1John
2:18 ¶ Little children, it is the last
time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many
antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with
us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were
not all of us.
Again,
supposing John is talking to new converts or simply referring to the disciples
he has led he announces that it is the last time. An atheist historical writer,
Will Durant, noted that the early Christians;
“…were
apparently unanimous in believing that Christ would soon return to establish
the Kingdom of Heaven on earth”.[1]
Christians
were always told to be looking up expectantly waiting for Christ’s return.
Titus
2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
John makes
mention of antichrists, plural, corrupters who had been a part of the Christian
community but were now gone out as false teachers. He will explain next what
they believe. They have denied the divinity of Christ and there is much to say
about that. But John explains here that they were permitted by God to do this
so that their pernicious doctrines are exposed. By them being allowed to
separate from the brethren it is made clear that the orthodox brothers and
sisters in Christ do not agree with them.
1John
2:20 ¶ But ye have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 I
have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know
it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is
antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not
the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the
beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the
Father. 25 And this is the promise that
he hath promised us, even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto you
concerning them that seduce you. 27 But
the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not
that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,
and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him.
Unction is
divine empowering or anointing from a Greek word, according to Strong’s, that
comes from the same word for consecrating Christ’s messiahship. The Gnostic
heresy of the first century is emphasized here. The Gnostics, according to some
sources, believed that the God of the Old Testament was a devil, perhaps Satan
himself, and He keeps man imprisoned and deceived but Christ came, as an avatar
and guide, a teacher to lead us to freedom. Christ was not God in the flesh
because flesh, like all matter, was evil in which we are imprisoned. So, Christ
could not be God. They denied the divinity of Christ, in many instances, and
blasphemed God, imagining themselves like in the modern movie, The Matrix, taking
the red pill which opens their minds up to the truth of the artificial
construct we live in, according to them. To many of them the real God was unknowable
and Christ, while at some point divine according to some Gnostic traditions,
only appeared in the human form of evil flesh and matter. The Gnostics also
believed that man was perfectable as he embraced this secret knowledge.
Modern day
Communist theory is modern Gnosticism with the perfectable socialist man who
throws off the shackles of a deceiving world system, of course, after the
murder of many millions to get to that place and the total denial of all
freedom as the socialist man merges into the collective, his only legitimate
identity. Man becomes his own god, as stated and implied in many Marxist
writings.
The
antichrist spirit denies God the Father, the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost,
whom John will mention later. The anointing or unction of the Holy Ghost upon
the believer will deliver him or her from destruction and teach them all
things.
John
14:26 But the Comforter, which is the
Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.
The
antichrist spirit denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed
One. Each person in Gnostic heresy was responsible for saving themselves and
salvation was not found in Christ. Jesus was only a teacher, among many of the
Gnostics, who led us to our own self-knowledge and salvation that only we
ourselves could provide. You can see Gnosticism all around you if you pay
attention to mainstream spiritual thought and the embracing of certain
religions and political ideologies, and intellectual thought in the Western
world.
1John
2:28 ¶ And now, little children, abide
in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed
before him at his coming. 29 If ye know
that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born
of him.
John
pleads with these Christians, many of them brand spanking new and not
experienced at all, to say faithful to Christ, believing that He will return so
that when He does they are not ashamed at their faithlessness. Then, John makes
an important transition statement into his next argument that doing what is
right flows predictably from everyone who is born of Christ, born again. Verse
29 is a reference to believers in Christ and not a blanket statement saying
that everyone who does right, believer or not, if born again.
[1]
Will Durant, “The Apostles: A.D. 30-95,”
The Story of Civilization:Volume
3, Caesar and Christ (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944), 575.
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