The Way - Day 204 (1 John 2)

Pastor Tom's Journal on Today's Reading:
1 John 2:3-11
John has already provided two areas of distinction between the doctrine of the apostles and the doctrine of the false teachers. First of all, he exposed that although the Gnostics believed in Jesus' divinity, they did not believe in His humanity (1:1-4). If Jesus was not fully God as well as fully man, He could not be a sufficient sacrifice for sin. Since God demanded death to pay for sin (Romans 6:23), death is the only thing which could satisfy the wrath of God on sin. When God the Father sent His Son to earth as a human, His one mission was to pay the death sentence for mankind (John 3:16-17). Jesus had to be fully man to accomplish this; however, in order to guarantee life after death, Jesus must have also been God, which provided Him the power to conquer death (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 56-57). The second area of John's disagreement with the false teachers was their failure to believe in the reality of sin (1:5-2:2). Although these teachers thought they were enlightened, John revealed that their sinful lifestyles proved otherwise (1:6, 8).

In the next few verses, John points out a third area of concern about these false teachers - they did not obey God's commandments. Listen to John's warning to believer's about these deceitful teachers, "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (2:3-6). One of the clearest ways to tell if someone is a teacher representing God is to see if they obey what He taught. If a person's actions do not demonstrate obedience to God's commandments, that person is a false teacher. Of course, John's readers need to balance what he is saying with what he has already written. Believers will sin (1:8), but they will humbly confess before God (1:9) because they know that the Father has provided forgiveness through His Son, Jesus (2:1-2). In contrast to John's teaching, these false teachers disregarded the commandments of God and their lives did not demonstrate love for Him. What a person teaches must also be modeled in their own life.

In addition to obeying God's commandments, John also says that those who claim to represent God will love others (2:7-11). John presents this concept of loving others as "no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning..." (2:7). Although loving others is an old commandment, it was realized in a new way as Jesus provided the perfect example of what it means to love others, so this "new commandment" (2:8) is no longer just seen in written commands, but in real life. John writes some strong words to those claiming to love God but hating others, "He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes" (2:9-11). Again, all believers have hated others at one time or another, but the overall character of their life cannot be hatred toward others or else they also demonstrate their hatred for God.

Are you obeying God's commandments? Are you loving others? If not, recognize that these are two indicators of those who love and follow God.

1 John 2:12-17
So far in John's letter of warning to the church about false teachers, he has alerted his readers to the distinctives of those who follow Christ. These teachers of error were attempting to infiltrate the church with evil doctrine which would ultimately lead believers away from following God's ways. The biggest distinctive between the apostles' teaching and the doctrine of the Gnostics was their view of Jesus' true nature (1:1-4). The false teachers denied Jesus' humanity, which meant that He could not be an appropriate sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 2:14-17). Rather than centering on the person of Christ, the false teachers focused on developing a "higher knowledge." This knowledge provided a sense of security and pride within these teachers enabling them to "speak in the name of God." John was trying to tell his readers that these false teachers do not represent God or His message. How can John judge these teachers? Their actions did not reflect God's ways and this is clearly seen in the second distinctive, the false teachers' view of sin (1:5-2:2). The false teachers viewed themselves as sinless, while true believers know that they are sinners in need of God's forgiveness and help to overcome evil (2:1-2). John mentions two more distinctives of those who follow Christ: view of God's commandments and view of others (2:3-11). The people who love God will be easily identified because they obey God's commands and demonstrate love toward others. The false teachers demonstrated neither of these characteristics.

John did not want his readers to feel as if they were failing in these distinctives, so he acknowledges the growth he had witnessed in their lives. When he refers to them as "little children, fathers, and young men" John is recognizing the process of spiritual growth taking place within them. The "little children" know that their sins have been forgiven, but are still in the process of learning (2:12, 13c). The "young men" have knowledge which has assisted them in resisting temptation from the devil (2:13b, 14b). The "fathers" are the spiritually mature in their faith (2:13a, 14a). Although each person is at a different stage of growth in knowledge and love for God, John knows that they are growing toward spiritual maturity.

In contrast to love for God is love for the things of the world. Love for God and love for the world's system of values and beliefs cannot exist together because they are completely opposite. John says it like this, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (2:15). John then defines what love for the world looks like, "For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh [passion to do evil], the lust of the eyes [wanting what others have], and the pride of life [bragging about possessions and accomplishments] --is not of the Father but is of the world" (2:16). In case they were tempted to give into the world, John reminded them that "...the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (2:17). Loving the things of the world brings temporary pleasure while love for God has the ability to sustain life, ultimately eternal life. Who do you love - God or the world? Are your actions representing the one whom you say you love?

1 John 2:18-27
The apostle John has already detailed four characteristics of those who love and follow God: belief in Jesus' humanity as well as His deity (1:1-4), belief in the sinfulness of all men (1:5-2:2), obedience to God's commandments (2:3-6), and love for others (2:7-11). By identifying the true nature of those who believe in God, John was able to expose the dangerous message of the false teachers who were seeking to infiltrate the church. They did not believe in Jesus' humanity. They did not believe sin existed in their lives. They certainly did not follow God's commands nor did they demonstrate love for others. Because of their failure to love and obey God, these teachers had no right to speak on behalf of Him. Instead of believing the erroneous message of the deceitful teachers, those reading John's words should receive his words as God's.

Although John's purpose in writing was not to correct believers, he did desire to warn them of the potential danger in accepting another doctrine contrary to the apostles' teaching; in fact, John commends his readers for their interest in spiritual growth (2:12-14). However, realizing that even believers can be susceptible to false teaching, John writes these words, "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist [future deceiver in the end times] is coming, even now many antichrists [false teachers, see also 2:22-23] have come, by which we know that it is the last hour" (2:18). False teaching has existed since the time of Satan's deception of Eve in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-6). The devil has the ability to twist God's words in order to make them sound right when, in reality, his words are deceptive. From the beginning, Satan has endeavored to deceive the faithful and he will employ whatever strategy necessary to bring confusion to the world. False teachers existed in John's day and they will certainly exist until the end. John's readers needed to be aware of this reality.
 
Sometimes false teaching is not so obvious because it begins with those previously connected to the church but have since departed. This is why John writes, "They [false teachers] went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us" (2:19). Their departure from the truth proved that they were never of the truth. As a challenge to stay faithful to the truth John writes, "Therefore let that [truth] abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us--eternal life" (2:24-25).

With so many teachings in our world, believers should be careful about listening to and accepting anything which "sounds good." Even Paul warned Timothy, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4). In order to guard against believing a lie, we must know the truth and since God revealed the truth through His written word, the Bible, we must read, study, meditate upon, and practice those things. Anything contrary to the Bible must be rejected and exposed as error.

Dear God, help me to know You through reading Your word...so that I can recognize and obey truth while exposing that which is false.