Let Truth Abide in You

We Must Embrace the Authority of the Scriptures

1 John 2:24–26 NKJV

24 Therefore let that 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. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.

John now reintroduces a concept that is one of his favorites: abiding.

He will use this term (Gk meno; translated to English as “abide” or “remain”) 23 times in 1 John, seven of which appear in 2:18–28.

It conveys the ideas of both union and communion.

John says you should abide in the Word you have received in Christ.

In verse 24, John challenges the believer to simply remain in the teaching of Christ that they had received at the beginning, at conversion.

To abide and remain in this teaching is to abide and remain in both the Son and the Father. There is not any additional thing you need.

Jesus plus nothing equals everything

(Jesus + Nothing = Everything)

Jesus plus something extra equals heresy and the teachings of the antichrist.

All you need is Christ, and with Christ comes the Father too.

Further, it is only in the Son sent by the Father that the gift of eternal life is promised. This is a promise made by God (v. 25), a promise that can never be broken.

The false teachers will attempt to deceive you into thinking you need something more than Christ or something other than Christ. They are liars (vv. 22, 27).

The Spirit and the apostles’ teaching (the Word) always agree.

If what men teach goes against or beyond what those who knew Jesus taught, mark them because they are not of God. They have a different spirit, the spirit of antichrist.

So How Can I Recognize a false teacher?

Jesus warned us that “false Christs and false prophets” will come and will attempt to deceive even God’s elect (Matthew 24:23-27; see also 2 Peter 3:3 and Jude 17-18).

The best way to guard yourself against falsehood and false teachers is to know the truth. To spot a counterfeit, study the real thing. Any believer who “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and who makes a careful study of the Bible can identify false doctrine.

For example, a believer who has read the activities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:16-17 will immediately question any doctrine that denies the Trinity.

Therefore, step one is to study the Bible and judge all teaching by what the Scripture says.

Jesus said “a tree is recognized by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33).

When looking for “fruit,” here are three specific tests to apply to any teacher to determine the accuracy of his or her teaching:

1) What does this teacher say about Jesus?

In Matthew 16:15-16, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and for this answer Peter is called “blessed.”

In 2 John 9, we read, “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

In other words, Jesus Christ and His work of redemption is of utmost importance; beware of anyone who denies that Jesus is equal with God, who downplays Jesus’ sacrificial death, or who rejects Jesus’ humanity.

First John 2:22 says, “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.”

2) Does this teacher preach the gospel?

The gospel is defined as the good news concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

As nice as they sound, the statements “God loves you,” “God wants us to feed the hungry,” and “God wants you to be wealthy” are not the complete message of the gospel.

As Paul warns in Galatians 1:7, “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

No one, not even a great preacher, has the right to change the message that God gave us.

“If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:9).

3) Does this teacher exhibit character qualities that glorify the Lord?

Speaking of false teachers, Jude 11 says, “They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.”

In other words, a false teacher can be known by his pride (Cain’s rejection of God’s plan), greed (Balaam’s prophesying for money), and rebellion (Korah’s promotion of himself over Moses).

Jesus said to beware of such people and that we would know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20). Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), and his ministers masquerade as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:15).

Only by being thoroughly abiding in the truth will we be able to recognize a counterfeit.

Herman Bavinck was a Dutch churchman and theologian in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He also was an insightful teacher concerning the person and work of Christ. Concerning the centrality of Christ to the Christian gospel, he simply and concisely said,

“Christ is Christianity itself; He stands not outside of it but in its centre; without His name, person and work, there is no Christianity left. In a word, Christ does not point out the way to salvation; He is the Way itself” (quoted in Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, 319).

This is what the apostles taught.

This is what the Word says.

This is what the Spirit affirms.

This is what we believe.

This is where we abide.

This is what we confess.

Eternal life is what we are promised!