Lesson 214 – When the Spirit Makes Truth Known

1 John 2:20-21

"But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth."

The Holy One mentioned in this passage is the anointing of the Spirit's touch upon the believer, an anointing which brings about salvation, converting the soul from death unto life. It is this same Spirit which makes known the truth of Jesus Christ.

John encourages believers to listen to the Spirit's expression of truth, ignoring those who come into the church denying the deity of Jesus Christ. He later writes, "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father." It can't be any clearer. No one rightly claims a part in God's family while at the same time embracing any belief limiting the deity of Christ.

But that is exactly what is done when a person claims their salvation makes them equal with Christ, making themselves out to be some way equal with God. This is exactly what is done when a person elevates a prophet above the status of our Lord, claiming a new and better prophet has come. This is exactly what is done when those in the church venerate a saint or angel above the position of Jesus, if not in words, then in practice.

Be warned. These types of heresies didn't come into the church without some element of truth, so we must be a people who look more to the Spirit than to our teachers. Not that these men and women are somehow unimportant, for most have been sent to us by the Spirit, but we need to test every teaching against the Spirit's interpretation of the word.

I know in my life I have been guilty of wrongly "dividing the word", not fully understanding what I struggled to teach. My prayer is that the Spirit would guard those who listen from any heresy.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I thank you for the witness of truth you give us in your Spirit. May this witness guard the church from heresy and prepare my lips to rightly speak your word. Amen.