1 Jn 2:20-23, Deceptions
Dealing With Deceptions—Part 2
1 John 2:20-23
Introductory Thoughts
· Cults are nothing new in the church world
· False doctrine is nothing new
· Deception by false teachers is nothing new
· But our age has seen a multiplication of heresies, partly because of the power of TV and other modern means of communication.
· History tells us that John was writing to Christians who were dealing with a cult called Gnosticism. This cult denied the reality of Christ as Lord and Savior, and considered Him to be a mere man in whom the Spirit dwelt during His earthly ministry, but that on the Cross, only the man Jesus died. The Gnostics believed all physical reality was evil, and therefore, God could not have lowered Himself to become incarnate.
· This heresy is discussed in the next few verses, then again in 1 John 4:1-6
· In the last lesson, we saw that the false believers were distinguished by their self-deception, that they were “little antichrists,” against Christ, who were finally shown by their leaving the church to pursue their heresy.
1. First, the True Believers—1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
a. There is a problem with the Greek here, and there are two ways that this is read. It can be read as it is in this translation, or it can be read this way: “…you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know…” (NASB)
(1) linguistically and in the manuscripts, the evidence for both readings is about equal
(2) But they don’t know ALL THINGS, (1 John 3:2).
(3) So since it is unlikely that the believers John is writing to REALLY know ALL things, the preferred reading is “…you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know…”
b. The language of the sentence
(1) “have an anointing” –“have” is in the present tense—they continually have an anointing. The stress is not on the fact that they were anointed, but that this anointing is a present, active, continual thing.
(2) “you all know” – “know” is in the perfect tense, something that is absolute and settled. It is the word “oida,” not the word “ginosko,” which means that it is speaking of innate knowledge, what you know in your mind and heart, not something you have experienced. It is one of John’s favorite verbs in this book.
(3) “anointing”—in the Greek, "chrisma"
(a) Stott points out that there is an excellent pun or play on words here in the Greek. The believers are protected from the “antiCHRIStos” by the “CHRISma.”[1]
(b) What is this anointing? It is the anointing with the Holy Spirit, as when the Messiah came and was anointed at His baptism.[2] (seeLuke 4:18, Acts 4:27, 10:38).
(c) This anointing is the seal of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Truth and leads us into all Truth (John 16:13). 2 Cor 1:21-22 "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
(4) And the Holy One is Christ Jesus, who, along with His Father, o gives us the seal of the Spirit—(John 14:16, 26, 15:26), for He is the Holy One!
Mark 1:24 "saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are; the Holy One of God!""
Luke 1:35 "And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."
Luke 4:34 "saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are; the Holy One of God!""
Acts 2:27 "For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."
Acts 3:14 ""But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,"
Acts 13:35 ""Therefore He also says in another Psalm: 'You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.'"
c. So, all the true believers have an anointing from the Holy one and all the true believers know. Know what?
(1) Here is where we get into the history of the controversy with this cult called Gnosticism. The Gnostics claimed a special knowledge (gnosis), and this knowledge, which was restricted to a select few, was gained through a “chrism” . But this gnosis is being denounced by John as being a lie.
(2) The True believers all had a chrism, an anointing, and they all had the true knowledge about the person of Christ.
d. What they knew—1 John 2:21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
(1) First, here is John explaining more about his purpose in writing. He was not writing to them because they did not know the Truth about the doctrinal controversy.
(2) What they did know—two things:
(a) The Truth (about Christ and His Person)
(b) No lie is of the Truth—they understood what we call the law of contradiction, that something cannot be true and untrue at the same time.
(3) How well did they know it? That same word and tense are used here again—absolutely settled knowledge.
· So, here are the True believers on the one hand: they all have an anointing from the Holy One, and they all know (a) what the Truth is, and (b) that Truth and lies cannot mix.
2. The Heretics—1 John 2:22-23 "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also."
a. Their characters—they were liars, they were antichrists—note that John does not mince words here. Gentle John, the apostle of love, tells it like it is.
b. Their heresy—they denied the Trinity!
(1) They denied that Jesus is (present tense) the Christ
(2) They denied the Father-Son equality relationship between God the Father and God the Son
(3) Later in the book, we get more details and find out that they denied the incarnation specifically.
(4) Note, they probably would have denied this charge, just as cultists do today—but John pins them down: if you deny the full Biblical Truth about Who Jesus Is, you deny God!
(5) A little Doctrinal Instruction is in order…Lets state some theological facts!
c. Jesus is (present tense) the Christ—The present tense indicates that the man Jesus is still the Christ, He did not cease to be the Christ. We know from John’s introduction to this book and from the prologue to his gospel that the Son of God always was and always was God and always was with God!
(1) The gnostics claimed that “the Christ spirit” came upon the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before the Crucifixion
(2) They denied the reality of a physical resurrection and of a substitutionary, vicarious atonement.
(3) The Truth is that our Lord is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, Who Was, Who Is, and Who Is to Come!
(4) He was incarnate in the womb of the virgin Mary, was and is fully God and fully man, and never ceased to be both.
(5) Right now in Heaven, a Man stands or sits next to the Throne, interceding for His people.
(6) And a Glorified Man, the God Man, will return for us bodily, personally, visibly, and in Power!
d. The Father and the Son are both one in essence and distinct in person—
(1) Sample Verses:
(a) John 1:1-2 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God."
(b) John 10:30 ""I and My Father are one.""
(c) John 5:17 "But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.""
(d) John 17:5 ""And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
(2) Theological point—this is beyond our understanding as to how this is true, but the Bible is plain that this is true.
(3) Theological point #2—as we often state in our teachings, if one denies the Trinity, salvation by Grace becomes impossible!
(a) Because God is Triune, He is a God of Relationship
Mat 3:17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
John 3:16 ""For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
(b) Because God is Triune, we have Representation—
(i) On the Cross
Isa 53:5 "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed."
(ii) In the Courts of Heaven
Rom 8:34 "Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."
1 Tim 2:5 "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,"
Heb 7:25 "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."
(c) Because God is Triune, we have Redemption and reconciliation
Rom 3:24 "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"
1 Cor 1:30 "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;"
Eph 1:7 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace"
Col 1:14 "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Heb 9:12 "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."
2 Cor 5:18-19 "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."
e. Bottom line implications for people who believe the lie…
(1) If you deny this Father-Son relationship, you deny Christ, you are an antichrist!
(2) If you deny the Father-Son relationship, you don’t have the Father!
(3) If you deny the Trinity, you don’t have salvation!
[1] Stott, op.cit. page 111
[2] Ibid.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home