“It is the duty of a good and diligent pastor not only to gather the flock” says, John Calvin, “but also to drive away wolves.”1 This is exactly what the Apostle John has been doing. His opponents have been spreading their pernicious doctrines, and John has been warning his people about them. He has identified and repudiated their teachings. One might say that this entire epistle is a rebuttal of the false prophets who were sowing discord in the church. He even has located the source of their errors in the “Antichrist,” the “liar” and “deceiver.”

This is tough language. We consider it ill-mannered ever to criticize a person’s religious beliefs. The Apostle John did not share our reservations, and indeed, neither did any of the Apostles. The assumption behind the writings of the Apostles is that religious truth can be identified and distinguished from error. Take, for example, the Apostle Paul’s assessment of Gentile religion found in 1 Corinthians 10:20:

No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. (1 Co 10:20)

We all are not worshiping the same God, just in our different ways. The pagan Gentiles, with their various religions, “sacrifice to demons and not to God.” They are, he says elsewhere, “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). They are “darkened in their understanding” and “excluded from the life of God” (Eph 4:18). Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “You worship that which you do not know” (John 4:22). Jesus and the Apostles were not guilty of bigotry or prejudice or arrogance. Rather they were confident that spiritual or religious truth could be identified and distinguished from spiritual or religious error, much in the way that we are confident that the laws of physics, on the basis of which we build bridges, can be distinguished from nonsense.

A spiritual battle is being fought on the theological, or doctrinal, front. As we’ve noted, God cares about what we believe (and so does the devil). What we believe makes a difference to God. He cares about our moral conduct, and our social conduct, but that is not all. Behavior is important, but so are beliefs. We are to think of God and serve God in a fashion consistent with His self-revelation. Morality is important. It is a mark of a Christian (1:7-2:6). But morality alone is not enough to make a Christian. Love is important. It is a mark of a Christian (2:7-17). But love alone is not enough. One may be a very moral and a very loving person, and still not be a true Christian. One may even be a sincere, even a zealous person, and still not be a true Christian. The Apostle Paul said of his own countrymen,

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. (Rom 10:2)

The Islamist suicide bombers are zealous. They think they are serving God and following their convictions even at the cost of their lives. We may be sincere, eager, zealous religionists, but our zeal may be misplaced. Our religious zeal must be “in accordance with knowledge,” that is, consistent with truth. This is the Apostle John’s third test of the Christian, the theological, which the Apostle continues to address in the passage before us (2:25-29). The stakes are very high, as the Apostle Paul reminds us:

And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. (1 John 2:25)

At risk is the gift of eternal life, life after death, life everlasting and unending in the household of God and in the presence of Almighty God. All this is threatened by the lies of the deceivers.

Last time we saw that John’s way of guarding his people from doctrinal error was to warn them of the lies of the antichrist, and to reassure them that if they will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and keep to the apostolic doctrine, they will “abide in the Son and the Father” (2:24). They’ll be safe! Now he elaborates on these points, taking them a bit further, warning of his opponent’s intention to deceive, of their pretentious (authoritarian?) teachers, and the need to remain, or “abide,” in Christ.

Deceivers

The Apostle John reminds us that a purpose of his writing was to warn us of deceivers:

These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. (1 John 2:26)

Gospel Films produced a film a few years ago entitled, “Deceived.” The film clearly showed that many times the cult is “an angel of light.” (2 Cor 11:14) Its appearance is deceptively pleasing. It seems to be made up of fine people and helpful teaching. Its teaching comes very close to orthodox Christianity. But it is a counterfeit. The cultists are wolves in sheep’s clothing (Mt 7:15). The Apostle John says even, they are “trying to deceive you.” Deception is their aim, as the connotative sense of the verb (planoton = to lead astray) indicates.2 Hence, the translation, “trying to deceive you.” There are false prophets, deceivers, charlatans, whose goal it is to mislead.

One of the major reason that we fall victim to false teaching is our unwillingness to believe not just in deception, but in deceivers. We want to believe the best about people. We can’t believe that anyone would intentionally mislead another in the area of religion. Your church staff sometimes accuses your preacher of being naïve about people’s motives. I always want to say, “Oh, they surely didn’t mean to say that,” or “I’m sure that what they did was unintentional.” No, the Apostle John says of some, they are “trying to deceive you” (2:26). Don’t be naïve. There are devious minded people out there. The Wall Street Journal carried an article a few years back entitled, “Churchgoers Are the Prey As Scams Rise.” It claimed that in the previous 5 years more than 15,000 Americans lost a total of $450 million in “bogus money-make schemes promoted by religious charlatans.”

How many people have been taken to the cleaners by the Elmer Gantrys and Marjoes of the world? How many others have been deceived by the Jim Joneses and Witness Lees and Moses Davids? How many tens of millions of others have been conned by the liberal, gospel-less moralizing of those who have occupied the pulpits of mainline churches and preached the message of politics and humanity? How many others have been taken in by a “gospel” of health and wealth, a prosperity cult, or a gospel of cheap grace or easy-believism? Don’t be naïve and undiscerning. Listen to what is being said. Pay attention to the subtleties. Listen as much to what is not being said as to what is being said. There are deceivers who are crude and scream and shout, others who are tacky and entertain you, and still others who wear business suits and are very learned. What they hold in common is that they fail to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Why would anyone try to deceive others? Some for power, some for money, some for recognition. Paul can speak of those who preach from “selfish ambition” (Phil 1:17), and of others who seek “to bring us into bondage” (Gal 2:4). As a furniture mover I worked with one summer said, “There is good money in religion.” For selfish reasons they promote their own ends and deceive whomever they can.

Protection

John already has assured them of the Holy Spirit’s anointing enabling them to discern the truth (2:20). Verse 27 says the same, but from a slightly different perspective. He relates the role of the Holy Spirit to the content of teaching in verse 20, but to the teachers themselves in verse 27.

And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (1 Jn 2:27)

The “anointing” is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He “abides” or continues in us. He is our “most fundamental defense against deception.”4 The Holy Spirit “sensitizes the child of God to spiritual truth and gives him an ability to discern error when it poses as truth,” Hamilton explains.5 The point is, “you have no need for anyone to teach you.” This likely indicates that the teachers of this aberrant group which John is fighting were probably claiming special knowledge, mystical knowledge of which they were the sole proprietors.6 God spoke to them and to no others. So everyone was said to be dependent upon the leaders. Their voice was the voice of God. They were the agents of revelation, the conduits of divine authority. John attacks this head on. “His anointing teaches you.” We don’t need other teachers. The Holy Spirit teaches us “all things.”7 What has the anointing taught us? To “abide in Him.” That is, to abide in Christ, as they had learned of him “from the beginning.”8 No one but the Apostles are to become the voice of God for us.

Is the Apostle John abolishing the teaching office of the church? Of course not. He is, after all, teaching even as he writes.9 God has given “pastors and teachers” to the Church for its instruction (Eph 4:11). There are those who particularly are called to labor at “teaching and preaching,” and they are said to be worthy of “double honor” (1 Tim 5:17; cf Heb 13:17; 1 Th 5:13; 1 Cor 16:16). What is he talking about then? He is talking about the abuse of the teaching office. He is talking about those who claim to have a hot-line to God to whom all others must come if they are to hear His voice.

When I was in college a beautiful young sorority girl was told by her “shepherd” that God had told him that she was to marry a particular person. She had no love for the man at all. She was a friend of mine, and I begged her not to listen to her “elder.” She went through with it and 6 months later was divorced, her life shattered. Authoritarian leaders can be found in a number of so called churches and movements. People are being told by “prophets” whom to marry, where to work, and of course, what to do with their money. Members blindly follow because they think God is speaking through the leader. The thinking is, one can’t disobey God when He speaks, can one?

If someone, anyone, says to us, “God told me that you are to . . .” and then imparts so-called divinely given direction, beware. As I said last week, do not drink their Kool-Aid. If someone says, “God says,” you ask, “Show me the text in the Bible.” Be a Berean about it. (Acts 17:10ff) The Spirit and the Word always go together. We can be certain only about things specifically stated in the Scripture. If someone is committing adultery, we can say to them, “God is telling you to stop committing adultery.” How can I know that? Because, it’s the 7th Commandment. (Ex 20:14) We can be and should be totally dogmatic when it comes to the explicit statements of Scripture. But whom shall I marry in the Lord, where shall I work, what shall I do with my money and property? No way. These are Christian liberty issues to be determined by wisdom. I am not the captive of a “prophet.” If God has anything to say to us, he will say it through His word as illuminated by the Holy Spirit to us. That is the Apostle John’s point. We don’t need a prophet because “His anointing teaches” us about “all things!” At no point are we dependent on a special, authoritative word from someone else.

Luther revived the doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers.” We are able to read and study our Bibles for ourselves. We are able to pray to God directly, by ourselves. It is by the Holy Spirit that “the eyes of (our) heart” are “enlightened” (Eph 1:18). We are not the sheep of ecclesiastical shepherds. Authoritarian, God-speaks-to-me-for-you type thinking is characteristic of the cult, and not of the Christian church. Ask of any movement, leader, or teacher which you encounter, if they presume to know what God’s will is for me? Do they presume to tell me what I am to do, not in areas where the Bible speaks, but in areas where it doesn’t speak. Do they leave room for Christian freedom? After all, decisions as to whom to marry, what vocation to pursue, where to live, how to handle our assets, are matters of Christian freedom, aren’t they? Those who encroach in these spheres with a “word from the Lord” are cultic, not Christian.

“Abide in Him” and the Holy Spirit will continue to teach us even as he has in the past. “Just as it has taught you,” refers us back to the original apostolic teaching that the “anointing” illuminated. We are to “abide in Him” as we heard of Him (Jesus) “from the beginning” (2:24). Don’t drift from Him. “The role of the Spirit is primarily as a testimony to the tradition, not as a source of new revelation,” Kruse correctly observes.10 Look to Christ and His Spirit, and not to any human mediator. The Lord is our Shepherd, and we’re not to let any man or woman supplant Him. He will teach us. He will guide us.

Confidence

Finally, the Apostle John directs us to the source of confidence:

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (1 Jn 2:28)

The Apostle John is now summing up. He exhorts us a final time that we should “abide in Him.” Don’t be unsettled by their teaching. Don’t let them rob us of our assurance. There is nothing of value offered by the prophets on which we will miss out. Their Christ is a defective Christ. He can’t save. He is not both truly human and truly divine (2:22; 4:2). In the Christ of the Apostles are hidden “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3). In Him we are “complete.” (Col 2:10). In Him we have “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). In Him we’ve been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). He is able to save “unto the uttermost” (Heb 7:25, KJV). If we will abide in the Christ of the Apostles, and not fall into the errors of the heretics, then we will have “confidence,” or “boldness,” a word which originally was used of a people’s democratic right to express their opinions. It indicates a complete liberty of speech, speech that is bold, plain, and free.11 Then we will have this quality of confidence when He “appears,” at His “coming” (parousia), at which time He will judge the world.

A group of prominent theologians, calling themselves the “Jesus Seminar,” met in Northern California a number of years ago, and after much discussion decided that Jesus never said He was going to return. “Jesus never predicted he would return to Earth for a Second Coming, according to a vote Saturday by a group of Bible scholars . . .” read contemporary accounts.12 Suffice it to say, the Apostles think otherwise. (cf Mt 24:3; 1 Cor 15:23; 1 Th 2:19; 2 Th 2:1,8; James 5:7,8; 2 Pet 1:16) Not only will He return, He will return to judge. (John 5:25ff; Mt 24:36-25:46). He will separate the sheep and the goats. He will say to the sheep on the one hand, “Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Mt 25:34) On the other hand, He will say to the goats, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mt 25:41) Stay with apostolic Christ. Don’t follow the heretical, authoritarian teachers. Stay, remain in Christ, and you will not just be all right, but you will be bold even in His presence. Notice there are only two responses to His return. One is confidence. The other is to “shrink away from Him in shame.” This indicates not so much one’s psychological state of mind, but judgment and disgrace (cf. Mk 8:38). They shall be “disgraced openly.”13 Why? Because they will have betrayed Him. They will have shunned His Apostles and compromised His identity. They will be numbered among those who don’t know, lost forever (Matt 7:22,23) So, “abide.” Don’t try to go above Him. Don’t try to go beyond Him. More always means less, “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes” (2 Cor 1:20).

Finally, the Apostle John begins his transition to the subject matter of the next chapter. The immediate connection may be the judgment implied in 2:28 and Christ’s qualifications as the Righteous One to render that judgment.

If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 Jn 2:29)

Since Christ is righteous, we also must be. For the first time he mentions spiritual birth. We are “born of Him” (cf John 1:12,13; 3:1ff) and, therefore, we are to bear the family image. It is a biblical axiom that God is “righteous” (eg. Psalm 11:7). So it follows that because we are born of God we also will be righteous (cf Matt 5:45ff). From 1 John 3:1–5:13 we shall be looking at the implications of our identity as children of God.14 “Likeness,” as Bruce notes, “is the proof of relationship.”15 “Believers are not simply people who are trying to live a little better,” says Morris. Rather, “they have been radically renewed.”16

How are we to discern the truth? Positively we are to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit and the apostolic (biblical) doctrines. Negatively, we are to reject the contrary deceivers and their lies. The Apostles, by the Spirit, reveal to us a Jesus who can save us on the day of judgment. His death was an atoning sacrifice that satisfied the requirements of God. Through the shedding of His blood He promises the forgiveness of sin (Mt 26:28). In Christ our trespasses are not counted against us (2 Cor 5:19). In Christ God reconciled us to Himself (2 Cor 5:18). In Christ we have peace with God (Rom 5:1). In Christ there is “no condemnation” (Rom 8:1). Stick with Him! Don’t be deceived by the Jesus of the Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses or the Muslims (yes, they have a Jesus) or of the ancient Arians, or any other Jesus (2 Cor 11:4). Our Jesus, the Jesus of the Apostles, is the only true Jesus, and He is enough.