1 John 2:23

23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

1 John 2:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 John 2:23

Whosoever denieth the Son
Jesus Christ to be the true, proper, natural, essential, and eternal Son of God:

the same hath not the Father;
or does not hold the Father; or "believe the Father", as the Syriac version renders it; for there cannot be a father without a son; and he that honours not the Son, by owning him as such, honours not the Father; whatever reflects dishonour on the Son, reflects dishonour on the Father. If Christ is not truly and properly the Son of God, the Father is not truly and properly the Father of Christ; if Christ is only a Son in a figurative and metaphorical sense, the Father is only a Father in a figurative and metaphorical sense; if Christ is a Son only by office, then the Father is a Father only by office, which is monstrously stupid. Such an one does not hold the true doctrine of the Father, and does not appear to have true faith in him, true love unto him, or real interest in him, only by profession:

[but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also]:
this clause is left out in many copies, and stands as a supplement in our version; but is in the Alexandrian copy, in four of Beza's manuscripts, and in some others; and in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; and confirms and illustrates what is before said; for as he that denies the sonship of Christ cannot hold the paternity of God, so he that owns the sonship of Christ, the second Person, maintains the paternity of the first; for these two are correlates, and mutually put, or take away each other: no mention is made of the Spirit, because, as yet, no controversy had risen concerning him.

1 John 2:23 In-Context

21 I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

22 Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.

23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

24 As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.

25 And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.