1 John 2:20-23 The Father and the Son

2:20

In one sense we are just ordinary people, but in another we are special, for we have been adopted as sons of God. In some ways it is like Jesus, He was the Son of Man, fully human, but He was also the Son of God, and could do amazing things. John expresses it by saying we “have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. This is a defence against any group that tries to make us feel inferior.

2:21

John assures them that they already know the truth. Again it is a counter against false teachings that seek to make us doubt. Remember that in Eden the serpent said “did God really say....” we should have confidence in the gospel.

2:22

We have had lifestyle tests, now we come to the key doctrinal test, and doctrine matters. Some try to tell us that to be concerned about right doctrine is a mistake, such people are the ones who are truly mistaken. The first test is denying that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is indeed the Christ, He is the centre and the focus of everything. If we deny Jesus then we are also denying the Father, for the Fathers sent Christ in order to fulfil His plans.

2:23

The matter is very simple, we cannot have the Father without the Son. They come as a package., you cannot have one without the other.

1 John 2:15-19 - Do not love the world

2:15-17

There are many false teachers who “love the world”, this can come in the form of so-called “prosperity teaching", or those who go along with the world's crazy and corrrupted ideas on sexuality. We cannot love the world and God. The world’s ways are in rebellion to God, so if someone is motivated primarily by worldly thinking they are not of God. The world and is ways will pass away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever, we need to make the right choice and to listen to those who have made the right choice, not ones following the way of death.

2:18,19

Some may say this teaching causes division, but Jesus said He came not to bring peace, but division (Lk 12:51). Some appeals for unity are actually appeals for toleration of wrong teaching. In the letters to the seven churches in Revelation there are criticisms from Jesus of  those who tolerated wrong teaching. Those who leave because false teaching is not tolerated show that they never really belonged to God nor to us. Note the strong line that John takes against false teachers, they are even identified with the antichrist.