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GOD’S CHURCH, GOD’S WAY, Part 2

Published January 20, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Fight Against False Teachers, 1:3—11

Very quickly Paul gets into the main reasons for writing this letter.  He spent all of two verses on the niceties, and with verse three he jumps right into why he is writing this letter to Pastor Timothy.  Verse three begins with an urgent plea for Timothy to stay put in Ephesus, and so we will begin this teaching with the same urgency.

1.  Stay where you are!  1:3, 4

3As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer 4nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith.

The very first thing Paul urges Timothy to do was clearly the most urgent thing Timothy must do:  remain in Ephesus.  Literally, Paul wrote this:  “Remain still there in Ephesus.”  It is a vigorous command; we might say, “I want you to stay put where you are for now!”

We don’t know a whole a lot about what Paul was doing during these concluding years of his life and ministry, but we are able to deduce that he was drawn to Macedonia and it seemed as though Timothy wanted to travel with him there.   This makes sense because Paul was elderly and in poor health and Timothy was young and vigorous and had proven himself to be a great asset to Paul’s preaching ministry.  It would have made perfect common sense for Timothy to travel with Paul into Macedonia.  However, sometimes the Lord wants His people to do things that go against our much lauded “common sense.”

There are times in life when it is easier to pack it in and move on than to remain in a difficult or uncomfortable situation.  There is an instinct buried deep within all of us to escape from seemingly impossible situations or onerous responsibilities.  The easy way out, or the path of least resistance, often looks very attractive to us and “common sense” would dictate that it would be better to move on than to continue banging our heads against a brick wall.  To escape to greener pastures and have a fresh start just seems to be the right thing to do under certain circumstances.  But when God says, “Stay put!” He has good reasons for it!  Sometimes God says “Go” and sometimes He says “Stay,” but whatever He says, God always has good reasons and we must be sure that we are obedient to His Word and will regardless of how we feel about it or whether or not it makes sense to us.  God’s will always makes perfect sense to Him.

Paul had been released from his two-year stay in a Roman prison and he apparently made a missionary visit to Ephesus.  While he was there, he encountered a problem that needed immediate attention, so he left Timothy there to pastor this important first century church and to correct the problem.  The problem was a common one:  certain men had come into the church teaching false doctrines.  The church has always had false teachers; within a few scant years of its founding, in fact, false teachers had infiltrated its ranks.   Paul does not mention their names, referring to them only as “certain men.”  Probably Timothy knew full well who these “certain men” were so Paul tactfully does not name them.   In verse 20 Paul mentions the names of two trouble makers—Hymenaeus and Alexander—who had succumbed to false teaching, so maybe they are included in the “certain men.”

What was the nature of their false teaching?  Paul gives us a hint, saying it involved “myths and genealogies.”   Most scholars believe these false teachers who wanted to be the “big shots” at the Ephesian church were Gnostics, who peddled a warped combination of Christian/Jewish/pagan mythology.  Verse 7 suggests that they were actually Jewish teachers who were caught up in ancient Jewish myths and legends found in various apocryphal writings during the Old Testament period.  In a parallel passage, we read this—

…pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.  (Titus 1:14)

Paul makes it clear that these new teachings were controversial and did nothing to promote the genuine work of the Gospel.  It may seem hard to imagine that people who had sat under the teachings of a man like Paul could be swayed by the ramblings of “wanna-bees,” but there is a segment of the church that is always anxious to welcome whatever is “new” or different.  The situation in Ephesus brings to mind two other situations, one in Galatia and the other in Athens—

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  (Galatians 1:6—7)

21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)  (Acts 17:21)

In Galatia, false teachers had been welcomed into the church and were in the process of stealing its members.  Here were people who had heard the Gospel, responded to it in faith, had been growing in their faith, yet when the “new” and “exciting” teachings came along, they too easily jumped ship to run after them.  In Athens, the people liked to debate and pit their ideologies against whatever they considered to be old fashioned notions taught by “fuddy duddies,” like the Apostle Paul.

In every age there are people who love to indulge in strange mixtures of truth and error.  And it was Timothy’s job as pastor to guard his congregation against such teachings by teaching the truth and by administering discipline to those who went against the truth;   that is “God’s work.”  The word translated “work” is oikonomian, which literally means “stewardship.”  The objective of every pastor and church leader should be faith-centered stewardship based on the Word of God.   Any teaching that gets in the way of that objective or any individual that leads others away from that objective needs to be dealt with accordingly.

2.  Practice brotherly love, 1:5—7

5The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

All church discipline should be administered in love.  The highest goal of all preaching and teaching is love—agape love.  It is the Word of God that draws God’s people together.  For church leaders, an expression of that love is combating error with truth through the faithful teaching and exposition of God’s Word and the protection of their congregation from false teachers.

For their part, the false teachers seemed to have gotten a foothold in Ephesus, and while their “new” teachings fascinated some, they only served to cause trouble and push the people apart.   That is a distinguishing mark of false teachers and false teaching:  controversy and consternation.

According to Dr. McGee, there three things that every church should manifest:

  1. Faith.  A church should manifest faith in both God and in His Word.
  2. Love.  Love is more than a word or an emotion; it is an active concern for others in the Body of Christ.  It means that you treat your fellows with respect and concern; you don’t gossip and tell tales.  It means you build them up, not tear them down.
  3. A good conscience.  Conscience is man’s “moral intuition.”  Although your conscience should never be your guide—that task should be left up to the Holy Spirit—it can serve as a kind of umpire, passing judgment on your current state, your thoughts, and your emotions.  In the believer, God often uses the conscience to “produce godly sorrow” which leads to repentance, 2 Corinthians 7:10.

These three things, according to Paul, needed to be manifested first by Timothy, then by his congregation.  These false teachers, though, had completely missed the mark and turned from the truth to “meaningless talk.”  The Greek word is very descriptive and used only here in the New Testament; it means “empty babbling.”  Nothing is emptier than teaching devoid of God’s Word.  Somebody can stand behind a pulpit, look the part, speak well and sound impressive, but if what they are teaching is not of God, they are mere “wordmongers,” saying nothing of value to anybody.  Paul’s opinion of these men couldn’t be clearer:  they thought they are so smart, but in reality they knew nothing, they didn’t even understand what they were trying to teach others.  They deluded people for they themselves were deluded.

3.  Proper teaching, taught properly, yields results, 1:8—11

8We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Paul had identified the false teachers at Ephesus as men who had appointed themselves as learned teachers of the Law, and now he points out that HE knew all about the Law, and that the Law was good, but that these false teachers had taken it and perverted it.  God never gave the Law to His people as a means of salvation, which was part of the false teaching.

An interesting phrase that needs our attention is:  “[the] law is not made for the righteous.”  What was Paul getting at?  Did he mean that the righteous no longer need to concern themselves with mundane things like right and wrong?  Of course not!  As Paul taught elsewhere, the Law served our “schoolmaster” to lead us to Christ, and to know Christ is to have that Law inscribed on our hearts.  This is part of the “new covenant” as prophesied by Jeremiah—

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  (Jeremiah 31:33)

But that written Law condemns sinners; it points out the wrong in their lives.  Paul gives a list of the kinds of sin and behavior the Law condemns.  As if to drive his point home, at the end of his list, Paul adds, probably with a twinkle in his eye:  and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine. In other words, the teaching of these false teachers directed at Timothy and his congregation would be better directed at themselves!   The false teachers immersed themselves in wild and fanciful teachings because they never saw their true state:  sinners in need of the Gospel.  Christians who fall for false teaching need to take heed of this fact.  What does it say about a Christian who is so easily swayed by a phony Gospel?  What does it say about their conscience?  What does it say about the Law that is supposedly inscribed on their hearts?

It is difficult to imagine any teaching more powerful than the “glorious gospel of the blessed God.”  This was the teaching entrusted to Paul and to Timothy.  Sound doctrine demands that a person keep God’s Law.  At the same time, sound doctrine declares that a person cannot keep it; it reveals that without Christ that person is lost.   The Gospel is glorious, and sound doctrine must be taught because people need to know their true condition and the only remedy for it:  the pure Word of God.  False teaching is attractive because it never demands that a person see themselves as God sees them:  a hopeless sinner, lost forever.  Nobody wants to see themselves like that, so they cling to the kind of teachings that make them feel good about themselves.

God loves you and He values your soul to the point where He would rather make you feel uncomfortable  about yourself so that you’ll change than stroke your ego and let you go on living in a fool’s paradise.

God’s church, done God’s way promotes real love founded on the truth of God’s Word and the proclamation of sound doctrine.  It’s easy to manipulate people’s feelings and emotions, but God calls for changed lives and He wants His truth written on our hearts so that we will manifest love for Him and for each other, faith, and be able sleep at night with a clear conscience.

Don’t get flim flammed by false teahers.

(c)  2010 Witzend

THE CHURCH’S CALL TO EXCELLENCE, Part 3

Published October 27, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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wolf in sheeps skin

Dealing With An Ever-Present Threat, Titus 1:10—16

With these seven verses, Paul gives the reason for the sense of urgency in appointing godly elders who were able to teach the truth.   Apparently the island of Crete was full of false teachers.  It seems that every generation produces its own brand of false teaching spread by false teachers.  False teaching is deadly to the Church of Jesus Christ because otherwise good and decent Christians can find themselves ensnared in it before they even realize what they are into is false teaching.  Surely one of the greatest needs of Christians today is the ability to discern false teaching from true.

1.  Description of these false teachers, Titus 1:10—13a

For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.  They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true.

The word “for” shows us that elders have a lot of work to do.  The New English Bible translates this verse a little differently, with a much more pointed meaning—

There are all too many, especially among the Jewish converts, who are out of all control.

“These” people, “those of the circumcision group,” are not referring to Judaizers; Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with them.  In the context of this letter, Paul is simply referring to Jews who had converted to Christianity.  These people, Paul says, are “many,” and they are dangerous.  What could be dangerous about a person becoming a Christian?   We would expect the Apostle to be happy that there were so many Jewish converts.  The problem with these converts was that they refused to accept the teachings of their new faith; instead they sought to attach aspects of their old Jewish faith onto their new Christian faith, producing a kind of hybrid religion.  And they were infiltrating the local churches on Crete, pushing their morphed out faith on others.

Paul describes these false teachers using three words:

  • Rebellious.  These men refused to subordinate themselves to any Christian authority, including the Word of God.
  • Mere talkers.  They were smooth talkers; what they taught sounded so good that they were able to fool many people.  Their words, however, were really meaningless and empty.
  • Deceivers.  Their empty words held a dangerous fascination to genuine believers who were led astray far too easily from the truth.

Paul, in referring to them as part of a “circumcision group,” suggests that they themselves used this moniker as way to show their superiority over other Christians, especially the Cretans.  If they were superior by virtue of their circumcision, then it followed that their teachings were superior to the teachings of others.  Little wonder these false teachers were so destructive!

Naturally, Paul could see right through these false teachers and in telling Titus what he should do with them—“they must be silenced”—he used a very rare Greek verb that means “to stop the mouth by means of a bridle, muzzle, or gag.”  The false teachers must not be tolerated but they must be silenced, and given the context of this letter, this must be done by Titus and the elders.

We are told exactly how Paul expected Titus and the elders to stop these false teachers.  Because these errorists were ostensibly Christians, in keeping with Paul’s other teachings they would have been quietly, gently admonished and shown the error of their teachings.  If they refused to listen, then the next step would have been to sternly reprimand them publicly and insist that they cease and desist in their false teaching.  At last, a person who persists in their evil ways needed to be shunned by the church and excommunicated in hope that these extreme measures would lead to their repentance.   As one commentator quipped:

In the church of God, there is no such thing as “freedom of misleading speech.”

Why were these false teachers to be dealt with so sternly?  Simply because their false teaching was so dangerous, it was ripping families apart.  Any teaching that confuses people or leaves people worse off for listening to it is false.   Truth, though, is like a mighty force of nature that grabs hold of a person’s mind forcing them, sometimes, to rethink some of their old ideas.  Barclay wrote:

Christianity does not run away from doubts and questions, but faces them fairly and squarely.  It is true that the truth often mentally takes a man by the scruff of the neck and shakes them; but it is also true that teaching which ends in nothing but doubts and questions is bad teaching.

Verse 12 is provocative.  The island of Crete had a large Jewish population, but they were largely secular Jews who had been heavily influenced by the pagan Cretans.  Paul quotes from Epimenides, a Cretan poet and prophet, whose judgment of the wayward Cretans was commonly held.  That judgment was—

“Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”

By quoting from a well-known Cretan poet, Paul was effectively deflecting any criticism that he was being racist or anti-Cretan in any way.  However, his point should have hit home:  don’t allow these Cretan false teachers to tear the church apart!

2.  A measured response, 1:13—14

He has surely told the truth! Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.

Apparently Paul wholeheartedly agreed with Epimenides!  This situation demanded some immediate action on Titus’ part.  Like a skilled surgeon cutting away cancerous tissue, Titus must rebuke these false teachers sharply.  The word for “rebuke” can also mean “convict,” meaning Titus had to expose not only the false teachers but explain the error of their teachings.  What Paul did not want Titus to do was act with a heavy hand.  No, the way to handle this was with tact and firm resolve.  In other words, good reasons had to be given for publicly rebuking the errorists.

The goal of the stern rebuke was that the false teachers might see the error of the teachings and be restored to good spiritual health.  That should be the goal of all church discipline; we do not discipline in order to break a person’s heart, but rather in hopes of making the individual strong in the faith.  All discipline, including Titus’ discipline of the troublemaking Cretans needs to be done in grace and love.

With verse 14, we may be given a glimpse into what the false teachers were promoting.  Paul refers to “Jewish myths.”  Scholars are divided as to just what Paul meant.  He may have been referring to the general nature of the Jewish faith as it had evolved in Paul’s day.  Thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations had become more important than the words of the Law itself.  In some quarters, Judaism and Gnosticism had become mingled together, creating a strange version of Judaism that barely resembled the faith of the patriarchs.  While this could be what Paul was thinking of, it is more likely that Paul had in mind the wild Jewish myths found in some of the Apocryphal books.  The Cretan teachers latched on to these fanciful stories and were preaching them as fact.  It’s human nature to be attracted to the romantic, speculative notions of man while finding the Gospel dry and boring.

3.  Final words of condemnation, 1:15—16

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

These false teachers stand condemned by two things: (1)  the test of character, verse 15, and (2) the test of conduct, verse 16.

On the surface, verse 15 is bit confusing.  What is Paul trying to say?  Not only is this verse a bit hard to understand, it is very often abused.  Morrison wrote:

The commonest misuse of [verse 15] is this.  Something offensive has been spoken, something coarse or allusively indecent, and one of the company with a hot heart has protested against the evil utterance; whereupon immediately, sometimes with a smile, he is told that unto the pure all things are pure.

In other words, this verse is often used to excuse a dirty joke or some other questionable thing.   But Paul is restating a principle first put forth by Jesus Himself concerning Jewish food laws—

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into your mouth does not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth that is what defiles you.”  (Matthew 15:10)

The false teachers were preaching against the freedom that comes from having faith in Christ and were trying to get new converts into the habit of obeying the old Jewish dietary laws and observing all kinds of ceremonies and rites.  However, true devotion and purity is not found in what one eats or wears or in the style of worship.  Rather, true purity is found in the heart.   This is the positive aspect of this wonderful teaching, but here on Crete, it was the negative aspect that really troubled Paul.  Note what he wrote—

…to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.  (verse 15b)

What Paul is staying is actually very simple:  to people who are “defiled and unbelieving” (KJV), everything is bad, nothing is pure.  Again, Barclay’s comments are spot on:

Such a man can take the loveliest things and cover them with a smutted uncleanness.  He can see uncleanness where there is no uncleanness.  But the man whose mind is pure finds all things pure.  It is a terrible thing to have that film of uncleanness and impurity in the mind.

Those who tell others what kind of clothes to wear or what they should and should not drink or eat, or the kind of music they should listen to are the ones with the impure minds.  Real believers are people who have been cleansed from their guilt by the blood of Christ and the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit.  To these regenerated people, food and clothing (for example) do not determine one’s level of purity; that level has been established in their hearts and minds by the Spirit of God dwelling within them.

So, the character of the false teachers condemned them.  Then also their conduct condemned them.  They publicly confessed to knowing God, they obviously had some knowledge of God and of Christianity and given the order of the words in the Greek (“God” is emphatic), they truly did have a relationship with Him.  These false teachers were not pagans or practitioners of the occult; they were Christians.  However,  they were practitioners of a very dangerous form of Christianity:  the legalistic kind.   However, while they preached and taught what appeared on the surface to be a very moral and upright faith, their actions told another story.  Even they could not live up to the standards they foisted upon others.   In they way they lived, they denied God.  1 John 2:6 establishes a “golden rule” for all those who claim to be Christians—

Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

J.B. Philips translates this verse in a much more cutting way—

The life of a man who professes to be living in God must bear the stamp of Christ.

This “stamp” was totally missing from the false teachers.  Paul describes them three ways:

  • Detestable.  The false teachers were loathsome,they  caused jaws to drop because of their obvious hypocrisy.  The Greek word comes from a noun that describes something causing “horror and disgust” to God.
  • Disobedient.  They put their own thoughts and ideas ahead of the Word of God.  They made up all kinds of rules and regulations and adhered to them in place of Scripture.
  • Unfit for doing any good.  This phrase is in stark contrast with what Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:17 where he describes the people of God this way—

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  (2 Timothy 3:16, 17)

Only the Word of God can change a heart.  Rules and regulations can give a person the appearance of being holy, but, as in the case of these false teachers, eventually their true character will be revealed by their conduct.  But when a heart is changed, a person’s life will testify to that fact.  James wrote—

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.  (James 2:26)

But they must be the right deeds performed for the right reasons.  Calvin remarked:

Faith alone saves, but faith that saves is not alone.

(c)  2009 WitzEnd

Letters From an Old Man

Published March 30, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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A World Passing Away, 1 John 2:18—28

So far in John’s first letter, he had given his readers a number of “tests” to ensure that they themselves were truly “walking in the light.” He was also confronting his opponents—false teachers—by showing how they failed each of these “tests” of discipleship. In this section, gentle John puts the screws to the false teachers and pulls out all the stops and labels these false teachers for what they are: antichrists. These are despicable men who lie and deny the deity of Jesus Christ. But their treacherous teachings were threatening the church, so John gives some advice to his readers about how to hold tight to the faith.

1. A proper perspective, 2:18—19

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

John has already dealt with the transitoriness of the world in verse 17—

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

This is emphasized with the phrase “this is the last hour,” in verse 18. This is the only time we see this phrase in the New Testament, although similar phrases are seen many times throughout Biblical writings, where “last days” or “day of the Lord” may be considered counterparts. John is not meaning to say that he thought the world was coming to an end soon, but he has in mind this present dispensation in which we are living; the time between the first and second comings of our Lord. In fact, John Stott thinks John is indicating that we are in the “last hours of the last days.”

As proof that his readers—including we—are living in the “last hours of the last days,” John points to the appearance of the false teachers that he has been referring to, only this time he calls them “antichrists.” In the context of his letter, John is giving us a hint as to exactly who these false teachers were: they were not members of some other religious cult but former church members who had come to deny the deity of Christ! Notice how John describes their arrival—

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.

In John’s view, the fact that they left the fellowship of believers was an indication that their devotion to Christ was only external. In these verses, John is not describing the personal Antichrist of the Revelation. Early Christians believed that at some time in the future, the Antichrist would appear as a single person, described by Paul like this—

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3—4)

The Thessalonians, like the readers of this letter, knew that this vile man would come. But here, John is making sure his readers knew that there are, in fact, many antichrists in the world, even now. The men who were causing so many problems for them once belonged to the Church, but had left. Those who he refers to as “antichrists” left the church—us— because they never really belonged to it in the first place. True believers, in other words, remain in the Church, but phony believers leave. Apparently these men were known to the readers of this letter; John simply says they “went out from us,” but offers no details. He uses the word “us” five times in this verse; so many times it seems awkward, but its frequency stresses John’s point: antichrists leave the Church, we stay. Could this be another “test?” Perhaps, for anybody can claim to be a Christian. The proof is in their obedience to God’s righteous commands, one of which is regular corporate worship.

For those of us who love the Lord, it seems impossible to conceive of people who would claim to be genuine Christians, then up and leave the Church, proving they never really belonged to the family of God. The writer to the Hebrews describes a similar situation—

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4—6)

Theologians, who love to use labels in describing simple Biblical doctrines, call this particular doctrine perseverance. These unbelievers, who denied Christ’s nature, were never part of the “universal” or “invisible” Church because they did not really belong to Christ. The fact that they were temporarily part of the visible church was meaningless, for they failed in their perseverance. They left.

2. Anointing and discernment, 2:20—21

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

Kistemaker, in introducing these verses, notes a contrast. These antichrists denied that Jesus was the Christ, whose name means “Anointed One.” Christians believe in Christ, because they have received an anointing from Him!

Christians not only bear the name of Jesus Christ; they also share in his anointing. (Kistemaker)

Under the Mosaic law, anointing with oil symbolically showed the consecration and dedication to God of only three types of men: prophets, priests, and kings. Under Christ, though, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is the privilege of all believers. One result of this anointing is knowledge of the truth. This was important for John to say because his opponents the false teachers claimed a “superior” spiritual knowledge unavailable to normal men. John has already wrote about this anointing before, in his Gospel—

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:13)

This must have been a tremendous encouragement to the Christians of John’s day, as it should be to us today. There is a tendency for modern believers almost “idolize” cultural icons, likes athletes and entertainers. In the Church, we do the same thing with preachers and teachers and especially authors. John makes it clear that no matter how impressive these Christian icons may be, their knowledge of God is not beyond the reach of other believers. While some may be gifted teachers or expositors, knowledge of the Holy One comes from the anointing, available to all. Darby comments—

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit as an unction and spiritual intelligence in them, and the truth which they had received at the beginning—the prefect revelation of Christ—these were the safeguards against seducers and seductions. Now this unction is the portion of even the youngest babes in Christ.

With this anointing comes not only knowledge of the truth, but also discernment. True believers know the truth, John writes, and true believers know that lies cannot come from God. The false teachers and their disciples were liars, and so there was no possibility they could have come from God. There was never a more timely message that that one. Whenever someone comes along with new teachings that add to the Scripture or take the place of Scripture, we need to beware! We should have nothing to do with doctrines that do not originate in the Word of God.

3. Denials and discipleship, 2:22—25

Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

John asks a rhetorical question and then answers it by pointing to the antichrists who are determined to perpetuate the pernicious lie that Jesus is not the Christ. John is not looking his Jewish friends who denied that Jesus was the Messiah, but rather the Gnostics who denied that Jesus came in the flesh. These false teachers taught that Christ, the divine spirit, descended upon Jesus the man and then Jesus the man became divine at his baptism. When Jesus the man was on the cross dying, that divine Christ-spirit left him, and Jesus the man died. That kind of teaching sounds so good, and some who don’t know the Word would be tempted to believe it. But it was a lie, spread by antichrists. It strikes at the very heart of the Christian faith that says Jesus is perfect God and perfect man. Denying the Sonship of Christ denied the Fatherhood of God as well.

Of course such teaching originates in man’s imagination, not in the Word of God. John’s statement in verse 23, No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also, shows the dependence true believers have, or should have, on orthodox theology found in the Bible. The linchpin theological statement upon which all Christian theology hangs is simply this: Jesus is the Son of God. There can be no deviation, no leeway on this. Jesus did not become the Son of God. The Son of God did not come into existence when Jesus was born. The Son of God did not cease to exist on the Cross. The Son of God; the Second Person of the Trinity always was and always will be. And anybody who teachers otherwise, is an antichrist.

John’s admonitions to his readers would be well-directed towards the Church of today, filled with believers who all-too-often are a mile wide and an inch deep in terms of their knowledge of proper doctrine. John says to hold fast to the teachings you heard first; hold fast to the eternal truths found in the Bible. The Trinity is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and not some other combination of words. God is the Father; He is not an elderly black woman. Antichrist’s come in all shapes and sizes and their words always sound better to our carnal ears than does God’s Word. But we must hold fast to what the Bible teaches, not to what any man teaches. That is true discipleship; following the Lord, not some teacher or preacher.

4. A warning and a promise, 2:26—29

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

Lest any of his readers think he is being mean-spirited, John makes it very clear that all he is doing is warning his readers. There is nothing more important than the state of a person’s soul, not even their feelings. Nobody likes to be told that what they believe is wrong, but John, like any good pastor, lays it on the line. In fact, John goes on to say something really stunning—

…you do not need anyone to teach you…

What does he mean by this? Does he mean that believers shouldn’t listen to their pastors? Or buy good Christian book? Of course not! Even Jesus Christ told His disciples as part of ‘the Great Commission” to “go and teach.” And He gave pastors/teachers to the Church to teach the saints. Kistemaker comments—

Effective preaching of the Word, faithful teaching in Sunday school or catechism class, and daily reading of the Scriptures—all this is necessary for the spiritual growth of Christians.

What believers do NOT need are false teachers and false teaching; believers have the gift of the Holy Spirit that leads them into all truth. John adds this about the indwelling anointing—

…his anointing teaches you about all things…

When I read this, I ask two questions: (1) How does He teach us? And (2) What are “all things?” The answer to both of these questions is found in Hebrews 10—

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:15—17)

The Holy Spirit, as evidenced in Hebrews 10:15—17, testifies to believers (speaks to our spirits) the Words of Scripture. The anointing kicks in—God communes to our spirits—when we study the Word of God. The Word of God is our best weapon against false teaching because in it are teachings about “all things” necessary for our faith. We do NOT need Christian self-help books, nor do we need to attend seminars on how to have a good Christian life. What we DO need is the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit to illumine the Word of God to our spirits.

Not only does that anointing keep us safe from false teaching and false teachers, but according to John, that anointing enables a true Christian to determine if another is a true Christian. This is discerned by watching how they act, by observing whether their actions are righteous or not. The true Christian will be like Jesus; they will keep His commandments and walk as Jesus walked.

Through the ascended and glorified Christ, God has given to all Christians the Holy Spirit, but it is the believer’s responsibility to remain in Christ. God’s will has its counterpart in our responsibility. God provides His Spirit to lead and to teach believers everything necessary for salvation, but God expects the believer to remain in Christ.

(c)  2009 WitzEnd

Letters From an Old Man

Published March 13, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Knowing the Father, 2:12—17

In the final years of the first century, Christians faced an insidious enemy: false teachers who invaded their churches preaching attractive Gnostic doctrines that sounded so good yet opposed the Gospel. It is no accident that throughout his letter, John advised his readers to “walk in the light” and to live by faith, obeying God’s commands. Like a good pastor who wants his congregation to spiritually healthy, John had given them some tests to determine if who they were listening to were genuine believers or false teachers.

This section of 1 John may be broken into two short segments. The first, verses 12—14, contrasts the position of the believer who walks in the light with the position of the false teachers who walk in the darkness. The second part, verses 14—17, he warns his readers not to fall into the seductive trap of worldliness as the false teachers had.

1. Children, fathers, young men, 2:12—14

I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young people,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.

A/ All Readers, verse 12, 14a

John begins his thoughts to all the readers of his letter by saying, “I write to you.” That seems like a strange thing to write, since obviously John is writing to them! He means more than just that he is putting pen to paper; he means that he is writing words down that he wants them to remember; they are permanent. John could easily make the trip to visit them personally and tell them what he wants them to know, but writing them down serves the purpose of making his readers not only take notice of what he has written, but also to discuss it and learn it.

His initial thought is addressed to “dear children.” Teknia seems to be John’s pet name for believers in general, so this verse is for all believers—

Your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. (verse 12)

Forgiveness from sins is not the whole plan of salvation, but it is the very entrance into the Christian life; it is the beginning step of “walking in the light.” Forgiveness of sins is one of the first things a believer experiences when they come to the Lord. Forgiveness of sins is not based on our asking for it or our desperate need for it. John indicates that our sins are forgiven “on account of his name,” that is, on account of Jesus’ name. In Hebrew thought, “The name” always stood for the character of an individual; so “on account of his name” is a way of saying that they were forgiven through the work and person of Christ. This is the best news a person could ever get! Everyone who believes in Jesus and repents receives remission of sin.

In verse 14, John goes further. Because their sins are forgiven, believers can now know the Father—

You know the Father.

John uses a different Greek word this time, but he is still addressing believers in general. As a result of God’s free forgiveness, all believers are able to “know the Father.” This is a privilege unbelievers can never experience; only believers may “know the Father.” Note that John does not say “know God.” Of course, the terms are synonymous, but by using the more personal “Father,” John is emphasizing the personal nature of the believer’s new relationship with God. No longer are we viewed by God as merely “followers,” because our sins have been forgiven through what Jesus did, God now views us as His children.

B/ Fathers, verse 13a, 14a

You know him who is from the beginning.

According to Jewish custom, this form of address would refer to those who had responsibility for authority. Sometimes, it was used to refer to leaders of Israel’s past, like the father’s of Israel, the patriarchs, and so on. Here, though, John likely has in view older and more mature members of the congregation. John appeals to these older men because the implication is that with age comes spiritual enlightenment—deeper knowledge of God and Jesus Christ through His Word.

We may take John’s words to “fathers” in two ways. All people like to be praised, and gaining spiritual knowledge and a closer walk with God are indeed desirable and even enviable traits in a Christian. But the implication that with maturity comes spiritual maturity may sound threatening to some. God cannot make a person grow. The Holy Spirit will not force anybody to learn the Word of God. These things are the responsibility of the believer. How many “fathers” are still spiritually immature in the Church of Jesus Christ today? How many so-called mature Christians are as ignorant of God and His Word today as the day of their new birth?

We grow grace as we learn and study and pray. Spiritual grown is not automatic; we make it happen. Mature believers are desperately needed within the Church today; to teach the younger believers, to care for their spiritual children. Mature believers are responsible to “hand the torch of the gospel light to the next generation, the young men of the church.” (Hendriksen)

C/ Young men, verse 13b, 14b

You have overcome the evil one. (verse 13b)

You are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one. (verse 14b)

The final group of believers addressed is “young men.” While some scholars think John is referring to the youth of the church, my sense is that John is actually thinking about young believers, that is, new converts or those who have not been in the Church for a lifetime. It is sad but true that the longer one is a Christian, the cooler their love grows for both God and His family; the exuberance they have for spiritual things dims. It seems as we grow in our faith we all too often become cynical about the Church, we become jaded about our spiritual leaders and the things of God become common place. But notice what characterizes exuberant Christians: they have overcome the evil one and they are strong. Their strength comes from a diet of the Word of God. Weak and anemic believers are those who starve theirs souls of the Word.

Those of us who have been Christians for years and years should take a lesson from young Christians. May we pray as David prayed—

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

2. The world and the will of God, 2:15—17

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

As we read John’s warning not to love the world in verse 15, we are reminded of the words of James:

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

John’s language is particularly strong in verse 15, “Do not love the world.” Those who aspire to the high standard of Christian living described by John so far in his letter must not “love” the world. The word he uses is the same word he used back in verse 10, where he writes about the person who loves his brother. That kind of love is the love that forms attachments, intimate fellowship, and loyal devotion. This is the kind of that should be reserved only for God and His Church. Christians have no business having those kinds of feelings for the things of the world. This is because the world is in darkness, but we are supposed to be people who walk in the light.

There is no contradiction between what John wrote here in verse 15—

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him

And what he wrote in his Gospel—

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Plummer comments:

[T]he world which the Father loves is the whole human race. The world which we are told not to love is all that is alienated from Him, all that prevents men from loving Him in return…The world which we are not to love is His rival.

This world is a system of life created, not by God, but by unregenerate man, therefore to give that world our affection is to commit spiritual adultery. This is something God will not tolerate in those who claim to love Him.

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)

Not only is God described as jealous, look carefully at Exodus 34:14—

Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

“Jealous” is also one of His names. It is part of His character, although not sinful, that describes how protective He is of His relationship with you. Are we that protective of our relationship with Him?

From not loving the world, John moves onto the positive admonition to do the will of God. In verse 16, John again seems to echo what James wrote in his epistle; that which is created in the world does not come from God but from the devil.

Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. (James 3:15)

What are the so-called things of the world? John spells them out in a memorable triad: “the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does.”

  1. The cravings of sinful man. This literally means “the desires of the flesh” and an outlook on life that is oriented towards self. In other words, these cravings serve only yourself and demonstrate a self-sufficient independence from God. That, according to John, is what a sinful man is like.
  2. The lust of his eyes. Some commentators suggest John has in mind specifically sexual lust, but the phrase probably carries with it the thought “everything that entices the eyes” (Bultmann). It has been rightly observed that the eyes are are the windows to man’s soul. When one is enticed by lust, their eyes become instruments that cause them to sin.
  3. Boasting of what he has and does. This last tendency of a sinful man is not easily translated, which accounts for the numerous differences of translation among various translations of Scripture. The key word in the Greek is alazoneia, and it is used only one other time in the NT, James 4:16. A variation of the word is used in Romans 1:13 and 2 Timothy 3:2 to describe a “pretentious hypocrite who glories in himself or in his possessions” (Barker). F.F. Bruce wrote,

If my reputation, my public image, matters more to me than the glory of God or the well-being of my followers, the pretentiousness of life has become the object of my idol-worship.

The reason why true believers should not live like the alazon is summed up in verse 17—

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

How utterly foolish it is to be fixated on temporal things that pass away. It is beyond stupidity for an eternal being, created in God’s own image, to obsess over things that rot and disintegrate with the passing of time. The world and all it’s trinkets have already begun to putrefy. The world is corpse waiting to be buried. But those of us who endeavor to do the will of God will live forever.

(c)  2009 WitzEnd
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