“Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard..” 1 John 2:7
John was writing to a group people who were strong in the faith. In 1 John 2:12-14, he tells the church that he is writing because their “sins are forgiven” (they are already believers), they know “him who was from the beginning” (they know God), they “have overcome the evil one” (they have proven their faith and are counted among the righteous), they “are strong” (they demonstrate solid faith and steadfastness), and “the word of God abides in them” (they know and believe their Bible).
Still, John wrote words of encouragement to shore up their strength. Even the strong in faith need their strength renewed!
Impervious to Deceit
John knew that with the coming of Christ, the final age had begun, and so the coming of antichrists. He was concerned with buttressing the church’s doctrine so as to make them impervious to deceit.
“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.
Antichrists abound. The internet has birthed an explosion of awareness of the spirit of antichrist. Ours is the age of opinion and echo chamber debate, not bold, solid proclamation of absolute truth. No wonder Jesus, in Matthew 24:24 warned, “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”
What strikes me is the ease with which many people are deceived. Two things account for this: a lack of grounding in the Word of God and a lack of life in the Holy Spirit. Or to put it another way, when people have no theological depth and no vital experience of the Holy Spirit they are sitting ducks for the deceiver and the antichrist.
The devil is a master of subtlety. Much heresy is peppered with a modicum— even a profusion— of truth. But like breaking one commandment in the law means breaching the whole of it (James 2:10), so one lie mingled with truth forfeits the integrity of the whole.
In his commentary on 1 John, Matthew Henry wrote, “The unction from the Holy One alone can keep us from delusions.”
The Call to Love
After John encouraged his readers and provided warnings about antichrists, he began his admonition to love. In 1 John3:1-2 he reminds us that the depth of God’s love compels him to call us his children.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Read that again— and again! We who believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ are the children of the living God, who by his great power created the universe and everything in it. And when he returns, not only will we see him in his glorified state (bright, perfect, radiating love), but we will be like him (bright, perfect, radiating love)! How can this be?
In a word, Love.
Reflect
Read 1 John 2:7-27 and Jeremiah 6:16. With all the noise and conflicting “truths" competing for our hearts, what does God say is the key to remaining impervious to deceit?
Even atheists believe that love is important. Anyone who has any acquaintance with the Christian Bible has heard that God is love. Love is the very fabric and source of creation itself.
But the depth of love that folds human beings into his family, the magnitude of the love that has spilled out of the perfect, hermetic intimacy he shares within the Trinity, the brand of love he calls us to and commands us to give, is unfathomable to unredeemed humanity.
Read the following scriptures. Here on earth, what does love look like for the children of God?
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Read the following scriptures. What will love look like for the children of God?
Write a response to God for his sacrifice and the love that causes us to be his children, his heirs, and ultimately, to be like Christ!
Pray
Dear Father, as we have been drawn into your love, and so have been called your children, please protect us from deceit. Seize our hearts and our minds so that we will be equipped to cut through the clamor and fix our gaze squarely on you and the truth of your Word. Only then can we be free to love you and others in the way you have called us to. Amen.