John warns the church against false teachers called antichrists who attack the believers with false doctrine, especially denying the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 4 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast entitled “Antichrists and the Antichrist,” where we’ll discuss 1 John 2:18-29. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, this is yet another very important warning in the New Testament against false teaching. We have many such warnings in many places in scripture, but the great danger of false teaching. And specifically though, John is using the word antichrist, which is a very well-known term, but only found in John’s epistles. But I think the concept of antichrist, an antichrist who is coming, is taught in many places but with different pictures and different titles and different names, but here, the word antichrist.
But he tells us that “an antichrist is coming” and “even now many antichrists have come.” And he’s going to specifically warn against the attack on the doctrine of the incarnation and how vital it is that we understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and believing that, have life in his name. And so, how important it is that we defend orthodox doctrine on the incarnation and protect our churches from false teachers. But also, there’s an indication of talking about the antichrist who is coming and some insights on eschatology.
Also, we’re going to see in this passage the importance of continuing in sound doctrine, an exhortation from John that we see to it that what we heard from the beginning remains in us. That teaches us that the milk of the gospel that we heard when we first were converted is going to be nourishing us our entire lives, so I look forward to walking through that with you.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 18-29 in 1 John 2.
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us- eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and is no lie- just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Andy, what does John mean by the last hour? How does knowing that the end of the world is imminent considering eternity helpful for us?
Andy
This brings us into what’s known in theology as eschatology or the doctrine of the last things. It’s amazing how stark this is. This is the last hour, even he says, and I think that’s just obviously extreme language since John wrote it almost two millennia ago and so a long time ago. But we know that in 2 Peter we’re told, “With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand year is like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). God looks at time differently than we do. Jesus says at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I’m coming soon.” He says that four times. We have the word ‘soon’ there. We also have the concept of this being the last hour. I think what it means is the time for the second coming and the end of the world is imminent compared to eternity, and so, we need to be ready at every moment.
We need to be holy, to grow in holiness and we need to speed on the day of the Lord by finishing the great commission and by sharing the gospel
You asked, what influence does that have on us having a sense of the imminence of the end of the world and the imminence of the end of our lives compared to eternity? I think what it does, I think Peter is the one that gives us what should we do with that. Well, we should live holy and godly lives, he says, as we look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming. The way I understand that is by evangelism and missions, it really brings us to the two journeys. We need to be holy, to grow in holiness and we need to speed on the day of the Lord by finishing the great commission and by sharing the gospel. A sense of urgency comes on us, a sense of the limited nature of time. We’re not going to be here forever; time is precious. We need to redeem the time because the days are evil. All of that comes from this stark statement, “This is the last hour.”
Wes
What does John mean by antichrist is coming and many antichrists have come? How does this statement show a pattern of what we might call dress rehearsals when it comes to the Bible’s doctrine of the end times or eschatology, as you said?
Andy
Right. Okay. The word antichrist, it’s important that we understand. The word anti, generally, in Greek means substitute or in the place of. This would be one claiming to be the Christ and taking his place, so Jesus said false Christs and false prophets will appear and deceive many people. But I think, probably in this passage, it seems to be more anti meaning against or set against. This would be teachers that have come along that are teaching false doctrine about, specifically here, the incarnation. They are denying that Jesus has come in the flesh. They’re denying the incarnation. They’re denying that Jesus is fully God or that he’s fully man or both, doing something with the doctrine of the incarnation. And so, in this sense, they are set against Christ and against sound teaching about Christ. But either way, we need to be mindful of the fact that individuals sometimes will come and arrogate to themselves a role, cult leaders or even the final Antichrist will claim to be God in the flesh. That’s an incarnation. He’ll claim to be the incarnate God.
That brings us now to the question of an Antichrist is coming and many antichrists have come. I believe that it’s important we understand both sides of that equation. The Antichrist that is coming at the end will be the worst human being that’s ever lived in terms of evil impact on the world. The Antichrist, we’re told in 2 Thessalonians 2, it doesn’t use the term antichrist, I said that it’s only found here in these epistles. 2 Thessalonians 2 calls him the man of sin or the man of lawlessness, and he will set himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God. That’s quoting Daniel 11, so it brings us very much into the Book of Daniel, and the Book of Daniel speaks of a fourth terrifying beast that comes up out of the sea and a horn that comes up that speaks arrogantly and boastfully and powers given to the horn to wage war against the saints and to conquer them for a time times and a half a time, that’s three and a half years.
All that points toward eschatology. The language of 2 Thessalonians 2 is in Daniel 11, and so, we believe that Daniel was given visions of the future including a world ruler, a human ruler who will oppress the people of God and arrogate to himself a sense of deity, a sense of belonging or claiming to be God. In Daniel 9, we have the 70 weeks of Daniel, and we have one coming along who makes a covenant with the many for one seven, and fundamentally, defiles God’s temple. All of that sets the stage for the concept or the doctrine of the antichrist who is coming. Then also, as we saw in the podcast in Book of Revelation, we have the beast from the sea, who is the antichrist, and that is a human being who rules a beast-like worldwide empire, which is what the four beasts of the sea in Daniel 7 are.
That is, we are forewarned that a one world government is coming in Revelation 13 that says that all the ends of the earth will obey him; they will submit to him, and they’ll worship him. It’s the final end of evil human government, and the final end of wicked human religion culminating in one man claiming to be God on earth, that’s the Antichrist who is coming. We need to be ready for that. But John doesn’t really talk much about that here. He says many antichrists have come. Since he uses the same word and as the same concept, there’s a sense of dress rehearsals, as you said. I get the dress rehearsal concept from Matthew 24:37, where Jesus says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man, as it was, so it will be.” You look to the past to know the future.
We’re going to have lots and lots of antichrists to come and they’re dress rehearsals. Now, the antichrist, there’s two aspects. There is human government, wicked human government, and there is evil human religion. Any great against Jesus or against Christ leader in either of those realms is an antichrist. That would be a Hitler, a Stalin, any tyrant, any of the Caesars that came along oppressing the church and made laws against Christianity. Any Psalm 2 rulers that conspire together against the Lord and against his anointed. Those are all antichrists, they’re all dress rehearsals. Hitler’s definitely a dress rehearsal of the antichrist, tried to take over the whole world, failed. You see all of these things, many antichrists. Then, I would say all the cult leaders are antichrists that are coming, and so, we need to be aware of that.
Now, home base here in 1 John 2:18-29, the end of the chapter, is specific patterns of false teachers who came up from the Christian church from in the midst of them. And went out from them, not wanting to fellowship with anyone and taught false doctrines specifically about the incarnation, so that’s where we’ll go next.
Wes
What’s the significance of John’s statement then in verse 19, where we’re headed next? “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.” How does continuing in the faith demonstrate the difference between true and false professions of Christ?
Andy
Right. This is a key verse for people who are nowhere near as significant, but they are grievous and heartbreaking. And these are people that kind of walked with the church for a while. They claim to be Christians for a while, and then they apostatize at some point. I think many who try to understand such a situation go to 1 John 2:19 and say, “Look, there are individuals that walk with us for a while, and they don’t continue with us. If they had truly been one of us,” in other words, truly part of the body of Christ or truly regenerate, “they would’ve continued with us.”
The single greatest mark of regeneration is perseverance in the faith.
Their going out, John openly says, shows that they didn’t belong to us. Fundamentally, we say that about apostates; they were not genuinely Christians as proven by the fact that they didn’t persevere. The single greatest mark of regeneration is perseverance in the faith. They continue. Through persecutions, through oppression, through long, many years, lots of temptations and trials, they continue to believe in Christ and fellowship with other Christians. They went out from us, but they were not really of us, and their going out showed that they were not from us.
We also need to be mindful of the connection between 1 John 2:18-29, specifically these verses, verse 19, and the warning that Paul gives to the Ephesian elders, where he tells them, “Even from your own number, men will arise and try to draw disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). That’s the danger of wolves in sheep’s clothing. They’re in our midst and then they shock everybody by going out and they try to win people to come with them. And so, you need to be, forewarned is forearmed. They went out from us, but they were not really of us.
Wes
Verses 20 and 27 speak of an anointing. What is the anointing John discusses in this section? How does it relate to the Holy Spirit’s work in a true Christian’s heart?
Andy
Okay. You said it, I think, in the question the way you asked it, the anointing is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit. When the Spirit comes, Jesus said, he will guide you into all truth. It’s a very strong statement he makes in the last night before he died in John 13-16, those chapters, and he talks about the Counselor who’s going to come. And his role specifically is to guide the church into all truth, the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Now, the Holy Spirit is the most common name for the third person of the Trinity, but it’s not the only name. The Counselor is another name, and Jesus calls him the Spirit of truth. It’s a beautiful statement. The Spirit of truth is the one who comes and lives in us. He will be with us and will be in you, Jesus says, and he will never leave. He guides us into all truth. That, I believe, is the anointing.
The anointing from the Holy Spirit is a capacity to recognize the truth when it comes into you for the first time, and then, to delight in it and hold onto it for the rest of your time on earth. That’s what the anointing is. It doesn’t mean you already know everything, because why would you need teachers? But John says you have this anointing, and that’s why I’m teaching you. All of you know it’s the truth. I don’t write to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it. And it’s like, “All right, wait a minute. If we know the truth, why are you writing to us?”
Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t be taught. What I think it means is, and this is a beautiful thing. I’ve been here at this church, now, I’m in my 27th year, and I’ve seen the aha moment, the light of illumination, go on in people’s minds by their facial expressions and things they say when I teach them things they have never heard before from scripture, but really are there in scripture. The anointing then identifies it as truth, and its like, “Yes, I’ve never heard that before, but I know it’s true.” That is really exciting for me as a teacher, because what it means is, “I’m ready for it, but I don’t know what it is. Bring it to me.” Then, you bring it, and you show how it’s in the Scripture, you reason from the Scripture, and the Spirit enables me as a teacher to deliver the goods. And then it enables the body of Christ, the genuine followers of Christ, to receive it and delight in it. That’s what the anointing is. It’s the indwelling Holy Spirit’s ministry of truth based on the word of God.
Wes
I think this really comes out at the end of verse 21, because as he said in verse 21, he goes on, he says, “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know, because you know it, because no lie is of the truth.” That last phrase, “Because no lie is of the truth,” it’s this sense of discernment and ability to essentially know the truth when they hear it or know it when they see it to be able to say, “Ah, that’s it. That’s the truth.”
Andy
Yeah. I want to go back and say again what I think it entails. It’s the ability to recognize truth the first time that you hear it and to accept it as truth from God, to delight in it as truth from God, and then, to persevere in it and hold onto it as truth from God. That’s the anointing.
Wes
Now, why is this such a powerful gift from God, to be able to know the truth when we hear it? How does that anointing from God protect true Christians from this spirit of antichrist that we’ve been discussing already?
Andy
It’s terrifying if you look back at the statement, “Many antichrists have come.” So, we’re surrounded by enemies. We’re surrounded by false gospels, surrounded by influential world religious leaders and religions and deceptions from Satan that are around us all the time. And so, we need help. The Holy Spirit is able to give us a discerning spirit and to not follow the cult leaders, to not follow the false teachers, and to be able to recognize them as false when they rise up and to reject them. We are able to discern the truth and to not follow in their lies.
Fundamentally, the encouragement here, John says, “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it.” All right, so you are shown to be disciples. I’m writing to you because you are disciples. In other words, “I’m not trying to evangelize you. You are identified as followers of Christ, and so, I want to teach you more. I want to give you more things and no lie comes from the truth.” Now, he sets that up because he’s about to talk about the false doctrine of the many antichrists that started with them but went out from them.
Wes
Yeah, like you said, that false doctrine is the denial of the person of Jesus. It says in verse 22, “Who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ,” this is the antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. I want to talk about that verse and understand what’s at the heart of this denial, but also, the significance of the statement that follows in verse 23, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father.” This has massive implications for we might even say religious Jews who hate Jesus but seek to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There’s a lot. Let’s talk about verses 22 and 23 and glean what we can from them here.
Andy
Okay. The focus here, and it’s not just because of this one passage, but later chapter 4:1-3 says, “Do not believe every spirit but test the spirits.” False prophets going out into the world is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” That’s the doctrine of the incarnation and the clearest articulation of the doctrine of the incarnation is in John’s Gospel.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, and without him, nothing was made that has been made… The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. And we have seen his glory… The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3, 14, 17).
You put all the pieces together. Jesus Christ is the Word of God that came in the flesh and he is God. That’s the doctrine of the incarnation.
Now here’s the thing. It’s really amazing that we’re talking about this today because on my Wednesday night classes, I’m doing Heroes of Church History, and I am preparing a lecture on Athanasius. Athanasius was the one that God raised up to defend the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed came from the Nicene Council, the Council of Nicaea called by the Emperor Constantine in the year 325 to deal with a heresy called Arianism. Arianism is the doctrine that Jesus is a creature, he’s a created being. He is God’s, I think, first and greatest creature, but a creature, nonetheless.
The Council of Nicaea came and sought to argue about this, and then they resolved it accurately with the very famous Nicene Creed, which is “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ,” it says, “the only begotten Son of the Father, God from God, light from light, very God from very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.” It’s written in Greek, Nicene Creed, homoousion, ‘of the same essence.’ Homo, meaning “the same,” and ousion, meaning “being or essence.” This is the language that came up with. And then, there were these anathemas, which laid out what the Arians were saying. If anyone says, “There was when he was not or there was a time he did not exist or he was created,” et cetera, that’s what they’re trying to rule out. Jesus is not God’s greatest creature. The doctrine of the incarnation is what the Nicene Creed settled. Unfortunately, historically, many of the bishops that were there at the Council of Nicaea, they didn’t believe it.
They were mixing Greek philosophy with Christian theology and they, let’s be honest, the doctrine of the incarnation is infinitely mysterious, and the doctrine of the Trinity is infinitely mysterious, and it makes more sense to think Jesus is just a creature, a created being. But that’s what it means to deny that Jesus is the Christ and that he’s come in the flesh, and that’s the spirit of the antichrist.
if you don’t get Jesus right, you don’t get God right.
Fundamentally, if you think about the false doctrine that centered around the person, around Christ, it centered around his identity. Why did the Jewish Sanhedrin condemn him to die? It’s because he claimed to be God. He claimed to be the son of God, and they knew that that wasn’t a creature. He was claiming to be God the Son, and “You, a mere man, claim to be God?” They said that in John 8, and so, that’s why they rejected him. That’s the very thing we need to believe to be saved. John’s defending that here. He is saying the antichrists that have gone out from us are philosophizing or rationalizing who Jesus is. And they’re saying something other than the truth about him. And if you don’t get Jesus right, you don’t get God right. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have the Father, so we need to get the doctrine of the incarnation right.
Wes
Conversely, whoever does acknowledge the Son does have the Father. What does John mean by that phrase, “Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also”?
Andy
Well, I think, there’s so many. How do we even begin to say what it means? I think when Philip said, “‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough,’ Jesus answered, ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I’ve been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father'” (John 14:8, paraphrase). What is he saying there? He’s not saying he is the Father. Philip wanted to, he was saying, “Show us the Father,” and that’s what Jesus came to do, to make the Father evident and glorious and manifest to us. He is the radiance of God’s glory. Fundamentally then, Jesus is like a ray of light that came from the sun across 93 million miles of space and reached the earth. And actually more than that, reached your eyeball, and you stop the ray of sun before it reaches your eyeball and say, “Show us the sun up in the sky.” It’s like, “Well, that’s what I came 93 million miles to do. That’s what’s happening right now. That’s how you’re seeing the sun.”
It’s not helpful the S-U-N and S-O-N sound exactly the same, because it’d be confusing. But Jesus is the light beam that came from the Father to show us what the Father is like. If you get Jesus rightly, you get God rightly, but he’s not saying he is the Father. He’s just here to be the radiance of God’s glory. I think that’s one way to look at it.
Another way to look at the statement, “Anyone who has the Son has the Father as well,” is that we have a right relationship with each. If you have a right relationship with the Son, you have a right relationship with the Father. If you don’t accept the Son, you’re not going to be accepted by the Father. I would think then of unbelieving Jews who think they can have a relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and knock Jesus aside. It’s like, that’s not going to happen. If you dishonor my Son, I will have no relationship with you. You can’t bypass Jesus and get to the Father. Jesus said it, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). You’re not going to bypass me. You have to get me properly; you have to believe in me properly. If you do, you get the Father as well.
Wes
What does John then exhort his reader to do in verse 24, and how can we obey that command as well?
Andy
Yeah, it’s a very important statement, I said it in the opening statement, you asked, “What are we going to see in the text today?” Verse 24 really hit me recently, as I was teaching through this in a men’s Bible study, “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” Well, what you have heard is doctrine, it’s the gospel. I would think what you hear from the beginning is the milk of the word. It’s the simplest, clearest teachings of the gospel. Make certain that that, the milk of the word, remains in you and abides in you. That you continue to cherish the basic simple truths of the gospel, and you love them, and you never outgrow them. Permanently, they live in you.
What that means for me as a Christian is make certain that I continue to love those things that converted me. The God-Man-Christ response truths, that there is a God who created all things, that he made me to have a relationship with God, that I have sinned and violated God’s laws, and therefore, stand condemned under his judgment, that I needed help, and God sent his only begotten Son to be my Savior. And Jesus lived a sinless life and died an atoning death and rose again on the third day, and that if I repent of my sins and put my trust in Jesus, I will be forgiven and adopted and welcomed.
I would call all of that milk. That’s the stuff you need to believe to be a Christian. See that those things that you heard from the beginning continues to live in you. If it doesn’t, it means you’ve rejected those things. You no longer think that one of those truths of God or man or Christ or response is true any longer, and that makes me an apostate. See to it that those things glow in me. It also says something to me, not just as a Christian but as a pastor. It tells me that I think every week, to some degree, I need to give the milk again. I’m going to go as deep as the text goes, but I want to make certain that the milk of the word is remaining in the flock entrusted to my care, and that they cherish those basic truths.
Wes
What promise does the gospel make to us in verse 25?
Andy
Well, if this milk of the gospel, the basic truths of the gospel remain in us, we will remain in the Son and in the Father, we will abide. This abide, to remain, brings us of course to John 15 with the “I’m the vine and you’re the branches and we have to remain.” It’s to continue to live in the Son, and the Son living in us, and also we in the Father. If that happens, then what is promised to us is eternal life, and that’s now, life we’re having now, but also forever. It’s eternal life. If we abide in him and remain in him, then we have eternal life.
Wes
Now verse 26 says, “I’m writing these things,” or “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” Who’s trying to lead John’s hearers astray, and how does this relate to the antichrist that went out from them?
Andy
Well, they’re the same. Those are the ones who are trying to lead them astray, the false teachers. “I’m warning you,” he says, I think there’s a sense of warning here. “I’m writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. They’re trying to lead you away from the basic truths of the gospel that you heard at the beginning, and you heard these things from the beginning, so I’m warning you, basically, about those who are trying to lead you astray,” and that warning is sufficient for all true children of God. All we have to do is to be warned.
Now, I want to link it to eschatology. Jesus says, “For false Christ and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect if that were possible. Behold, I have told you ahead of time” (Matthew 24:24). Well, there’s a direct link, but it’s not possible for the elect to be deceived. Why? Because Jesus has told us ahead of time. He’s warned us. Now, this is part of Jesus warning us through his apostle John. “See, I have told you ahead of time about these antichrists. Now you know what to look for. If they come and they start attacking the doctrine of the incarnation, start questioning it, start saying something against it, you know who they are. They’re false teachers.”
Wes
How is it that the anointing that we spoke about in verse 20 and that we see here again in 27 means no one needs to teach them? What’s the difference between the real and the counterfeit anointing?
Andy
I identified the anointing earlier as the ability to recognize truth when you hear it. It’s interesting then for him to say, “You don’t need anyone to teach you.” He says here, “You have an anointing and the anointing that we referred to earlier remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.” This is a little bit challenging for me to understand what this means, but I think what it means is you don’t need anyone to teach you the things you heard from the beginning, what you heard from the beginning, because those things remain in you. And you don’t need anyone to say them to you again. Now, it doesn’t mean it’s not helpful, but you’ve heard it, and the Holy Spirit will never let it fall from you. I think that’s the way I would look at it because, clearly, John’s writing this epistle, and he’s going to write two others, 2 and 3 John. And he is going to write the Book of Revelation and all that, so there’s lots of things they didn’t know.
He’s not in any way sawing off the branch he’s sitting on as a teacher of the church. He’s not like, “Ah, you don’t need me. Oh, I guess I’m out of a job.” He’s not saying that. But what he’s saying is I think it’s, in context, talking about what you have heard from the beginning. You don’t need anyone to teach you those basic things. Again, it will stay in you because the anointing you have from the Holy One will make certain you never forget those things.
Wes
Which helps distinguish them between a real and a counterfeit anointing. Again, it’s that, “went out from us, because they were never of us,” language or sentiment
Andy
Yeah, and I think I like what he says here. “The anointing is real. It’s not counterfeit,” meaning do not, in any way, minimize what has happened to you by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s an incredibly important gift. The gift of the Holy Spirit, which Paul describes so well in Romans 8, the gift of the indwelling Spirit testifying with our spirits that we are God’s children, he says there. All of those beautiful truths in Romans 8 and in other places as well is a real anointing, not a counterfeit, and it teaches you all of the things that you need, it’s real. It teaches you about all things. By the way, that directly reminds me of, “When the Counselor comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Here, it says, “That anointing teaches you about all things.” It’s the same thing. He’s leading into all truth. As you’ve heard all that, now I’m exhorting you, remain in him, meaning in Christ.
Wes
What final exhortation does John give them in verse 28? What does verse 29 teach us about the true Christian life?
Andy
Well, he says the exact same thing, “And now, dear children, continue in him or remain in him,” so it’s like all right. That’s what John does in this epistle. He says the same thing again and again. He’s like, “All right. See to it that it remains, and now, I’m telling you again, remain in him.” It’s similar to Paul saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). You almost get the same rhythm here. He says, “I’m urging you.” He says, “This anointing that you receive remains in you, but as is anointing,” so he tells them at the end of verse 27, “Remain in him and now, dear children, continue in him,” it’s the same thing.
He’s emphasizing it, and so the idea is you need to run with endurance the race marked out in front of us. We need to keep going. “So that,” he says, “when he appears at the second coming, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” Let’s run this race right to the end. And the end is either our death or the second coming of Christ. Either way, let’s run that race until one of those two things happens.
He also says in verse 28, “If we continue to run this race with endurance, we will be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” I think that’s really important. I think what that means is the Lord’s going to come when he comes and he seriously warns his church at the end of Matthew 25 again and again, and in the end the end of Matthew 24 as well. You need to be ready because the owner of the house will come in an hour when you do not expect him. If you’re one of the servants in charge of certain things, make sure you’re doing that when he comes. If he comes when you don’t expect him, you’re going to be surprised, shocked, and ashamed, so I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you remain in him and keep running this race, so that when he comes, and he’s going to come at an hour you do not expect him, that you will not be ashamed, but say, “Lord, I was doing what you told me to do.”
how you live the life you live and … the works you do, prove whether you’re genuinely a Christian or not.
Jonathan Edwards put it this way in a resolution he wrote when he is 19 years old, “Resolved: to be doing nothing at any time that I would be ashamed of being found doing at the last hour.” That’s a very good thing. Now, in verse 29, he says, “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right is born of him.” Now, he’s going to go on from that into chapter 3 and develop that. For that reason, sometimes the chapters, I mean the Bible editors and those that publish Bibles make a break in verse 28, between 27 and 28, and then blow right through into chapter 3, because he continues that same idea, which is how you live the life you live and the good works you do, the works you do, prove whether you’re genuinely a Christian or not. We’ll get to that, God willing, next time.
Wes
Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us on these verses that we’ve been looking at?
Andy
Well, these are very deep and powerful verses. They talk about the danger of many antichrists that have come now and the incredible danger there will be then. As we saw in the podcast on Revelation 13, I exhort you to listen to that if you want to be refreshed, but there’s the mark of the beast and all of those things. It’ll be a terrible time of testing that is coming. But in the meantime, antichrists come, and they threaten us with false doctrine. And so, we need to be aware of the false doctrine, and specifically here, focused on the person of Christ.
What I would say the final word is, let’s immerse ourselves in Jesus Christ and the greatness and the majesty of Christ, and the saving mission for us, the milk we heard from the beginning. Let us keep drinking that milk, not in any way saying we shouldn’t go on to meat and learn deep things, but let’s make certain that the things we heard at the beginning are delightful to us and alive in us. And in that way, we will continue in him until he comes.
Wes
This has been Episode 4 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 5 entitled, “True Children of God Purify Themselves from All Sin,” where we’ll discuss 1 John 3:1-10. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 4 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast entitled “Antichrists and the Antichrist,” where we’ll discuss 1 John 2:18-29. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis.
Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, this is yet another very important warning in the New Testament against false teaching. We have many such warnings in many places in scripture, but the great danger of false teaching. And specifically though, John is using the word antichrist, which is a very well-known term, but only found in John’s epistles. But I think the concept of antichrist, an antichrist who is coming, is taught in many places but with different pictures and different titles and different names, but here, the word antichrist.
But he tells us that “an antichrist is coming” and “even now many antichrists have come.” And he’s going to specifically warn against the attack on the doctrine of the incarnation and how vital it is that we understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and believing that, have life in his name. And so, how important it is that we defend orthodox doctrine on the incarnation and protect our churches from false teachers. But also, there’s an indication of talking about the antichrist who is coming and some insights on eschatology.
Also, we’re going to see in this passage the importance of continuing in sound doctrine, an exhortation from John that we see to it that what we heard from the beginning remains in us. That teaches us that the milk of the gospel that we heard when we first were converted is going to be nourishing us our entire lives, so I look forward to walking through that with you.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 18-29 in 1 John 2.
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us- eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true and is no lie- just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Andy, what does John mean by the last hour? How does knowing that the end of the world is imminent considering eternity helpful for us?
Andy
This brings us into what’s known in theology as eschatology or the doctrine of the last things. It’s amazing how stark this is. This is the last hour, even he says, and I think that’s just obviously extreme language since John wrote it almost two millennia ago and so a long time ago. But we know that in 2 Peter we’re told, “With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand year is like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). God looks at time differently than we do. Jesus says at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I’m coming soon.” He says that four times. We have the word ‘soon’ there. We also have the concept of this being the last hour. I think what it means is the time for the second coming and the end of the world is imminent compared to eternity, and so, we need to be ready at every moment.
We need to be holy, to grow in holiness and we need to speed on the day of the Lord by finishing the great commission and by sharing the gospel
You asked, what influence does that have on us having a sense of the imminence of the end of the world and the imminence of the end of our lives compared to eternity? I think what it does, I think Peter is the one that gives us what should we do with that. Well, we should live holy and godly lives, he says, as we look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming. The way I understand that is by evangelism and missions, it really brings us to the two journeys. We need to be holy, to grow in holiness and we need to speed on the day of the Lord by finishing the great commission and by sharing the gospel. A sense of urgency comes on us, a sense of the limited nature of time. We’re not going to be here forever; time is precious. We need to redeem the time because the days are evil. All of that comes from this stark statement, “This is the last hour.”
Wes
What does John mean by antichrist is coming and many antichrists have come? How does this statement show a pattern of what we might call dress rehearsals when it comes to the Bible’s doctrine of the end times or eschatology, as you said?
Andy
Right. Okay. The word antichrist, it’s important that we understand. The word anti, generally, in Greek means substitute or in the place of. This would be one claiming to be the Christ and taking his place, so Jesus said false Christs and false prophets will appear and deceive many people. But I think, probably in this passage, it seems to be more anti meaning against or set against. This would be teachers that have come along that are teaching false doctrine about, specifically here, the incarnation. They are denying that Jesus has come in the flesh. They’re denying the incarnation. They’re denying that Jesus is fully God or that he’s fully man or both, doing something with the doctrine of the incarnation. And so, in this sense, they are set against Christ and against sound teaching about Christ. But either way, we need to be mindful of the fact that individuals sometimes will come and arrogate to themselves a role, cult leaders or even the final Antichrist will claim to be God in the flesh. That’s an incarnation. He’ll claim to be the incarnate God.
That brings us now to the question of an Antichrist is coming and many antichrists have come. I believe that it’s important we understand both sides of that equation. The Antichrist that is coming at the end will be the worst human being that’s ever lived in terms of evil impact on the world. The Antichrist, we’re told in 2 Thessalonians 2, it doesn’t use the term antichrist, I said that it’s only found here in these epistles. 2 Thessalonians 2 calls him the man of sin or the man of lawlessness, and he will set himself up in God’s temple proclaiming himself to be God. That’s quoting Daniel 11, so it brings us very much into the Book of Daniel, and the Book of Daniel speaks of a fourth terrifying beast that comes up out of the sea and a horn that comes up that speaks arrogantly and boastfully and powers given to the horn to wage war against the saints and to conquer them for a time times and a half a time, that’s three and a half years.
All that points toward eschatology. The language of 2 Thessalonians 2 is in Daniel 11, and so, we believe that Daniel was given visions of the future including a world ruler, a human ruler who will oppress the people of God and arrogate to himself a sense of deity, a sense of belonging or claiming to be God. In Daniel 9, we have the 70 weeks of Daniel, and we have one coming along who makes a covenant with the many for one seven, and fundamentally, defiles God’s temple. All of that sets the stage for the concept or the doctrine of the antichrist who is coming. Then also, as we saw in the podcast in Book of Revelation, we have the beast from the sea, who is the antichrist, and that is a human being who rules a beast-like worldwide empire, which is what the four beasts of the sea in Daniel 7 are.
That is, we are forewarned that a one world government is coming in Revelation 13 that says that all the ends of the earth will obey him; they will submit to him, and they’ll worship him. It’s the final end of evil human government, and the final end of wicked human religion culminating in one man claiming to be God on earth, that’s the Antichrist who is coming. We need to be ready for that. But John doesn’t really talk much about that here. He says many antichrists have come. Since he uses the same word and as the same concept, there’s a sense of dress rehearsals, as you said. I get the dress rehearsal concept from Matthew 24:37, where Jesus says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man, as it was, so it will be.” You look to the past to know the future.
We’re going to have lots and lots of antichrists to come and they’re dress rehearsals. Now, the antichrist, there’s two aspects. There is human government, wicked human government, and there is evil human religion. Any great against Jesus or against Christ leader in either of those realms is an antichrist. That would be a Hitler, a Stalin, any tyrant, any of the Caesars that came along oppressing the church and made laws against Christianity. Any Psalm 2 rulers that conspire together against the Lord and against his anointed. Those are all antichrists, they’re all dress rehearsals. Hitler’s definitely a dress rehearsal of the antichrist, tried to take over the whole world, failed. You see all of these things, many antichrists. Then, I would say all the cult leaders are antichrists that are coming, and so, we need to be aware of that.
Now, home base here in 1 John 2:18-29, the end of the chapter, is specific patterns of false teachers who came up from the Christian church from in the midst of them. And went out from them, not wanting to fellowship with anyone and taught false doctrines specifically about the incarnation, so that’s where we’ll go next.
Wes
What’s the significance of John’s statement then in verse 19, where we’re headed next? “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.” How does continuing in the faith demonstrate the difference between true and false professions of Christ?
Andy
Right. This is a key verse for people who are nowhere near as significant, but they are grievous and heartbreaking. And these are people that kind of walked with the church for a while. They claim to be Christians for a while, and then they apostatize at some point. I think many who try to understand such a situation go to 1 John 2:19 and say, “Look, there are individuals that walk with us for a while, and they don’t continue with us. If they had truly been one of us,” in other words, truly part of the body of Christ or truly regenerate, “they would’ve continued with us.”
The single greatest mark of regeneration is perseverance in the faith.
Their going out, John openly says, shows that they didn’t belong to us. Fundamentally, we say that about apostates; they were not genuinely Christians as proven by the fact that they didn’t persevere. The single greatest mark of regeneration is perseverance in the faith. They continue. Through persecutions, through oppression, through long, many years, lots of temptations and trials, they continue to believe in Christ and fellowship with other Christians. They went out from us, but they were not really of us, and their going out showed that they were not from us.
We also need to be mindful of the connection between 1 John 2:18-29, specifically these verses, verse 19, and the warning that Paul gives to the Ephesian elders, where he tells them, “Even from your own number, men will arise and try to draw disciples after them” (Acts 20:30). That’s the danger of wolves in sheep’s clothing. They’re in our midst and then they shock everybody by going out and they try to win people to come with them. And so, you need to be, forewarned is forearmed. They went out from us, but they were not really of us.
Wes
Verses 20 and 27 speak of an anointing. What is the anointing John discusses in this section? How does it relate to the Holy Spirit’s work in a true Christian’s heart?
Andy
Okay. You said it, I think, in the question the way you asked it, the anointing is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit. When the Spirit comes, Jesus said, he will guide you into all truth. It’s a very strong statement he makes in the last night before he died in John 13-16, those chapters, and he talks about the Counselor who’s going to come. And his role specifically is to guide the church into all truth, the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Now, the Holy Spirit is the most common name for the third person of the Trinity, but it’s not the only name. The Counselor is another name, and Jesus calls him the Spirit of truth. It’s a beautiful statement. The Spirit of truth is the one who comes and lives in us. He will be with us and will be in you, Jesus says, and he will never leave. He guides us into all truth. That, I believe, is the anointing.
The anointing from the Holy Spirit is a capacity to recognize the truth when it comes into you for the first time, and then, to delight in it and hold onto it for the rest of your time on earth. That’s what the anointing is. It doesn’t mean you already know everything, because why would you need teachers? But John says you have this anointing, and that’s why I’m teaching you. All of you know it’s the truth. I don’t write to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you do know it. And it’s like, “All right, wait a minute. If we know the truth, why are you writing to us?”
Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t be taught. What I think it means is, and this is a beautiful thing. I’ve been here at this church, now, I’m in my 27th year, and I’ve seen the aha moment, the light of illumination, go on in people’s minds by their facial expressions and things they say when I teach them things they have never heard before from scripture, but really are there in scripture. The anointing then identifies it as truth, and its like, “Yes, I’ve never heard that before, but I know it’s true.” That is really exciting for me as a teacher, because what it means is, “I’m ready for it, but I don’t know what it is. Bring it to me.” Then, you bring it, and you show how it’s in the Scripture, you reason from the Scripture, and the Spirit enables me as a teacher to deliver the goods. And then it enables the body of Christ, the genuine followers of Christ, to receive it and delight in it. That’s what the anointing is. It’s the indwelling Holy Spirit’s ministry of truth based on the word of God.
Wes
I think this really comes out at the end of verse 21, because as he said in verse 21, he goes on, he says, “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know, because you know it, because no lie is of the truth.” That last phrase, “Because no lie is of the truth,” it’s this sense of discernment and ability to essentially know the truth when they hear it or know it when they see it to be able to say, “Ah, that’s it. That’s the truth.”
Andy
Yeah. I want to go back and say again what I think it entails. It’s the ability to recognize truth the first time that you hear it and to accept it as truth from God, to delight in it as truth from God, and then, to persevere in it and hold onto it as truth from God. That’s the anointing.
Wes
Now, why is this such a powerful gift from God, to be able to know the truth when we hear it? How does that anointing from God protect true Christians from this spirit of antichrist that we’ve been discussing already?
Andy
It’s terrifying if you look back at the statement, “Many antichrists have come.” So, we’re surrounded by enemies. We’re surrounded by false gospels, surrounded by influential world religious leaders and religions and deceptions from Satan that are around us all the time. And so, we need help. The Holy Spirit is able to give us a discerning spirit and to not follow the cult leaders, to not follow the false teachers, and to be able to recognize them as false when they rise up and to reject them. We are able to discern the truth and to not follow in their lies.
Fundamentally, the encouragement here, John says, “I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it.” All right, so you are shown to be disciples. I’m writing to you because you are disciples. In other words, “I’m not trying to evangelize you. You are identified as followers of Christ, and so, I want to teach you more. I want to give you more things and no lie comes from the truth.” Now, he sets that up because he’s about to talk about the false doctrine of the many antichrists that started with them but went out from them.
Wes
Yeah, like you said, that false doctrine is the denial of the person of Jesus. It says in verse 22, “Who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ,” this is the antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. I want to talk about that verse and understand what’s at the heart of this denial, but also, the significance of the statement that follows in verse 23, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father.” This has massive implications for we might even say religious Jews who hate Jesus but seek to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There’s a lot. Let’s talk about verses 22 and 23 and glean what we can from them here.
Andy
Okay. The focus here, and it’s not just because of this one passage, but later chapter 4:1-3 says, “Do not believe every spirit but test the spirits.” False prophets going out into the world is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” That’s the doctrine of the incarnation and the clearest articulation of the doctrine of the incarnation is in John’s Gospel.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, and without him, nothing was made that has been made… The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. And we have seen his glory… The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3, 14, 17).
You put all the pieces together. Jesus Christ is the Word of God that came in the flesh and he is God. That’s the doctrine of the incarnation.
Now here’s the thing. It’s really amazing that we’re talking about this today because on my Wednesday night classes, I’m doing Heroes of Church History, and I am preparing a lecture on Athanasius. Athanasius was the one that God raised up to defend the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed came from the Nicene Council, the Council of Nicaea called by the Emperor Constantine in the year 325 to deal with a heresy called Arianism. Arianism is the doctrine that Jesus is a creature, he’s a created being. He is God’s, I think, first and greatest creature, but a creature, nonetheless.
The Council of Nicaea came and sought to argue about this, and then they resolved it accurately with the very famous Nicene Creed, which is “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ,” it says, “the only begotten Son of the Father, God from God, light from light, very God from very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.” It’s written in Greek, Nicene Creed, homoousion, ‘of the same essence.’ Homo, meaning “the same,” and ousion, meaning “being or essence.” This is the language that came up with. And then, there were these anathemas, which laid out what the Arians were saying. If anyone says, “There was when he was not or there was a time he did not exist or he was created,” et cetera, that’s what they’re trying to rule out. Jesus is not God’s greatest creature. The doctrine of the incarnation is what the Nicene Creed settled. Unfortunately, historically, many of the bishops that were there at the Council of Nicaea, they didn’t believe it.
They were mixing Greek philosophy with Christian theology and they, let’s be honest, the doctrine of the incarnation is infinitely mysterious, and the doctrine of the Trinity is infinitely mysterious, and it makes more sense to think Jesus is just a creature, a created being. But that’s what it means to deny that Jesus is the Christ and that he’s come in the flesh, and that’s the spirit of the antichrist.
if you don’t get Jesus right, you don’t get God right.
Fundamentally, if you think about the false doctrine that centered around the person, around Christ, it centered around his identity. Why did the Jewish Sanhedrin condemn him to die? It’s because he claimed to be God. He claimed to be the son of God, and they knew that that wasn’t a creature. He was claiming to be God the Son, and “You, a mere man, claim to be God?” They said that in John 8, and so, that’s why they rejected him. That’s the very thing we need to believe to be saved. John’s defending that here. He is saying the antichrists that have gone out from us are philosophizing or rationalizing who Jesus is. And they’re saying something other than the truth about him. And if you don’t get Jesus right, you don’t get God right. If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have the Father, so we need to get the doctrine of the incarnation right.
Wes
Conversely, whoever does acknowledge the Son does have the Father. What does John mean by that phrase, “Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also”?
Andy
Well, I think, there’s so many. How do we even begin to say what it means? I think when Philip said, “‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough,’ Jesus answered, ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I’ve been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father'” (John 14:8, paraphrase). What is he saying there? He’s not saying he is the Father. Philip wanted to, he was saying, “Show us the Father,” and that’s what Jesus came to do, to make the Father evident and glorious and manifest to us. He is the radiance of God’s glory. Fundamentally then, Jesus is like a ray of light that came from the sun across 93 million miles of space and reached the earth. And actually more than that, reached your eyeball, and you stop the ray of sun before it reaches your eyeball and say, “Show us the sun up in the sky.” It’s like, “Well, that’s what I came 93 million miles to do. That’s what’s happening right now. That’s how you’re seeing the sun.”
It’s not helpful the S-U-N and S-O-N sound exactly the same, because it’d be confusing. But Jesus is the light beam that came from the Father to show us what the Father is like. If you get Jesus rightly, you get God rightly, but he’s not saying he is the Father. He’s just here to be the radiance of God’s glory. I think that’s one way to look at it.
Another way to look at the statement, “Anyone who has the Son has the Father as well,” is that we have a right relationship with each. If you have a right relationship with the Son, you have a right relationship with the Father. If you don’t accept the Son, you’re not going to be accepted by the Father. I would think then of unbelieving Jews who think they can have a relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and knock Jesus aside. It’s like, that’s not going to happen. If you dishonor my Son, I will have no relationship with you. You can’t bypass Jesus and get to the Father. Jesus said it, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). You’re not going to bypass me. You have to get me properly; you have to believe in me properly. If you do, you get the Father as well.
Wes
What does John then exhort his reader to do in verse 24, and how can we obey that command as well?
Andy
Yeah, it’s a very important statement, I said it in the opening statement, you asked, “What are we going to see in the text today?” Verse 24 really hit me recently, as I was teaching through this in a men’s Bible study, “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” Well, what you have heard is doctrine, it’s the gospel. I would think what you hear from the beginning is the milk of the word. It’s the simplest, clearest teachings of the gospel. Make certain that that, the milk of the word, remains in you and abides in you. That you continue to cherish the basic simple truths of the gospel, and you love them, and you never outgrow them. Permanently, they live in you.
What that means for me as a Christian is make certain that I continue to love those things that converted me. The God-Man-Christ response truths, that there is a God who created all things, that he made me to have a relationship with God, that I have sinned and violated God’s laws, and therefore, stand condemned under his judgment, that I needed help, and God sent his only begotten Son to be my Savior. And Jesus lived a sinless life and died an atoning death and rose again on the third day, and that if I repent of my sins and put my trust in Jesus, I will be forgiven and adopted and welcomed.
I would call all of that milk. That’s the stuff you need to believe to be a Christian. See that those things that you heard from the beginning continues to live in you. If it doesn’t, it means you’ve rejected those things. You no longer think that one of those truths of God or man or Christ or response is true any longer, and that makes me an apostate. See to it that those things glow in me. It also says something to me, not just as a Christian but as a pastor. It tells me that I think every week, to some degree, I need to give the milk again. I’m going to go as deep as the text goes, but I want to make certain that the milk of the word is remaining in the flock entrusted to my care, and that they cherish those basic truths.
Wes
What promise does the gospel make to us in verse 25?
Andy
Well, if this milk of the gospel, the basic truths of the gospel remain in us, we will remain in the Son and in the Father, we will abide. This abide, to remain, brings us of course to John 15 with the “I’m the vine and you’re the branches and we have to remain.” It’s to continue to live in the Son, and the Son living in us, and also we in the Father. If that happens, then what is promised to us is eternal life, and that’s now, life we’re having now, but also forever. It’s eternal life. If we abide in him and remain in him, then we have eternal life.
Wes
Now verse 26 says, “I’m writing these things,” or “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.” Who’s trying to lead John’s hearers astray, and how does this relate to the antichrist that went out from them?
Andy
Well, they’re the same. Those are the ones who are trying to lead them astray, the false teachers. “I’m warning you,” he says, I think there’s a sense of warning here. “I’m writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. They’re trying to lead you away from the basic truths of the gospel that you heard at the beginning, and you heard these things from the beginning, so I’m warning you, basically, about those who are trying to lead you astray,” and that warning is sufficient for all true children of God. All we have to do is to be warned.
Now, I want to link it to eschatology. Jesus says, “For false Christ and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect if that were possible. Behold, I have told you ahead of time” (Matthew 24:24). Well, there’s a direct link, but it’s not possible for the elect to be deceived. Why? Because Jesus has told us ahead of time. He’s warned us. Now, this is part of Jesus warning us through his apostle John. “See, I have told you ahead of time about these antichrists. Now you know what to look for. If they come and they start attacking the doctrine of the incarnation, start questioning it, start saying something against it, you know who they are. They’re false teachers.”
Wes
How is it that the anointing that we spoke about in verse 20 and that we see here again in 27 means no one needs to teach them? What’s the difference between the real and the counterfeit anointing?
Andy
I identified the anointing earlier as the ability to recognize truth when you hear it. It’s interesting then for him to say, “You don’t need anyone to teach you.” He says here, “You have an anointing and the anointing that we referred to earlier remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you.” This is a little bit challenging for me to understand what this means, but I think what it means is you don’t need anyone to teach you the things you heard from the beginning, what you heard from the beginning, because those things remain in you. And you don’t need anyone to say them to you again. Now, it doesn’t mean it’s not helpful, but you’ve heard it, and the Holy Spirit will never let it fall from you. I think that’s the way I would look at it because, clearly, John’s writing this epistle, and he’s going to write two others, 2 and 3 John. And he is going to write the Book of Revelation and all that, so there’s lots of things they didn’t know.
He’s not in any way sawing off the branch he’s sitting on as a teacher of the church. He’s not like, “Ah, you don’t need me. Oh, I guess I’m out of a job.” He’s not saying that. But what he’s saying is I think it’s, in context, talking about what you have heard from the beginning. You don’t need anyone to teach you those basic things. Again, it will stay in you because the anointing you have from the Holy One will make certain you never forget those things.
Wes
Which helps distinguish them between a real and a counterfeit anointing. Again, it’s that, “went out from us, because they were never of us,” language or sentiment
Andy
Yeah, and I think I like what he says here. “The anointing is real. It’s not counterfeit,” meaning do not, in any way, minimize what has happened to you by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s an incredibly important gift. The gift of the Holy Spirit, which Paul describes so well in Romans 8, the gift of the indwelling Spirit testifying with our spirits that we are God’s children, he says there. All of those beautiful truths in Romans 8 and in other places as well is a real anointing, not a counterfeit, and it teaches you all of the things that you need, it’s real. It teaches you about all things. By the way, that directly reminds me of, “When the Counselor comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Here, it says, “That anointing teaches you about all things.” It’s the same thing. He’s leading into all truth. As you’ve heard all that, now I’m exhorting you, remain in him, meaning in Christ.
Wes
What final exhortation does John give them in verse 28? What does verse 29 teach us about the true Christian life?
Andy
Well, he says the exact same thing, “And now, dear children, continue in him or remain in him,” so it’s like all right. That’s what John does in this epistle. He says the same thing again and again. He’s like, “All right. See to it that it remains, and now, I’m telling you again, remain in him.” It’s similar to Paul saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). You almost get the same rhythm here. He says, “I’m urging you.” He says, “This anointing that you receive remains in you, but as is anointing,” so he tells them at the end of verse 27, “Remain in him and now, dear children, continue in him,” it’s the same thing.
He’s emphasizing it, and so the idea is you need to run with endurance the race marked out in front of us. We need to keep going. “So that,” he says, “when he appears at the second coming, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” Let’s run this race right to the end. And the end is either our death or the second coming of Christ. Either way, let’s run that race until one of those two things happens.
He also says in verse 28, “If we continue to run this race with endurance, we will be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” I think that’s really important. I think what that means is the Lord’s going to come when he comes and he seriously warns his church at the end of Matthew 25 again and again, and in the end the end of Matthew 24 as well. You need to be ready because the owner of the house will come in an hour when you do not expect him. If you’re one of the servants in charge of certain things, make sure you’re doing that when he comes. If he comes when you don’t expect him, you’re going to be surprised, shocked, and ashamed, so I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you remain in him and keep running this race, so that when he comes, and he’s going to come at an hour you do not expect him, that you will not be ashamed, but say, “Lord, I was doing what you told me to do.”
how you live the life you live and … the works you do, prove whether you’re genuinely a Christian or not.
Jonathan Edwards put it this way in a resolution he wrote when he is 19 years old, “Resolved: to be doing nothing at any time that I would be ashamed of being found doing at the last hour.” That’s a very good thing. Now, in verse 29, he says, “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right is born of him.” Now, he’s going to go on from that into chapter 3 and develop that. For that reason, sometimes the chapters, I mean the Bible editors and those that publish Bibles make a break in verse 28, between 27 and 28, and then blow right through into chapter 3, because he continues that same idea, which is how you live the life you live and the good works you do, the works you do, prove whether you’re genuinely a Christian or not. We’ll get to that, God willing, next time.
Wes
Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us on these verses that we’ve been looking at?
Andy
Well, these are very deep and powerful verses. They talk about the danger of many antichrists that have come now and the incredible danger there will be then. As we saw in the podcast on Revelation 13, I exhort you to listen to that if you want to be refreshed, but there’s the mark of the beast and all of those things. It’ll be a terrible time of testing that is coming. But in the meantime, antichrists come, and they threaten us with false doctrine. And so, we need to be aware of the false doctrine, and specifically here, focused on the person of Christ.
What I would say the final word is, let’s immerse ourselves in Jesus Christ and the greatness and the majesty of Christ, and the saving mission for us, the milk we heard from the beginning. Let us keep drinking that milk, not in any way saying we shouldn’t go on to meat and learn deep things, but let’s make certain that the things we heard at the beginning are delightful to us and alive in us. And in that way, we will continue in him until he comes.
Wes
This has been Episode 4 in our 1, 2, and 3 John Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 5 entitled, “True Children of God Purify Themselves from All Sin,” where we’ll discuss 1 John 3:1-10. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
