Introduction: The above question is impossible to answer with just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’! A ‘yes’ means that you were beating her, and a ‘no’ without further explanation means that you are still beating, whereas you haven’t stopped that practice! This passage is quick to read but has much ‘hidden’ in it! All the following, in non bold and in italics, are my thoughts!
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. This is exclusionary, definitive and fits extremely well with Jesus’ own teaching and with the Apostolic writings! All roads don’t lead to Rome if you think that God lives in Rome! Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. This is exclusionary also for it doesn’t accept that you can sit on the fence about accepting Jesus! You need not only to NOT deny but also MUST confess! Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. This assumes a true hearing of the ‘gospel’ and an acceptance of it! It doesn’t mean that if you were first taught the Islamic faith or even ‘false’ Christianity that you don’t need a new start. Jesus said to Nicodemus ‘You must be born again’ (Jn 2)If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. The two verbs in this sentence are fundamentally important. Hearing is personal and obviously here includes acceptance and at least some degree of understanding; abiding means constancy. For all of us the path is hopefully upwards even though with occasional ups and downs. And this is the promise that He made to us—eternal life.
Is ‘eternal’ just about length, or has it an element of quality? When does it begin? I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. John is not pussy footing about heresy and false teachers! The devil has been defeated on the Cross – that was and is forever a decisive victory but the devil is still able to fight around the edges and will do so until the final Judgement when Jesus returns! And he uses disguises such as ‘angel wings’ or ‘a sheep-face mask’ pulled over his wolf-like head! 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. This is referring to the fact that the Holy Spirit, the Oil with which we believers are anointed {Rom 8:9}), abides with believers. The Holy Spirit has been promised to lead us unto all truth by Jesus (Jn 14:26), but we must consider the ways that He teaches us. He uses the Word of God, the Bible, faithful preachers, fellowship with other believers, conscience etc. But He is in the driving-seat!
28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. All of us must stand before the judgement seat of God. Tickets for entering into heaven are given in the here and now. God writes our names in the ‘Book of Life’ when we truly turn to Jesus, but there is still assessment to come! The last sentence is not able to be used to say that ‘good works’ make us righteous. There is none ‘good but God’ according to Jesus. Our righteousness before God depends on Jesus’ righteousness being used as a covering for our sin. There is in God’s sight a difference in ‘good works’ being done to earn our way into heaven and to doing ‘works‘ which are done in living in His way!
Isaiah 64:6 – We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Prayer: Please help me to be childlike in my response to You, but to not be childish in my petulant, self-willed thinking and living.
As I read it! 