Teaching & 1 John, Pt.4: Right Christology

Introduction

Time runs ever on and on. The semester is half-way over, and a blog series (see Post 1) that I intended to cover in about a month has stretched into two. It often astounds me when I look back over a week or a month to think that I lived every hour of each one of those days. As a teacher I reflect on the forty-odd hours spent in each class every semester: in the midst of those days, hours, and moments, am I intentionally living out the truth about Jesus Christ?

First John is a letter written to churches in distress over false teachers who, though they have gone out from the churches themselves (1 Jn. 2:19), yet pose the thread of leading the members astray into false teaching (1 Jn. 2:26). In response, the Apostle John urges these believers to test their teachers to determine whether they are legitimate spiritual guides or mere heretics in disguise (1 Jn. 4:1-6).

The practical outworking of this letter is three tests for true teachers, each of which I have developed in a post: true teachers will display righteous character (Post 2), familial love (Post 3), and right Christology (this post). Though I write on John’s test of right belief in Christ last, it is not the least important; rather, it is the linchpin of his entire argument, for it is only fellowship with God through a right faith in Christ which produces the other two. In that sense, there is only one test – knowing the true Christ – shown practically in living out the character of that true Christ. Therefore, it is incumbent upon those who teach to pass this, the greatest of John’s tests.

“The Savior of the World”

The greatest challenge in studying First John is the fact that we do not know the original situation; there are hints and clues throughout the letter, but nowhere is the matter spelled out in certain terms. We are left to the task of “mirror reading,” in which scholars attempt to reconstruct the setting from the available data, but this process leaves us looking “through a glass, darkly.”

While John does not clearly identify the views of the false teachers regarding Christ, he does mention several other theological errors they make, especially regarding their own sinfulness (1 Jn. 1:6, 8, 10; 2:4, 9). Further, John makes several watershed statements that divide between true and false Christology:

1 John 2:22 “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.” (cf. 1 Jn. 5:1)

1 John 4:2-3 “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (cf. 2 Jn. 7)

1 John 4:14 “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

1 John 5:5 “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

1 John 5:11 “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

While these statements may seem to be addressing disparate theological matters, they actually center on one issue which John attacks from different angles.

The terms “Christ,” “Son of God,” and “Savior of the world” all refer to Jesus’ identity as the incarnate God-man who came to save us from sin. “Christ” focuses on his divine anointing for the task, “Son of God” relates to his authority to save, and “Savior of the world” highlights his role in providing salvation through his death, burial, and resurrection. While these terms all include Jesus’ divinity, they also speak to his humanity, which is John’s major concern.

In the closing chapter of First John, the Apostle declares of Jesus:

1 John 5:6 “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.”

While this statement has been variously understood in church history as referring to the Lord’s Supper and baptism, Jesus’ birth and death, or the wound in Jesus’ side, the best understanding seems to be that it refers to Jesus’ own baptism (“water”) as the beginning of his saving work, and his death (“blood”) as the end of his saving work. The key point here is that “blood” refers specifically to Jesus’ humanity; John seems to mention this because the false teachers of his day were denying his full humanity. By denying their own sinfulness, they denied the necessity for Christ’s death as a human to atone for their sin, and thereby denied that he came in the flesh as the anointed God-man sent by the Father to save sinners. By denying their need for a Savior, they denied that Jesus was the Savior.

Living right Christology

These may seem like irrelevant and obtuse theological matters, but John’s letter is intensely practical. The wrong beliefs about Christ actively influence the lives of the false teachers, as revealed in how John condemns them by their own words.

1 John 1:6 “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

1 John 1:8 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

1 John 1:10 “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

1 John 2:4 “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

1 John 2:9 “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”

As a counterpoint to these errors of the false teachers, John says that a right view of Christ will demonstrate itself in a person’s life.

1 John 2:4-6 “Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

1 John 3:14-18 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

1 John 5:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”

What this means practically is that (as I stated in the introduction) John’s three tests for teachers really boil down to this one test: do they believe in the true, biblical Christ? If they do, then it will be evidenced in the secondary tests of obedience and love; if they do not believe in him, they will fail these secondary tests when their lawlessness and hatred for believers are exposed. The three are a package that come together based upon right Christology. How a person lives is their “doctrinal statement” on what they believe about Jesus.

Application to Teaching

As we seek to be true teachers, we must display the true Christ. But since all three tests go together, the applications of true Christology are quite broad. As a teacher of Gen-Z at a conservative Christian college, here are some specific aspects of Christology to which I intentionally direct my students that may be helpful for others to meditate on as well.

We must evidence Christ's reality to our students

True believers and true teachers confess Christ. We no longer live in a culture where everyone assumes Jesus was real, which is ironic since it seems each year we have more evidence than ever before for his historical existence. But history can only tell us that Jesus of Nazareth lived, died, and left an empty tomb; Scripture alone interprets that historical event to mean that he is our risen and exalted Savior who will return to judge, and that believing on him brings eternal life. This truth becomes real to our students when we live as if it is true.

When we talk about Jesus to our students, is it like a fairy tale to teach a moral, or are we telling them of his tangible mighty works in our lives? Do we talk about how he has brought us from death to life in salvation? About how he has brought us through suffering, grief, doubt, and fear? How he has forgiven our sins and empowered us to overcome our sinful desires? How he has given us hope for the future? Make Christ real to your students by talking about him as a real, active person in your life.

We must express Christ's humanity to our students

John states that the core doctrinal issue of the false teachers Is that they deny "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" – that he was and is truly human. My students struggle with this aspect of true Christology, and perhaps yours do, too. So has every generation after the Apostles, who lived with his humanity for three years, hearing, seeing, touching, and handling him (1 Jn. 1:1-4).

When Jesus was on earth, people assumed he was human but needed convincing that he was God. Today, our students know Jesus is God – many have heard it in Sunday school their whole lives – but they need convincing that he is human, that he is anything like them. They don't understand how Jesus' fighting temptation or obedience at the cross helps them because they don't think he was really tempted. They need to understand that in his humanity he is in every way like them, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).

The first step in modeling Jesus' humanity is to model our own humanity. We are not God; we are dependent, finite creatures with limitations. That is not a bug – it's a feature. God made us dependent so that we would have to rely upon him for his glory. Our culture wants to say that anyone can add anything to their schedule and get through it with dogged determination, but that is not dependent humanity. Christian culture is often not much better in its messaging. Remember that Jesus was on earth for about 30 years and spent a quarter of it asleep. Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and while he humbled himself in doing so, flesh is not bad – it is “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Jesus modeled dependent humanity, and before we get on our students for not being able to say “no,” maybe we need to learn to do so ourselves.

We must rehearse Christ's victory to our students

John reminds his readers of Jesus’ statements that they have overcome the World because Jesus has overcome the World (1 Jn. 2:13-14; 4:4).

John 16:33 “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Age and experience are intended to grow perspective, and that perspective is supposed to consist of many experiences in which we have seen God sovereignly orchestrate events in his goodness and love according to his perfect plan. And we are to tell those things to the next generation (Ps. 78). But sometimes our perspective gets off, and all we can see as we look back are all the things that are worse, all the ways life is harder, all the changes that scare us. May I submit to you that our constant refrain before our students must be, “Jesus has already won and is coming back!” otherwise we risk communicating that the world is getting worse because Jesus is not really Lord.

Gen-Z is renowned for its nihilism, and the messaging they get from past generations in the world fuels it. The housing market is terrible, health never gets better, investing is no guarantee for the future, the job market is tough these days, etc. Consider: what do they hear from us? Is it that there are so many churches without pastors, so many people are coming off the mission field, it's harder than ever to be a Christian, if so-and-so becomes president they should prepare for persecution, and the future existence of the church rests in their generation's hands? May we never fail to point our students back to the victory of Christ, which is certain and sure amid all the difficulties of life. Remember, there is no such thing as chaos because God is sovereign, and there is no such thing as meaninglessness because God is good.

Conclusion

As I complete this blog series, I recognize that it has perhaps been more of a meditative exercise for me than it has been beneficial to others. I am okay with that. If nothing else, it has led me to greater appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ as I have seen his beauty magnified, and it has also led me to greater appreciate these little letters of John that are so often neglected, especially Second and Third John.

That being said, my prayer is that following this blog series or simply reading this post alone has led you to consider and appreciate the following truths:

• The writings of the Apostles are eyewitness testimony of our Lord, such that we are never more than one person removed from Jesus when we read their words (1 Jn. 1:1-2).
• God invites us to glorious fellowship with himself through faith in his Son for the purpose of fulfilling our joy (1 Jn. 1:3-4); this is the essence of eternal life (John 17:3).
• Fellowship with God can only be attained by faith in the true Christ as he is revealed in Scripture (1 John 2:22; 4:2-3,14; 5:5, 11).
• Fellowship with God that comes through faith in Christ is evidenced in how a person lives as the Holy Spirit produces Christlike obedience and love (2:4-6; 3:14-18).

If you are a teacher like me, I hope that you have meditated with me on the fact that those who claim to be true teachers must meet these tests of righteous character, familial love, and right Christology. Again, God has commanded our students in this epistle of First John to discern whether we are worthy of hearing and following with regard to spiritual matters. There are only two spirits, that of God and that of Antichrist – do you know of what spirit you are, and more importantly, do your students know?.

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All Scripture verses come from the ESV.