THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
[p. 118] THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN
1 John 2: 20,27; 1 John 3: 24 (latter clause); 1 John 4: 2,13; 1 John 5: 6,8
The mention of the Spirit of God in the various books of the New Testament is a subject well worthy of enquiry; and I have selected this epistle believing that the Lord will graciously help, first, as regards the teaching of the Spirit. The idea of teaching is, I need not say, very extensive in the scriptures. As in nature, so in a spiritual sense; as born again we have to learn everything; and so we have many teachers. Even nature is accredited with teaching; and then God Himself teaches. Scripture speaks of Him teaching a “ploughman” (Isaiah 28: 26) — showing how the idea enters into man’s circumstances, for God as forming the creation, has not left it to work its own salvation; it is not something thrown out to evolve itself at its own expense — God is in it. We are told that in Him we all live and move, showing how near He is to us, even as Creator, entering into man’s circumstances, for man is His prime object in creation, and teaching him as I said, even how to plough and how to sow his seed. In a numberless variety of ways God enters into His own creation, imparting intelligence to it.
But when we come to the spiritual realm, we have, so as to make the thing simple, the teaching of grace in which all young believers particularly should school themselves; a teaching in which God is very gentle with us, allowing much contrariety and murmuring to pass unrebuked. There is also the teaching of the Lord which implies authority and a standard of education, in connection with which we get discipline; and there is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, with which we are now immediately concerned. The Holy Spirit is first mentioned in this epistle in connection with teaching, and it is in addressing the juniors in the graded school of God — the little children. “I write to you little children”
([p. 119] 1 John 2: 13). Some of us who are older, are prone to look down with a measure of patronage on our younger brothers and sisters, but not so John, although he makes the fullest allowance for growth. Our younger brothers and sisters should accustom themselves to that, to the respect of grey hairs, but particularly of spiritual stature. Heaven will be graded that way; and it is so in the assembly, and in the families of God. It is sobering for the young ones to accustom themselves to the recognition of advanced growth in others. On the other hand, John connects the Holy Spirit with the little ones, and does not in the least convey to them that they are know-nothings, but rather that they “know all things” (1 John 2: 20), and that makes a very great difference. It puts the young brothers and sisters on their feet, as soon as the Holy Spirit conveys to them that they know all things. But then this has to be understood; it is what I may call a potential statement, meaning that the Holy Spirit is in you, not simply as the earnest of the inheritance, a very precious feature, or as the seal of God that you belong to Him, but that He has dignified you — in the way you read your Bible, in the way you attend the meetings, and in the way that you speak of the things of God. You do not speak of them as the most learned unconverted theologian does, but alongside of him you are dignified and he is despicable, unworthy of speaking of these things; in other words you are anointed; you have an unction, as it says, from the Holy One, and you know all things, at least in the principle of them. He knows nothing, nor can he know anything, he is unable on his present platform to know anything; he is attempting to know these things and to speak of them as a natural man, as a student with a trained mind, knowing the original languages, but he is utterly unfit to have to do with the things of God, “for what man”, says the apostle Paul, “knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2: 11). These men may know the things of a man, but the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God. The youngest believer has the Spirit of God, even the Corinthians had, and we have the Spirit of God that “we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” 1 Corinthians 2: 12. Thus the apostle John encourages young christians by putting this dignity upon them, and consequently he tells them that they do not need “any man” to teach them.
John is taking young believers (I am speaking to them particularly now) out of the range of men, for it is a question of men as such in this chapter, he tells them that antichrist is coming, and that there are many antichrists. They are legion in our time, never has there been a time, I believe, yielding more antichrists. Young people, going to schools and offices may be unaware of the influences that are being exerted abroad — subtle influences in many respects — to shut out Christ from their minds by bringing in man, and the sayings and teachings of man. So the first word here in regard to the Spirit is “ye have an unction from the Holy One” 1 John 2: 20 — not a degree, or degrees, according to man, but “an unction”. A university degree gives a certain dignity to a man; the letters at the end of a name are intended to convey dignity and authority. Now, what we have here is that, only it is “an unction from the Holy One” 1 John 2: 20; not that any christian would assume anything, but the point here is the dignity of the believer, even the youngest, as having the Holy Spirit; that the means of his learning and the character of his knowledge, are by the unction from the Holy One. Now that brings me down to what is very practical, and that is that all that is merely human, natural intellect and natural ability, is to be shut out from our mode of learning, and our mode of speaking one to another — from our Bible readings, and above all from our ministry. The more the natural element has a place, the more degraded the teaching and the knowledge are; whereas where the anointing from the [p. 121] Holy One is owned all will take on a certain dignity, and corresponding superiority to anything that you could find in this world. A meeting of persons dignified in this way has its own distinction, which when put alongside a meeting of the most renowned theologians is noticeable at once. The unction from the Holy One puts a character on us that is inimitable; it places us far out of the range of man; there is power with it; there is something in it that man cannot deny. As was said of our Lord, “Never man spake like this man” John 7: 46 — there was something there that could not be denied; and that is what God is producing. So in verse 27 the apostle says, “These things have I written to you concerning those who lead you astray: and yourselves”,1 John 2: 26,27, that is to say, the apostle looks upon these dear “little children” not as shiftless, unprotected persons, but as “yourselves”, — those who have received an unction which abides in them.
Now let us take account of ourselves, not to be self-occupied, of course, but as comparing ourselves with what the world can offer, religious or otherwise. God has been doing great things for His people in our own times; it behaves us to bow in thanksgiving for what He has done. It is a day of small things, I admit, but it is nevertheless a day in which God’s Spirit remains among us, and His covenant (Haggai 2: 5); in which He says to us, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4: 6). And so the apostle would direct us in this sense to ourselves; it is a question of what God has done. And what is there outside? One would challenge anybody in the whole of christendom as to what there is; let them bring it forth. Now you will understand that I am not seeking for a moment that we should be self-occupied, but rather occupied with what God has done, so as to be grateful and humbled about it; for what He has done He will do — and more, if we are dependent. Now what about “yourselves”? He says, “the unction which ye have received from [p. 122] him abides in you, and ye have not need that any one should teach you; but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2: 27). Now you see the position as to “yourselves”. In the gospel of Mark, when the Lord came down from the mountain with the three selected ones, the cloud having disappeared and the voice ceased, it was “Jesus only with themselves” Mark 9: 8. They had seen the King in His glory, in His majesty, as Peter says; they had seen “the Son of man coming in his kingdom” Matthew 16: 28; heaven was brought down to the mountain top for them, but all that had disappeared, and what an impression they must have had as they came down! It was “Jesus only with themselves” Mark 9:8, but the Jesus who was with them, had been the central object above, in the “excellent glory”. That One who was the object of the Father there, and of all else, who had been transfigured before them, was now the humble Jesus with themselves. Did they need more? No, they did not need more; nor do we need more; for in speaking of the anointing I am speaking of Him. Christ in glory sent down the Spirit, that He might be upon us, that He might characterise us, that yourselves might be possessed with this, finding all outside but darkness and confusion. I would specially urge the young ones to look into this, into that which you have come into as believing on Christ. This epistle teaches us that what we have come into is already victorious, our faith which “has gotten the victory over the world” (1 John 5: 4). And yourselves, our very selves, as I may say, through the grace of God, are brought into all this through the anointing, as he says, “which ye have received from him”, and which “abides in you” 1 John 2: 27.
Now you see we have come in this dignity of the Spirit into a certain fixedness; and that is the next thing I wish to speak of. I am not just speaking of fellowship, I am speaking of the word abide as used in [p. 123] this epistle; it refers to fixedness in certain relations. In this particular passage as having the unction, and as having been taught of Him, we find that all outside is not only confusion and darkness, but unnecessary; you do not need it. Of course I am not speaking of ordinary education for business, etc., I am speaking of what is spiritual; and this passage contemplates a certain fixedness, as being possessed of the unction which “is true and is not a lie” 1 John 2: 27. There is not a shade of untruth in it. The fixedness of which I am now speaking is as true as that the earth abides in the sun. It is as intelligent by the Spirit, that the believer is in a certain fixedness in relation to God, and his righteousness in this respect is in remaining in that.
In 1 John 4: 13, we learn how we know that we are in this fixedness: “Hereby we know that we abide in him, and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit”. Now you see there is a sort of dual action in this principle. God has in His people, according to the teaching of this epistle, that in which He can abide. A marvellous thought! I commend it to the brethren. What God has in His people, viewed in the effect of His work, as seen in this epistle, is that in which He abides. I do not know in what way this could have appeared earlier. God had great delight in the creation; it was “very good” to Him. It was all the work of God, and He rested in a certain way in it; He was complacent in it. I can understand how God delighted in the work of His hands, having blessed it all, and how it was before His eyes as a restful scene. Indeed, the Holy Spirit commenting upon it hundreds of years afterwards, says, “on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31: 17). But when we come to the incarnation we have something beyond that. God waited for thirty years before He announced His delight in Jesus. What can we say? He did it, and Jesus waited all those years for that announcement. It is as if God would indicate that if He announces His delight, it is because of moral [p. 124] worth. This is within the reach of all of us, for what value am I unless I have moral worth? And that is what came out in Jesus. Thirty years brought out the perfection in a Man in private life; known to Mary as to no one else, I suppose, outside of His Father, for she is the Lord’s mother; known also to His brethren in some way, but poorly appreciated, but perfectly known and perfectly valued by His Father. So you see there is the idea of the Father resting in that One here; and He speaks both to Him and of Him. At His baptism the voice says, “Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1: 11), and at the transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17: 5). There was an object on this earth in which God the Father could rest and abide. There was perfect fixedness, if I may reverently use that word of God, in a Man here. Every breath He breathed related to God. He was cast upon God from the very outset, as the scripture tells us; every word that He uttered, every movement of Christ related to God. Having come in as a Man in obedience, all was for the Father. Everything that He did was because He saw it in the Father. “The Son can do nothing of himself”, He says, “save whatever he sees the Father doing: for whatever things he does, these things also the Son does in like manner” (John 5:19). How delightful to the Father! There was the affection, of course, which went back before the incarnation, for He loved Him before the foundation of the world, but I am speaking of moral worth, of that which came out in Him, of what God intended in man here; so that as the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, it abode upon Him — that is the idea. There was nothing there in that Man that would disturb the divine sensitiveness, for that, I apprehend, is the meaning of a dove in bodily form, so that God rested there. It was far beyond the rest He had in the Sabbath, although no doubt the Sabbath was a figure of the incarnation; He [p. 125] rested there and was refreshed; but what He had not hitherto found in man, He now found in infinite perfection; that is what we find here. So in 1 John 3: 24 the apostle shows us how we may know we are in this fixedness: “Hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he hath given to us”. It is not now a question of words, but of the Spirit, that we are conscious of this blessed abiding in God, and God in us — and what underlies it is moral worth.
You see, therefore, the function and service of the Spirit in this epistle, first in teaching, then in bringing about this conscious abiding in God and God in us. It indicates the divine thought as to us, that we are intelligent, outside the world, independent of it, and are now such objects to God that He is restful in us; that He abides in us and we in Him, and that we know this, in that He has given to us His Spirit. It is not a mere statement of scripture, but there is the consciousness, God abiding in us, and we in Him, by the Spirit which He has given to us.
Now chapter 4 also speaks of the Spirit as “the Spirit of God”; it is characteristic. We are told how we are to know the Spirit of God, and this is another matter, because this chapter is treating of spirits.
Many cults have sprung up and even the elect are exposed, so we are given a test in chapter 4, in which the name of God appears something like twenty-nine times. It is a question of God: “God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” 1 John 4: 9,10. These great statements fit into this wonderful chapter, but I am speaking now of the spirits, and what is intended to expose to us the spirit of error, and how we are to know the Spirit of God (verse 2). It is not now a question of men or teachers as in chapter 2, it is a matter that may baffle the very oldest of us, that is to say, the operation of spirits abroad, how we are to discern [p. 126] the Spirit of God in the midst of all this spiritual activity. Agnosticism and blatant infidelity have not the place they once had; but they have been replaced by christian science, spiritism, and other like systems. There is the action of spirits all round us, but we are taught of God here, to know how to discern these spirits and to know how correspondingly to discern the Spirit of God. I cannot dwell upon it now, but the test is “every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God” (1 John 4: 2). The Spirit of God, therefore, occupies us entirely and absolutely with that order of man. The spirit of error will deny that order of man, and will build up on the man that God has rejected and set aside for ever in the death of Christ. The Spirit of God confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh; it is His Person, of course — a divine Person, but in flesh, that order and kind of man; and any teaching, any spiritual movement, that does not confess that, is not of God; it is the working of error, and the spirit of antichrist. In chapter 2 we have antichrists; here it is the spirit of antichrist, which is more subtle. We have to “discern” the antichrists who go out, but the spirit of antichrist is that which builds up man after the flesh, that is the test here. Anything that presents itself in the way of spiritual teaching, while building up man after the flesh, is not of God, but is the spirit of error.
In chapter 5 we come to the witness of the Spirit. It says, as you will observe, in this passage well known as to the letter of it, “it is the Spirit that bears witness” (verse 6). The Spirit is presented to us as a witness in relation to the things mentioned. “This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus the Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the truth. For they that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood” (1 John 5: 6 - 8). The seventh verse should not be there, for there is no need of witness in heaven. Therefore we are in the presence of witness now, and a witness [p. 127] in relation to these two things in connection with which the Lord Jesus came. Observe that He came by water and by blood. It is not the incarnation exactly; it includes that, for that is how He came historically; but it is Christ come to die — Christ come in relation to His death; for His coming would have no result or meaning for us did He not come in relation to the water and blood. The world being what it is, and we being what we are naturally, His coming in as a Man could only have made things worse had He not come to die. He came in connection with the water and the blood, as if He brought these two things; as if He came in with this provision of cleansing; and then it is added “it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the truth” 1 John 5: 6.
Now, dear brethren, we are in the presence of the means of setting the saints in eternal life, for the epistle has this in view. The epistle contemplates a grand finish; that is, Jesus known in our souls as the true God and eternal life; we are thus kept from idolatry. We have the three standing witnesses before us. The first, not only for the judicial removal of our sins, but of ourselves; for self clings even to the most spiritual of us; it is the last thing we get rid of — self — some little thought lurking at the bottom of the heart that, after all, there is something good there, whereas there is not; and the water is the standing witness, in conjunction with the blood and the Spirit, that there is not. It is the water first, because we may be very ready to acknowledge our guilt, and yet retain something of self; and that something shuts us out effectively from the enjoyment of the spiritual blessing that God has in view, that is, eternal life in His Son; for in that, I have left behind for ever, myself, according to what I was in the flesh, as well as my sins. The water has reference to what I am; “bodies washed with pure water” Hebrews 10: 22 refers to myself — “Entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh”
([p. 128] Hebrews 10: 20), and then (verse 22) “washed as to our body with pure water” — that refers to myself; that is to say, all that I am morally, as a man in the flesh, is left behind effectively by this cleansing. The water is the divine provision for moral cleansing, including defilement contracted by contact with the world.
All this truth requires special attention in view of eternal life. The water and the blood are standing witnesses; they speak objectively, and if I reject the witness of God I make Him a liar. The Holy Spirit is an active witness; in Hebrews we read “Wherefore, even as says the Holy Spirit”, that is in Hebrews 3: 7; then in Hebrews 9: 8, “The Holy Spirit shewing this”, and in Hebrews 10: 15, “The Holy Spirit also bears us witness”. I want you to notice these three things. What the Holy Spirit says is actually a quotation from Psalm 95, and it is what He says. Who would despise the Old Testament? it is the very language that the Holy Spirit uses to speak to our hearts — “Wherefore, even as says the Holy Spirit, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness” Hebrews 3: 7,8. This was written hundreds of years before, but it is what He says; He is saying it now, using the language of the Old Testament to speak to us. Then in chapter 9 He alludes to the types. What the types mean is that the Holy Spirit shows us things. Who then can neglect the types? That is to say, the thing is shown as on a blackboard, to use a simple school figure. There is what He says, and there is what He shows; and the whole of the types are on that principle: The Holy Spirit this signifying, refers to Leviticus 16. Then in Hebrews 10: 15, The Holy Spirit is a witness to us; and again it is by quoting the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31) — all showing what a place the Old Testament has in the ministry of the Spirit among us. I am only bringing forward these passages to show the force of witness here; that the Holy Spirit is an active witness in regard of these two things, the water and the blood, and all to [p. 129] the end that we might be clear in our souls to enter on the blessing that God has for us, that is, eternal life. “And this is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son”. 1 John 5: 11. May God help us to listen to this witness; it means a way opened up for us into the blessing of God.