Lest we are deceived

So far, we have thought about some of the reasons why people today find 1 John rather difficult. It has been written as a series of meditations around a number of themes, and it yields its treasure to those who read and reread thoughtfully and prayerfully. We have also considered the original situation for which it was written - a splinter group had broken away from the church with a different way of understanding God, Jesus, and his suffering for our sins.  It was a painful and distressing experience for all. 

The remedy John prescribes is a church, as a community, holding to the truth as witnessed by the first followers of Jesus, outworked in obedience to His commands and with God's love at the heart of everything. The same John, in his gospel, quoted Jesus as saying: "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples when you have love one for another." (John 13:35)

The particular lies that struck at the heart of the Christian gospel were an early form of Gnosticism which grew and lasted for a couple of centuries. So, it was important for John to put down a marker early on. These ideas are not heard about so much these days. Jehovah's witnesses have some of them, but there are other ways in which people try to reinvent God and Jesus to make them more acceptable today to our own generation.

 In this final instalment, I want to mention a few. This is important because a right and truthful understanding of God and Jesus will lead to a genuine Christian experience. Without this foundation people will be deceived.

We begin with four wrong ideas about God the Father and follow with four wrong ideas about Jesus, His Son.

1. One of the commonest ideas about God is that He exists for our convenience. So, when people face a crisis or a problem they cannot handle, they pray and ask God for help. When everything is going well, they give Him little thought. The thought that He might have a purpose and a plan does not figure in their thinking. The thought that God has standards of right and wrong does not really concern them. This has much in common with pagan views of God. The idols of our generation are comfort and convenience, and this view of God as a personal butler is really a reflection of that. Now God does love us and wants to help us, but He does not want spoiled children who never give Him a thought unless they want something.

2. Another version of God is the impersonal cosmic force, the Star Wars "May the force be with you God". Alongside this there is of course the "dark force" which acknowledges evil in the world but it is all rather remote. It keeps God at arms length. The Bible reveals Him as someone knowable who  communicates and acts. Neither does "the force" address issues of sin and moral transformation.

3. A third version of God is similar. The unknowable and distant first cause. There must be some sort of creative intelligence behind this world, but it does not get much further than that. At worst, this is a way of avoiding thinking too deeply about these things and demands no commitment, leaving people free to do what seems best in their own eyes.

4. A fourth version of God is the feminist God. Who says God is a HE? This is a reaction to generations of patriarchal oppression of women. It cannot be denied for a moment that women have in many places and circumstances been treated appallingly by men. That surely is evidence for the existence of sin, not a reason to redefine Him as a Her.

If we want to know what God is like, we need to get our thinking from the Bible which starts, 'In the beginning...' If the ideas just mentioned shape the thinking of Christians today, the result will be impoverishment and error. What is needed is a Biblical and relevant doctrine of God. This will steer us away from wrong ideas. 

And Jesus, what versions of Jesus do we hear today?

1. Perhaps the first to mention is that which says, "He did not really exist at all! He was invented!" People who say this have not really looked seriously at the evidence. He is mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians. There is far more evidence for the existence of Jesus than Julius Caesar and nobody seriously doubts that he existed. If you ever meet someone who is genuinely unsure about Jesus, ask them to think about what happened to the body of Jesus after He was crucified. There is not a more credible (believable) explanation than that recorded in the gospels, The RESURRECTION. He was raised from the dead. Praise God!

2. For some, an alternative Jesus is to say that He was a man, "a good man, but not God." Again, people who say this usually have not looked carefully at the evidence. Would a good man claim to be God if he was not? That would make Jesus either a liar or deluded.

3. Others agree that Jesus was special. "A great moral teacher" they say, as was Confucius in China. But Jesus was extremely controversial. He spoke to the Syrophoenician woman in terms that today would be thought racist. He turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple. But His claims about himself, to the Jewish establishment were blasphemous, which is why they moved to have Him crucified. Confucius never made claims like that. It will not do to dismiss Jesus as simply a great moral teacher. He claimed far more than that. The central message of Jesus' teaching was that with His arrival the Kingdom of God had been inaugurated, and that He was the King! He told people to adopt a kingdom lifestyle now and to expect the full manifestation of the kingdom in the future with His return in glory. 

4. A fourth way of downgrading Jesus is to say that He was "sincere but mistaken". Again, those that say such things have not thought it through. What about the resurrection? What about Pentecost? What about the church? 

None of these four revised versions of Jesus take seriously His death on the cross for our sins. This is the truth that John establishes in his first meditation cycle 1:2-2:2. Without it, any picture of Jesus will fall short of the reality.

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As Christians and witnesses for Jesus, it is helpful to have some understanding of the wrong ideas about God and Jesus in our own times and to have some responses to them. None of these alternatives will lead to the true and living God. There are many spiritualities in existence today, but they do not all lead to the TRUTH. We can be confident that the Jesus we know was with God in the beginning. As the God-man He died to reconcile us to the Father. Our sins have been atoned for.

As we take opportunities to share this truth with others, we need to remember that it is God who draws people to Himself. We do not convince people by winning arguments. Our part is first and foremost to stand on the truth, set our hearts to obey God, receive His forgiveness when we fall short, and share His love with others, especially those in the fellowship. This is the lifestyle that John pictures in his first letter which will nourish our souls and sharpen our vision as we meditate on it.  

I hope these three teaching letters will encourage you to return to 1 John and appreciate how it spoke to the situation of Christians in Ephesus at the end of the first century and continues to speak to you today. What a privilege to belong to a community of people, standing on the truth, walking in obedience, and sharing the love of God with each other.

Chris Moffett