FIRST JOHN
The Second Test
1 John 2:18-28
INTRODUCTION
Before looking at the present passage, we need to remember how it fits in the overall context of what was happening in the church at Ephesus. A short time ago, a new heresy sprang up which threatened the very existence of the churches in Ephesus and surrounding territory. This new heresy (Gnosticism) was so seductive that it seriously challenged John and the apostolic churches. One of the issues John had to address was that evidence proved whether or not a person was in a right relationship with God. John claimed that there were 3 tests which a person had to pass if he was seriously going to profess to be a Christian: (1) the test of love, (2) the test of correct beliefs about Jesus, and (3) the test of righteousness. We dealt with the first test last time; today we focus on the second test: the test about correct beliefs in Jesus.
This new heresy called Gnosticism basically taught that the spirit was completely distinct from the body of a person. Moreover, whereas the spirit was completely perfect, the body (and all other matter) was completely evil. Since the body was evil and completely distinct from the sprit, a person could commit horrendous sins with the body and yet claim to be sinless in spirit. The whole reason this religion came into being was to justify sinful acts, or to put it another way, to feel good even when I sin.
In order to justify this immoral behavior, the Gnostics had to design a God, a Jesus Christ, who would harmonize with this type of immoral behavior. Therefore, they created a Jesus Christ who sanctioned this behavior. According to the Gnostics, the man Jesus was born of Mary who had been impregnated like any other woman who gave birth to a child; in other words, they denied the virgin birth. When He was baptized by John, this human and sinful Jesus (sinful because He had a body) was visited by a perfect, divine spirit called "the Christ." This spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove at His baptism. This spirit empowered Jesus to perform miracles. When Jesus was on the cross, though, the spirit called "the Christ," left Him, prompting Him to cry out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The Spirit "Christ" went back to the Father, whereas Jesus' body died and decayed like any other body in the tomb. So we see the god of the Gnostics had a sinful body (Jesus) but a perfect Spirit (Christ), just like they claimed they had a perfect spirit and yet a sinful body.
Did the founders of Gnosticism not know any better? Yes, they knew better; they just rejected the truth. No religion ever arose because the founder did not know about God; that religions arose because the founder did not like what true knowledge of God meant for his life (see John 3:10). A religion based on the true God (Christianity) is going to promote morality since God Himself is a moral God. Since these founders wanted to live immorally, they had to create a new god who would not only allow but also promote immorality. We see the same phenomenon today. We see feminists who just cannot stomach the fact that God has not placed them as heads over their households. So what do they do? They attempt to recreate God. They claim that God is female. As much as I used to like Oprah Winfrey, her theology is really way off base. When asked once about whether or not she believed in God, Oprah claimed that she did and that SHE was a wonderful God. When these kinds of things happen, we need to recognize them for what they are—a rejection of the true God in order to create a false god who will sanction my rebellion against the true God.
THE RISE OF THE ANTICHRIST AND THE IMMINENT RETURN OF CHRIST (2:18-19)
John begins the 3rd test with a statement that has been constantly watered down because Christians feel so uncomfortable with it; however, when viewed properly, this verse gives wonderful insight into the history of Christianity for the past 2000 years. In v. 18 John claims that it is the last hour. If you read several commentaries (including the Southern Baptist Convention commentary which is part of our SS literature), you'll see that they claim "the last hour" is a synonym for "last days." They claim that "last hour" and "last days" refer to the same period of time which extends from the ascension of Christ until the beginning of the tribulation, or until the day Christ returns. To be perfectly honest, they claim this because they feel uncomfortable with John claiming it is the last hour in a real sense. Yet that is what John is doing. The last hour is not the last days. The last days do refer to the interval between the ascension of Christ and the last day. The last day is that short period of time in which the tribulation of God's people and God's wrath upon those who persecute His people climax; at the end of the last day, Jesus Christ Himself will return in judgment. One of the features of the last day is the emergence of the Antichrist, that human who has been empowered by Satan to lead many astray. The last hour, then, is that short period of time in the last day which precedes the coming of Christ.
SCHEMATIC OF JOHN'S VIEW OF HISTORY
Life of Jesus|------Last Days (interval)------|Last Day (AntiX, Trib.)--Last Hour| Christ's Return
According to John, it is the last hour. He knows that it is the last hour because the Antichrist has risen. In fact, not just one Antichrist has arisen but many have arisen. These antichrists are none other than the heretical teachers who started out proclaiming to be Christians and then showed themselves to be heretics. John claimed that he could easily identify them as heretics because they had left the church of the apostles (2:19). Not only were they heretics, they had never truly been Christians; otherwise, they would have never left the apostolic church. True Christians don't abandon true churches. The situation is so dark that John sees it as the last hour before Christ returns. In fact, he concludes this section with the belief that Christ Himself is about to return (2:28).
Now why do some find this interpretation so hard to believe? It's because they think that if they adopt it, then they are accusing John of being mistaken. The Lord did not return in John’s day, and therefore, they reason that John was wrong if this above interpretation is true. One way they get around this interpretation is by saying that John points to MANY Antichrists whereas the real last hour will have only the ONE Antichrist. That just simply is not the case. First, rejecting this interpretation fails to take into account the time in Christian history in which we now live and the different elements operating in it. Those who reject this view are mistaken in thinking that the Antichrist will appear only once at the end of time. It is true that there will be one final Antichrist; however, Paul clearly teaches that the spirit of Antichrist was already working in his own day—at least 2000 years before the final appearance of Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:7). What we see is a view of history in which the spirit of the Antichrist operates in certain people throughout history. Second, when Jesus speaks of Antichrist in Matt. 24, He speaks of many antichrists, not just one. John's claim here is very close to what Jesus teaches in Matt. 24.
Two examples of this view of history will suffice. First, Hitler and Stalin themselves were manifestations of the Antichrist. These 2 viciously persecuted God's people (Jews and genuine Christians). Many documents reveal that Hitler was involved in the occult. Stalin also who put to death 30 million people—many of them Christians—was actually training to be a priest before he became a revolutionary. Second, a serious and non-sensational study of the book of Revelation shows that the Jews and Romans of John’s day were manifestations of the Antichrist—especially the Roman emperor Domitian. The actions of Domitian, Hitler, and Stalin were not the actions of mere men but the actions of the Antichrist who was operating through them. Since the spirit of the Antichrist was operating through them, everything was set in place for the return of Christ. Both writings of 1 John and Revelation express this hope. The only thing is that this was not the final manifestation of Antichrist. It awaits a later day; however, the principle is still valid—the Antichrist has revealed himself at various times throughout human history making the return of the Lord possible in each circumstance, and Christians alive at those times should expectantly await His return. (Other manifestations of the Antichrist include Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek ruler over Palestine whose sacrilege in the Holy of Holies led to the Jewish revolt of 168-165 BC and also the Pope during the time of Marin Luther—at least Luther thought the papacy was Antichrist.)
How does this apply to you and me? Whenever we see the actions of one fitting the description of the Antichrist, we can confidently hope that the end is near. The end may not come; however, all is set in place for the return of Christ and the consummation of His kingdom. One day, one of the manifestations of the Antichrist will result in the return of the Lord.
Significant Manifestations of the Antichrist in History
Antiochus Epiphanes-----Judas Iscariot-----Papacy-----Hitler/Stalin-----Final Manifestation (?)
CONFIDENCE IN HIS CONGREGATION (2:20-21, 24, 27)
Why hasn't John’s entire congregation left him and the message of the apostles for the new heresy? There is a difference between those who have stayed and those who have left. Those who have stayed are genuine Christians, and, as such, have the Holy Spirit living in them: "But you have an Anointing from the Holy One, and you all know." The Holy One in this verse most likely refers to Jesus (John describes Jesus as the Holy One in his Gospel—6:69). An “Anointing” refers to the Holy Spirit because the Bible speaks of Christians as being anointed with the Spirit. As a result of the Spirit living in each Christian, each Christian has the capability to distinguish religious truth from religious falsehood. This does not mean that Christians know everything there is to know about Christ and the Father. What it does mean, though, is that whenever a Christian is confronted with a truth and a lie about Christ, that Christian should be able to tell which is which because the Holy Spirit living within them should impress upon them which one is true and which one is false.
I spoke with some fellow church members about something for a church I felt the Lord impressed upon my heart. Now I did not try to manipulate the system in order to get what I felt like the Lord wanted; nor did I ask them to trust me. Rather, I reminded them that the Lord lived in them and that He would speak to them about whether or not what I was pushing for was from the Lord. I appealed to them and their relationship with the Lord. Since they were genuine Christians, the Spirit lived within them. If they wanted to know whether or not what I said was from God, then the Spirit would impress it upon them, if they were truly seeking the Lord's will in this matter. If they didn't seek the Lord then they needed to remove themselves from any decision-making process because only their hearts—and this became a pattern, then they needed to examine their relationship with the Lord to determine whether or not they were in fact Christians.
Verse 27 has been seriously misinterpreted by some: "And as for you, the Anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you." According to some, since the Spirit lives within Christians, Christians don't have to be taught by any human beings. All they have to do is pick up the Bible and study it for themselves. As a result, they then claim that their interpretation of the Bible is as good as anybody else's. The only problem with this interpretation is that John is not saying this. I would shudder to think what I would be teaching or what I would not be teaching if I had not submitted myself to the wealth of knowledge God has entrusted to certain people—especially my professors at seminary and the wonderful scholarly books they directed me to. Moreover, this interpretation contradicts the fact that God has given us as one of the primary gifts of the Holy Spirit the gift of teaching. If this gift were not needed as this interpretation implies, then God would have not given this gift to the church. Rather, what John is teaching here is that John's audience had already been taught about the truth nature of Jesus and that they did not need any more instruction about it. Instead, whenever they were confronted with an alternative view about Jesus, the Spirit would impress upon them whether or not these views were true.
THE HERESY OF THE ANTICHRIST (2:22-23)
Here John specifies the heresy the antichrists were promoting in Ephesus and its environs. John declares that the Antichrist is the Liar because he promotes the biggest lie of all—the lie that Jesus is the Christ. John's opponents (the antichrists) distinguished between the human Jesus and the divine Christ. In their view, there were 2 distinct persons occupying the same body. (Remember that this view allowed them to feel good about their "perfect" inner selves and their "evil" outer selves.) According to John, though, Jesus was the Christ. The great mystery of the incarnation is that God did not simply enter the body of a man but that God the Son actually became a man. The man Jesus who was born in a stall of a human mother was none other than the God of the universe. Moreover, He has retained His humanity. When Jesus rose from the dead, not only did His soul rise from the dead, His body rose also. It was radically transformed so that the spiritual element dominates; however, the body is still there. He still possesses that body and humanity as He presently sits at God's right hand in glory. He is the God-Man. As a result, since Jesus shows us that the Spirit and the body cannot be separated, we as Christians are both body and spirit. Not only will our spirit rise from the dead on resurrection day, our body will rise also. Therefore, we are body as well as spirit. What we do then in the body does indicate who we really are. The deeds of the body are nothing less than the deeds of the spirit that lives within us. If they are deeds of love and righteousness, then they are the deeds of the Holy Spirit. If they are acts of immorality, etc., then they are the deeds of Satan himself.
THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION (2:25-26)
This passage basically teaches that our response to these beliefs about Jesus are serious becaues they detrmine our eternal destiny. The person who believes in the deity of the man Jesus (the human Jesus is the divine Christ) has eternal life. The one who rejectes this belief will experience eternal condemnation.
Note that John is stressing the uniqueness of Christianity. According to John, Christianity is not one of many world religions. It is the only religion that brings man into a right relationship with God. We as Christians should continue to promote the exclusive nature of Christianity. That is the reason you and I should be repelled whenever a government official lights a Christmas tree wishing everybody "Merry Christmas" and then turns around the wishes everybody "Happy Hanukah" or "Happy Kwanza." If that official is going to make these other greetings, he needs to delete the Christmas greeting. Otherwise, he is seriously watering down what is the fundamental belief about Christianity—the man Jesus is God and only through Him do we come to the Father.
------(168 BC)-------(30 AD; John 17:12)---(1500)---(1930's/40's)--------------(?)------------