The Doctrinal Test Series

Scripture

In the First Letter of John, the Apostle John writes to believers in churches around the ancient city of Ephesus. False teaching has entered their churches through false teachers. These false teachers claimed that they had a relationship with God. John’s letter addresses this crisis by doing damage control and by addressing the false teaching of the false teachers.

John’s letter does not have a linear argument. His style is that of amplification. That is, he repeats himself throughout his letter. John sets out three tests by which one may evaluate whether one has a relationship with God. He has already stated the test of obedience (in 1 John 2:3-6) and the test of love (in 1 John 2:7-11). Then, after a brief digression (in 1 John 2:12-17), he gives the third test, which is the test of doctrine (in 1 John 2:18-27).

We are going to examine the test of doctrine today in 1 John 2:18-27. John gives the doctrinal test in the context of a warning against false teachers or, as he calls them, “antichrists.”

So, with that in mind, let’s read about the doctrinal test in 1 John 2:18-27:

18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 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 it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us – eternal life.

26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie –just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 John 2:18-27)

Introduction

Around 1980, I was a student at the University of Cape Town when I saw a docudrama movie that stunned me. It was the story of an outstanding man whose preaching dazzled and mesmerized thousands of people. As a young man, he was enamored with communism. He wrote later, “I decided, how can I demonstrate my Marxism? The thought was, infiltrate the church. So I consciously made a decision to look into that prospect.” So he became a preacher, faith healer, and political activist who started his ministry in Indianapolis, IN in 1955. In 1965, he moved his church to San Francisco, CA. He duped thousands of people with fake healings.

Eventually, the IRS started to investigate his financial dealings. The preacher, the Rev. Jim Jones, then moved to Guyana along with more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple. They followed him to Guyana and settled in a village known as Jonestown.

In November 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan led a fact-finding mission to Jonestown to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. Three days later, on November 18, 1978, Rep. Ryan and several others were killed at the airport as they were leaving. Later that same day, 909 inhabitants of Jonestown, 304 of them children, died of self-inflicted cyanide poisoning in Kool-Aid with the encouragement of Jim Jones. (By the way, this is where the expression “drinking the Kool-Aid” comes from.) This was the greatest single loss of American civilian life through murder and suicide until the attack of September 11, 2001.

The death of 909 people in Jonestown was a great tragedy. Hundreds of people were duped by a theological heretic.

The murder-suicide of hundreds of people in Jonestown is a very graphic and extreme illustration of what happens when false teaching grips a group of people.

The Apostle John was very alert to false teaching in his day. When he saw false teaching enter the churches for which he was responsible, he immediately fired off this first letter. He took action to warn his beloved flock about false teachers. And what he said to them is of great help to us today.