“…and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.”
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
Every false teacher that does not acknowledge Jesus’ incarnation (God dwelling in the flesh) is not of God.
And this is the spirit of the Antichrist,
False teachers that deny the incarnation get this idea from the “Antichrist.” The Antichrist wants to undermine the incarnation because it is the basis of our salvation. It would make the person and work of Christ meaningless.
which you have heard was coming,
John faithfully taught his readers that apostasy was to come on them. They knew it was going to happen before it happened.
and is now already in the world
The Antichrist was not there at the time of the writing of 1 John, but the spirit of the Antichrist had already come by his false prophets and teachers. He already had his emissaries attacking John’s readers.
PRINCIPLE:
Jesus’ humanity redeemed lost humanity.
APPLICATION:
The issue is not the manner or mode of Christ’s coming but the constitution of His humanity. From the moment Jesus became man, He identified with fallen humanity. His humanity redeemed lost humanity. The contradiction of this is the spirit of the Antichrist.
The spirit of the Antichrist is subtle in our day. Many messengers of liberalism eviscerate the message of the gospel. They deny the Bible as the Word of God. They deny the deity of Christ. They reject the idea that man is sinful and depraved. They have no message to sin-sick souls. Many churches today are filled with this kind of preacher.
Most false teachers admit that a historical Jesus appeared in the world just like they will admit that Alexander the Great was a historical figure. Still, they will not admit that God stepped foot in a human body to pay for the sins of humanity.
