“Behold WHAT MANNER OF LOVE the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3) False teachers appeared in the church, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but TEST THE SPIRITS, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out…By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that DOES NOT CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS COME IN THE FLESH IS NOT OF GOD. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” (1 John 4:1-3) These false teachers drew some professing Christians from fellowship with true believers, “They went out from us, but they WERE NOT OF US; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that NONE OF THEM WERE OF US.” (1 John 2:19). These false teachers claimed a special illumination by the Spirit that supposedly imparted a deeper spiritual knowledge. “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and YOU DO NOT NEED THAT ANYONE TEACH YOU; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and JUST AS IT HAS TAUGHT YOU, YOU WILL ABIDE IN HIM.” (1 John 2:27) John combats this error by emphasizing the source and nature of true knowledge, “Now by this we know that we know Him, IF we keep His commandments…whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this WE KNOW THAT WE ARE IN HIM…By this we know that we love the children of God, when we LOVE GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.”(1 John 2:3, 5, 5:2)
The opponents also claimed to have reached a state of moral perfection. “If we say that we have no sin, WE DECEIVE OURSELVES, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that WE HAVE NOT SINNED, WE MAKE HIM A LIAR, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10) This ethical error brought pride and haughtiness, and John combats such attitudes by placing a strong emphasis on love for the brethren. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, IF GOD SO LOVED US, WE ALSO OUGHT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” (1 John 4:7-11)
-Bill Stockham