1 John 2:20 - Meaning and Application

Here, the apostle encourages the believers he is writing to in dangerous times, an hour when deceivers were active. He reassures them that they will stand firm in this time of falling away: “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” True Christians are anointed ones, and their very name points to that truth. They are anointed with the oil of grace, meaning the gifts and spiritual help given by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who gives grace.

This anointing comes from the Holy One, either the Holy Spirit or the Lord Christ, as in (Revelation 3:7), where Christ is called “the Holy One.” Jesus Christ is glorious in his holiness. He gives the gifts of the Spirit, makes his disciples more like himself, and keeps them safe in his cause. This anointing also works like eye salve, something that heals and sharpens sight. It brightens and strengthens the understanding, so they know all these things about Christ and his gospel, just as Jesus promised in (John 14:26). Christ does not deal in the same measure with every professing disciple, for some are more richly endowed than others. There is a real danger that those who do not have this anointing may drift so far from Christ that they become antichrists, opponents of Christ’s person, kingdom, and glory.

The apostle also makes clear why he wrote to them. He does not write as if he thinks they do not know the truth. “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth” (1 John 2:21). He could not then speak so confidently of their firmness or rejoice over their anointing from above. It is good to think well of our fellow Christians until clear evidence proves otherwise. A fair trust in serious believers can help strengthen them and encourage faithfulness.

Instead, he writes because they do know the truth, that truth is in Jesus, and no lie belongs to the truth. Anyone who knows the truth in one area is better able to spot what contradicts it. Truth and falsehood do not fit well together. Those who are well taught in Christian truth are better protected against false teaching and deception. No lie belongs in religion, whether natural religion or revealed religion. The apostles strongly rejected lies and showed that lies do not match their message. They would have been condemning themselves if they had spread truth by falsehood. It is one mark of the Christian faith that it fits both natural religion, which lays its foundation, and the Jewish faith, which gave its early forms and hints. Fraud and false claims are poor tools for supporting and spreading the truth. In fact, it would have been better for religion if they had never been used. The effects of such things can be seen in the unbelief of our own age. The uncovering of old “holy” frauds has pushed many people toward atheism and irreligion. Still, the greatest workers and sufferers for the Christian message would tell us that no lie belongs to the truth.

The apostle then charges these new deceivers. They are liars, strong enemies of sacred truth. “Who is the liar,” he asks, “but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?” The most harmful lies that the father of lies spreads in the world have often concerned the person of Christ. No truth is so holy and so fully proved that someone will not deny it. That Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God had been testified by heaven, earth, and hell. It seems that some people, in God’s terrible judgment, are left over to powerful delusions.

These deceivers are also enemies of God, not only of the Lord Christ. “He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). Anyone who opposes Christ denies the Father’s witness and the seal he has placed on his Son, for the Father has sealed the Son (John 6:27). And anyone who denies the Father’s witness about Jesus Christ also denies that God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing that, he gives up the knowledge of God in Christ, and with it the whole revelation of God in Christ, especially the message that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ. So the apostle rightly says, “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father” (1 John 2:23). He does not truly know the Father, because the Son has revealed him most fully. He also has no share in the Father’s favor, grace, or salvation, because no one comes to the Father except through the Son. Yet some copies add, “Whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23). As Father and Son are closely united, so their doctrine, their knowledge, and their interests are inseparable. Whoever truly has the Son also has the Father. Those who hold to the Christian message keep the light and benefit of natural religion as well.

For that reason, the apostle urges the believers to stay with the teaching they first received: “Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you” (1 John 2:24). Truth is older than error. The truth about Christ, first given to the saints, should not be traded for new ideas. The apostles were so sure of what they had taught about Christ, and from Christ, that after all their labor and suffering, they would not let it go. Christian truth can also claim the honor of age, and that gives it added weight.

This warning is supported by the great benefit they will gain if they keep to the original faith. If what they heard from the beginning remains in them, they will remain in the Son and in the Father too (1 John 2:24). The truth of Christ staying in us is what separates us from sin and joins us to the Son of God (John 15:3, John 15:4). The Son is the way, the middle link, by which we are joined to the Father.

What value, then, should we place on gospel truth? Those who hold to it secure the promise of eternal life. “This is the promise that he, meaning God the Father (John 5:11), has promised us, eternal life” (John 2:25). God’s promise is great, as fitting for his greatness, power, and goodness. It is eternal life, which only God can give. The blessed God shows how much he values his Son, and the truth about him, when he promises eternal life to those who keep living in that truth, under its light, power, and influence.

This warning is also strengthened by the purpose of the apostle’s letter. He is writing to protect them against the deceivers of the day. “These things I have written to you concerning those who seduce you” (John 2:26). So if they do not keep to what they heard from the beginning, his writing and labor will be wasted. We should be careful that the apostolic letters, indeed the whole Scripture of God, do not become useless and fruitless to us. “I have written for him the great things of my law and gospel, but they were counted as a strange thing” (Hosea 8:12).

The apostle also points them to the spiritual help they have already received from heaven: “But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you” (John 2:27). True Christians have an inward confirmation of the divine truth they have received. The Holy Spirit has impressed it on their minds and hearts. It is right that the Lord Jesus should have a steady witness in the hearts of his disciples. This anointing, meaning the giving of grace and gifts to sincere disciples, is God’s seal on the truth and teaching of Christ, since only God can give such a seal. “He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God” (2 Corinthians 1:21).

This holy anointing is praised for several reasons. First, it lasts. Oil does not dry up as quickly as water, and this anointing “abides in you” (John 2:27). Divine light, when it is meant to strengthen us, must be something lasting and steady. Temptations, traps, and misleading voices keep coming, so the anointing must remain. Second, it is better than human instruction. “You need not that any man teach you” (John 2:27). This does not mean the anointing teaches without the appointed ministry. It could, if God chose, but it does not, though it teaches better than we can. You were taught by us before you were anointed, but now our teaching is nothing compared with that inward help. “Who teaches like him?” (Job 36:22). The divine anointing does not replace ministerial teaching, but it goes beyond it.

Third, it is a sure mark of truth, and everything it teaches is true. “The same anointing teaches you about all things, and is truth, and is no lie” (John 2:27). The Holy Spirit must be the Spirit of truth, as he is called (John 14:17). So the light and guidance he gives must be true. The Spirit of truth does not lie, and he teaches all things, meaning all things needed in the present gospel age for our knowledge of God in Christ and the glory of the gospel.

Fourth, it has a preserving power. It keeps those in whom it remains from being led astray by deceivers. “As it has taught you, you shall abide in him” (John 2:27). It teaches you to remain in Christ, and as it teaches you, it also secures you. It puts a restraint on mind and heart so you do not turn away from him. “He who has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us, and given the Spirit as a guarantee in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).