The Antichrist(s)

The contrast between "they" and "us" in verse 19 is striking. In the original text both words appear five times. There are two spiritual teams as John sees it. There is "us" and there is "them" (they). Several observations can be made about each team. First, the "they team" did not last. They left. "They went out from us." Most likely this was a voluntary departure not an excommunication, though both are certainly possible. Second, their departure proves they were never really a part of us regardless of what they once professed. In other words they were never truly saved; they never truly experienced the new birth of regeneration (cf. 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:4, 9-10, 18). They were and are lost.

The "us team" in contrast remains in the fellowship and perseveres. As tragic as this verse is on one hand, it is glorious and comforting on the other. Why? Because it is a wonderful affirmation of what we call "eternal security" or "perseverance of the saints." Those who truly belong to Christ will stay with Christ because, as Jude 1 says, we are "kept for Jesus Christ." Jesus addressed this wonderful truth in John 10:27-29 where He says, "My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." I love what the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 says of this doctrine in Article V on "God's Purpose of Grace": "All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."

The physical desertion of the false teachers and their disciples was grounded in their defection from and denial of the faith. They left the church because they had left Christ. They no longer believed what the apostles, those who had been with Him, taught. They denied the incarnation and deity of Christ, that Jesus was the One sent by the Father. And their rejection of the biblical and apostolic witness concerning Jesus was personally tragic and spiritually disastrous. You see, to deny the Son is to deny His Father who sent Him. This is a package deal, as verses 22-23 make crystal clear. Indeed, "No one who denies the Son can have the Father." But, and this is good news, "He who confesses the Son has the Father as well."

Once again we see the Christological test is the crucial test. What do you think and believe about Jesus Christ? To these heretics, and that is what they were, Jesus was important but not preeminent. He was significant but not the Savior. However, the New Testament scholar I. H. Marshall is right on target when he says, "To deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny that He is the Son of God" (The Epistles of John, 158). He further notes,

Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), the father of modern liberal theology, offered an adoptionist understanding of Jesus, dismissing as outrageous the idea that Jesus was the eternal Son of God who became human. What distinguished Jesus from other humans was "the constant potency of His God-consciousness, which was a veritable existence of God in Him" (Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith, 385). Jesus was a God-filled man, a God-intoxicated man, but not the God-man. Liberal theologian John Macquarrie says, "Jesus Christ pre-existed in the mind and purpose of God, and I doubt if one should look for any other kind of pre-existence" (Jesus Christ in Modern Thought, 57). And religious pluralist John Hick says, "We see in Jesus a human being extraordinarily open to God's influence and thus living to an extraordinary extent as God's agent on earth, 'incarnating' the divine purpose for human life. 53He thus embodied ... the ideal of humanity living in openness and response to God, and in doing so He 'incarnated' a love that reflects the divine love" (The Metaphor of God Incarnate, 12).

Sadly, many of these modern false teachers and others like them have left the faith but have sought to remain in the fellowship. Their deadly poison continues to infect the body of Christ with its lies. John has given us a way to identify them. We must have the courage to expose them, even though it hurts to do so. It is always better to be divided by truth than united by error.

Antichrists Assault the Christian

1 John 2:20-21, 24-27

The proliferation of the antichrists, these false teachers, could easily discourage us. They are, after all, intellectual heavyweights with persuasive arguments and personalities. And as John makes clear, they are committed to our defeat. However, we should not despair. First John 4:4 promises us, "You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." John reminds us that we have a twofold arsenal that Satan, the antichrists, the liars and deceivers cannot withstand. One is the anointing of the Spirit. The other is the Word of God. "Word and Spirit" was the battle cry of the Protestant Reformation as the Reformers recaptured the truth of "justification by faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone." I believe Word and Spirit must also be the battle cry of every generation of those who follow Jesus if they are to abide in the Son and in the Father (v. 24).

What has enabled us to remain in the apostles' teaching and the community of faith (v. 19)? We have "an anointing from the Holy One" (v. 20). "You have" is emphatic and draws a stark contrast with the antichrists of 2:18-19. This anointing refers to our receiving the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 Cor 1:21). The "Holy One" who provides this anointing is probably Jesus, who is referred to by this title numerous times in Scripture (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; John 6:69; Acts 3:14; Rev 3:7). However, that the Godhead in general is in view should not be ruled out. Consecrated and set apart by God and for God by the Holy Spirit, 54we now have an internal and abiding Teacher who will guide us in all knowledge and truth (vv. 21, 27). And, by abiding in Him, no lie will seduce us, deceive us, and lead us astray.

Some have been troubled by these verses, especially verse 27, which seems to imply that having been given the Spirit, we now need no human teachers. What are we to make of this? The Bible consistently advocates teaching (Matt 28:20; 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11; Col 3:16; 1 Tim 4:11; 2 Tim 2:2, 24). Therefore, we can confidently say that John is not ruling out a human teacher. The fact that he wrote this letter makes that clear! Instead, this is what he is getting at: At the time he wrote, the antichrists, the false teachers, were insisting that the teaching of the apostles was to be supplemented with an additional "higher knowledge," an "advanced knowledge," that they claimed to possess. John's response was that what the readers were taught under the Spirit's ministry through the apostles was not only adequate, it was the only reliable truth. The teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit (what we call "illumination") does not involve revelation of new truth. Rather, it is the enablement to appropriate God's truth that has already been revealed. All things necessary for salvation are ours; we need nothing more. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide, not another spirit.

John now reintroduces a concept that is one of his favorites: abiding. He will use this term (Gk meno; translated to English as "abide" or "remain") 23 times in 1 John, seven of which appear in 2:18-28. It conveys the ideas of both union and communion. John says you should abide in the Word you have received in Christ. In verse 24, John challenges the believer to simply remain in the teaching of Christ that they had received at the beginning, at conversion. To abide and remain in this teaching is to abide and remain in both the Son and the Father. There is not any additional thing you need. Jesus plus nothing equals everything (Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything). Jesus plus something extra equals heresy and the teachings of the antichrist. All you need is Christ, and with Christ comes the Father too. Further, it is only in the Son sent by the Father that the gift of eternal life is promised. This is a promise made by God (v. 25), a promise that can never be broken.

The false teachers will attempt to deceive you into thinking you need something more than Christ or something other than Christ. They are liars (vv. 22, 27). The Spirit and the apostles' teaching (the Word) 55always agree. If what men teach goes against or beyond what those who knew Jesus taught, mark them because they are not of God. They have a different spirit, the spirit of antichrist.

Conclusion

Herman Bavinck was a Dutch churchman and theologian in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He also was an insightful teacher concerning the person and work of Christ. Concerning the centrality of Christ to the Christian gospel, he simply and concisely said,"Christ is Christianity itself; He stands not outside of it but in its centre; without His name, person and work, there is no Christianity left. In a word, Christ does not point out the way to salvation; He is the Way itself" (quoted in Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 319). This is what the apostles taught. This is what the Word says. This is what the Spirit affirms. This is what we believe. This is where we abide. This is what we confess. Eternal life is what we are promised!

Reflect and Discuss