NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY
By Dr. Robert R. Seyda
FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
CHAPTER FIVE (Lesson CXLVI) 06/01/23
5:21 So, dear children, keep yourselves away from false gods.
Not surprisingly, many interpretations have been offered. Many of these suggestions have merit, and it is hard to be decisive one way or another in the light of such scholarly variety. What does seem clear is that in the immediate context keeping oneself from idols is the necessary commitment to know the true God through Jesus the Anointed One. But in the context of the whole letter, it is not the pagans who do not know the true God but the secessionist.[1] For this reason, suggestions are that John’s appeal relates to the secessionists is probably the best; that is, it is an encouragement not to accept the false teaching of the secessionists.[2]
Ben Witherington III (1951), a man who believes that Christians can fall away from the faith, examines the Apostle John’s warning against idolatry which in this case is an alert about the deity whom the false teachers are trying to get the audience to worship, someone other than or less than Jesus. Idolatry is to be understood as a reference to John’s opponents, whose false Christology and understanding of Jesus are considered idolatrous. Therefore, faithful believers should stay away from false ideas while being reassured that the True One is protecting them from evil. Thus, John’s teaching ends like a salvation message, with a final appeal that warns about hearing but not believing and practicing God’s Word.[3]
With her crafted spiritual insight, Judith Lieu (1951) feels that dramatically verse twenty would have been a powerful closing assertion. But the Apostle John, however, sees himself not as an orator but as a pastor. The confident sequence of “we know” has created an implied community of shared convictions and intentions, just as the creation of such a community of commitment has been the letter’s strategy from the start. Yet even the most unshakable affirmations have been swiftly followed by words of warning and encouragement.
So, it comes as John again puts on the teacher’s shaw addressing his “children.”[4] Here, he reverts to the second person plural, which readies his readers to anticipate a final injunction that will bring together all that has been said. Yet just where his parting shot might be expected to be the most direct and pointed, it leaves modem readers perplexed and wondering what the early church fathers would have made of it. Why does John suddenly warn them against the attraction or the power of idols?[5]
Contextual interpretation specialist Gary M. Burge (1952) notes that rather than closing the letter with a conventional greeting or blessing, the Apostle John adds a final appeal, using his now familiar title “little children.”[6] It is an abrupt ending, and many have wondered if it launched a new section now lost to us. Nowhere else, for instance, does John refer to idolatry as one of the threats to the community.
Nevertheless, pagan idols constantly surrounded the early Christian church living in the Roman empire, and the rest of the Final Covenant gave constant warnings about them.[7] As a result, the verb used in verse twenty-one (NIV “keep”) differs from that used in verse eighteen. This Greek verb phylasso means “to guard,” a defensive activity.[8] John, therefore, urges us in verse eighteen that while Jesus keeps or sustains us, we must be diligent and alert – never passive – when it comes to taking care of ourselves.
But what are we to look out for? Idols are often viewed symbolically in the Bible as anything that competes with God. Paul gives idolatry an elastic meaning.[9] In other words, John urges his readers to watch out for anything that may become a substitute for God: religious shams, false religion, and even the error-filled terms of the secessionists.[10]
As an international speaker on Puritan theology, Joel Beeke (1952) looks at the Apostle John’s recommendation for growing in the blessed assurance of one’s salvation. The increase occurs when fellowshipping with the Father, the Son, the apostles, and the saints. In effect, John closes his epistle by reminding readers that he also told them how to grow in the assurance of faith. [11] John is expressing himself as a caring pastor to their believers, calling them their “little children.” John does so in light of people asking, “How can anyone be sure of eternal life, or is it only an assumption?” Those with doubt should yearn for an increase in their faith in their Savior and Lord. Such maturing assurance is critical to a person’s spiritual health.
That leads to other questions: How do I obtain assurance, keep it, and persevere in it? The first directive is through prayer.[12] The second is through intercessory prayer.[13] To this, John then adds how a believer can build assurance on the certainties of the Christian life.[14] Take note that verses eighteen to twenty all begin with the Greek verb eidō, which the KJV translates as “know” two hundred eighty-one times. John ensures that every believer can know that with such assurance, those born of God are also God-protected. The Evil One can’t take hold of them. We can know that we are held firm by God; it’s only the people of a godless society who continue in the grip of the Evil One. And we can know that God’s Son came so we could recognize and understand God’s truth. We can know we are living in Truth itself ‒ God’s Son, Jesus the Anointed One. This Jesus is both the Divine Truth and Eternal Life.[15]
Emphasizing the Apostle John’s call to Christian fellowship, Bruce B. Barton (1954) observes that the Apostle John closes his letter with a final affectionate caution. Given the context of this letter, “idols” probably refer to false teachings that present false images of Jesus the Anointed One, who is “one with the only true God, and eternal life.”[16] An idol can be anything that substitutes for true faith, anything that robs the Anointed One of His full deity and humanity, any human idea that claims to be more authoritative than the Bible, or any loyalty that replaces God at the center of our lives. John was bluntly saying that to follow the false teachings would amount to turning away from God or turning to idols. The results would be the same.
In this letter, John presented a clear picture of the Anointed One. What Christians think about Jesus the Anointed One is central to their teaching, preaching, and living. Jesus is the God-man, fully God and fully human at the same time. He came to earth to die for their sins on behalf of all sinners. Through faith in Him, believers receive eternal life and the power to do His will. Every person must decide the answer to the most crucial question – who is Jesus the Anointed One?[17]
A scholar who truly inspires Christian missionaries, Daniel L. Akin (1957), notes that by saying there is a “true” God, there must be “false” gods. Therefore, the Apostle John provides a simple but perfect complement to verse twenty and a definitive conclusion to the letter in verse twenty-one. Be on guard, says John, from God-substitutes. The Apostle Paul gives a similar warning to the Ephesian believers[18] and the church in Colossae.[19] Any effort to earn our salvation creates idols of necessity.
For if we make our career, our lifestyle, or our social life, our fundamental “security” in life – our “wisdom” and “power” – then those things become idols which we look to instead of the Anointed One for our “acceptance” and “well-being.” Those who rely on keeping the religious laws or social norms to save their souls safe for eternity are breaking the first commandment by their artificial gods of morality. Their good works are then done in honor and service to an idol to avoid accepting the Anointed One as their Lord and Savior.
To put it another way, idolatry is anything you love, enjoy, and pursue more than God, more than Jesus, who “is the true God and eternal life.” Idols say they are true when God says only, He and His Son are true. Idols say they will give life beyond the grave when God says only the Anointed One can provide eternal life. Idols make promises they cannot keep, whereas God says His Son provides and delivers everlasting life.
So, guard yourselves against idols looking only to control, manipulate, and demand obedience that brings them applause to please you. Your heart will never be satisfied and at rest with any of these little false gods. Only the Anointed One truly and eternally satisfies. Jesus said it ideally: “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give them will never get thirsty again.”[20] [21]
With a classical thinking approach to understanding the scriptures, Bruce G. Schuchard (1958) says that initially, verse twenty-one “seems to be a rather unexpected and inappropriate conclusion of this Letter, which nowhere makes mention of idol worship.” Yet, John’s prior reference to the true God “suggests the contrast that any false god or false view of God is idolatry.” Like a dog returning to its vomit,[22] the secessionists returned to the reckless ways of an especially idolatrous world. The final verse does not introduce a new concern but concludes the thought and draws out the implication of what has been said in verse twenty.
John also issues a warning for children to guard against idols. A final instance of direct address, “children,” helps with the one with which the body of the Epistle begins to frame the Epistle.[23] Then, for the seventh and last time, John calls his hearers “children.” In the Final Covenant, the term “idol” is rarely used only with reference to the physical objects of pagan worship. The imperative “guard” helps mark an ending. John’s warning offers no “new concern” about idol worship or food sacrificed to idols or competing religions in the marketplace which crosses John’s mind at the last minute. Instead, John sharply contrasts his concluding concern with the truth that has been the focus of his entire Letter.
Resist the illusory, warned John, and keep to authentic/genuine. The secessionists came from a life of idolatry and returned to a life of idolatry. Thus, the community is warned to guard itself against the idols that were so common in first-century religion. Anything less than or contrary to the saving knowledge of God in the Anointed One, Jesus, is idolatry. In closing, John encourages his children again with all due diligence, emotional steadfastness, and full cognizance of abiding or departing from being in Him and He in them, of living or dying with the deceived and deceiving in the dark and dying world, the verse ends with a profound conclusion.”[24]
Great expositional teacher David Guzik (1961) says that the Apostle John makes it clear that we cannot attain salvation alone. If God did not reveal Himself to us, we would never find Him. We know Him and can know Him because He has revealed Himself to us. More than any other way, God revealed Himself to us by Him who is true, in His Son Jesus the Anointed One.
Therefore, Jesus is the key and the focus of it all. We see the personality and character of God by looking at Jesus. “He who is true” also reminds us of John’s theme through the letter: the importance of true belief, of trusting in the faithful Jesus, not a made-up Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible is Him who is trustworthy, His Son, Jesus the Anointed One. We can only have a real relationship with the God who is really there! Idolatry, whether apparent (praying to a statue) or subtle (living for your career or someone other than God), will always choke out a real relationship with God and damage our relationships with our spiritual brothers and sisters in Jesus. No wonder John ends with “guard yourselves idols;” this is how we protect our relationship with God.[25]
Marianne Meye Thompson (1964) combines verses twenty and twenty-one and concludes that the coming of God’s Son is appropriate as a concluding statement about His role in bringing salvation and eternal life. God’s Son brings an understanding of God and facilitates fellowship with Him. Jesus has given us insight, which includes the ability to discern the spirits[26] and understand what the Spirit teaches us.[27] We are supplied with apprehending the truth, which is not so much the power to comprehend things as it is the power to know “Him who is true.” We see here again the claim that only through God’s Son can one come to know the God who is true, as opposed to any false conception of God that people construct in their minds.
Jesus has come so that we might come to the knowledge of the true God. The Greek verb eidō is used here to acknowledge through perception, discern or discover. Thus, such a God can be mediated only by one characterized by truth.[28] Jesus the Anointed One is one with the true God. But Jesus the Anointed One, who makes knowledge of God possible, is so intimately related to God that He can be called Divine. In that case, any doctrine or worship that dilutes those affirmations is equal to idolatry. The warning for little children to keep yourselves from idols points to the danger of worshiping any God other than the one revealed through Jesus the Anointed One. The idols John mentions are not pagan deities or images of stone or wood. Instead, an idol is a false picture of God that causes one to stumble and fall away from a relationship with the true God. John’s readers are to keep themselves away from every kind of false belief, for loyalty to a false god leads to death, but allegiance to the true God brings eternal life. [29]
[1] Cf. 1 John 1:6; 2:4
[2] Kruse, Colin G., The Letters of John (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition
[3] Witherington, Ben III., Letters and Homilies for Hellenized Christians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Titus, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition
[4] Cf. 1 John 2:28; 3:7
[5] Lieu, Judith: A New Testament Library, I, II, & III John, op. cit., p. 234
[6] 1 John 2:1, 12, 13, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21
[7] Romans 1:23; 1 Corinthians 8:4-10; 1 Thessalonians 1:9
[8] See John 12:25; 17:12
[9] Cf. Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5
[10] Burge, Gary M., The Letters of John (The NIV Application Commentary), op. cit., pp. 218-219
[11] 1 John 5:13
[12] Ibid. 5:14-15
[13] Ibid. 5:16-17
[14] Ibid. 5:18-21
[15] Beeke Joel, The Epistles of John, Ch. 22, op. cit., pp. 203-213
[16] 1 John 5:20
[17] Barton, Bruce B; 1,2,3 John (Life Application Bible Commentary) op. cit., p. 120
[18] Ephesians 5:5
[19] Colossians 3:5
[20] John 4:14
[21] Akin, Daniel L., Exalting Jesus in 1,2,3 John (the Anointed One-Centered Exposition Commentary, op. cit., loc. cit., Kindle Edition
[22] Proverbs 26:11
[23] 1 John 2:1
[24] Schuchard, Bruce G., Concordia Commentary, 1-3 John, op. cit., pp. 587-589
[25] Guzik, David: Enduring Word, 1, 2, & 3 John & Jude, op. cit., pp. 101-102
[26] 1 John 4:1-6
[27] Ibid. 2:20-21,26-27
[28] Cf. John 14:6
[29] Thompson, Marianne M., The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, 1-3 John, op. cit., pp. 147-148
Down an Unfamiliar Road 