Commentary on "Jesus and the Johannine Letters"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 4: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

This lesson discusses why John wrote his epistles. It concludes that the essence of the problem John was addressing was false teaching creeping into the church by means of "antichrists" who were infiltrating and teaching heresy about Jesus' nature. John counters this false teaching by "arguing in favor of the unity of Father and Son, acceptance of divine forgiveness, and a life governed by the principle of love."

The day's thought questions say that John dealt with false teachings "by emphasizing the positive." The concluding questions are, "Do you focus on the error at the expense of truth? How can you start training yourself to deal with problems in a more positive manner?"

 

Problems

While it is undeniable that we must deal with false doctrine in a loving manner, the conclusion that we must not focus on error at the expense of truth is a straw-man argument not taught in the text of the epistles. Instead, John is explicit in these epistles as well as in his gospel that truth is found only in Jesus. He teaches the truth as a means of exposing error—not as a corollary to exposing error.

Again, the definition of error must be established. An organization holding unbiblical doctrines and retaining faith in an extra-biblical prophet cannot be teaching biblical truth without error creeping into the teaching. John wasn't softening his warnings by focussing on truth. Rather, he was outspoken in his condemnation of error by calling the teachers of error "antichrists". He taught the truth about the gospel and about believers' relationships with Jesus as a means of providing the foundation against which error would become visible.

Adventism has a foundation of error, so the pure gospel can appear to be "error" to those steeped in Adventist teaching.

It must be noted that the lesson assumes Adventist doctrine to be truth, and the lesson further challenges members not to be negative when confronting error. The lesson is addressing how to defend Adventism without creating hard feelings among members who have differing opinions. This concern is inevitable because any system built on error will not be internally consistent.

The pure gospel, however, is clear: belief in Jesus and His totally finished, substitutionary atonement is all that is needed for eternal life. This belief results in being born of the Spirit, and this new birth gives one Christ's resurrection life. The born-again believer at last has a choice about whether or not to sin. He can either act in the flesh, or he can act in the Spirit, submitting his temptation to God instead of struggling with sin. The non-born-again person, no matter how sincere or religious, has no choice but to sin because his sin nature is still alive and well. He is still "by nature" an object "of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3).

Believers are to be clear and direct when confronting error. Paul even said in Galatians 1:8: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

Christ-followers are never to accommodate error by trying not to offend a false teacher.

 

Summary

• There is no disjunction between fighting error and defending truth. Truth is not the antidote to focussing on error; rather, truth is the foundation that exposes error.
• John taught truth in order to protect the believers against error,
• Adventism is founded on error; therefore, it cannot be internally consistent, and the pure gospel nay appear to be "error" when it contrasts with Adventism.
• John was direct when confronting creeping heresy, even calling the teachers "antichrists".
• Believers are never to accommodate error by trying not to offend a false teacher.

 

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