First John: 1 John 2:26-The Antichrists Were Attempting to Deceive the Recipients of the Epistle Lesson # 86

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. (ESV)

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Lesson # 86

Tuesday September 19, 2017

www.wenstrom.org

Lesson # 86

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. (ESV)

“These things” is the accusative neuter plural form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), refers to the contents of regarding these unregenerate false teachers who rejected John’s apostolic teaching and eyewitness testimony that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

“Those who are trying to deceive” is the verb planaō (πλανάω), means “to deceive” since the word pertains to causing someone to hold a wrong view and thus be mistaken and speaks of causing someone to believe a lie or untruth.

The present tense of this verb is a conative present which is expressing the idea that these antichrists were “attempting” to deceive the recipients of this epistle by causing them to reject John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God

I am writing to each of you concerning those who are attempting to deceive each of you. (My translation)

In , the apostle John has been discussing with the recipients of this epistle those individuals who were rejecting his apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Children, it is the last hour. To be specific, as each of you heard that Antichrist is certain to come, in fact, now, many antichrists are in existence. Each of us can confirm from this that it is the last hour. 19 They departed from us but in fact they were never a part of our fellowship because if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument they had been a part of our fellowship, they would have in fact remained with us. On the contrary, this departure took place in order that they would demonstrate that each one of them are by no means a part of our fellowship. (My translation)

Verse 19 begins with the assertion that these antichrists departed from the fellowship of the Christian community and which community included John and the recipients of this epistle.

The adversative clause which follows it makes the assertion that these antichrists were never a part of the fellowship of the Christian community in the Roman province of Asia.

John then presents the reason why this is true by using a second class conditional statement, which portrays the untruth of these antichrists being a part of the fellowship of the Christian community for the sake of argument.

The idea is that if these antichrists in fact were a part of the fellowship of the Christian community, they would have remained in this fellowship, but they did not.

John could have simply made the assertion that these antichrists never were believers in the first place.

However, he uses the second class condition to persuade the recipients of this epistle of this fact by emphasizing with them that they would have remained in their fellowship if they were believers.

The apostle ends this discussion of these antichrists in by asserting that their departure from the Christian community took place in order that they would demonstrate that each and every one of them are by no means a part of the fellowship of the Christian community.

The departure of these unregenerate antichrists is like that of the unregenerate Judas Iscariot who was chosen as an apostle by Jesus Christ and was a disciple of His but never trusted in Him as Savior.

They outwardly appeared as members of the Christian community but were not regenerated.

Eventually people such as this manifest they are unsaved and depart from the fellowship of the Christian community.

However, each one of you possess an anointing from the Holy One. Consequently, each one of you possess knowledge (of the truth). (My translation)

This “anointing” is figurative language for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who empowers or enables the believer to understand and obey the truth of God’s Word and to discern false doctrine.

He would protect the recipients of First John from the antichrists and their false doctrine pertaining to the person of Jesus Christ.

Lastly, in , the result clause is teaching that each of the recipients of this epistle possessed knowledge of the truth as a result of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit which corresponds to what Jesus Himself describes the Spirit as the Spirit of truth in .

Also, He taught in 16:13 that the Holy Spirit would lead them into all truth and it also corresponds to what John teaches in that this anointing teaches the believer.

I am by no means writing to each of you at the present time that each of you are ignorant of the truth but in fact that each of you are possessing knowledge of it and in addition that never does any lie originate from the truth. 22 Who is the worst type of liar? It is none other than the person who at any time does say, “Jesus is unequivocally not the Christ.” This person is the antichrist: the person who unequivocally rejects the Father as well as His Son. (My translation)

Verse 22 begins with John asserting that the worst type of liar is none other than the person who at any time does assert, “Jesus is unequivocally not the Christ.”

He is also asserting that Jesus of Nazareth is the God-man and eternal Son of God and Savior of the world since He is affirming that Jesus is the Christ and describes Him as the Father’s Son.

He is teaching the recipients of this epistle that to be characterized as the worst type of liar and the antichrist is to unequivocally reject Jesus is the Christ and to do so is to unequivocally reject the Father who sent Him.

Anyone who does at any time reject the Son, unequivocally does not possess a relationship with the Father. The person who does at any time acknowledge the Son, does possess a relationship with the Father also. (My translation)

The first assertion teaches that anyone who does at any time reject the Son, unequivocally does not possess a relationship with the Father and they reject the Son by rejecting the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching that Jesus is the Christ.

The second assertion in verse 23 teaches that the person who does at any time acknowledge the Son, does possess a relationship with the Father also (cf. , ; ; ; ; , ).

In contrast to them, what each of you have heard from the beginning must continue to remain in each of you. If what each of you have heard from the beginning remains in each of you, indeed each of you will also live in fellowship with the Son as well as in fellowship with the Father. (My translation)

The command in required that each of the recipients of this epistle continue obey John’s apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth, namely that He is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

The third class conditional statement asserts that if John’s apostolic teaching concerning Jesus which they have heard from the beginning of their Christian instruction continues to remain in the souls of each of the recipients of this epistle, then indeed, they will also live in fellowship with the Son as well as the Father.

Correspondingly, this is the promise which He Himself promised to each and every one of us, namely the life, which is eternal. (My translation)

The correspondence between John’s statement in verse 25 and his statements in verse 24 is that living in fellowship with the Son and the Father by means of obedience to his apostolic teaching concerning the person of Jesus of Nazareth is experiencing the promise they all received from Jesus Himself, namely eternal life.

Now, here in , John identifies the intent of these antichrists, namely that they were attempting to deceive the recipients of this epistle.

Based upon the prologue in , as well as John’s teaching in and , this deception took the form of rejecting John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

These false teachers were attempting to cause the recipients of this epistle to not believe John’s apostolic teaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and thus the Son of God.

John affirms in that the recipients of this epistle were remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching and thus had not fallen victim to the deception of these antichrists.

Also notice in he says that these antichrists were “attempting” to deceive the recipients of this epistle and not that they have already deceived them.

If a believer rejects that Jesus is both God and man, then they will not experience fellowship with God since the hypostatic union is the basis for fellowship with the triune God.

This false teaching the apostle John was seeking to protect the recipients of this epistle from, were propagating an “incipient” form of Gnosticism since Gnosticism was not a full-blown threat to orthodox Christianity in the mid to late part of the first century as it did become in the middle of the second century.

Gnosticism denied Christ’s true humanity in two ways: (1) Some taught that Christ only appeared to have a body, a view called Docetism, from the Greek dokeo, “to seem,” and (2) Others taught that the deity of Christ joined the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before He died.

In contrast to these Gnostic claims, John demonstrates in that he, the other apostles and disciples were eyewitnesses to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the incarnate Son of God or in other words, that He was God in the flesh.