OPPOSING DECEPTIVE TEACHING - 1 JOHN 2:26-27

Verses 26-27: These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

 

Concerning the Deceivers

John is summarizing in verse 26 the reason for his writing ‘these things’, which “would seem to point to what is contained in verses 18-25.”1  He is doing his apostolic duty, as Paul did in Acts 20:29, of warning his readers of the savage wolves that are attempting to deceive them by their denial of the deity of Jesus Christ (vv.22-23). Just as John affirmed that we are in the ‘last hour’ (2:18), the Apostle Paul also warned Timothy that this deception will occur in the ‘later times’:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. (1 Timothy 4:1–2)

Paul states that the intention of the deceivers is for some to “fall away from the faith.” It is important to understand what Paul means by ‘faith.’ He is not saying that some will no longer go to church or put their money in the offering. The Greek word for faith means “that which is believed, body of faith or belief, doctrine.” 2 In other words, they will begin to believe the false teachings of the liars and deniers. Paul characterizes their teachings as the ‘doctrines of demons,’ which renders it impossible that it is derived from the truth contained in God’s Word.

The method for counteracting false teachings is consistent instruction of ‘sound doctrine’ by qualified pastor-teachers.

In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. (1 Timothy 4:6)

This recommendation of Paul’s to Timothy is still sound advice for the 21^st Century church today.

 Our Anointing

In verse 20, John has already stated that we have an anointing from the Lord Jesus. Now in verse 27 he advances this truth by asserting that this anointing “abides in you”—that is, we received the anointing of the Holy Spirit at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:21–22) and now the Spirit continually remains with us. Our Lord anticipated this:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever” (John 14:16, 26)

As mentioned in verse 20, this is known theologically as the doctrine of the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Chafer summarizes the essential points of this doctrine.

In this passage, the important truth disclosed is that the anointing abides. The Spirit actually may be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), but He is never grieved away. He may be quenched, or resisted (1 Thessalonians 5:19), but He never departs (John 14:16). By all this it is demonstrated that there is no Scripture which contradicts the clear witness of the New Testament to the truth that all believers are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit once they believe.3

No Need of Teachers

With the truth of the permanency of the Holy Spirit firmly established, John makes a statement that has been misunderstood and misused: “you have no need for anyone to teach you.” Some have mistakenly advocated that believers can fully understand God’s Word without any human instructors by equating this verse with what Paul stated:

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 (1 Corinthians 2:12)

However, if we really don’t need someone to teach us, then this would present an apparent contradiction in God’s Word. The noted theologian Charles Hodge explains simply why this cannot be possible:

God cannot teach in one place anything which is inconsistent with what He teaches in another. Hence Scripture must explain Scripture.4

If by anyone John means every teacher, then it would be unnecessary for many who do teach or have taught: Jesus, Mark 1:21; the disciples, who were commanded to teach, Matthew 28:20; Acts 4:18; 5:42; 13:1; 18:11. It might also be said that God must have made a mistake by “appointing in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers...” (1 Corinthians 12:28a; cf. Ephesians 4:11-12). The fact is, the Holy Spirit does indeed employ human teachers as His instruments for teaching believers. Therefore, within the context of this verse, anyone denotes the false teachers—liars and deniers, antichrists. And it is these individuals that we have no need of to be our teachers.

Our Teachers

In contrast, John maintains that the anointing we received from Our Lord continually teaches us all things. And that His instruction is absolute truth and is not a lie, meaning that it is an impossibility of being false teachings. This is confirmation that we indeed have the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is this work of the Holy Spirit that enables the believer to understand the truths of God’s Word as Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 2:10-16.

The last phrase “just as it has taught you,” many believe it refers to the Holy Spirit. However, it makes sense that it refers to Jesus Christ. For at the outset of this verse it is stated that we received the anointing from Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. So therefore, John is reminding us that Jesus Christ is also our teacher: “just as He [Jesus Christ] has taught you, you abide in Him.” For the final phrase ‘you abide in Him’ is a command, the same command Our Lord taught His disciples during His Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17):

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4ff)

Conclusion

Do we realize how essential the teaching of God’s Word is to our moment-by-moment walk of faith? The Apostle Paul explained its necessity: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). What Paul means here by ‘faith’ is the content of our beliefs as Christians. God has provided the means for us to obtain this by hearing the teaching of Scripture from qualified pastor-teachers, by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit’s enabling power to understand truth.

---

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

[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, 4^th Ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 664, §3.

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

[4] Hodge, Charles (2001). Systematic Theology. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1.187.

 © 2024 David M. Rossi