John has confidence in his readers. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them [the false-teachers], because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They had remained faithful despite the efforts the false-teachers had made to derail them.
There will always be those who distort the message of the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are to remain constantly on guard! Many of these false-teachers will work even within the structures of the visible church. But be encouraged! Even though many water-down the truth there will always be those who remain true to the gospel. One commentator writes, we ‘children of John have conquered the false prophets…We still believe in the virgin birth, the atonement and the resurrection. We have conquered them. They could not conquer us.’ How can we know that there will always be a faithful remnant? How can we be sure that we will remain in the truth? Because the Holy Spirit guarantees it!
If we are truly a Christian then we won’t be deceived because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. God is committed to keeping us faithful to the end. He has given us the Holy Spirit. We now abide in Christ and Christ abides in us. Jesus says his sheep, ‘will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise the strangers voice’ (John 10:5). We demonstrate that we have been truly born again as the Holy Spirit keeps us faithful to the gospel!
But some people will be deceived and in their abandoning of the truth they demonstrate that they had never truly been changed by the truth. The teaching of the false-teachers resonates with them because it is non-Christian teaching that appeals to the non-Christian mind. The false-teachers are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
If, in today’s society, you want a form of Christianity that resonates with the world and does not disturb your non-Christian workmates and family members I suggest that you do the following. Emphasis Jesus as simply a good moral teacher but don’t mention that he demands to be your king. Talk about the cross as an example of love but don’t speak of it as atonement for sin. Tell of how following Jesus makes life much more fulfilling but don’t mention that the greatest hope of the Christian lies beyond death. Speak of Jesus becoming your friend but don’t say that he wants to rescue people from hell. Jesus as this sort of good moral teacher will offend no-one for because society likes inspiring leaders who can show them how to live a better life. But Jesus as King and Saviour—the Lord who demands that we submit our lives to his rule and says that he is God’s only rescue plan from our rebellion—that is a message that our world finds unpalatable and will lead people to oppose you.
Liberal churches are often empty because they tend to be passionless and dull. But they don’t attract enmity from the world. They are seen as harmless and nice. The world might not be breaking down their doors to get in on a Sunday morning but the world does appreciate them as an affirming friend.
In the previous two passages we saw that John gives the behaviour test and the love test now we have the third test—the belief test! We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Our willingness to submit to sound teaching provides evidence that we have been born again! The Christian sees the whole of Scripture, including the letters of the apostles, as our supreme authority. That is not to say that there won’t be things contained in this book that will stretch us or that we find difficult. But with God’s help we accept it and conform to it. If you have a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude towards the Scriptures your grounds for assurance is shaky at best. We must be willing to place our lives under the word and remain true to the word. When the non-Christian comes across difficult teaching contained in its pages they feel the liberty to disagree; when the Christian comes across a difficult teaching in Scripture they seek to prayerfully understand and accept it. Many non-Christians have sought to undermine Scripture claiming that can not be trusted; Christians see it as the very word of God. Be warned, you may well be called a ‘fundamentalist’ if you hold a high view of Scripture, but I don’t know how you can call yourself a Christian if you don’t.
There will always be those who distort the message of the person and work of Jesus Christ. We are to remain constantly on guard! Many of these false-teachers will work even within the structures of the visible church. But be encouraged! Even though many water-down the truth there will always be those who remain true to the gospel. One commentator writes, we ‘children of John have conquered the false prophets…We still believe in the virgin birth, the atonement and the resurrection. We have conquered them. They could not conquer us.’ How can we know that there will always be a faithful remnant? How can we be sure that we will remain in the truth? Because the Holy Spirit guarantees it!
If we are truly a Christian then we won’t be deceived because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. God is committed to keeping us faithful to the end. He has given us the Holy Spirit. We now abide in Christ and Christ abides in us. Jesus says his sheep, ‘will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise the strangers voice’ (John 10:5). We demonstrate that we have been truly born again as the Holy Spirit keeps us faithful to the gospel!
But some people will be deceived and in their abandoning of the truth they demonstrate that they had never truly been changed by the truth. The teaching of the false-teachers resonates with them because it is non-Christian teaching that appeals to the non-Christian mind. The false-teachers are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
If, in today’s society, you want a form of Christianity that resonates with the world and does not disturb your non-Christian workmates and family members I suggest that you do the following. Emphasis Jesus as simply a good moral teacher but don’t mention that he demands to be your king. Talk about the cross as an example of love but don’t speak of it as atonement for sin. Tell of how following Jesus makes life much more fulfilling but don’t mention that the greatest hope of the Christian lies beyond death. Speak of Jesus becoming your friend but don’t say that he wants to rescue people from hell. Jesus as this sort of good moral teacher will offend no-one for because society likes inspiring leaders who can show them how to live a better life. But Jesus as King and Saviour—the Lord who demands that we submit our lives to his rule and says that he is God’s only rescue plan from our rebellion—that is a message that our world finds unpalatable and will lead people to oppose you.
Liberal churches are often empty because they tend to be passionless and dull. But they don’t attract enmity from the world. They are seen as harmless and nice. The world might not be breaking down their doors to get in on a Sunday morning but the world does appreciate them as an affirming friend.
In the previous two passages we saw that John gives the behaviour test and the love test now we have the third test—the belief test! We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognise the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Our willingness to submit to sound teaching provides evidence that we have been born again! The Christian sees the whole of Scripture, including the letters of the apostles, as our supreme authority. That is not to say that there won’t be things contained in this book that will stretch us or that we find difficult. But with God’s help we accept it and conform to it. If you have a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude towards the Scriptures your grounds for assurance is shaky at best. We must be willing to place our lives under the word and remain true to the word. When the non-Christian comes across difficult teaching contained in its pages they feel the liberty to disagree; when the Christian comes across a difficult teaching in Scripture they seek to prayerfully understand and accept it. Many non-Christians have sought to undermine Scripture claiming that can not be trusted; Christians see it as the very word of God. Be warned, you may well be called a ‘fundamentalist’ if you hold a high view of Scripture, but I don’t know how you can call yourself a Christian if you don’t.
2 comments:
You wrote: " The Christian sees the whole of Scripture, including the letters of the apostles, as our supreme authority. "
I recommend you and the reader of this post to do an extensive research of the origins of NT and Christianity in the below website (and learn what the followers of first century Ribi Yehoshua said about the NT.): www.netzarim.co.il
Thanks Anders
I would suggest that you read Prof FF Bruce's 'Are the NT documents reliable?'
Paul
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