Test #5—The True Confession
I John 2:18-27
I. The Last Hour: The Antichrist(s) (18, 19)
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John identifies false teachers in the Christian community as Antichrists, and says that we
know the “last hour” is at hand because they have come. -
It seems as though John is working from a sort of community saying these Christians had
about antichrist and the last hour, but what those phrases meant to those Christians is not clear. -
It is somewhat more clear how John intends his uses of these terms to be interpreted.
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“last hour”=last era of time before the second coming of Christ.
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“Antichrist/antichrists”=those who oppose the Gospel of Christ, specifically, they who challenge Christ’s Godhood.
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These were not outsiders who came in, but insiders who went out (v. 19)
II. The Last Hour: The Anointed (20, 21)
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This word for anointing is the same Greek word that gives us the words “charisma,” and “charismatic.”
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The idea is that there is a spiritual knowledge that comes through ‘the Holy One” which sets us apart for a holy purpose.
III. The Test: No One Who Denies the Christ is in the Father (22, 23)
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Passages like this are why it’s so important to guard against false teaching, this what the big deal is:
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This is John giving you a mental red flag to put up when you hear some preacher or teacher diminish the divinity of Christ, or take him out of his rightful place at the center of our church, or take him out of his rightful place at the center of out lives—that person is an antichrist. (Colossians 2:8, 9)
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Let’s be very on guard about the place Christ holds in our individual lives and in our church.
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Let’s always remember that there is a cross at the center of our lives, and on that cross is man, a real flesh and blood man, who was also God, as a suffering God, a God who suffered for us.
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That Messiah is real and he is reigning on his throne.
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t’s not the image of Christ that our culture hates—it is actually his message and his example, and most of all his exclusive claims of Godhood. The world cannot abide the thing Christ requires of them—surrender of the will.
IV. The Reversal: Abide in Christ, Abide in the Father (24, 25)
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John reminds these Christians to hold fast to the original teaching they received from him.
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We come to know the Father through the Son because the Father and Son are one, not to mention the role of the Holy Spirit.
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These two verses are very like the end of the last section—we know we are in him by remaining in him.
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V. Reiteration: Let No One Deceive, The Spirit Needs No Teaching (26, 27)
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John tells them, you have the true word, so don’t listen to some new smart-sounding teaching.
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So many of the problems we have in the religious world today come from people thinking that the Holy Spirit need some additional teacher.
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Even Christians who claim to believe in the perfection of the scriptures will sometimes say things like, “well it would be nice if the Bible had addressed this or this,” and it’s always some distinctly modern hypothetical scenario.
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Friends, the scripture is not a how-to guide or a manual for living, despite what you may have heard. It is the mind of God revealed to man. And if you pay close enough attention, everything is covered in these pages.
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So if you have a problem and you find that the Scriptures aren’t helping you address it, you may want to consider that the problem might be you and your perspective, and not the Scriptures.
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I don’t understand everything or have all the answers, and I never will. But I have everything there is to understand and every answer I might need, right here.
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Don’t ever trade in the completeness and simplicity of Christ for some man made scheme only Christ avails.
WHAT DO I DO?
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Expose evil with truth.
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Mark and expose false teachers. (Romans 16:17-18)
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-Speak the truth in love. (Truth
((Eph. 4: 14, 15))without love is brutality but love without truth is hypocrisy) -
Focus on winning souls (Colossion 1:28, 29)
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Don’t win the argument, win the soul.