20And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 21Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
As believers, we have knowledge. Seven times in this letter, John writes, “We know.” Four of those occur in this last chapter, and the final one we address now. The growing movement of incipient Gnosticism, which assaulted Christian faith, reserved spiritual knowledge for the spiritual elite, those with the insider’s insight into greater things. They claimed a higher consciousness of deeper things. This thinking characterizes most cults, even today, the promise of greater knowledge if you “buy” into their way of thinking and give control of your lives over to them. However, in biblical, apostolic Christianity, knowledge is available to all by faith. There is no special clergy class that controls the truth. Biblical truth is not hidden behind cryptic terminology or initiation rites, as the apostle Paul asserted (1 Cor. 1:17, 2:1).
The fourth clear and adulterated truth that “we know” is that the Son of God has come. This assertion clearly contradicts the false teachers (1 John 4:1–3). John states it simply and to the point. True believers in Jesus Christ have the truth about Him, but even more, we “know Him.” Here, the word “know” changes to the Greek “gnosko” (from which the term Gnosticism comes). The Bible locates true gnosis (insight into what is true) squarely in Jesus Christ. If we know Him intimately through faith, we know truth, because He is the truth (John 14:6). The apostle Paul struggled to make the truth of Christ known so that we would “[attain] to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself” (Col. 2:2).
As believers, we are “in Him,” so we are immersed and enmeshed in the truth. We can say, “We know.” I can say, “I know.” And we can say it beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is what eternal life is all about, knowing God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3).
So John now closes off his letter with a final plea. He writes as an affectionate father, speaking to his readers as his children of faith. His heart’s desire is for them to avoid idolatry in all its forms, at all costs. The greatest idolatry is to replace or diminish the supremacy of Jesus Christ, Son of God who came in the flesh. He is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way (John 14:6).
Father, I worship You only, through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Your closing comment “Father, I worship You only ….” raises the question ‘Do you not worship the Son?’ Could please clarify. Thanks
Eugene, thank you for your comment. My intention was that my worship is directed to God through Jesus Christ and to no one else. To worship the Son of God is inseparable from worshipping the Father, since both are God. Speaking in Trinitarian terms can be a challenge. Many people, for example speak of thanking God for dying for them, or thanking the Father for dying for them on the cross. This is imprecise (as is the hymn “And can it be, that thou my God shouldn’t die for me.” God the Son died for us, not God the Father (as Jesus made clear in his calling out to the Father from the cross). Yet how can we separate the Father and the Son so cleanly when we see that Jesus accepted the exclamation to the risen Jesus: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28)? God rose from the dead—Jesus didn’t correct Thomas on this, so it must be acceptable. So, possibly, I am guilty of imprecise terminology in my emed. I should have written, “Father, I worship You through my Lord, my Savior, and my God, Jesus Christ.” In light of this, to be more precise, I have changed the wording of my final prayer of this emed. Thanks. Chuck