HOLDING ONTO THE TRUTH (2:20-27)

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What is truth? Is it relative, or absolute? Is it defined by a person's beliefs?

How do we 'know' truth? Is it cognitive and mind-based, or spirit-based?

How does deception work? Does the Devil ever speak the truth?

If God is 'the only true God', how much can we trust Him? ...!

Why is it so important not to deny Christ?

What is the Holy Spirit's role in revealing truth to us?

How does discernment work? Have you had any experiences of it?

THE SPIRITUAL CONTEXT

We have seen that the spearhead of Satan’s doctrinal attack is about denying or twisting the truth about Jesus’s divine nature. The best-known belief of the Gnostics, taught by Cerinthus, was that the divine 'Christ' was an emanation from the highest God, that came upon the man Jesus at the time of His baptism and left him before His crucifixion. In other words that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh and was not the Son of God, the Light of the World.

We do not have to look far, to see similar antiChrist spirits at work in the world today.

• Muslims say ‘God has no sons’

• Unitarians mostly deny the full divinity of Christ

• Judaism holds that Messiah (Christ) has not yet come in the flesh

• Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was in fact the Arch-angel Michael, who used Mary’s baby as his human form but returned to heaven before the crucifixion.

The sharpest aspect of Satan’s attack on the gospel always focusses on the truth of the incarnation: that Jesus was both fully Man and fully God.

Though John carefully avoids ever accusing anyone by name, we can get a clear picture of their beliefs if we collate the various allusions he makes later in the letter. They claimed to have fellowship with God (1:6), to be sinless now (1:8) and to have never sinned at all (1:10); to be abiding in God (2:6), and in the light (2:9). They taught that Jesus was not the Messiah come in the flesh (4:2-3; 5:1) nor the Son of God (4:15; 5:10) who came by blood as well as water (5:6). And they distanced themselves from their brethren, rather than loving them (4:20-5:1).

John is adamant that no-one can come to the Father, except through the Son. 'Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either' (2:23) and therefore denying the Son is denying the Father too (2:22). In fact, disbelieving God's testimony about His own Son amounts to calling Him a liar (5:10).

DENYING CHRIST

John repeatedly underlines the significance of denying Christ's Person and Sonship.

It means ... - we ourselves are liars (2:22) - we have no motive for holiness (3:1-3) - we cannot overcome sin (3:4,5) - we have no example of love (3:16-23) - we cannot discern true prophecy from false (4:2) - we cannot overcome the world (4:4; 5:4,5) - we cannot obey Christ's command to love one another (4:7-12) - we have no gospel to preach (4:14-16) - we do not have eternal life (5:11,12) and thus cannot know the one true God.

Everything is at stake, for those who deny the Son!

You cannot have the Father without the Son.

Suddenly, the picture makes sense. To a Jew, 'Messiah' (or Christ in Greek) had military connotations. It implied earthly rulership. And 'Son of God' was a term applied to the kings of Israel. Though Christ had told Pilate, 'My kingdom is not of this world' (Jn 18:36), Emperor Domitian knew that Christians believed Christ would at some point return - to reign on earth. When his officials demanded that people worship the huge statue he'd erected at the entrance to his new Temple in Ephesus, believers were expected to swear 'Caesar is Lord', on pain of death. But to do so, meant denying Christ! Whereas if you believed that Jesus was just a man temporarily inhabited by an emanation of God, you could swear allegiance to Caesar with a good conscience.

Seven hundred years earlier, Daniel had prophesied that the kingdom of God woul;d crush all the kingdoms of the earth, especially the one made of iron (Dan 2:44,45). Domitian could hear the rumble of the boulder gathering speed, before it destroyed his reign.

Imagine yourself and your family, confronted in your home by a squad of Islamic State fighters. They demand that you deny Christ, or your children and your wife will be executed in front of your eyes, one by one; and then you yourself will be killed. What would you do? Would your faith hold out? Supposing a fellow believer knocked on your door seeking somewhere to hide from arrest. Would you put your family at risk because he was your brother in Christ, or would you 'shut up your heart from him' (3:17) ?

The attraction of the new doctrine, was that you could swear 'Caesar is Lord' whilst still 'having the Father' and 'knowing God'. But John says, this is Satanic deception. The spiritual reality is that our words have huge significance. Just as the verbal confession of Christ along with heart belief in His resurrection seals our salvation (Rom 10:9,10), so the enemy knows that denying Him seals our judgement. Paul quotes a contemporary Christian song which believers may have used to brace themselves for martyrdom:

'If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.

If we endure, We shall also reign with Him.

If we deny Him, He will deny us.

If we are faithless, He will remain faithful,

for He cannot deny Himself.' (2 Tim 2:11-13)

WHAT IS TRUTH?

The concept of truth has come under enormous attack in recent years. The phrase 'alternative facts', much used recently in US Politics, implies that things become facts by whether or not you believe them. But the idea that different truths are or can be equally true, has been around for many years; and it is the basis of inter-faith dialogue, the ecumenical movement, and syncretism. There has been a general undermining of faith that what we are told in the media is true; and as a result, a proliferation of conspiracy theories whose adherents believe adamantly in things that are palpably untrue. Those who believe and hold to the truth of scripture are considered intolerant, and are therefore not tolerated!

We use the word 'truth' in various different senses. For example, we talk about 'scientific truth' - even though philosophers tell us that science cannot prove anything: it can only disprove. For example Newton's Laws were held to be scientific truth for centuries, because they explained many physical phenomenae such as the orbits of the planets. It was only when the Theory of Relativity came along, that we realised that Newtonian dynamics are only 'true' at speeds way below the speed of light.

We also use 'true' to mean congruent to an external standard or known fact - so for instance, true North, or true vertical. Or someone who 'is true to his word'. When we come to talk of moral or spiritual truth however, what is the plumbline or compass that we test it against? To a Christian, the greatest moral virtue is to love one another as Christ loved us. To a Moslem, it is to die in jihad. To a Buddhist, it is to reach Nirvana. Which is true? Or is there no absolute truth, only a choice of which religious teacher we follow?

In Greek thought, truth was the complete or real state of affairs: facts proven in a law court, or truth as against myth, or real as against mere appearance.  Whereas to the Hebrew mind, truth is more about a reliable person, than about the facts of a case.  Jesus said that not only did He come to bear witness to the truth, but He was the truth: His very Person, God become Man, the Godhead veiled in flesh, is the supreme truth of all time. Truth is a Person.

God is the God of truth (Ps 31:3). His truth endures for ever (Ps 117:2). All His commandments are truth (Ps 119:151). His Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:16,17). He looks for truth in our inmost being (Ps 51:6) - our spirit. If there is only one true God (Jn 17.3), then He is the absolute Truth. And ... absolute Truth deserves absolute belief!

HOW DO WE 'KNOW' TRUTH?

We Greek-thinking Westerners regard knowledge as a mental thing. It is the sum total of the facts we have assimilated. But as we've said before, in Hebrew thought knowing was a term describing Adam's relationship with Eve - which produced a baby!

If truth is a Person, then knowing truth must be relational. And since God is spirit, that relationship must be through our spirits. We understand with our minds, but we know with our spirits.

This aspect of our human spirit is called intuition, and along with conscience and worship is one of its primary functions. We often sense something in our spirit, without any words being spoken. So for example, 'Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves' (Mk 2:8).

But our spirits can also be affected by the spoken word. 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue' (Prov 18:21). Our speech can either give life and build up, or minister death and wound someone's spirit. 'The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life' (Jn 6:63).

Though our spirits were supposed to recognise truth of themselves, our refusal to worship or thank Him led to them being darkened (Rom 1:21) and our minds becoming debased (Rom 1:28). So now we need the witness of the Holy Spirit within our spirit, to know whether spiritual things are true or not. This is what scripture calls 'the gift of discernment' (1 Cor 12:10).

When bank staff are being trained to detect counterfeit notes, they are not taught about what a counterfeit nore looks like, because there may be many different such notes. Instead, they are given a large pile of genuine notes to leaf through. Becoming thoroughly familiar with the look and feel of the genuine article then enables them to very quickly identify any notes that don't have that same texture, sheen, etc. In the same way, thorough familiarity with the word of God enables us to tell whether a teaching sounds right or not.  'If you continue in My word you will know the truth, ..and the truth will set you free' (Jn 8:31,32).

I used to have a book called 'The Mark of the Beast' on my bookshelf, which claimed to enable one to discern AntiChrist's arrival by various complex and convoluted arguments which only a Jewish Rabbi could have come up with (!) But it is remarkable how little information John gives about him in Revelation: just that 'the number of his name is 666'. He didn't feel it was necessary to give anything more, because he had already taught them that AntiChrist will be recognisable to those who hold to the truth about Christ.  The clue is in the name: he is anti-Christ: anti His Sonship, anti His incarnation, anti His atonement, His glory.

Since the acid test of new doctrine has to do with what it teaches about Jesus's divinity and incarnation (4:2,3), a deep understanding and familiarity with the doctrine of the Trinity is key to discernment.

HOW CAN WE BE DECEIVED?

The essence of deception, is that you do not realise you are being deceived. Scripture says that the Devil can appear as an angel of light, and that in the end-times he will send 'false Christs and false prophets showing great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect' (Matt 24:24).

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim 4:2ff). When we practice hypocrisy (which involves lying) our conscience - the function of our spirit which tests whether we are in line with God - gets seared. That means we can no longer distinguish truth from lies, and we start to follow deceiving spirits.

Calling Jesus the Christ, or Messiah, is acknowledging Him as the Son of God (Jn 20:31). Denying the Sonship of Christ means denying the Fatherhood of God - denying God Himself. This is the same error (Jn 5:22-23) that the Jewish leaders made; in rejecting the Son they rejected the Father, and so became children of the Father of Lies, whose mother-tongue is deception. And as a result, they could not believe Christ's testimony (Jn 8:42-45)!

Believing Satan’s lies about Jesus destroys our fellowship with both Father and Son, just as Adam’s accepting Satan’s lies destroyed his fellowship with God. Explaining away the miracles, accepting only what can be proved about Jesus from archaeology, seeing Jesus as merely the one Jewish rabbi whose sect survived - all of these are variants of Satan’s perennial theme. Hold to the truth of the Trinity and the incarnation, and you will not lose your hold on eternal life. You will abide in Christ, and His promise is eternal life: relationship, fellowship with both Father and Son.

CHRIST'S SONSHIP AND INCARNATION ARE FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH

‘That which you heard from the beginning’ indicates the vital importance of laying a solid foundation of teaching about Christ, into any new believer’s heart. [I still remember two bible studies when my first Pastor spoke on ‘Jesus, the Son of Man’ and ‘Jesus, the Son of God’. I will always be grateful to have had the solid foundation he gave me.]

When John says, "You know everything" (2:20), he is saying they know everything they need to know about Christ.  Alternative texts read this phrase as "You all know", implying that every new believer was routinely taught about Christ, perhaps through some form of catechism. The heretics' 'new revelation' about His Person is seeking to undermine foundational truths they were all taught as soon as they sought baptism.

What exactly were they taught? What was the 'everything'?

The Prologue to John's Gospel summarises the syllabus in just twenty-four verses!

• They were taught that Jesus was the Word of God: the expression of God's heart and His plan of salvation for man. Jesus was the Logos, divine teaching in human form. He was with God in intimate fellowship, but also was God in His own right. He had always existed in eternity, even before Creation happened. In fact everything came into existence through Him! He had within Him a form of life which does not age or decay or die, and which through His incarnation enlightens all mankind. His Light goes on shining despite the world's darkness; but spiritual blindness prevents most from seeing.

• Our Creator entered His own creation, dwelt amongst the very people He had formed - and yet, they did not welcome Him. Those who did, were born again with a new type of life: the same life He has always had. And they realised that the unique combination of grace and truth which He demonstrated, and which continuously overflowed from Him to them, was so glorious that He was a unique living illustration of the Invisible God. Moses, their long-time guru, had been the channel for God's Law to be revealed to them - but Christ was way more glorious!

• He was, always had been, and always will be, the Son of God. The Father-Son relationship between them which Jesus continually referred to during His earthly life, was what distinguished them as separate Persons within the Trinity. Jesus said, "I always do what I see the Father doing", "I only do what I see the Father doing", "I only say what I hear the Father saying". He always honoured and obeyed His heavenly Father; and in turn, His Father requires all men to honour Christ just as much as they honour Him (Jn 5:22). Christ is in no way inferior to the Father or less than fully God. In fact God has given Christ all authority in heaven and on earth: authority to judge the living and the dead, and authority to raise believers from death at the Last Day.

• Christ became one of us, fully identified with us, fully experiencing every trial and temptation known to man, from conception to crucifixion. He emptied Himself of all the advantages of divinity; so much so that He lived by faith, through the indwelling anointing of the Spirit, just as He asks us to. At His Father's behest, He sacrificed Himself by allowing Himself to be crucified on Passover as our 'Lamb of God': the fulfilment of Abraham's prophecy two thousand years earlier that 'God Himself would provide the Lamb'.

How often have you heard these truths taught in church? How much of this were you taught, by whoever led you to Christ? Yet they are the yardstick by which we can discern false teachings and teachers! No wonder the Western church is so weak and ineffectual.

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ROLE IN REVELATION

Whilst John is writing to comfort and strengthen believers undermined by these seductive heresies, he wants them to focus not on his teaching, but on listening to the Holy Spirit. Letting Him teach us - trusting Jesus’s promise that He will lead us into all truth (Jn 14:16,17 & 16:13-14) - is part of abiding in Christ; experiencing fellowship with our Father and His Son.

As you listen to Christian preachers and teachers, listen out for the inner witness of the Holy Spirit as to whether what you are hearing is truth or lies. You may have a sense that ‘that doesn’t sound right’; or alternatively a joyful bubbling of your spirit within you, as the Holy Spirit confirms what you are hearing; or neither. (Holy Spirit is always especially joyful when He hears Christ being glorified!)

Of course, the Spirit who inspired all our scriptures (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:21) loves to teach us through them. He reveals God’s heart directly to our spirits, often by cross-referencing one scripture with another (1 Cor 2:9-13). Suddenly we have an ‘Aha!’ Moment, when He shows us something new, or speaks into our present situation. Each time you experience this, mentally make a note that the Holy Spirit has spoken within you, and that this is evidence that you are abiding in Christ, and He in you (4:13).

The Holy Spirit teaches us 'concerning all things' (2:27). Jesus promised that because He still had much He wanted to tell them, but which they weren't in a place to be able to hear, the Spirit would 'guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine' (and by the way, everything the Father has is Mine!) 'and declare it to you' (Jn 16:12-15). It seems that the 'all things' in verse twenty-seven is wider than that in verse twenty. But the Spirit's concern is still primarily to glorify Christ: to open our eyes to the wonder and glory of His Being - His full divinity. All that the Father has, is His!

In fact, without the Holy Spirit we can know nothing of God. In the wisdom of God, this world's wisdom cannot know Him. However deep or long we study the scriptures in our own intellect, we still cannot know Him. 'It is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him". But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God' (1 Cor 2:9-12).

We are utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about Christ's incarnation - that He is fully God and fully Man. And only the Spirit can show us what it means that Jesus is the eternal, only-begotten, Son of the Father. We may speak to each other of these truths, but without the Holy Spirit we will be speaking a hidden wisdom, a mystery.

But praise God, He has given us His Spirit, that we might know everything that God has freely given us: the full length and breadth and height and depth of His love! He wants us to have 'fellowship with the Father and the Son', through the Holy Spirit.

YOU WILL ABIDE

Much writing about the Tribulation, sells itself by focussing on believers' fears of being 'left behind' or of being deceived by antichrist into eternal damnation. The heretics too had sold the idea that they had a superior revelation, and that ordinary Christians needed the 'new revelation' that was being touted. But having started with a confirmation that they do know the truth (2:21), John closes this section on a note of assurance: 'You will abide'.

The young men have already had some measure of victory in overcoming the evil one, through having clung to the word of God. By holding onto core gospel truths about Christ, and learning to listen to the Holy Spirit's witness whenever they meet new teaching, they will continue to abide in Christ.

They (we) don't need anyone to teach them (us), as the Holy Spirit is our teacher. Jesus said we shouldn't call anyone rabbi, for we have one Teacher - the Anointed One (Matt 23:8). Doing so simply flatters such mens' desire for status. Anyone who seeks honour for themselves as a teacher of God's word with special understanding, is in a sense embezzling the glory due to Christ alone. They are manifesting worldliness and 'pride of life', and will be judged more strictly by God (Jas 3:1). Only those appointed by Christ Himself as teachers, should dare to take this work upon themselves, and then in deep humility.

Isaiah says of Christ, 'The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord' (Isa 11:2). Paul says, 'The fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in our Lord, and we are complete in Him!' John says, 'Of His fullness have we all received, grace upon grace'. 'You have an Anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things'. Let the Holy Spirit's mighty anointing abide in you! He is the seal that marks us out as Christ's, and the guarantee of our inheritance until our final redemption (1 Cor 1:21,22; Eph 1:13,14).