Warning: Walking in the Light is Not Compatible with Denying the Son
2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many have become antichrists. From this we know that it is the last hour. 2:19 They separated from us, but they were not part of us. For if they had really been part of us, they would have remained among us. But they separated, in order that they might be revealed for what they are – that none of them are part of us. 2:20 You have an anointing from the Holy One and you all understand this.
2:21 I did not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and you know that absolutely no lie comes from the truth. 2:22 Who is the liar? Unquestionably the one who denies, saying, “Jesus is not the Christ.” This one is the antichrist – the one who denies the Father and the Son. 2:23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The one who acknowledges the Son, also has the Father.
2:24 As for you, see to it that what you heard from the beginning abides in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will also abide in the Son and in the Father. 2:25 And this is the promise that He Himself promised us – eternal life.
2:26 I wrote these things to you about those who are trying to mislead you. 2:27 Now as for you – the anointing you received from ˹Jesus Christ˺ abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you about these things. But as His anointing teaches you about all these things (and it is true and is not a lie), indeed, just as it taught you – abide in Him.
2:28 And so, little children, abide in Him so that when He is revealed we may have confidence, and not turn away from Him in shame when He returns.
Translation by the author from the SBL Greek New Testament.
Summary of Verses 2:18-28
In this unit, John directs a warning against the disruptors who appear to claim that Christ is not central for having fellowship with God.
Click here to open a PDF document that explains and illustrates the structure of verses 2:18-28 in more detail.
Click here for a full outline of First John.
Verse 2:21
I did not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it…
John assumes that his readers know the truth about Jesus Christ. It is the truth they “heard from the beginning” (verse 2:24), that is, from the beginning of their Christian experience. It included the truth that Jesus was the Christ, which the disruptors were denying (verse 2:22). Even though the readers knew the truth, John is writing to warn them about the lies taught by the disruptors.
John is not writing anything new or novel in his letter. He is affirming the truth already known and passed down from Jesus Christ. Not every new idea that someone invents about Christ is valid or true. As Karen Jobes explains in her commentary: “John argues that not every idea about Jesus Christ is simply a different perspective on the truth, but there are limits beyond which the truth does not extend.” [JOBES p. 119]
and you know that absolutely no lie comes from the truth.
There is a difference between what is true and what is false. What the disruptors were teaching was not simply a different perspective on the truth that was an equally valid point of view about Jesus. Rather, it was a lie.
Verse 2:22
Who is the liar?
The mention of “lie” in verse 2:21 leads to this question in verse 2:22 and a focus on the identity of Jesus.
Unquestionably the one who denies, saying, “Jesus is not the Christ.”
The liar is the person who does not have a correct understanding of who Jesus is and promotes that understanding. Specifically, denying that Jesus is the Christ.
Note: Christ
Commentator disagree as to whether this title here in First John refers to Messiah in the historical Jewish sense or refers to the transformed Christian sense of God’s Son come in the flesh. It is probably better to take it as having the latter sense because: (1) John refers to denying “the Son” in an equivalent statement in the next verse; (2) John does not seem to be countering Jewish arguments against Jesus as the Messiah (he is battling internal denials from Gentiles); and (3) First John was written long after the founding of Christianity by which time the title “Christ” had taken on a broader meaning.
This one is the antichrist…
The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ is an antichrist because he has the nature of the Antichrist.
– the one who denies the Father and the Son.
To deny the Son necessarily involves denying the Father because it was the Father who sent the Son (see verse 4:10). As J.L. Houlden explains in his commentary: “‘Son’ implies ‘father’ – the one carries the other with it. Hence… to have a false belief in God’s agent [the Son] is to have a false belief in God himself. And if you do not ‘possess’ the Son you cannot ‘possess’ the Father who mediates himself uniquely through the Son. To refuse the Son is to refuse the Father whose accredited agent he is.” [HOULDEN p. 80]
Verse 2:23
Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The one who acknowledges the Son, also has the Father.
This unit (2:18-28) is loosely structured around a chiasmus based on both similar and contrasting ideas. The structure of the chiasmus look like this:
A Separation and Antichrists Revealed (2:19)
B Anointing Provides Understanding (2:20)
C Why John did not Write (2:21)
D The Lie – Jesus is not the Christ (2:22)
E Denying the Son (2:23a)
E’ Acknowledging the Son (2:23b)
D’ The Truth – The Promise of Eternal Life (2:24-25)
C’ Why John did Write (2:26)
B’ Anointing Teaches (2:27)
A’ Abiding and Christ Revealed (2:28)
The focus of the chiasmus (E/E’) is the set of contrasting statements in verse 2:23 focused on denying and acknowledging the Son:
23a Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either.
23b The one who acknowledges the Son, also has the Father.
God made Himself known through His Son, so it is not possible to know the Father without knowing the Son. There is no such thing as a “christless” Christianity, which is essentially what the disruptors were claiming – that they had a knowledge of God apart from Christ.
To “have the Father” ultimately means to have a relationship with God or have fellowship with God. At the heart of what is denied or acknowledged is a person rather than a creed.
Verse 2:24
Structure
Verse 2:24 has a chiasmic phrase embedded in it in the Greek. A chiasmic phrase is a short phrase where the second part mirrors the first. The flexibility of Greek word order allowed authors to easily create these types of features. Where it occurs in the English translation is highlighted below.
As for you, see to it that what you heard from the beginning abides in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.
It is not possible to fully translate the chiasmic structure into good English. However, below is a word-for-word translation that renders the chiasmic structure into English, followed by the Greek text diagrammed in the same way. The mirrored parts are highlighted in identical colors.
As for you, see to it that…
A what you heard
B from the beginning
C in you let it abide,
C’ if in you it abides
B’ what from the beginning
A’ you heard,
then you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.
A ὃ ἠκούσατε
B ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς
C ἐν ὑμῖν μενέτω
C’ ἐὰν ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ
B’ ὃ ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς
A’ ἠκούσατε…
As for you,
John now shifts his attention to the readers. “As for you” is emphatic in the Greek showing that the readers are contrasted with the disruptors.
see to it that what you heard from the beginning abides in you.
What they heard from the beginning is what was passed on to them from Jesus, what they were taught after they became believers. They must do more than just hear it. They must allow it to “abide” in them, meaning they must continually remember it and allow it to control the way they live – their thoughts, words, and actions.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.
“Abide” expresses a continuing relationship.
In John 14:9, Jesus states that “the one who has seen Me has seen the Father“. This accounts for the order of the words ‘Son’ and ‘Father’ in the phrase “abide in the Son and in the Father“. As David Smith points out in his commentary: “The Son is the manifestation of the Father; through Him we reach the Unseen Father.” [SMITH p. 181]
Verse 2:25
And this is the promise that He Himself promised us – eternal life.
It it not clear whether “He Himself” refers to the Son or the Father, since both are mentioned in the previous verse. This is another example of John’s vague use of pronouns related to God referred to by scholars as the Johannian Trinitarian Ambiguity. Perhaps there is no distinction because it is a combined ministry. “The promise of eternal life originates from the Father but has been communicated by the Son.” [HOULDEN p.82] “God the Father is the Promiser, and His promises are made in Christ.” [SMITH p. 181]
The promise of eternal life probably refers to both the future blessing of eternal life, but also to the eternal life that begins in the present life when one believes in Jesus Christ. Abiding in God is knowing God, and knowing God is eternal life:. As Jesus said:
Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only real God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
Go back to Verses 2:18-20
Go forward to Verses 2:26-28
Your Personal Study
Read First John 2:26-28 below and answer the questions.
2:26 I wrote these things to you about those who are trying to mislead you. 2:27 Now as for you – the anointing you received from ˹Jesus Christ˺ abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you about these things. But as His anointing teaches you about all these things (and it is true and is not a lie), indeed, just as it taught you – abide in Him.
2:28 And so, little children, abide in Him so that when He is revealed we may have confidence, and not turn away from Him in shame when He returns.
1. In verse 2:26, John is still discussing the disruptors who separated from the community of believers. Were these disruptors still a threat to the remaining members? How do you know this?
2. Verse 2:27 is a long, complex series of statements. What is the main thing that John is urging his readers to do? (It can be stated in one word.)
3. Did the readers need to learn anything new in order to counter or resist the disruptors? How did they learn what they knew?
4. What do you think John means by saying that the anointing “is true“?
5. In verse 2:28, what does John again urge the readers to do?
6. The believer in God must choose to live in a manner so that he or she will be confident and unashamed when Christ returns and judges. Are you living in such a way that you will be unashamed or ashamed when you see Christ face-to-face?
First John Translation.
First John Translation with Outline and Notes.
Bibliography of source information used for this series of posts.
Title Slide Image Credit: First John in Codex Alexandrinus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Unless otherwise noted, English translations of Bible verses are by the author from the Greek text and are not quotations from any copyrighted Bible version or translation.
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