20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2:20–23 ESV)
The Apostle John identified individuals who presently oppose biblical Christianity, although they previously professed faith in Christ, as antichrists. This may seem to be a harsh diagnosis. Truth often is difficult to bear, but it is absolutely necessary to bring clarity and hopeful healing to the individual in question. This is true when the diagnosis is cancer of the body, or the spiritual condition of the soul.
The first characteristic of deconstructionists is that they depart from the faith and fellowship of other believers in Christ (I John 2:18-19). In spite of what they may have previously preached, sung, or wrote, their actions reveal their true spiritual condition before the Lord and the truly converted in Christ.
The second characteristic of deconstructionists is their denial of Jesus Christ as the incarnate Savior and Lord. This reveals their lying spirit and unconverted soul (John 8:44). Again, John identifies such an individual as an antichrist. Even if they acknowledge their belief in the existence of God, this is refuted by their rejection of Christ. To deny Jesus Christ’s incarnation is to deny God the Father, and to deny the Holy Spirit. To confess one is to affirm all three members of the Godhead. The Father, Son and Spirit can be distinguished in their work, but not in the personhood and unity to each other.
“The particular denial in view here is not just a denial that Jesus is the Messiah but a denial of the incarnation. Confession of the incarnation is essential to orthodoxy and a vital way by which we are assured of salvation (I John 1:1–4). The false teachers John has in mind probably accepted the view of a heretic named Cerinthus who called Jesus “the Christ” but who denied the apostolic definition of the title. Instead of viewing the Christ as the eternal Son of God who became incarnate, these heretics said that Jesus remained a mere man His entire life, only possessing the “spirit of Christ,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.
“Today many people are willing to call Jesus “the Christ,” but they deny His incarnation. Muslims, for example, accept Jesus as the Messiah but deny this means He is the incarnate Son of God. However, 2:23 reminds us that if we call Jesus “the Christ,” but do not accept the apostolic testimony about His person, we have in reality denied Him and His Father as well.”
John Calvin wrote, “it is not enough in words to confess that Jesus is the Christ, except he is acknowledged to be such as the Father offers him to us in the gospel.”
We must never compromise the biblical identity of Jesus Christ. He is truly God, truly man. He was virgin born, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death on the cross in place of sinners, and bodily rose from the dead. He is Lord. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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