Print

By Tyson Thorne

July 2, 2015
 
 

1John 4 large

 

John now turns to a discussion of the nature of the antichrist (2.18-.27), and the character of children of God (2.28-3.10, after which he will give his readers a lesson in love, another context entirely, beginning in 3.10b and ending in 4.21). Below is a summary of the key characteristics of the two groups.

1John2 AntichristsVsTekna

  1. Apparently John’s readers were familiar with the spirit of the Antichrist, who is already in the world, but now John reveals the truth about those who come in his spirit classifying them as antichrists’ themselves. These minor antichrists are setting the global stage for the coming of the Antichrist, who is yet to be revealed.
  2. Chapter three verses two and three relate that we are children (tekna – born-ones of the Father) of God. Here we discover that we are now in His spirit, and therefore are His children. The physical change, however, will await His next coming, when we shall need to be changed to see Him face to face. In three verse nine John expands this idea of child by explaining how, at salvation, we received God’s seed, His nature, which we also partake of.
  3. Although some have suggested John speaks of those who once belonged to the church he is writing to, but have been stolen away by false teachers and antichrists, this explanation is unlikely. John is not providing an example of believers who have lost their salvation and claim a new faith, but rather an example of false teachers who claim apostolic authority who are now coming to the church John is writing. For this reason John writes, “They went out from us.” The word “us” here is to be understood as the apostolic first person plural (“us” as opposed to “you” in 2.20-.21, which referred to the readers). “They did not really belong to us,” or, “they were not of us” is John’s method of quickly denying any fellowship with these false teachers. He then explains that if these men had shared the Spirit of God they would have remained with the apostles; their going out from the apostles, however, reveals that they share the spirit of the Antichrist instead.
  4. The anointing believers receive is the Holy Spirit. There is much evidence of this, both in this passage as well as in the Bible as a whole. For instance, according to verse 27, the anointing actually “teaches” believers, which is clearly one of the roles of the Holy Spirit. This also indicates that the anointing is a Person, as only personalities can teach so dynamically. Finally, Jesus Himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit in Acts 10.38. The readers then did not need teaching from the antichrist's, or, for that matter, from anyone. The Holy Spirit is sufficient. This further shows that the readers were spiritually mature.
  5. In chapter two verses 22 and 23, John shows still more evidence of these men having not come from the Father. Although the Trinity is three Persons, not one of them can be denied without the others being denied as well. The unreasonable stance these false teachers took in regard to Jesus proves that they are not in fellowship with the Father. If the readers were to continue in their faith and resist the lies of the antichrist, they would continue to abide in both the Father and the Son.
  6. 2.29 Everyone who does right is born of the Father. Righteous deeds are not meant to assure the individual of his own salvation, but rather to indicate the salvation of others coming to the believer. This righteousness has nothing to do with humanistic kindness or even morality; it has to do with the righteousness Christ imparts.
  7. Here is a hard teaching, “those who abide in Christ do not sin.” The idea here is not that one can be assured of their own salvation from their lack of sin, but rather that one can be identified as a believer by a lifestyle marked with righteousness (see verse 27 of chapter three). All sin is satanic in nature, as it is the devil who fist rebelled. When one sins, they do so not from God’s Spirit, but from the spirit of the Antichrist. Sin does not grow out of our regenerated nature in Christ, but out of the flesh which we must wait to be regenerated at our Lords next return. See note 2 and 6 above.
  8. The final contrast is in the issue of love. The anti-Christ does not love his brother, whereas any who abide in Christ love their brother.