Jesus and God are one

False teachers in John’s day claimed to have a special anointing from God which gave them special knowledge that others did not have. But John points out that all true Christians know God and have received the Spirit of God (v. 23). Apparently these false teachers in John’s day were claiming faith in God while denying and opposing Christ. To do so John firmly states, is impossible. Because Jesus is God’s son, to deny Him is to reject God’s way of revealing Himself to the whole world. A person who accepts Christ as God’s Son, however accepts God the Father at the same time (vv. 24-25). The two are one and cannot be separated is the teaching in God’s Word known as diety.

It has been said concerning the doctrines of Christianity, “If it is true it is not new; and if it is new it is not true.” The idea is that all of God’s revelation to man is found in His Word. You can usually determine if a teaching is true or false by questioning this person about the doctrine of Christ. Such questions as, Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God in the sense that the Father is God?  Or is Jesus Christ’s death on the cross sufficient for the forgiveness of my sins? If a no answer is given it is strong evidence that the teaching is anti-Christian. The conclusion that John reached was that any individual who denies Jesus Christ’s deity is not a Christian.

Many Churches and liberal theologians of our day deny the diety of Jesus Christ and therefore God’s blessing cannot rest upon them. We need to expose these teachings, and oppose their heresy with the Word of God so that the weak believers among us do not fall into the trap of their error.