Paul begins to counter the divisions within the Corinthian assembly and asks a rhetorical question. ‘Is the Messiah divided and distributed in parts? Not lest Paul is being crucified for you or you are baptised into the name of Paul’, (I Corinthians 1 v 13). Paul begins to counter their approach by introducing basic theological knowledge – understanding about the unseen spiritual realm. Specifically he introduces the unity of the Messiah. The assembly is summoned and brought together by and within the name of the Messiah, not in the name of different Apostles or Christian leaders. If we subscribe to believer’s baptism by full immersion – which I consider to be the Scriptural position – then Christians are not immersed into a particular denomination, or into a particular leader, elder or bishop, but into the Messiah. By asking this question Paul emphasises the unity of Christians within the Messiah, rather than fragmentation and division into sectarian groups, or the partisan following of certain leaders.
Then Paul expresses his own reaction as a leader to what they are doing. ‘I thank God that I baptised none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest someone says that you were baptised into my name. But I also baptised the household of Stephanas, I don’t remember if I baptised anyone else, because the Messiah is not sending me to baptise but to announce and proclaim the good news…’ (I Corinthians 1 v 14 – 17a). Paul is thankful that he has not contributed in a major way to this partisan attitude by baptising many of the Corinthian Christians. He did not want anyone saying that they were baptised in his name to the detriment of other leaders. So he is thankful that he can only remember baptising a few of them.
Beginning at verse 1 of chapter 1 of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul begins by establishing his spiritual authority as an Apostle. He is one who has been delegated and sent out by Jesus to proclaim the gospel to Gentiles. ‘Paul, a summoned Apostle of Jesus the Messiah through the choice of God, and Sosthenes the brother, 2 to the assembly of God that is in Corinth. To those being separated, made different, distinguished and distinct within Jesus the Messiah, summoned and called, different from the world, together with all those calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah in every place’, (I Corinthians 1 v 1, 2). Paul is not an unbeliever or ‘outsider’. Nor is he merely a moral philosopher like one of the Stoics or Epicurians. He is not looking at the Corinthians from the perspective of another religion and offering criticism or advice for example from a pagan point of view. He is not even an ordinary member of a Christian assembly. Rather he is one summoned and sent out on a mission by Jesus the Messiah – an Apostle who has delegated authority and he is writing to fellow Christians. He is not writing to ‘outsiders’ to advise them on how to live their lives.
‘In addition we know that the Son of God has come and is giving us movement from one side to the other to reach balanced conclusions, full breadth critical thinking that reaches across to the other side in order that we continue to know Him who is true, and are within Him who is true, within His Son, Jesus the Messiah. 21 Little children, guard and protect yourselves away from images used for worship. So let it be’ (I John 5 v 20 – 21).
In addition to Christians knowing that they are brought forth by God, and that they exist in contrast to the world, they also know that the Son of God has come and is giving them enlightened reasoning. This means that they think things through, they evaluate and weigh up various considerations that reach across to and take into account the other side – the unseen heavenly realm, the Kingdom of God and Jesus the Messiah. The purpose and completion of reasoning within this illuminated knowledge, insight and understanding and taking it through to its logical conclusion is that Christians ‘continue to know Him who is true; and we are within Him who is true – within His son, Jesus the Messiah’.
Finally, John gives one last practical caution to his Hebrew Christian readers to guard and protect themselves away from images used for worship. As he has explained, no one at any time has seen God and such images ‘bring God down’ by delimiting Him to created forms. In this way people worship and praise created things instead of the Creator. As Christians they know Whom they worship, honour and praise. Not a lifeless metal, wood and stone idol but the living God Who is delivering them from judicial condemnation and ultimately away from their present fleshly body with its impulses and energies that lead to death. They honour and praise God Who has sent His only begotten Son to secure their deliverance, and who in due course will establish and restore the Kingdom of God on earth. And with that caution John concludes his letter.
John has been saying that Jesus is brought forth within water and blood and that only Christians are persuaded of this to the point of obedience because of the work of the breath of God. This then takes us comfortably into John’s next statement. ‘And the breath is testifying and bearing witness’ (Verse 6c). The different set apart breath of God, the ‘Holy Spirit’ if you prefer, is dwelling and remaining in the Christian’s heart, giving unction and enlightenment. The breath is bearing witness along with the physical birth and life-blood of the Messiah. The breath is enabling Christians to perceive the light of these facts so that they no longer remain in the darkness of ignorance and error, but rather, their eyes are opened and they are enabled to see what is true to the facts with regard to unseen realities.
The breath is bearing witness ‘because the breath is the truth’ (Verse 6d). The breath from out of God and His Messiah is not a false, lying, deceiving breath. It is not the breath of Satan, nor of one of his followers, nor a movement or current that emerges from the worldly arrangement, nor the breath of human nature, conjecture and creativity. The breath of God is truth because it proceeds from God Who is Truth.
‘For there are three bearing witness’ (Verse 7a). In Scriptural numerology, three represents perfection. These three constitute a perfect and complete witness and testimony – the breath, the water and the blood – all bearing witness and testifying according to the facts, all giving an accurate, truthful report. So far, so good, but before we can go any further we now come across another problem.
The text continues, ‘within heaven: The Father, the Word and the breath set apart – these three are one’ (Verse 7b). Now here I am in agreement with many scholars and Bible Commentators who say that verse 7b is spurious. In other words its authenticity is in doubt. This phrase is missing in all of the earlier Greek manuscripts and it is not found in any Greek manuscript written before the 16th century. It is missing in the earliest versions of the New Testament that were made in all former times. In their controversies and debates concerning teaching about the Trinity, the Greek Fathers never refer to it. Yet it is a statement which is so relevant to that debate that it could not have failed to be quoted if it were genuine.
In addition, it does not advance what John is saying, but instead entirely breaks the thread of his argument. Martin Luther says, “It appears as if this verse was inserted by the orthodox against the Arians which, however, cannot suitably be done because both here and there he speaks not of witnesses in heaven, but of witnesses on earth”. If there is one thing certain in textual criticism, it is that this famous statement is not genuine. I am in agreement with these criticisms so I am not going to spend any more time on these words. The result of this conclusion means that what is generally considered to be the authentic text actually reads like this: ‘For there are three bearing witness, the breath, the water and the blood; and these three are penetrating towards one purpose’ (verse 7a, 8).
‘Who is it that is carrying off the victory and overcoming the orderly arrangement if not the one who is entrusting that Jesus is the Son of God? 6 This is the one who came by means of water and blood – Jesus the Messiah, not within water only, but within water and blood. And the breath is testifying and bearing witness, because the breath is the truth. 7 For there are three bearing witness [within heaven: The Father, the Word and the set apart breath – these three are one] 8 the breath, the water and the blood, and these three are penetrating towards one purpose. 9 If we take hold of human testimony, the testimony of God is greater because this is the testimony of God that He has testified around his Son. 10 The one persuaded and entrusting penetrating towards the Son of God is holding the testimony within himself. The one not persuaded towards God is making Him a liar because he has not been persuaded and entrusted the testimony that God has given about His Son. 11 This is the testimony: that God has given perpetual life to us, and this is the life within his Son. 12 The one holding and possessing the Son has life; the one not having and possessing the Son absolutely does not have life. 13 I am writing these things in order that you may know and appreciate that you hold and possess perpetual life, to you entrusting penetrating towards the name of the son of God’ (I John 5 v 6 – 13).
These are actually the most difficult verses in John’s letter and the different Bible Commentators spend quite some time in speculating what John means. I have reached the point that I don’t agree with any of the perspectives that I have read! But rather than look at all these different proposals so as to critique what they say, I am going to present my own understanding of these verses. If you are not persuaded of what I have to say then you can always refer to the commentators that you prefer and see if their view is any better.
Because the first few verses of this section in particular are somewhat difficult I will once again explore them in byte-sized portions. John has said in effect that Christians are carrying off the victory and overcoming the orderly arrangement because they are entrusting that Jesus is the Son of God. John then goes on to explain who Jesus is.
First of all there is this statement: ‘This is the one who came by means of water and blood – Jesus the Messiah…’ (Verse 6a). There is no doubt about who it is that John is talking about – he is talking about Jesus the Messiah, who came by means of water and blood. What does he mean? He says something similar in chapter three of his gospel, when Jesus spoke with Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council (John 3 v 1). In the course of their conversation Jesus said to Nicodemus, ‘“I tell you within truth, if there isn’t someone brought forth from out of water and breath, [then] he is not able to enter and penetrate into the Kingdom of God. 6 That brought forth from out of flesh is flesh, and that brought forth from of the breath is breath. 7 Don’t marvel or admire that I said to you, ‘It is absolutely necessary you are brought forth from above”’ (John 3 v 5 – 7). This is the very same theme that John is declaring in his letter. Namely that it is God Who brings Christians forth. This concept forms part of the context of the verses that we are now looking at. In both his gospel and his letter John is saying that there is fleshly bringing forth and in addition there is a bringing forth from out of breath.
In John’s gospel, being ‘brought forth of water’ is directly linked to fleshly birth (John 3 v 5, 6). But Jesus says to Nicodemus that in order to enter the Kingdom of God a person must be brought forth again. A person is first of all brought forth from out of flesh, brought forth from out of water. I propose that this is a reference to the amniotic fluid that is commonly called ‘water’ or ‘waters’. When a pregnant woman is about to birth we speak of her ‘waters breaking’. The amniotic fluid is the protective liquid contained within the amniotic sac that serves as a cushion for the growing foetus, and which facilitates the exchange of nutrients, water and biochemical products between mother and foetus. In this way ‘water’ has a general connection with physical birth and new life, and so it is also used as a metaphor that points to spiritual life. Jesus himself made this connection in referring to drinking water. ‘“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4 v 13, 14 N.I.V). And again, ‘He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from out of the spring of the water of life freely, as a gift’ (Revelation 21 v 6). A similar connection is made in reference to events that will result from the pouring out of God’s wrath at the advent of the Millennium Reign. ‘The third messenger/angel began sounding his trumpet and a great star began to fall from out of heaven, blazing like a flaming torch. It was falling upon a third of the rivers and upon the source of waters. 11 The name and character of the star speaks Wormwood. A third of the waters started and continued to become wormwood and many people started to whither and die away from out of the waters because they began and continued being made bitter’ (Revelation 8 v 10, 11). And again, ‘The third (angel/messenger) started pouring out his bowl towards penetrating into the rivers and springs of the waters and they started to become blood’ (Revelation 16 v 4). I propose that some or all of these verses refer to problems with amniotic fluid, pregnancy and the birth of those who will be affected at this time. Thus Jesus says elsewhere, ‘at that time let those who are in Judea flee and escape to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of his house, 18 neither let the one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 But alas to those who are pregnant and to those nursing infants in those days’ (Matthew 24 v 16b – 19). And again, ‘Alas to those who are pregnant women and those breastfeeding within those days because there will be great constraint upon the land and violent, settled opposition against this people’ (Luke 21 v 23). These verses support my proposal that being brought forth from out of water is a reference to fleshly birth. In his gospel John says, ‘if there isn’t someone brought forth from out of water and breath’ (John 3 v 5). I want to suggest that this ‘someone’ is Jesus himself, the first brought forth from out of water and breath. Jesus is the ‘firstborn’, the pioneer and forerunner preparing the way for Christians, the first man to penetrate into the heavenly realm. This concurs with the context of what John has been saying earlier in his letter – Jesus was brought forth in the breath and in the flesh. He was not merely a ‘breath’ or ‘incorporeal spirit’ like the Christian Gnostics maintained.
Whether Christians are correct in saying that ‘outsiders’ are ‘doomed to a lost eternity in hell’ is another matter. Little is said in Scripture about those separated away into the ‘second death’, the ‘lake of fire’ and ‘place of wailing and gnashing of teeth’. My own personal opinion is that it would be against the principles of fair, reasonable and proportionate justice for example to condemn a child who died in infancy to the same degree of condemnation as Satan, or Judas Iscariot, or the ‘cut off son’ or ‘man of lawlessness’. Scripture teaches that there are proportional rewards when it comes to God’s inheritance, and I consider that it is therefore reasonable to suppose that there are proportional penalties for those separated away. God’s Judgments are not unfair or disproportionate. The Book of Revelation seems to intimate as much in its last chapter. ‘He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, being discharged from out of the throne of God and the Lamb – 2 the river within the middle of its public square, and on either side, a tree of life producing twelve fruits down from each month, each one yielding its fruit; and the leaves of the tree leading towards penetrating into the healing of the nations’ (Revelation 22 v 1, 2). This is also described in the last chapters of Ezekiel and seems to be a potentially literal description of the Millennium Age. I propose that in their fully redeemed state, Christians will be serving God in the heavenly Temple and acting as a delegated authority of royal priests in this healing process. But I am moving into speculation concerning what are as yet veiled and obscure matters.
I hope that I have said enough in the previous few paragraphs to indicate that it is not God’s intention to eradicate planet earth, but to restore the orderly arrangement of the world to a new one of righteousness, justice and purity, in which Christians in their fully redeemed state will have an integral role. This is what John means here in his letter when he says that ‘the Father has sent the Son [as] saviour of the orderly arrangement of the world’ (I John 4 v 14). John is saying that the heartfelt acknowledgement and persuasion leading a person to bear witness and testify that the Father has sent His Son as deliverer of the orderly system of the world is a distinctive quality that is unique to Christians who have the breath of God.
The Scripture references that some Christians use to support the idea of the obliteration of planet earth refer to ‘mountains being levelled’, ‘islands being removed’, ‘earthquakes’, ‘fire being poured down’, ‘stars falling to earth’ and so on. But all of these are metaphors that point to aspects of the collapse of present orderly systems in the world as well as those in the unseen realm of the heavens. These metaphors point to the collapse of government administrations, the failing of economic infrastructures and world markets, the removal or failure of monarchs and leaders in the world, as well as the removal of rebellious messengers in the heavenly realm. They do not describe the literal destruction of planet earth.
The rule of Jesus the Messiah as King of kings who will rule with an iron rod to judge the nations will be inaugurated with pouring out of God’s wrath on the Promised Land, Israel and it leaders. The Hebrew Prophets refer to this as the ‘Day of YHVH’ or the ‘Day of the Lord’. Taking into consideration what I have been saying in the last few posts, look at what Peter has to say. ‘But the ‘Day of the Lord’ will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass by with a great rushing noise, then fundamental elements will be unleashed, burning with great heat and the earth/land and the activities done in it will be discovered. 11 Of what kind ought you to be – all these things being untied and loosened in this way? Within pure and godly behaviour, 12 waiting for and urging on the nearness of God through which the heavens will burn and be released, and the orderly arrangement, burning with heat, will melt away. 13 However, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth/land in keeping with His promise, in which righteousness dwells’ (II Peter 3 v 10 – 13).
In the Book of Revelation we read of the ‘New Jerusalem’ coming down from out of the heavenly realm. The ‘New Jerusalem’ will be the new orderly system of divinely delegated rule and authority on earth – the locus of this delegated authority on earth being the literal Jerusalem in the Promised Land. The delegated rulers will be those selected by God and redeemed through the Messiah – thoroughly washed, transformed and incorruptible – a royal priesthood prepared and made ready to serve God both in the heavenly realms and on earth – since heaven and earth will draw nearer to one another. (This is one reason why flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom). In due course all opposing authorities and powers – all rebellion and the ‘restless sea’ of discontented ungodly people opposing God will be picked out and separated away, such that there will be no more ‘sea’.
How do we reconcile the unpleasant events and behaviours that are happening in the world with the love of God? In what way can God be described as ‘Love’? How exactly is the love of God revealed? How does God’s love sit alongside His Justice? How does God love the world? John goes on to tell us.
‘The love of God continues to be revealed among us within this – that God has sent His one and only Son to penetrate into the orderly system of the world in order that we live through him. 10 Love is within this – not that we loved God but that He loved us and set apart His Son as a sacrifice appeasing His anger with full regard to our self-forfeiture and missing the mark’ (I John 4 v 9, 10). The love of God is not revealed at present by means of the existence of an idyllic world. It is certainly not revealed in the behaviours of those enslaved to the impulses and raw energies of their fleshly constitution. Those actions lead to death, divine disapproval and condemnation. It is clear that God does not love the orderly system of the world in the sense of making present day circumstances and situations pleasant, refreshing, harmonious and fair for ‘outsiders’ or Christians. Rather, God is angry with the ordered system of the world although at this present time He is holding back and restraining the full extent of His judicial anger so that people come to turn around from their divinely disapproved-of behaviours and turn to Him.
In parallel to God’s judicial anger and condemnation, the love of God continues to be revealed to the worlds and especially to Christians. Christians are enabled to perceive and be persuaded that God has sent His only son into the orderly arrangement of the world, in the likeness of physical flesh. Those whom God selects by way of His free gift are made alive to these realities and they continue to live through him. But Christians are not people who came to love God through their own ability, such that then, as result, God decided to deliver them from judicial condemnation. All Christians were once ‘outsiders’ who were blind and deaf to God, their hearts hardened in insensitive opposition to Him such that they had no ability or strength within themselves to turn and come to Him. Like everyone else they were enslaved to the impulses and raw passions of their fleshly constitution – their body of death. It was a body of death because whilst they were in this state of insensitivity and opposition to God – blind, deaf and in error because of their faulty reasoning and impulses that were leading them in a vicious circle of self-forfeiture. Because their divinely disapproved-of behaviour was aggravating their ignorance, insensitivity and opposition. It was whilst they were in this condition that God showed practical, beneficial love towards them, brought them forth and reconciled them to Himself through His chosen and anointed deliverer, His only son, Jesus. This work of reconciliation was brought about from out of God’s love and working energy at a time when those whom God had selected were in a powerless condition. Furthermore, the deliverance that He secured by no means simply dismissed, overlooked or ignored His righteous judicial condemnation. Rather, His righteous judicial anger was appeased or satisfied by means of His set apart anointed Son submitting himself as a sacrifice in order to pay the redemption price, the price to buy them back, as required by God’s Justice, purity and cleanliness. The precious life-blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God – Jesus – constitutes the life-giving substitute price that is required to be paid to remove their self-forfeiture and deliver them from out of divine judicial condemnation. This is how the love of God and His Messiah is revealed to the world.
But ‘outsiders’ continue to fail to perceive this or fail to be persuaded to the point of obedience – to the point of repentance and entrustment in the Messiah. Instead of looking to the Messiah they look instead at the suffering and injustice in the world and then they blame or dismiss God. Instead of looking to the Messiah they look instead at the failings and errors of Christians and their leaders and as a result they dismiss them as deluded hypocrites, rejecting the Messiah along with them. This happens even with the wisest and cleverest ‘outsiders’ – with teachers, academics, scholars and the philosophers of the world. The inner ‘wisdom’ of human nature and the education, philosophies and values of the orderly arrangement of the world do not lead people to the light of truth of Jesus.
John says that if Christians continue to hold on to and entrust that Jesus the Messiah came in the flesh, then they know the breath of God and His Messiah in experience. There are two aspects of the Messiah in this statement:
Jesus is the Messiah – God’s chosen and anointed deliverer, and
The Messiah came in physical flesh
If someone makes a proper acknowledgment of these aspects, if they are persuaded of these things, to the point of obedience, giving them due place and prominence, then they know the breath of God and His Messiah in experience. John does not mean that someone merely makes a statement to this effect, but rather he is saying that if this is the understanding and perception that they hold to and testify to, then it would show that they know and experience the light of truth, and that they are not someone who is continuing within darkness and error.
It is a fundamental principle that
Christians openly confess, acknowledge and bear testimony to Jesus being the Messiah coming in physical flesh
The primary context of what John is saying here relates to those who are declaring that they have been Directly and Immediately inspired by God – that the breath of God and His Messiah has Directly uncovered and revealed divine knowledge to them in their experience. The Apostle Paul says the same thing when he approached the subject of spiritual gifts: ‘I am declaring to you that no one [who is] speaking within the breath of God says ‘Jesus is a curse’, and no one is able to continue saying ‘Jesus, Master, Owner,’ if [they are] not within the set apart and pure breath’ (I Corinthians 12 v 3). If anyone claims to be speaking by means of any form of divine impulse or unction and they then say that ‘Jesus is accursed’, such a sentiment certainly proceeds from a malicious breath and not from the breath of God. In this way the Apostle cut off all those who spoke blasphemously and irreverently of the Messiah whilst claiming to be moved or inspired by God. He cut off all pretence to the possession of spiritual gifts, or to the possession of any influence from God ‘if anyone’, whoever they might be, blasphemed the name of Jesus. Whatever their pretentious claims were to the contrary, the Apostles considered such opposition to the Messiah, or to the Messiah coming in the flesh, to be full proof that they were an impostor, a pseudo-prophet.
The principle is this:
In every instance the set apart, pure breath honours Jesus the Messiah within the light of Truth, and prompts all who are under the influence or unction of the breath to love and reverence his name
Having outlined the polarizing dichotomy between Christians brought forth by God and ‘outsiders’ as children of the devil, John says that it cannot happen that anyone will acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah without being influenced by the pure, set apart breath.
It is not that ‘outsiders’ lack the physical ability to say ‘Jesus is Lord’. Anyone can speak these words and comprehend their meaning. Rather it is that no ‘outsider’ will be heartily disposed and be persuaded that Jesus is Lord; no ‘outsider’ will acknowledge him as their Lord and Master. It cannot happen that an ‘outsider’ will confess him as the true Messiah who has come in physical flesh. A person who has not been brought to this persuasion by the agency of the pure, set apart breath cannot do this – it is beyond their ability. Such an idea is dull stupidity and foolishness to them. No one can be persuaded that he is their Lord, Saviour and Redeemer but by the breath of God, as Paul explains in the early chapters of I Corinthians. Such an appropriation involves breathful knowledge and illuminated perception of Jesus as being God’s anointed Messiah, leading towards affection towards him; entrustment in him, profession of him, and sincere subjection to him; none of which can occur without the free gift of God and possession of the breath of God in the heart.
If Christians are assured of their salvation because they have the Breath of God in their hearts, how does a Christian know and discern the breath of God and His Messiah in experience? How do they distinguish the movement of the breath of God from their own misleading fleshly impulses? John says: ‘Within this you know God’s breath in experience: Every kind of breath that speaks together, agreeing and moving to the conclusion that Jesus the Messiah comes within the flesh is from out of God. Any kind of breath that is not speaking and moving to the conclusion that Jesus the Messiah comes within the flesh is not from out of God. This is the opposite to the Messiah that you comprehend – because it is coming at this present time, existing within the orderly arrangement even now’.
One early dispute within Christianity was between the Apostles and their teaching and practice on the one hand, and Christian Gnostics and their teaching and practice on the other hand. Gnosticism was originally a pagan form of ‘mysticism’ or ‘inner spiritual pathway’ that then infiltrated and gained a foothold within certain Jewish groups. From there it also infiltrated into some Christian assemblies. The word ‘Gnosticism’ is derived from the word ‘gnosis’ meaning ‘knowledge’, and one of the central tenets of Gnosticism is that a person gains experiential knowledge of the divine through Direct, Immediate Transcendent experiences. Within Gnosticism such experiences were sought after and cultivated by engaging in practices such as deep meditation and contemplation. Then the content of these experiences – the Immediate knowledge or insights that was conveyed in them – were understood to be Direct revelations or an uncovering of and by God. Christian Gnostics framed the content of their Transcendent experiences within Christian terminology and concepts. But as a result, many Christian Gnostics considered that Jesus had not come in the flesh, but that rather he was a spirit or breath that had been made manifest.
Christian Gnostics present examples of what appear to be Immediate Direct Transcendent experience of the divine. An individual’s experience of a ‘breath’ that seems very Real and True, indeed, to be Ultimate Absolute Truth. But such experiences directly conveyed Immediate knowledge and insight that Jesus did not come within the flesh, despite the experience seeming to be Real, True and Authentic. Thus it is an example of a breath that is not to be trusted, and teachers proposing such a view are to be rejected.
But on what basis is such an experience and teaching to be rejected? It is rejected on the basis that it does not agree with the eyewitness testimony of the Apostles – it is opposed to the Messiah that the Christians to whom John is writing to, had received. In this way the Christian Gnostic’s experience and teaching are ‘put to the test’ and found to contradict the eyewitness accounts and experiences of the disciples and followers of Jesus. Any teaching moving towards a conclusion that Jesus did not come in the flesh is to be rejected. John says that such teaching is not from out of God.
Such ‘Gnostic’ teaching is in opposition to the Messiah and is in effect without the law. Opposition to the Messiah will not be reserved and revealed only in the future, it is lawlessness that ‘is coming at this present time, existing within the orderly arrangement even now’. This kind of teaching that opposes the Messiah is tied to the ‘lawlessness’ that John spoke about earlier. It is tied to the devil, to the orderly arrangement of the world and to our natural, earthy, fleshly constitution. This lawlessness will be brought to completion and full expression at the end of the present gospel age by means of the ‘cut off son’ or ‘man of lawlessness’, but it has been present from the beginning of the gospel age. It was at work at the time when John writing his letter, and it maintains its presence throughout the age. Thus John urges Christians to watch over and guard the end result of the instructions of Jesus the Messiah, namely to show practical, beneficial love to fellow Christians.
Christian 2 Christians 