Articles
Simple Truth From God
Many in the world are more like Pontius Pilate (What is truth?) than the apostle John when it comes to truth. It is often thought of as intangible, always evading our grasp. Only the most elite, the most enlightened will ever find it. Perhaps this is why such a fracture formed in churches around the end of the First Century when the apostle John wrote the first epistle that bears his name. In it, the aged hero of the Christian faith pushed back against the speculations of the early Gnostics and affirmed the simple, original message of the gospel.
In that context, those who preferred philosophical speculation over affirmation of simple truths could no longer tolerate fellowship with the simpletons. Yet even when a church is going through its darkest hour, when it stands up for something and is persecuted because of it, there is an opportunity for character to shine through the darkness. “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:19-21). This must have been an incredibly comforting message to the Christians who were left behind to pick up the pieces. Perhaps they had lost confidence in the stand they took. Perhaps they were beginning to question the wisdom of their actions. To that, John emphatically responds by expressing his total approval of how their story unfolded. They may have lost a few in number but they gained much in maturity.
Truth has a way with alienating its followers from the world. Throughout the epistle, John makes a definite distinction between truth-seekers and world-seekers. “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him” (1 John 2:15). He goes on to say in the following verses that the world and all its lusts are passing away, “but the one who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:16-17).
The test is always whether or not we are obeying God. No matter what the world says, no matter how religious it sounds, if one is not following the commands of God, He is not following Him. “They are from the world,” the apostle says in 1 John 4:5-6. “Therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 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.” It may not be a popular way to live, but if a belief or practice does not line up with God’s revealed will, it is not of the truth (1 John 4:1).
