever” (8:35).