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Read 1 John 4:5-6
The Point: We can defend ourselves from false teaching by knowing God’s word. God is above false teaching and Has given the church empowerment to remain in Him and not in false teaching / spirits.
The Key question for a Christian is: Who is Jesus Christ? Is Christ merely “an example,” a “good Man,” or “wonderful teacher?” In the modern church today (and throughout church History) the distortion of the Trinity of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and the person / divinity of Christ has been a common trend. Many people, “pastors,” and “churches” have offered brand new revelations of the doctrine of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This has created many false spirits, false teachers and wrong teachings in the modern AND historical Christian community. This infection is something that God’s word has warned us about and will continue to take people away from the True God until Jesus Christ comes back.
The bible also warns of a great falling away from God—this will happen through false teachers and liars. Paul reminds the young Pastor Timothy of this as he leads the church in Ephesus in 1 Timothy 4:
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared”
--1 Timothy 4:1-2
The church has been in the midst of this “great falling away” since Jesus went back up into Heaven in Acts 1. This great falling away is the main context of John’s letter (1 John) as he is giving the church tools to weed out false spirits and teachers in order to preserve the church. These tools empower the church to be a living testimony for the TRUE GOSPEL OF JESUS as it shines through His church to reach the lost in the world. Last week we looked at how Paul corrected Peter in Galatians 2:
1. The early church had to battle with heresies and defend the true Gospel. They did this with confidence because they knew who God was and how He works.
“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.”
--1 John 4:4-5
Some things to consider and observe when we study church history: False doctrine, false spirits and false teachers have been trying to derail the church since the birth of the church. This is why the church has developed a system of councils to defend what the true doctrines of Jesus Christ are.
a). The Jerusalem council in 48-50 AD was convened to decide who the gospel of Jesus was for—Jews and/or gentiles? –The church was largely Jewish at this time and there was confusion, a false teaching of being circumcised and following jewish law in order to be saved and forgiven by Jesus Christ.
“The impetus for the Jerusalem Council is given in Acts 15, verses 1 and 5, “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ . . . It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the Law of Moses.” Some Jewish Christians were teaching that Gentiles had to observe the Mosaic Law and Jewish customs in order to be saved. Since this teaching clearly contradicted the fact that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Acts 15:11), the apostles and church leaders held the first Christian council to settle the issue.”
b) The First Council of Nicaea 325 AD This council met to defend Jesus Christ and His divinity. Arius was a man who started teaching a false doctrine that Jesus was not fully divine and fully man at the same time.
“Arianism is a heresy named for Arius, a priest and false teacher in the early fourth century AD in Alexandria, Egypt. One of the earliest and probably the most important item of debate among early Christians was the subject of Christ’s deity. Was Jesus truly God in the flesh, or was Jesus a created being? Was Jesus God or not? Arius denied the deity of the Son of God, holding that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation and that the nature of Christ was anomoios (“unlike”) that of God the Father. Arianism, then, is the view that Jesus is a finite created being with some divine attributes, but He is not eternal and not divine in and of Himself.”
c) The First Council of Constantinople 381 AD – Clarified the nature of the Holy Spirit.
d) Council of Ephesus 431 AD – The False teaching of Nestorianism is refuted and rejected.
“The Nestorians are followers of Nestorius (c. AD 386–451), who was Archbishop of Constantinople. Nestorianism is based on the belief put forth by Nestorius that emphasized the disunity of the human and divine natures of Christ. According to the Nestorians, Christ essentially exists as two persons sharing one body. His divine and human natures are completely distinct and separate. This idea is not scriptural, however, and goes against the orthodox Christian doctrine of the hypostatic union, which states that Christ is fully God and fully man in one indivisible Person. God the Son, Jesus Christ, took on a human nature yet remained fully God at the same time. Jesus always had been God (John 8:58; 10:30), but at the Incarnation Jesus also became a human being (John 1:14).”
e) The Council of Chalcedon 451 AD – Clarified the teaching of Christ’s nature and person including the “hypostatic union.” The false doctrine of Monophysitism was rejected.
“Monophysitism is an erroneous or heretical view concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. Two monophysite schools of thought are Eutychianism and Apollinarianism. Monophysitism taught that Christ has one nature—a divine one—not two. Eutychianism specifically taught that Christ’s divine nature was so intermixed with His human nature that He was, in fact, not fully human and not fully divine. Eutychianism and monophysitism are a denial of the biblical teaching of the hypostatic union, that Christ’s two natures are united yet distinct. Eutychians followed the teaching of Eutyches (378–452), a fifth-century leader of a monastery in Constantinople; the word monophysitism comes from a Greek word meaning “one nature.”
f) The Second Council of Constantinople 553 AD – Confirmed the conclusions of the first four councils
g) The Third Council of Constantinople 608-681 AD – Clarified the nature of Christ’s will
One of the greatest tools that God has given the church in defending against false teachers is the church community.
God is preserving the true church family by teaching His children, His family to question, prove and scrutinize everything that is being taught within the church to God’s Holy Word. God has written His word through Holy Spirit inspiration within 40 men over a period of 1,500 years to give Christians an objective truth to point towards to hold us accountable, to keep us within the right worship of God Himself, and for God to become known through a relationship with people.
In our modern evangelical church today we have an issue that is arising in the American church. Here are some quick doctrines that are false teachings of Christ prevalent in the church today:
LifeWay Research surveyed a nationally representative sample of 3,011 adults in the United States, including 817 professing evangelicals. The survey was carried out from January 5 to 23, 2022. More information can be found at TheStateofTheology.com.
Here is the Christianity today article, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/september-web-only/state-of-theology-evangelical-heresy-report-ligonier-survey.html
1. Jesus isn’t the only way to God.
More than half—56 percent—of evangelical respondents affirmed that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam,” up from 42 percent in 2020. And while the question doesn’t include all religions, it indicates a bent toward universalism
2. Jesus was created by God.
A surprising 73 percent agreed with the statement that “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.”
3.Jesus is not God.
Given the above beliefs on Jesus as a created being, it’s not too surprising that 43 percent affirmed that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” which is another form of Arian heresy.
4. The Holy Spirit is not a personal being.
Speaking of the Trinity, 60 percent of the evangelical survey respondents had some confusion about its third member, believing that “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.”
5. Humans aren’t sinful by nature.
Interestingly, 57 percent also agreed to the statement that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” In other words, humans might be capable of committing individual sins, but we do not have sinful natures. –Pelagianism
Ligonier and Lifeway Survey Detailed Results: https://thestateoftheology.com/data-explorer/2022/7?AGE=30&MF=14®ION=30&DENSITY=62&EDUCATION=62&INCOME=254&MARITAL=126ÐNICITY=62&RELTRAD=62&EVB=2&ATTENDANCE=8
This group of people represents a growth in Western Christians believing in unbiblical doctrines and false views of Jesus Christ, imputed sinful nature. How do we know these 5 things are heretical, wrong teachings? Because the bible teaches the contrary to these ideas about God. There is one God in three persons (Gen. 1:1, Isaiah 6:8) Jesus is the only one true, trinitarian God, there is no other way to God (John 14:5-6), Jesus is a person of God and was not created as He is eternal (Hebrews 1:8-9, Psalm 45:6-7), proving how these modern “false views” are incorrect according to God’s word.
Of course, this doesn’t represent the whole church in America but we live in a Country where people are claiming to be “religious” or “Christians” less on their census reports—what is happening to the modern church? It is interesting to note that starting with the 2nd council, Council of Nicaea, false teaching started arising in the church again when Christianity was no longer persecuted but Constantinople and Rome became a Christian nation due to Constantine’s’ conversion in 312 AD—
False teaching can become more tempting, enticing when Christianity is no longer persecuted—when our faith becomes comfortable it is easier to be led astray.
“Satan is the most effective in the church when he comes not as an open enemy, but as a false friend, not when he persecutes the Church, but when he joins it; not when he attacks the pulpit, but when he stands in it.”
--John MacArthur
2. Even though False spirits and teachers are powerful; God is greater than all of them, False teaching will always be here since they are from the world.
“They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God…”
--1 John 4:5-6a
The context of this sentence reminds us as the reader that John is writing to a specific audience: The Church. Notice how John keeps everything focused on the internal of the church? He reminds them that the church is in a spiritual battle with false teaching and Satan BUT God is in us who believe in Him, who repent to Him, who confess the truth of Jesus Christ—we are saved by His death in the cross and resurrection from the grave three days late—that POWER, that GOD is living in us individually and as the church. John is encouraging in His reminder here;
When the time comes for correction in our churches we must approach correction and discipline with the fruits of the spirit. Be kind, self-controlled, gentle, full of faithfulness to God’s word, be gentle, patient and good in our corrections—but we must know that we are called to correct, we are called to hold each other accountable and to make sure that we are all in line with the One-true God of the Universe. We must be confident knowing that God is living in us and through us (not to back up what WE think is right—but to back up what GOD thinks is right).
“Why are some Christians led astray to believe false teachings? Because they are not abiding in the Spirit and God’s word. The word “abide” occurs several times in this section of 1 John. a) False teachers do not abide in the fellowship (even though they can come from within) (1 John 2:19), The word (message) we have heard should abide in us (1 John 2:24), The anointing (The Holy Spirit) abides in us, and we should abide in the Spirit (1 John 2:27) “To abide” means to remain in fellowship; and fellowship is the key idea in the first two chapters of this epistle.”
--The Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 2, Page 501
Even Jesus commanded His disciples to “abide” in Him.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
--John 15:5-6
John and Jesus are concerned with the church being led astray so Christ has built a healthy church system and instruction to make sure churches can deal with false spirits properly from within the church—Unless something happens that is criminal then it needs to be properly dealt with by authorities and outside sources—we are not above God!
3. Christians are saved by God and God is empowering His church for ministry. The Church is from God therefore stand firm; and abide in God Himself. Learn about God, gain your knowledge of His word and share the gospel with the world.
“We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
--1 John 6
The God of the Universe lives in you! He came back to life from the grave! WE find peace in spending time with Him, worshiping Him, praying with Him, glorifying Him and learning about Him. God will correct us, convict us and He gives us the grace to not abandon us in our walk with Him.
Notice the phrase: “By this we know…” What is the “by this” referring to? It is referring to the earlier part of the sentence in how the church belongs to God. John is almost saying here: “You are the church! Stop with all the church splits! Stop with entertaining false, gnostic teaching! Have you forgotten who your Lord is? He will correct, He is the truth, and He will spot out the errors.”
γινώσκων --“know, to know, to be knowing.” allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) know(-ledge), perceived, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand.
This is a present participle verb meaning this action is happening during another action. We are from God, when we abide in God we then know God, we become aware of God, feel God, gain knowledge of God.
“He has made everything approptriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the word which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift from God. I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.
--Ecclesiastes 3:11-14
The Point: We can defend ourselves from false teaching by knowing God’s word. God is above false teaching and Has given the church empowerment to remain in Him and not in false teaching / spirits.
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