1 John
The Christian and Antichrist. 2:18-29
Introduction
It is difficult to give an overall outline for this epistle. John's letter seems to roll around different themes without being tied to any particular structure. I suspect that the best outline is something like the one presented in the New Bible Commentary, IVP press. This commentary uses a sectional thematic approach. David Jackman in the Bible Speaks Today series uses a similar approach, although his divisions are more detailed, but none-the-less separate and topical.
A much more overall structure is presented by Plummer and Alexander Ross who go for a similar structure of:
God is Light, 1:5-2:29, and
God is Love, 3:1-5:12.
Gordon H. Clark opts for an even more complex structure:
Fellowship with the Father tested by righteousness, love and belief, 1:5-2:6
Our Sonship tested by righteousness, love and belief, 2:29-4:6.
Closer correlation of righteousness, love and belief, 4:7-5:21.
So, for the sake of clarity we will stick with the theory that John has written a letter with a number of things he wants to talk about and which he ranges over without any detailed structure. Using the NBC structure we could title our passage for study, The Christian and antichrist. In this passage he tells us of the antichrist and his wiles and gives an exhortation for keeping on the straight and narrow.
The passage
The enemy in our midst, 2:18-23.
v18. John begins by announcing that this is the "last hour" (the last day). This "last hour" is the time between the ascension of Christ (he ascends, coming to his throne to rule and bring all things into subjection to himself) and the return of Christ (he comes to gather together all those who are his, dead and alive). This interim period is a time of trouble and persecution for the followers of Christ, culminating in the great tribulation and the revealing of the antichrist ("the man of lawlessness": Paul). The antichrist is a person, power or ideology opposed to Christ, but usurping his authority and status. The "coming" of the antichrist is preceded by imitators, who, although not as persuasive, pervading and powerful, constantly do great damage to the children of God.
v19. These imitation antichrists tend often to be pseudo-Christians. They involve themselves in church, cause trouble, undermining the life of the congregation, and then move away. They go elsewhere, move back into secular life and attack the church from that position, or they form schismatic "christian" groups. Their own act of abandoning their Christian fellowship is the evidence of their pseudo-Christian stance. Given the context of John's letter it is most likely that such people are driven away by the "light" of Christ (sound Biblical teaching, cf. v20), although that would not be the reason they would give for their leaving.
v20-21. Unlike the pseudo-Christian, the true believers understand the truth and are happy to bathe in its light. The depth of their understanding will vary, but their desire for it will be the same. The reason for this is that all believers are anointed by the Spirit, whose ministry is to lead into truth.
v22-23. The pseudo-Christian inevitably denies Christ, and in denying Christ, denies the Father. They may claim to know God, but in the end only those who know Christ know God. They are therefore liars in that they claim to proclaim the truth, but proclaim a lie. Such a person can rightly be called an antichrist (an imitator or precursor of the antichrist).
Their denial of Jesus is the denial of his messiahship. Yet it is possibly something stronger. Within more Gentile circles "Christ" became identified with the second person of the trinity, the only Son of God. John may therefore be speaking of a denial of the full deity of Jesus or the full humanity of Jesus. Probably any denial of the "catholic" faith, of the fundamental truths of the Christian faith, is a denial of Christ. Inevitably the rejection of truth identifies the antichrist in our midst.
The business of standing firm, 2:24-29.
v24-25. John identifies church members who have left the fellowship of God's people, denying Jesus and therefore God. They are deniers of truth and therefore precursors of the antichrist. Obviously, what is important now is to encourage his readers not to follow them.
He encourages them to make sure that what they "heard from the beginning remains" (abides, continues) in them. Clearly John is speaking of the gospel message which they heard from the first - the gospel of God's grace in Christ which is appropriated through faith. He encourages them to make sure that the truth of God's grace has a settled home in their lives. If they have put their trust in the good news of God's free grace in Jesus then their life is hid with Christ in God, Col.3:3, they continue in the Son and in the Father. Thus they possess the assurance of eternal life.
v26-27. John writes to identify those within the fellowship and those who have left, who "are trying to lead you astray." They do this with false teaching which denies Biblical truth. They do it because they have never taken to themselves the grace of God in Christ and therefore have not received the Holy Spirit and are therefore liars. John reminds his readers that they do not need this false teaching, this extra Biblical curricula. They have been washed by the Spirit, and the Spirit's ministry is to lead the believer into all truth. The Spirit's ministry is exercised through the teaching of Apostolic truth by the Spirit filled prophets, pastors and teachers of the church. So they do not need anything extra. All they need to do is continue to place their faith firmly in Jesus - "abide in Christ."
v28. Against the temptation to be drawn away from the truth, John encourages his readers to keep on keeping on. Keep holding onto Jesus, trust him, believe in him, "continue (abide) in him". Trusting Jesus will keep us true to our faith, or as Jesus puts it, "I am the vine and you are the branches. If a person abides in me and I in them, they will bear much fruit." Only by this means will we be "unashamed" when Jesus returns.
v29. The person who continues in Jesus begins to live a Christ-like life. The person who abides in Christ becomes like Christ. The branch that abides in the vine produces much fruit. The fruit of righteousness evidences that a person abides in Christ - "has been born of him."
Word-centred survival
Paul the Apostle encouraged the Roman believers not to be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of their minds. Jesus knew that he was involved in a battle for truth. John knew he too was involved in that battle and we are just as involved today. In the face of the contemporary management and marketing of productivity, truth is but relative to the idea of programmed progress.
Conservative Biblical Christianity finds its life in the preservation and proclamation of truth. Such a church can be identified by its concern to nurture, to disciple believers in the teachings of the scriptures, and to make known the gospel to broken humanity. This is our strength, but in recent times we have taken our eye off the ball and truth has suffered.
Conservative Bible Christians have not understood and so have not handled the massive sociological changes which have engulfed Western society. I was cleaning out my papers last week and came across a Bible story book published by the N.S.W. Department of Education for general religious education in Public Schools. The date was 1972. Just over twenty years later it is hard to imagine that the Bible was taught in Public Schools as part of the general education of children. Today a teacher would be reprimanded for teaching about Jesus. Our society's move from nominal Christian to nominal pagan (secular) is startling, but very real. Along with this move is a decreasing affiliation of the population with institutional religion. We have suffered declining numbers, and it is how we have tried to overcome that trend which has undermined truth.
Church after church has adopted secular notions of programmed productivity toward the ideal of progress, and this to maintain attendance numbers. Although our secular notions of progress (growth) via productivity strategies (management, marketing...) is hidden underneath Biblical words such as "evangelism" etc., it is little more than "conformed" (relevant!), rather than "transformed" thinking. In the face of "growth" strategies, conservative Biblical churches which emphasize the preservation of truth, have inevitably suffered. It is to such churches that John writes his words of encouragement. His message is simple, the child of God, anointed by the Spirit, will always stand up for the truth against the others who may inevitably "go out from us".
The evil one seeks the destruction of the church: for the church is the very presence of Christ on earth. The evil one's methodology is deception, for he is the great deceiver, a liar. In the final day of tribulation his Christ-like angel of light, the antichrist, will deceive God's people, lead them astray, in the glory of a pseudo-church. The antichrist is a philosophy, an ideology, an institution, a government, a charismatic leader..... or possibly all one at the same time. For the present the evil one has his precursor antichrists - little imitators. These work the same fraud that will one day "deceive even the elect."
John says we will know them (ideologies, things, powers, structures, ideas, people....) by the damage they inflict upon Christ's church:
i] Schismatic, v18-19. They hurt the fellowship, divide, leave, abandon. A study was done of the American growth church Willow Creek to see where their thousands of members had come from. The majority had transferred from other churches attracted by the entertainment extras.
ii] Anti-catholic, v20-23. They provide extra "truth", information and methodologies to supplement the gospel. They "lead you astray" with a secular theology, v26.
John's main concern is not that these "antichrists" go "out from us", but that in the process of going they "lead... astray". He therefore encourages us to stand firm against their attack.
i] Affirm the gospel, v24-25. The notion of God's free grace in Christ, its simplicity and clarity, is always prone to addition. In the nurture department, sanctification is shifted from grace to law. Obedience rather than faith is seen as the proper mechanism for Godly living. In the evangelism department the business of a straightforward communication of the gospel is buried beneath selling techniques, marketing manipulation or group dynamics.... So, says John, hold onto the grace of God in Christ, for in this is life eternal.
ii] Uphold the apostolic faith, v26-27. Against the constant temptation to add secular ideology to the teachings of Christ and his apostles, we must constantly affirm that we do not need any other truth.
iii] Bear the fruit of the gospel, v28-29. To live a life which is fruitful for Christ we must "abide" (continue) in Christ - live by faith.
So although conservative Bible based churches struggle to survive in the clutter of institutional Christianity, we are again reminded that survival rests, not with reliance upon secular ideologies, but with the truth of the Gospel. God's people will always gather around God's word.
Discussion
1. Note the two particular attacks upon the church in v19-23. Discuss these as they relate to any particular incident in your Christian fellowship. How would you assess the Charismatic revival movement in light of these words?
2. Standing firm in the faith. What advice has John got for us? Assess the Biblical ministry in your church.
c.1994