THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE - 1 JOHN 2:24-25

Verses 24-25: As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.

As John continues his discussion of the previous verse, the phrase as for you is emphatic and intended to portray the distinct contrast in the characteristics of his readers (and us) with that of the previously mentioned liars. These liars were deniers of the Father and the Son. Their objective is to separate us from the Father and the Son with their delusion that believers could have union with God while denying that Jesus is the Christ.1

The defense of our faith is provided next by the urgent demand that we continuously abide (remain) in what we heard from the beginning—“from the beginning of your Christian life.”2 What exactly have we heard from the beginning? We heard and responded to the true apostolic declaration regarding the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ and His gospel of salvation. In John’s day, this was a warning that they remain in the truth and “not be carried away by the new-fangled Gnostic teaching”3 (cf. Ephesians 4:14). But in our day, we are being confronted with the deception of false teachers influenced by cultural dictates, denying and repudiating God, Jesus Christ and Christianity in general. While most Christian churches today continue to uphold the true doctrines of God and Jesus Christ, many have succumbed to societal standards that violate Scriptural teachings. The Apostle Paul warned of these false teachers:

For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Romans 16:18; cf. Colossians 2:4)

But we are to remain in the solid foundation of the faith, just as Jude appealed that we “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). Kenneth Wuest explains precisely what John is emphasizing by the idea of remaining in the truth:

The exhortation includes more than that the saint should allow the basic teaching concerning the Person of our Lord to remain in him. He should have that attitude towards it that it will also feel at home in him, have ready access to every part of his life. In other words, it is the responsibility of the believer to nurture the stability and growth of those doctrines by a holy life and a determination to cling to them and remain true to them. All this is included in the content of meaning of the word.4

John next presents a hypothetical statement: that if what abides in you—that which you heard from the beginning, then it is more likely that you will also abide in the Son and in the Father. The fulfillment of this “if, then” statement is conditioned upon our personal decision. Only when the believer decides that the doctrinal truth learned from the beginning of their salvation is remaining—abiding and ingrained in their lives—then there will be evidence that they are living a Christ centered life. And it is only by completely embracing His teachings and directives, will they achieve spiritual maturity and comprehend the true significance of their existence.

Eternal Life

John explains in the next verse that abiding in the Son and the Father is the essence of the promise of eternal life. It is a promise made by “He Himself”—Jesus Christ. John is recalling the times when Our Lord had affirmed this to His disciples:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” (John 3:14–15)

 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

“And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28)

The Greek word order places great emphasis on eternal life,5 it is literally “the life, the eternal one.” It should be remembered that the eternal life which the believer has acquired by faith in Jesus Christ, does not infer merely to life after death—instead it denotes the character of life to be lived now and will continue on into the afterlife and for all eternity. In this passage John suggests that the believers’ objective should be to abide in the Son and the Father, this is the point which Our Lord specified, that knowing the Father is the essential “sum and substance”6 of eternal life:

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

John’s mentioning of this promise is to remind us that we are the recipients of this magnificent promise of eternal life, and to assure us that He never breaks a promise nor can He lie (Hebrews 10:23; Titus 1:2).

The Challenge

What is our response to John’s reminder that God has promised us eternal life? Do we consider what the Apostle Paul proclaims concerning this life we now possess?

For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:8)

Therefore, let us contemplate the manner in which we should now live:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. (Titus 2:11–13)

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[1] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.440.

[2] Smith, David (1990). In The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Nicoll, W. Robertson, Ed.), Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 5.175.

[3] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1 John 2:24.

[4] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 13.137.

[5] Robertson, A.T. (1934). A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, Nashville, TN: Broadman Press,  p. 776.

[6] Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 11.440.

 

© 2024 David M. Rossi
 

THE LIAR & DENIER IS ANTICHRIST - 1 JOHN 2:21-23

Verses 21-23: I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

John continues to contemplate the final thought of the previous verse: ‘you all know’. Namely, that the false teaching of the antichrists is characteristic of the ‘last hour’ (v.18). We come to know this by the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth (John 16:13; cf. 14:26), accomplished supernaturally by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

There is a terrible misconception within Christianity today that considers that not all believers are able to understand all Scriptural truths—that some Scripture is just ‘too deep’ and can only be understood by some. Those who advocate this are no different than the 1^st Century Gnostics who believed they had a supreme ability over others in understanding divine truth.1 In contrast, those who are convinced that they are not able to know God’s Word sufficiently have unwittingly limited themselves in their advancement to spiritual maturity; losing out on the objective of being “adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). The Apostle Paul corrects this misconception:

We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory...For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:7, 10)

And then Paul conveys exactly how we are able to know:

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. (1 Corinthians 2:12–13)

Elsewhere, Paul asserts that we are “able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17b–19, emphasis added). This is the work of the Holy Spirit as He guides us “into all the truth” (John 16:13).

The principle is that every believer has the illuminating Holy Spirit that enables them to learn and understand God’s Word when taught by a spiritually gifted pastor-teacher (Ephesians 5:11-12). This requires a careful analysis of Scripture—“accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The Greek word for ‘accurately’ is used in the New Testament only here in this verse. The Greek lexicon interprets this word to mean to: “guide the word of truth along a straight path (like a road that goes straight to its goal), without being turned aside by wordy debates or impious talk.”2 Just as John resisted the Gnostic heresy in his day, we still have to contend today with those whose objective is to interpret God’s Word in light of cultural dictates, intent upon appeasing modern-day thinkers and for self-gratification, to gain their approval.

Lie vs. Truth

When John states that they indeed know the truth, he is complimenting them for their spiritual astuteness. But is John referring here to a particular truth or to truth in general? According to the grammar of the Greek, the phrase the truth with the Greek article emphasizes the identity of truth,3 and that this particular phrase “as used in the New Testament means that which may be relied upon as really in accord with God’s revelation in Christ.”4 It is what Our Lord meant when He stated that He is the embodiment of ‘truth’ (John 14:6), whereas the Apostle Paul proclaimed that truth is in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:21) suggesting both His Person and His example.5

 We also learn from Our Lord that God’s “Word is truth” (John 17:17). In our passage, John goes even further, maintaining the impossibility for a lie to have its source from the truth. That presumes that the Word of God is absolute truth and that there is a clear difference between the error of lies and what truth is. Therefore, there are no grey areas or a neutral ground between truth and error,6 regardless of what is advocated by our present culture.

The Lie and the Liar

John hadn’t mentioned what the lie is yet, but in this next verse it will be revealed along with the liar. The lie perpetrated is the denial that Jesus is the Christ. And in no uncertain terms, John identifies this denier as the antichrist, the one who opposes, not just Jesus Christ, but “the Father and the Son,” which alludes to the denial of the deity of Christ. This is a powerful denial. To claim that Jesus is not the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, is to allege that all that Our Lord said and did while He was on earth, including His work of salvation, was a fabrication. This is an utterly dreadful offense to the character of Our Savior and the Father’s plan of redemption.

John concludes in verse 23 that there is no neutral ground between denying and confessing—a person is either a denier of the Son or a confessor of the Son. There is no one who is a ‘sort of’ denier or a ‘kind of’ confessor—they are either one or the other. It is an undeniable truth that those who deny Jesus Christ do not have the Father. To not ‘have’ the Father means denying the Son is to deprive oneself of an eternal relationship with the Father by rejecting the free gift of salvation He provides through His Son. And to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God a person can enjoy the offer of salvation by faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross.

The Challenge

For us today as believers in Jesus Christ, we must be highly motivated in attaining the knowledge of God’s Word. A substantial understanding of His truth will enable us to identify the liars and deniers of the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. R.M.L. Waugh observes:

A believer does not need to know all about the many lies that are peddled around; he only needs to have a grasp of the truth of God. The truth is like a yardstick which shows all false teachings fail to measure up to its standard. If the believer knows the truth, then he immediately knows everything that does not agree with it.7

We need to speak out against those who distort God’s Word and have given in to cultural dictates; and to live every day by example of our faithfulness to God’s absolute truth. We can then become dynamic witnesses for the truth of the gospel so that others might believe in Jesus Christ as Savior.

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[1] Lightfoot J.B. (1999). St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, p. 77.

[2] Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1979). In A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 580.

[3] Wallace, D. B. (1996). Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, p. 207.

[4] Dana, H.E. & Mantey, Julius R. (1957). A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Toronto, Ontario: Macmillan Co., p. 141.

[5] Alford, Henry (1877). The Greek Testament, Boston, MA: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 3.123.

[6] Vine, W. E. (1996). Collected Writings of W.E. Vine. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1 John 2:21.

[7] Waugh, R.M.L. (1953). The Preacher and His Greek Testament, London: The Epworth Press, p. 71.

 

© 2024 David M. Rossi

 

ORIGIN OF THE ANTICHRISTS - 1 JOHN 2:19-20

Verses 19-20: They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

In verse 19, John provides further evidence that ‘antichrists’ is a reference not to one individual but of many individuals who were prominent in his day. In subsequent verses he will explain their particular opposition to Christ, as deniers of the Father and the Son (2:22). In particular, they refute the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, that He had come in the flesh from God (4:2-3). This is the characteristics of the last hour in John’s day as well as in ours today.

Unfortunately, the origin of these antichrists in John’s day is no different than today. He states that “they went out from us” meaning that after having participated among the apostolic company they broke fellowship and separated themselves from them. John used the same expression in John 13:30 when Judas Iscariot broke fellowship with the twelve apostles and went out to betray Our Lord.

Next, John explains in absolute terms that “they were not really of us,” inferring that they were not aligned with us in the critical doctrines of Biblical truth. This stands to reason since being in the apostolic company would naturally require a commonality of belief and yet all along they consistently held false and erroneous beliefs. Could this phrase, as some suppose, also imply that they were not genuinely believers in Jesus Christ but merely unbelievers posing as Christians? Kenneth Wuest explains this possibility:

The antichrists did not have their source in the Mystical Body of Christ composed only of true believers. They were merely members of the visible, organized church on earth. They did not partake of the divine life animating the members of the Body of Christ, made up of true believers.1

John goes on to declare that if they had believed in the correct doctrines, they would have remained with us and there would have been no fracture in the fellowship of believers. However, that was not the case. Instead, the breaking of the fellowship on the basis of doctrinal differences was evidence that all of the antichrists were “not of us”—they were not fellow believers in Jesus Christ.

“But they went out from us—they all are not of us.” It might be thought that John is belaboring the point when he continues presenting additional evidence that supports his indictment of these antichrists. He maintains that based upon the fact that they broke fellowship makes it obvious that the false doctrine held by all of the antichrists did not have their source from the apostolic company. And therefore, just as Judas Iscariot, these also may have been unbelievers.

Our Anointing

Now John brings to conclusion verses 18-20. He presents us with a vital spiritual attribute that every believer possesses. Placing great emphasis on “you”, he states that what you have acquired was by means of a ceremonial anointing. The word ‘anointing’ refers to the substance that the anointing is performed with, which in some cases was a mixture of oil (Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:10).2 Here it denotes that the ‘substance’ is the Holy Spirit with whom the believer is anointed.3 All believers have this anointing at the moment they believe in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul affirmed this when he wrote:

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. (2 Corinthians 1:21–22)

What Paul means when he states that God establishes us is that He confirms the genuineness of our salvation. And not to be missed is that the anointing and sealing of the Holy Spirit is a pledge—His guarantee—of providing us “the whole heavenly inheritance which belongs to every believer through infinite grace (2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14; 1 Peter 1:4).”4 This anointing of the Holy Spirit upon every believer in Jesus Christ is known theologically as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Dr. L.S. Chafer maintains that “the anointing is seen to be, like the indwelling, a present fact in every believer’s life.”5

John emphasizes this in verse 27 by adding that this anointing continuously “abides in you.” This anointing of the Holy Spirit was “from the Holy One” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1:24; John 6:69; Acts 3:14), Who had promised His disciples before His departure that He would send them the Holy Spirit—“the Helper” (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7) assuring them that “He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). This is the second spiritual asset that John proclaims that we possess; the first is the Advocate (2:1) Who provides the remedy for sin.

Knowing What?

Concerning John’s final phrase “and you all know,” we are confronted with some Greek manuscript variations that challenge the interpretation. The modern translations of the Bible utilize Greek manuscripts that are older than what King James translators had available to them. The King James translated this phrase “and ye know all things,” which gives the impression of a blanket statement without limitations to what we know. Dr. Bruce M. Metzger refutes this apparent exaggeration by proposing that the copyists of the manuscript employed by the King James translators modified the word ‘all’ reasoning that the word ‘know’ needed an object.6

But when contemplating the phrase as it appears in the oldest manuscripts, it is best understood that it presents a wider interpretation of the entire passage of verses 18-20. “You all know” in actuality poses a question to the reader: what exactly do we all know? In verse 18 John maintained that there are antichrists presently amongst us and that they oppose the basic Biblical doctrines of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And by the process of hearing this evidence we have come to know that this is the characteristic of the ‘last hour.’ But now John asserts in verse 20 that “you all know” by using a different word for ‘know’, one that “implies fullness of knowledge.”7 And what we all know is that this indeed is the ‘last hour.’ John is giving his readers credit for following his line of thought concerning the antichrists who oppose the truth of Jesus Christ. For now, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, Who guides and enables us to detect error and in the discerning of God’s truth.

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[1] Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 13.131.

[2] In the Old Testament, the ritual of anointing was for those chosen by God for a special ministry: priests (Leviticus 4:5, 16) and kings (Saul - 1 Samuel 10:1; David - 2 Samuel 2:4, 5:3; Solomon, -1 Kings 1:39).

[3] Wuest, 13.132.

[4] Chafer, Lewis Sperry (1976). Systematic Theology, Dallas, TX: Dallas Seminary Press, 6.134.

[5] Chafer, 6.133

[6] Metzger, Bruce M. (2001). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Stuttgart: United Bible Societies, p. 641.

[7] Waugh, R.M.L. (1953). The Preacher and His Greek Testament, London: The Epworth Press, p. 33.

 

© 2024 David M. Rossi