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Dr. Ron Hall, professor and pastor, and Peter Englert, pastor, help you delve into 1 John. Understand the context and background while applying this practical book of the Bible to your life.
1 John - 2-18-27.mov
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Peter Englert
00:01 - 00:21
Welcome to the Reading First John podcast. I am here with Ron Hall, who is a professor and pastor, and then my name is Peter Englert. I'm the co-host of this show. What we're going to do is we are actually going to jump into our next section, which is 1 John 2, 18 through 27.
Peter Englert
00:22 - 00:32
And so I'm going to read it. And then if you have your Bibles out or your phones out, this is great to follow along with us. And then I'm going to throw it around. So let's get started.
Peter Englert
00:33 - 00:51
Dear children, this is 1 John 2.18. This is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.
Peter Englert
00:51 - 01:03
For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One. and all of you know the truth.
Peter Englert
01:03 - 01:17
I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the Antichrist.
Peter Englert
01:18 - 01:31
He denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.
Peter Englert
01:31 - 01:48
If it does, you also will remain in the son and the father. And this is what he promised us, even eternal life. I am writing you these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you.
Peter Englert
01:48 - 02:14
and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and as the anointing is real, not counterfeit, just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears, we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
Peter Englert
02:16 - 02:35
So Ron, before we get started, here's one thing that I just kind of want to point out. We read this passage separately. And I think if you removed the word Antichrist, you would see. And we're not trying to remove it, but we get distracted by that word.
Peter Englert
02:35 - 02:54
If you remove the word Antichrist from this, you would see the flow of thought that John has. And I just think that that's important that sometimes we see something that's either confusing or sparks crisis. But we forget that there's an actual flow that the writer's coming with.
Ron Hall
02:55 - 03:18
Yeah. And if we distill that down, we come up with the focus on truth. So there would still be the truth and the counterfeit. The Antichrist is the counterfeit, but if you take out Antichrist, you still have what's the truth, what is the plumb line, and then there's the diversion by all types of false teaching that we'll be talking with in a few moments.
Peter Englert
03:20 - 03:34
Well, so let's get started and dive in. You know, I think we've seen light and darkness, truth and lies, and in 2.18-19, we talk about Jesus preparing a way, but the enemy prepares the way.
Ron Hall
03:34 - 04:00
Yeah, and that's the huge part. It deals with this phrase, last hour, and just to put that in perspective, it's about the last days. It's used in repeated places within Scripture, and being able to keep that focus, it's the time between the first and second coming of Christ. And I love Hebrews, and those of you who will get the notes, you'll see I have it there.
Ron Hall
04:00 - 04:22
In these last days, God has spoken to us through his Son. So when Jesus came, his first coming, and then up to a second coming is technically the last days. and we are awaiting, then, the last days to come to a close when Christ does return again. In the meantime, there's this idea of anti-Christ.
Ron Hall
04:22 - 04:49
So anti- means in place of, Christ means anointed one, so the anti-Christ comes in the place of Christ to stand in opposition to him. So John is dealing with the forces that are at work within this community of faith and in the world. where the devil is doing, because the devil is the source of the Antichrist. is doing everything he can to contest the truth that Christ brings.
Ron Hall
04:50 - 05:13
And so we need to come to terms with the reality of it, because this Antichrist, or many Antichrists, John says, have gone out into the world—many deceivers, people that are minions, they're pawns in the hands of Satan doing his work to lead people astray from the truth, and that's what's taking place here.
Peter Englert
05:15 - 05:39
Something that we should know where we're not going to spend a lot of time on this, but I feel like it's important. You and I have been involved in Christianity for decades. There's been guesses on who the Antichrist might be. And just to your point, context wise, like back in ancient times, Jesus wasn't the only person that said he was the Messiah.
Peter Englert
05:40 - 06:03
So I think that that is important to the original readers that there were other people claiming divinity, messiahship. So before we go and try to plot that out, I think that that's important. And also something that you said to it. This is what we miss in the Greek anti other and then Christ anointed one.
Peter Englert
06:04 - 06:31
You don't get this in English, but there's actually this overlap of the Antichrist and you are the anointed one, not calling us Jesus, but because of what Jesus has done in us. So I just think it's important that when we read apocalyptic end time literature, what we're doing with this passage is we're not trying to chart the Antichrist. What is the deeper truth or the deeper theology that the writer's trying to bring to us?
Ron Hall
06:32 - 06:51
Yeah. and it's going to revolve around truth. Because remember, Satan's going to do everything he can to lead people astray. So John focuses in on these people that said they belonged to the community of faith, but they didn't belong to the community of faith.
Ron Hall
06:51 - 07:08
John said they went out from us, but if they were really of us, they wouldn't have gone out, they wouldn't have departed. So they were purveyors of falsehood. And he's going to reinforce that later on in these verses. He keeps driving it home.
Ron Hall
07:08 - 07:43
Then what is truth that's going to be found in Christ? So you remember back in chapter 1, folks, we were dealing with these people who believe that they were no longer in sin. They're called cessationists, that sin was no longer an issue in their lives. Well, It could very well be these people are the makeup that were denying sin in chapter 1, and here they are now, going out from the community of faith, acting as if they have this Christian banner, when it turns out they are full of falsehood.
Ron Hall
07:44 - 08:07
And of course it sets up the age argument that's been going on for centuries as to whether or not you can lose your salvation, or maybe they weren't believers at all. We're not going to try to unpack all of that today, but we do want to say this. If they were really with the community of faith, they wouldn't have gone out the way that they did. I'll reinforce something more on that later, but go ahead, Peter.
Peter Englert
08:08 - 08:29
No, that's great. So, you know, we've kind of hit on 18, and again, kind of hitting on the Antichrist, and you were just kind of hitting on 19, but we started with the bad news, because that's what John started with. As we go into 20 through 23, what's the good news that John's trying to communicate to this church?
Ron Hall
08:29 - 09:16
Yeah, well, we're coming back to this whole idea of truth, that there's those that follow after the god of this world that John is going to emphasize in chapter 4 and in chapter 5, and that we can overcome the evil one in this world. And we'll get to that sometime down the road. But in this one, he's saying, wait a minute, you are a separated people in the sense that you have an anointing, you have the Holy Spirit that is with you, that Jesus is in your life, and therefore you are separated out. Now remember, there's a lot of issues we need to unpack here, but he's going to expose the one that's the liar.
Ron Hall
09:17 - 09:30
Remember, Satan is the father of lies. Satan is the one who wants to lead people astray. And Jesus said that the devil, he speaks his native tongue because he's a liar. and he drilled down on that in John chapter 8.
Ron Hall
09:31 - 09:38
So he's after the uniqueness of the believer to be able to stand strong in him, because they have his presence with them.
Peter Englert
09:40 - 10:18
Before we jump to the liar in the next few verses, because I think that that's going to be important, Not as often now, but in the past, you know, you and I were part, you know, are part of traditions that we talk about the anointing and probably the surface definition of the anointed has to do with clergy type figures with potential supernatural abilities. And I say supernatural in air quotes. Um, so I think that sometimes that word is not, it's used today differently than how John used it.
Peter Englert
10:18 - 10:25
Why don't you explain to our listeners, um, since you touched on it, the difference between how John uses it versus we use it.
Ron Hall
10:26 - 10:50
Well. In our cultures, our circles today, it's as if someone who's anointed is somehow above everybody else. They have some special presence of the Lord that nobody else hears like they do. They hear from God audibly, and they have all of these magical things that happen because they had an anointing.
Ron Hall
10:51 - 11:19
But that is not what John is saying at all. That if you are a genuine believer, you have an anointing from the Holy One, so that you know the truth. So every Christian is anointed. And we need to keep that in mind, that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, and if we don't have the Holy Spirit, then we're none of His, it says in Romans chapter 6—chapter 8, excuse me.
Ron Hall
11:19 - 11:46
So we know that we are in Him, and we have this anointing from the Holy One, And I'm getting ahead here, but so you have no one that needs to teach you, because you have the anointing from the Holy One, where he's heading is showing how there's not a group of people that somehow know more than everybody else. You instead, yourselves, have the truth, and you live in that truth. There's a verse that's often taken out of context by false teachers.
Ron Hall
11:46 - 12:05
that touch not God's anointed and do His prophets no harm, so that you're not supposed to attack them. And that's not what that verse in Psalm 105 is talking about. It's talking about the very people of God, the Israel of God. So if you are a believer today, you are a follower of Jesus.
Ron Hall
12:05 - 12:28
You have accepted and not denied the reality of his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. You believe that he literally came in the flesh, as John dealt with in the first chapter about we beheld him. The same language of the Gospel of John is found in 1 John, what we call the Incarnation. If you've accepted that, then therefore you have the Spirit.
Ron Hall
12:28 - 12:30
You are the anointed.
Peter Englert
12:31 - 12:59
Mm. So let's hold that thought just for a moment, because, you know, so, John, you know, he starts off with some bad news. He talks about having the truth in Jesus, and then he shifts in to 22 through 23 about the liar and the liar has to do with Satan. So what's what's he trying to kind of communicate in the context of the bigger picture when it comes to the liar?
Ron Hall
13:00 - 13:20
Well, it's a contrast that the devil is at work identifying as Antichrist. Remember, the verses communicate many antichrists have gone out into the world. He's going to revisit this theme again in the letter and to drive it home. So he's setting up a contrast.
Ron Hall
13:20 - 13:39
There are those that claim to be of the community of faith that really are liars because they are denying the reality of Christ having come in the flesh. And that's huge to this letter. We'll get back to it when we get to chapter 4, but right now we need to drive it home. You know, who's really in the faith?
Ron Hall
13:40 - 13:54
Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not a believer. So the ones who are followers are the anointed ones, because they have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within them.
Peter Englert
13:55 - 14:35
Well, and what I love of what you're talking about is, you know, this mirrors Colossians 2 a lot, you know, because when you go into Colossians 2, there's the verse you're rooted and built up and steadfast in the faith. John's going to talk about being steadfast in the faith. But in Colossians, whether we believe it's wives tale or Judaism, there there was a group of people that were trying to add on to Jesus and add on to the gospel. And, you know, I think it's worth as we kind of step back, even as we look at 224 through 25, like it's not new.
Peter Englert
14:35 - 15:05
It's not new that people are, you know, we're told, hey, remain in Jesus, remain in Christ. And then we do have pockets of Christianity that they're trying to add, whether it's practices or beliefs. And you and I have talked about, you know, the special revelation. And I think John and Paul, who wrote Colossians there, they're saying at the very most diplomatic, nicest way, be very cautious about it.
Peter Englert
15:06 - 15:12
And then on top of that, like they're probably not headed in the right direction if they feel like there's a special belief.
Ron Hall
15:13 - 15:36
Peter, that's a great parallel with Colossians 2, because there it's dealing with homespun religions. We call it folk religions. The technical term is religious syncretism, and they were looking for taking what was in the culture and then melding it together with Christianity and coming up with a new form. They were esoteric experiences.
Ron Hall
15:37 - 16:01
Again, it's back to what I was saying, the idea that these anointed ones, somehow there's a group of people that have the inroads to God. He calls them on their cell phone, he talks audibly to them, and then other Christians are like subpar, and there aren't second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. Either you're in or you're out. Either you're anointed because you have the Spirit, or you aren't.
Ron Hall
16:02 - 16:24
And so the technical term also in John is Gnosticism. That was a belief of a denial of what you did with your body, that you could live whatever way you wanted, sexual immorality. It was separated out, and somehow you were among a people that had a superior knowledge. And John said, no, no, no.
Ron Hall
16:24 - 16:26
And that's where we're heading with those next verses, too.
Peter Englert
16:27 - 16:46
Hmm. So let's jump into 24 to 25, and then we can, you know, kind of because he he contrasts. But in 24 through 25, just like in Colossians, is he's talking about to remain steady. And one of the things that I think not makes John different, but John is.
Peter Englert
16:48 - 16:59
is very much into pictures. I mean, there's, you know, the the pictures within the Gospel of John that Jesus is the bread of life. You know, we are the vine. He is the brand.
Peter Englert
17:00 - 17:13
Yeah, he's the vine where the branches don't want to mess that up. But, you know, you kind of see those pictures from what you've heard. Very physical remain abide. And then the assurance of Christ.
Peter Englert
17:14 - 17:27
He's not, you know, Thank God we have First John. But if we didn't have First John, all of these ideas are in the Gospel of John. And if anything, he's adding layers onto that. Yeah.
Ron Hall
17:29 - 18:09
when he brings an understanding of what the Gospel has done. Because he's writing in 85-90 AD, so we're years out from the resurrection, we are years out from the writing of the Gospel of John, well, about the same time of the Gospel of John, but the events obviously date back to the time of Christ. And so here he is trying to reinforce, you remain steady in the faith compared to those who went out from us but they really weren't of us, compared to those who are anti-Christ, so to speak, and doing the bidding and their pawns in the hands of Satan and following after his ways.
Ron Hall
18:09 - 18:10
That's the key.
Peter Englert
18:15 - 18:47
So we see that, you know, with Jesus in that contrast, but let's and we can come back to 24 and 25. But one of the things that as we move into 26 and 27 is we do experience the taunts of the enemy. We do need God's presence and direction. And in some ways, two through 26, is just a reminder of how much we need the Spirit, how much we need God's Word, and what that looks like in a daily life.
Ron Hall
18:48 - 19:12
And remember, when we get into 26-27, he's not saying that you don't need teachers as far as the gifts we find in Ephesians chapter 4. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. So he's not discounting that. What he is saying is you do not need these purveyors of false doctrine.
Ron Hall
19:13 - 19:34
of falsehood who are doing the bidding of the Antichrist. You don't need those people to sway you, those who claim they have some superior anointing. Instead, you have the anointing because you have the Holy One in you, so that you're not to be led astray. And that's going to be key when we get to chapter 4, folks.
Ron Hall
19:34 - 19:57
You've got to understand there is a beautiful thread that John weaves together to reinforce over and over again what true Christianity is all about. So if you're a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, He's going to what? He's going to lead us and guide us into all truth. He's going to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
Ron Hall
19:57 - 20:02
So we get that in the Gospel of John, and we get it reinforced here in 1 John.
Peter Englert
20:03 - 20:42
Mm hmm. Yeah, and and just to kind of this, this does have an apocalyptic taste, because in verse 25, just to kind of jump back, we're promised eternal life now. if Dallas Willard was here, you live in the already not yet, you live the kingdom, the kingdom effects right now. And so as even we jump here, the contrast is the promise that we have in Jesus and kind of the waywardness of the lying of the devil, but also these antichrists that have gone out.
Peter Englert
20:43 - 21:02
I think we can, if we don't get stuck on the Antichrist, who it is and what it looks like today, I think what we see is, what John is trying to lay out is, things are really hard right now, you experience the taunts of the enemy, but where we're going is a beautiful ending where Christ does return.
Ron Hall
21:03 - 21:36
Yeah, and by dropping back, when you said the 24-25, the believer has that hope of eternal life. And that's hard for us to get our minds around the idea of something being forever means forever, and that we're going to live on and on, but we're going to live with a new body, we're going to live in a whole new way. But that eternal life is God's gift within us. He who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son does not have life, and the wrath of God abides in him, John 3.36.
Ron Hall
21:37 - 21:56
And we all know John 3.16, for God so loved the world, that He gave us eternal life. That's the gift that we have through Christ. So it's this idea of, and you mentioned it just previously, about the idea of remaining steady. What do we do in the meantime?
Ron Hall
21:56 - 22:08
We don't let the enemy lead us astray. We don't follow the ways of experiences people come up with of false doctrine. Instead, John's saying to remain steady.
Peter Englert
22:11 - 22:31
So before we head to application, the passage closed. We actually went to 29. And in some ways, that's a good summary of everything. But what are some other unique parts of this passage that we need to kind of understand in the background.
Peter Englert
22:31 - 22:44
We've pulled out a lot, and again, 28 and 29 in some ways is summing up a lot of what was said previous, but what are some things that you think we should be pulling out before we get to application?
Ron Hall
22:44 - 23:06
Yeah, well, it's the idea of the steadiness of the faith. John is not talking to people that he wants to be bantered around. Or in the words of Paul in Ephesians 4, that you'll no longer be tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of doctrine. He's setting the course.
Ron Hall
23:06 - 23:38
The words of Hebrews 6, we have an anchor that's entered within the veil, that Christ himself. So it's the idea of this steadiness, and that stability for our Christian life. And I think all of us that are processing this today, all of you listening, it's the idea you want steadiness in your life, you want assurance, you want surety, you want an anchor that holds you fast, and John is offering just that. Here is the stabilizing place for your Christian faith.
Ron Hall
23:39 - 23:45
All this craziness that's going on in our world today, can be addressed with the stability we have in Christ.
Peter Englert
23:47 - 24:19
Well, and just as we jump to application, you know, I think about, you know, parenting, because in this passage, you know, it talks about being children of God. Children don't pick up things in miraculous once or twice ways. You know, children pick up things because parents are consistent. That's from everything spiritual, from reading the Bible and praying with them, but also to You know, I mean, my girls, my daughters roll their eyes.
Peter Englert
24:19 - 24:48
But, you know, when we're getting ready for school and to drop them off, they know, you know, I ask them, what do you need to do to get ready for the day? It doesn't it doesn't change. And on one level that sounds boring, but on another level, I think we're reminded there's certain things that God does on a regular basis in the mundane, ordinary tasks that wouldn't happen if we did it every so often.
Ron Hall
24:49 - 25:10
Yeah. And this is meant to drive this home that the Christian life is so daily. So you're saying to your girls, what do you have to do to get ready for school? And for my sons, I would have a mirror by the front door, and they're leaving to go out the door, and I'd look at yourself in the mirror.
Ron Hall
25:11 - 25:30
And remember that you're going to be looking at yourself in the mirror again tonight, and you want to have a clear conscience before the Lord. So the Christian life is so daily. And John is giving them these directives and instructions of how to incorporate this into your daily life.
Peter Englert
25:33 - 26:09
I mean, one little piece of application—and this is hard, so you've really got to do the work—is, you know, what lies do I believe that affect my faith? You know, I was, you know, as a pastor, I was with a group of people and a person made a comment, you know, doesn't God want me to do something big? And like, I think in American Christianity, you know, we talked about the anointing, but we talked about. You know, like we talk about the people that start ministries have huge podcasts and all this stuff.
Peter Englert
26:09 - 26:38
And, you know, I don't what we're talking about here is the daily character building of the gospel that, you know, if you're a stay at home parent, if you're you know, at a job like a nine to like your first focus is where God's placed you today. Are you are you faithful with that? Are you loving your neighbors? And and I think that that's something is what lies are we believing?
Peter Englert
26:39 - 26:57
You know, do I believe this lie I need to do something bigger? Do I believe, you know, the lie that there's an inner critic? Do I believe the lie that I can do whatever I want and God gives me grace? I think if we sat back and reflected, there's certain lies that come easy to us depending on who we are.
Ron Hall
26:58 - 27:14
Yeah. And it's a reminder to us that we expose ourselves then to the truth. And that's why you read the Bible daily. You know, the line I use, a chapter a day keeps the devil away, that's not what this is about.
Ron Hall
27:15 - 27:54
We expose ourselves daily to the truth because there are so many voices, so many things that are going to be vying for our attention, that we have devotions in the morning, so we're focusing on the most important. And that's what John's after back in the language of chapter 1. We need to walk in the light as he is in the light, and reinforcing here rather than going the way of the Antichrist, the one who's a liar, instead you root and ground yourself, and you picked up that phrase out of Colossians chapter 2 also. We are rooted and grounded in that which is true.
Ron Hall
27:55 - 28:12
Well, how are we going to know the truth? You know, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, but we know the truth through the Holy Spirit, and that comes through God's Word. So regularly, folks, expose ourselves reading the Bible day in and day out. The Christian life is so daily.
Ron Hall
28:12 - 28:29
That doesn't mean boring. It's daily in the sense that each day God has something to instruct us in. It might not flash like lightning bolts off the pages, although some days that will happen, but the consistent, steady, plodding forward is what makes the difference.
Peter Englert
28:32 - 29:08
And the last thing that I'll add, because I think that this is pretty important, I mean, all of these letters are written in the context of church community. So the U, you know, the Y-O-U, it's not singular, it's plural. And so I also think beyond reading the Bible, it's how is this coming up in your daily life? You know, how are you, like, even us having this conversation, you know, we're preaching to ourselves first, you know, we're engaging with ourselves first, but we're also having a conversation with it.
Peter Englert
29:09 - 29:22
And how much of, you know, how much of how John's addressing this is, hey, you all are talking about this, but you all know what the truth is. So lean on the truth, lean on what God's done in your life.
Ron Hall
29:24 - 29:38
And that's good, Peter. It's reinforcing, and I'm glad you brought up the idea of community. He's writing to a people that are in this whole area of Asia Minor. So it's a vast area of churches he's having an influence over.
Ron Hall
29:38 - 29:51
And he's saying, this is the way to stay on course. Here are the things that are going to try to pull you away. But instead, here's a plumb line, we can call it. Here's a straight line.
Ron Hall
29:51 - 30:05
This is the place that you want to be able to go. Now remember, he reinforced it already, he's reinforcing it now, and he's going to then reinforce it again as we continue in the letter.
Peter Englert
30:07 - 30:20
Well, that's a good anyplace, because we're going to start chapter 3 next week. So thank you so much for joining us on the Reading 1 John podcast, and we're going to leave you with a cliffhanger until we get to chapter 3. We hope you have a great day.