These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
These things were written as a warning to believers concerning those who would mislead and seduce them. John wrote to put them on guard against people who try to lead them astray. The warning was set down concerning deceivers who decoy souls from the truth.
In its setting the seducers are antichrists, and their deception is to deny that Jesus is the Christ and to deny the Father and the Son. That denial strikes at the personality of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, and to deny that personality is itself to deny both the Father and the Son. The same danger appears as being led astray and decoyed by supposed human wisdom and false science.
The safeguard is to hold fast and let abide within what was heard from the beginning about the Father and the Son. Letting that original truth abide keeps believers continuing in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. So abiding brings the promised eternal life. The anointing received abides in believers and teaches all things as truth with no lie, so that they need no man to teach them but abide in Him as they have been taught.
When that truth abides, the image of His love is stamped upon the mind never to be effaced. Jesus Christ is evidently set forth crucified before them, making them partakers of the dignity of His suffering. They are brought to look into the heart of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and its interpretation is love. Abiding now gives confidence and freedom from shame before Him when He shall appear at His coming. Knowing that He is righteous shows that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him. Kept by this abiding, believers stand on vantage ground with spiritual dominion over the powers of darkness by cultivating love.
The verse therefore calls for caution and steadfast, simple, trusting faith in God rather than in human weakness, wisdom, or judgment. It means trusting God as helper, seeking God, and being led and guided by the Lord in every step as His little children. It means looking to Him as the source of all wisdom, since man has no more wisdom than what he obtains from God, and walking in the light of the Word without letting any living man turn faith aside to follow another man's judgment.
The whole chapter gives instruction to be studied in order to be ready for the Lord's appearing. It calls every soul not to exalt self and disparage others but to criticize self, to set the heart in order, and to confess and forsake sin without a moment to lose. This applies to those living in the great day of atonement, whose souls are in peril, showing that by diligent repentance with confession they can be cleansed from sin. Its plain truths mean very much for those living in the last days and must be read and studied. That study belongs together with speaking the truth in love to grow up into Christ and build up the whole body in love, with walking in the light, having fellowship with one another, confessing sin and being cleansed by the blood of Jesus, with remembering the first love and doing the first works, with being watchful and strengthening what remains, and with not walking in vanity, darkness, and blindness of heart.
The chapter is to be read and heeded so the reader walks in the knowledge of the truth and partakes of the divine nature with singleness of purpose because time to work is short. This needs wisdom from Christ who is sanctification and righteousness, comprehending the plain word of the Lord, obtaining a genuine experience of great value, and walking humbly with God. The first chapter is to be taken in its simplicity, and the second chapter is the best sermon to bring this instruction into practical life.
These things were written as a warning to believers concerning those who would mislead and seduce them. John wrote to put them on guard against people who try to lead them astray. The warning was set down concerning deceivers who decoy souls from the truth.
In its setting the seducers are antichrists, and their deception is to deny that Jesus is the Christ and to deny the Father and the Son. That denial strikes at the personality of God the Father and of Jesus Christ, and to deny that personality is itself to deny both the Father and the Son. The same danger appears as being led astray and decoyed by supposed human wisdom and false science.
The safeguard is to hold fast and let abide within what was heard from the beginning about the Father and the Son. Letting that original truth abide keeps believers continuing in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. So abiding brings the promised eternal life. The anointing received abides in believers and teaches all things as truth with no lie, so that they need no man to teach them but abide in Him as they have been taught.
When that truth abides, the image of His love is stamped upon the mind never to be effaced. Jesus Christ is evidently set forth crucified before them, making them partakers of the dignity of His suffering. They are brought to look into the heart of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and its interpretation is love. Abiding now gives confidence and freedom from shame before Him when He shall appear at His coming. Knowing that He is righteous shows that everyone who does righteousness is born of Him. Kept by this abiding, believers stand on vantage ground with spiritual dominion over the powers of darkness by cultivating love.
The verse therefore calls for caution and steadfast, simple, trusting faith in God rather than in human weakness, wisdom, or judgment. It means trusting God as helper, seeking God, and being led and guided by the Lord in every step as His little children. It means looking to Him as the source of all wisdom, since man has no more wisdom than what he obtains from God, and walking in the light of the Word without letting any living man turn faith aside to follow another man's judgment.
The whole chapter gives instruction to be studied in order to be ready for the Lord's appearing. It calls every soul not to exalt self and disparage others but to criticize self, to set the heart in order, and to confess and forsake sin without a moment to lose. This applies to those living in the great day of atonement, whose souls are in peril, showing that by diligent repentance with confession they can be cleansed from sin. Its plain truths mean very much for those living in the last days and must be read and studied. That study belongs together with speaking the truth in love to grow up into Christ and build up the whole body in love, with walking in the light, having fellowship with one another, confessing sin and being cleansed by the blood of Jesus, with remembering the first love and doing the first works, with being watchful and strengthening what remains, and with not walking in vanity, darkness, and blindness of heart.
The chapter is to be read and heeded so the reader walks in the knowledge of the truth and partakes of the divine nature with singleness of purpose because time to work is short. This needs wisdom from Christ who is sanctification and righteousness, comprehending the plain word of the Lord, obtaining a genuine experience of great value, and walking humbly with God. The first chapter is to be taken in its simplicity, and the second chapter is the best sermon to bring this instruction into practical life.