That God, through his indwelling and vitalizing love, abides in union with believers, means the same as that his Spirit dwells in them: for his Spirit, imparted to believers through Christ, is itself the fountain of love which can originate only in God, the Spirit which dwells and works in God himself as love. They cannot be conscious of a fellowship of spirit with him, if love, the mark of that spirit, shows not its living agency among them. Hence the Apostle appeals to their experience of the influences of the Spirit imparted by God, -- the token and pledge, that as they continue to surrender themselves to fellowship with God, God likewise abides in inseparable fellowship with them. "Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit."