In our last program we studied the divine warnings from John’s first inspired general letter about the danger of being led astray by false Christs. After his warnings, John then reminded the true followers of Christ that at the time of their initial commitment to follow Christ they had received an anointing which enabled them to know the truth about false Christs and, especially, the truth about the real Christ. He wrote, “And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” (1 John 2:20-21 ASV)
John makes it clear that the anointing by which every true follower of Christ may “know the truth” was given by “the Holy One.” The ‘Holy One’ mentioned here is, undoubtedly, God, because the expression ‘the Holy One’ is one of God’s names. (Isaiah 5:16)
For those who have committed themselves to be followers of Christ, the anointing process itself, involved a time of initial teaching about the basic truth concerning Christ. When followers of the Messiah are threatened by false doctrine, we are instructed to look to that foundational teaching for guidance. That initial teaching (“that which ye heard”) about Christ, which everyone had to receive to become a follower of Christ, will protect us against heretical concepts and ideas during our entire lives, providing that anointing remains in us. Then we will understand who the liar is. We will know that it is “he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ.” (1 John 2:22 ASV) Therefore, John tells us, “As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.” (1 John 2:24 ASV)
The term ‘Father’ refers to God. When the term ‘Father,’ is used for God, it has utterly no idea of the kind of fatherhood which grows out human marriage. Rather, it is used because God is the source of all human life and is the one who supports and sustains all of us throughout our lives.
One of the names of Jesus Christ, which expresses his relationship to God, is the name ‘Son.’ It is used because it expresses the tender and affectionate relationship between God and Jesus. It also expresses the unity between God and Christ. Furthermore, it shows the subordinate position which Jesus took in relation to God. Scripture tells us that Jesus’ subordination came as a result of a self-denying choice. It tells us, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:5-7 NIV)
One cannot deny the role of Christ without alienating himself from God. “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also.” (1 John 2:23 ASV)
What is called ‘an anointing’ is something which every follower of Christ has received through hearing. John tells us to, “let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning.” (1 John2:24 ASV) What every follower of Christ has heard is the most basic message about who Christ really is. Everyone who is a follower of Christ hears that basic message from the very beginning of his experience of following Christ.
The ultimate outcome of that initial basic message about Christ has the potential of eternal blessing. It is this ultimate blessing to which the Apostle John points us in verse 25 when he wrote, “And this is the promise which he promised us, even the life eternal.” (1 John 2:25 ASV)
To what promise does John refer? Undoubtedly, to the conditional promise in the preceding verse. The condition is, “If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you.” For those in whom that basic message which they had heard about Christ from the beginning has remained, there is a wonderful assurance. That assurance is, “ ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.” Here, in verse 25, John helps us understand the ultimate significance of abiding in the Son and in the Father, it ultimately results in ‘life eternal!’
Any follower of Christ in whom that initial anointing abides has no need “that any one teach” him because “his anointing teacheth [him] all things, and is true, and is no lie,” (1 John 2:27 ASV) That teaching results in a follower of Christ abiding in Christ. “The anointing which [we] received of him” refers to that primal message through which we were, “taught of God.” That message is, that Jesus of Nazareth is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
That initial teaching, which is called the anointing, is a most fundamental gift. Through it God makes that initial disclosure of the identity of Jesus to everyone who wants to become a follower of Christ. As soon as one accepts that basic teaching, the ensuing understanding becomes a definitive reference point by which we may evaluate any and every new teaching. The anointing serves this essential role because it “is true, and is no lie.” (1 John 2:27 ASV) Therefore, if any teaching is out of harmony with that initial, fundamental, constitutional declaration about who Jesus Christ is, then that teaching is false. A follower of Christ must refer “all things,” (1 John 2:27) that is all new teaching and every unfamiliar concept, to this inviolable point of reference for guidance.
Anyone who utilizes his anointing to give him crucial instruction will find that “even as it taught [him] [he] abides in him” [i.e. Christ]. (1 John 2:27 ASV) Heeding the teaching which comes from the anointing is how people who begin to follow Christ remain faithful all their lives.
Anyone who abides in Christ prepares for the most momentous event of all time, the return of Christ to judge the world. Those who abide in him we will have “boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28 ASV) Whatever life commitment we embrace, let it be that one which will give us boldness and keep us from shame whenever Christ shall come and call us into his presence!