Let the Holy Spirit Teach You

Throughout this letter, John repeats three tests designed to help his readers evaluate teachings and teachers, especially helping them evaluate some people who had left the church and were trying to draw the readers to follow them. He’s already mentioned the Moral (2:3-6) and Love (2:7-17) tests, and now he turns his attention to the Doctrinal test.

Before John mentions the doctrine, though, he sets the stage by talking about the teachers themselves.

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)

What does John mean by “last hour” and “antichrist”? In a sense, we’ve been in the last hour ever since Jesus overcame death itself through the cross and the empty tomb. The new age started with Jesus and will last until his return. All of church history has been spent in the last hour. It doesn’t matter that it’s been 2000 years, we’re still in the last hour.

As far as the “antichrist,” just before Jesus returns, there will be a man leading the charge against all things good, and he will be known as the antichrist. I’ve mentioned him in a previous post. Before the antichrist comes, there will be people who oppose God, acting in the same spirit as the antichrist. It’s fair to call these people little antichrists. Every false doctrine, everything that stands against God, is in the spirit of the antichrist. 

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)

These antichrists, the false teachers that John’s readers were facing, had been members of their church and claimed to be followers of Christ. They left the church and the faith, and, by doing so, proved that they were never believers in the first place. They talked like believers and acted like believers but were never believers. 

When our oldest two children were small, some ladies in the church came over to visit. They sat on the floor, playing with our little girls. About an hour after they left, our middle child, about a year old, started feeding me some candy. She was eating candy, and every once in a while she’d come and put a piece in my mouth. Except that the last time she did it, whatever she gave me wouldn’t chew up. I finally realized that what I was chewing might not be candy. So I pulled it out of my mouth and saw that it was a fake fingernail the same color as the candy I’d been eating. The gag reflex was strong with this one. I’ve always assumed that the fingernail came off one of the ladies sitting on our floor.  

That fingernail was about the same color, size, and shape as the candy, but everything is not always as it seems. It’s the same with people. Everyone is not always what they seem. Not everybody who claims to be a Christian is a Christian.

John also confirms in verse 19 the doctrine of eternal security, sometimes called the “perseverance of the saints.” You might have heard it called “once saved, always saved.” A  believer cannot and will not lose his  salvation. Once we are saved, we don’t hold on to God. He holds onto us. We are his children forever. 

John says if the false teachers had belonged to Christ, they would have stayed in the faith. The fact that they left the faith shows they were never truly in the faith. Not only that, but their leaving was in God’s will and purpose, so this verse is also a nod to the sovereignty of God. By leaving, these teachers revealed themselves to be unbelievers.

Those who remain, however, have something that unbelievers don’t. When it comes to recognizing the false teachings of these former members, or any false teaching we come across today, John reminds us of our greatest advantage:

But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. (1 John 2:20)

John is talking about the receiving of the Holy Spirit that every believer experiences at the moment of salvation. Every follower of Christ has the Holy Spirit. I wrote about him here. The Holy Spirit does many things on our behalf, but John is focusing on his role in helping us recognize false teachings. 

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)

The false teachers denied that Jesus is fully God and fully man. They taught that Jesus was only a man, a good man, but just a man, and that the Christ came upon Jesus at his baptism and left him at the cross.

I wrote a series on the person of Jesus discussing the humanity and deity of Jesus here. Anyone today who denies the perfect humanity and perfect deity of Jesus is wrong. Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. Not 50/50, but 100% God and 100% man. 

The false teachers denied that Jesus is God the Son. John is blunt: anyone who says this is a liar. Failure to accept this doctrine brings dire consequences: 

No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:23)

No one who denies that Jesus is fully God has a relationship with the Father. And anyone who has a relationship with Jesus also has a relationship with the Father. There is no such thing as having one without the other. 

Over the next four verses, John gives us two safeguards against false doctrine: 1) let God’s Word abide in you, and 2) abide in the Holy Spirit.

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. (1 John 2:24-25)

From the beginning of their Christian walk, John’s readers had heard the gospel and the teachings of the Apostles. We receive this truth today from the Bible. “Abide” is a word used often by John, and it means “to dwell, to lodge, to reside, to remain.” As believers, we must allow God’s Word to dwell in us, to be a part of who we are. Every decision we make, and every opinion we have, must be based on the Bible. 

Read your Bible. Spend time there, make it a habit to meditate on what God says. Live by the teachings of your Bible. We grow in our faith the same way we came to Christ in the first place — by trusting in God’s truth and his promises. As we grow in our knowledge and faith in God’s Word, our fellowship with the Father and the Son deepens. 

The second safeguard is abiding in the Holy Spirit: 

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:26-27)

The Holy Spirit abides in us. 

Allow him to teach you the truth of the Bible. One of his purposes is to guide you into all truth (John 16:13). You have the Holy Spirit, so you have the truth. You don’t need any new teachings, just like John’s readers didn’t need any new teachings from the little antichrists. 

You have the same weapons John’s members had — the Holy Spirit within you, leading you into the truth of God’s Word. 

Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you. Trust him. Depend on him. Ask for his help as you spend time in the Bible. 

He will lead you into all truth if you allow him.

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