Guard Yourselves From Idols

1 John 5:19-21

Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, 28th Edition Chapter 5

19 οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ* θεοῦ ἐσμεν καὶ ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται.* 20 ⸂οἴδαμεν δὲ⸃ ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἥκει καὶ ⸀δέδωκεν ἡμῖν διάνοιαν,* ἵνα ⸁γινώσκωμεν τὸν ἀληθινόν⸆, καὶ ἐσμὲν ἐν τῷ ἀληθινῷ, ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ ⸄ζωὴ αἰώνιος⸅.

21 Τεκνία,* φυλάξατε ♦⸀ἑαυτὰ ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων. ⸆

NASB

19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

ESV

English Standard Version Chapter 5

19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

OPENING REMARKS

This letter started with a bang and now it finishes with one!

I want to spend the majority of my time expounding verse 21, but before we get there there are several key doctrines outlined in verses 19 and 20 that need illuminating.

Verse 19

There are only two types of people in this world, those who are under the power of the evil one and those who have been born of God.

The universality of sin and depravity - The whole world ‘lies’ in the evil one. The language here reminds me of Psalm 1 and the unrighteous man. The sense here is that the world is reclining in the power of the evil one, even sleeping in his power. They are perhaps unaware of their peril, but they are certainly comfortable where they are.

Romans 3:9–18 ESV

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Verse 20

Regeneration - In order to escape the power of sin and the evil one it is necessary that you be given something by God. No one can simply out of their own will and power choose to know God.

 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true;

Christ must give you understanding (Dianoia) - This word dianoia is often translated, understanding, or mind. Yet it has a broad range of meaning. In the Greek septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew OT the word dianoia is regularly used as a translation of the Hebrew noun לֵב (leb) which means heart. I havent got time to go into a word study on that word today, though I suggest you study it for yourselves. Suffice it to say, in order to know God you must be given a new heart!

English Standard Version Chapter 36

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

This is what it is to be ‘born again’ as Jesus explained to Nicodemus.

Has God given you a new heart? Has Christ given you understanding today? Can you say ‘I am no longer lying under the power of Satan but I am born of God, I know Him, I love Him.’

Being a Christian cannot be reduced merely to church attendance and pious behaviour, though it certainly includes those things. Being a Christian means that you have been given a new heart, you have a new mind, a mind that KNOWS God. That loves God, and loves His word. You hate the things of the world, the lies of the devil and sin.

The Deity of Christ

and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Studies in Theology 4. Titles Ascribed to Jesus Christ

Dr. Wm. C. Robinson, of Columbia Theological Seminary, has pointed out that “The Greek New Testament directly applies to Jesus the name ‘God’ some ten or more times (John 1:1, 18 [Aleph B. C. text]; 20:28; 1 John 5:20; Heb. 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1; Acts 20:28; Rom. 9:5; 2 Thess. 1:12; Titus 2:13; and perhaps Acts 18:26; 1 Tim. 3:16). And no less significant is the phenomenon, recognized by scholars of widely differing schools, that Jesus is identified by the New Testament writers as the Lord of the Old Testament when they apply to Him Old Testament texts in which the original is written of Adonai or Jahweh (Jehovah) (Is. 40:3; Mark 1:3; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:34; Rom. 10:13; Is. 45:23; Phil. 2:10; Jer. 9:24; 1 Cor. 1:31; 10:17; Ps. 68:18; Eph. 4:8: Is. 2:19; 2 Thess. 1:9; 2 Sam. 3:39; 2 Tim. 4:14; Rev. 22:13).)”

Lorraine Boettner

If you have a NKJV or an NASB the reading of this verse might be slightly ambiguous as to whether it refers to Jesus or the Father however the ESV, NIV, NET and NLT render it more closely to the original Greek in my opinion.

οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς καὶ ⸄ζωὴ αἰώνιος⸅.

The Letters of John A Note on Sins that Do and Do Not Lead to Death

Schnackenburg’s comment would be entirely appropriate:

For here the full identity of Jesus with God is recognized without reserve (note the article with theos, God). This seems to occur intentionally at the end of the letter, at the climax of the triumphant expression of faith. It is hardly an accident that it is precisely at the beginning (1:1, 18) and the end (20:28) of the Gospel of John that the light of Jesus’ divinity shines forth most fully. The climactic christological confession becomes visible here in all its clarity.

Guard Yourselves from Idols

I think the ESV is a little weak here in traslating the Greek imperative verb φυλάξατε . The noun version for this verb is the word used for a guard. I think the NASB renders it better with guard yourselves from idols. This is a command!

Furthermore, each of you is responsible to do this for yourselves. This is something that we are to take responsibility for doing, no one else can do this for you.

The term ‘guard’ indicates that there is a threat, that you have something that needs protecting. Therefore, John is saying that idolatry is a real threat.

Unless we understand the true threat of idolatry to us, we are unlikely to guard ourselves properly against it.

If I tell you to guard yourself against a toddler you’re not likely to really take me seriously.

Do you consider that you are really vulnerable to idolatry? If you feel it’s something that would never be a temptation to you, it’s likely that it already is an issue for you, and that the enemy is, so to speak, within the walls.

“The human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.” - John Calvin

Know the fallability of your own heart!

English Standard Version Chapter 17

The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

Any successful fighter is able to identify his weaknesses as well as his strengths, knowing your weaknesses better than your opponent does allows you to play to your strengths. Any fighter unaware of their weaknesses will be overly confident and exposed. Connor McGregor (ground work vs toe to toe).

In understanding my weakness, in that my heart is still vulnerable, I will compensate by spending more time in prayer, in studying His word and in worship.

What is an Idol?

An idol at the most basic level is a false god. Something that assumes the place of God in our lives.

In the 1st Century there was the practice of idol worship, worshiping graven images and carved statues.

But if John is talking specifically about the worship of graven images here then he hasn’t prepared us in the context here. I believe along with many commentators that John is referencing the false teachings of the secessionists that he’s been writing about all through the letter. Any false presentation of the true God is an idol!

So, we are to guard ourselves against false teaching. What else could become an idol to us?

Well, Spurgeon believed that one could make an idol out of almost anything; though he saw the most common and dangerous ones as

Self - intellect, callings, appetites

Family/Children

The Great Ones (Teachers, Philosophers, Leaders)

The Idol of The Hour - The ideologies and causes that the world says are good.

Spurgeon said he had lived long enough to see the Idol of the hour change numerous times.

We are to be particularly on our guard against ideologies and causes which the world loves. We know that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, this includes all of the worlds systems, governmental, educational, cultural. Therefore we must be on guard against what the world says is good, no matter how appealing and plausible and in accord with Christianity it may appear to be. Many churches have been shipwrecked and more than ever today are being ruined by pastors attempting to synthetise worldly ideals with Christianity. This is to bring in idols to be worshipped alongside Christ.

Anything that keeps you from worshipping Christ in spirit and in truth is an idol! And it must be destroyed.

Christ came and demonstrated every idol to be false, dead and worthless. How? Because every idol that the world worships is either dead or dying! He is alive!!

Every generation has it’s ideas, it’s great men and women, it’s philosophies, it’s religions that it prefers above Christ, but only Christ endures, only Christ lives, only He has triumphed over death.

Drop your dead idols today and receive from Him a new understanding. Let us worship God as He is and be on guard against anything else.