Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 12 (fellowship with Christ and the Father - Antinomianism).

Title: Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 12 (fellowship with Christ and the Father - Antinomianism).

 

 

Positive warnings against the insidious nature of antinomianism [anti - against; nomos - law] are found in the following passages.

 

Much of the antinomian doctrines came from Gnosticism which taught that all matter was corrupt and irredeemable, but could be divorced from the spirit of a man, so then the flesh should be indulged.

 

They taught that the immorality of the body should be indulged so that the soul should shine brighter by comparison. And so they denied the bodily, physical resurrection of Christ and taught that resurrection was of the spirit only and that it must happen before death through the freeing of the soul and spirit from the body through the attaining of knowledge (gnosis) being set free from ignorance.

 

There were many different sects of Gnosticism, one of them was the Nicolaitans.

 

Rev 2:12 "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:

 

Rev 2:13 'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is [likely because of the temple of Zeus that was there]; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

 

Rev 2:14 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.

 

Rev 2:15 'Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

 

Rev 2:16 'Repent therefore; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

 

The weapon, the sword of My mouth, is the truth, the word of God which is the light that exposes the darkness. It is also a reference to God's judgment upon false teachers which will bring His wrath upon them.

 

Rev 2:17 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.'

 

The maxim of Gnostic antinomianism was: "Give to the flesh the things of the flesh and to the spirit the things of the spirit."

 

In England during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (1600's), especially by his chaplain Saltmarsh, and some of the so-called "sectaries," who expressly maintained that, as the elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit the divine favor, the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, nor to be considered as instances of their violation of the divine law; and that, consequently, they have no occasion either to confess their sins or to break them off by repentance.

 

17th century ultra-Calvinist Dr. Crisp:

"The sins of the elect were so imputed to Christ, as that, though he did not commit them, yet they became actually his transgressions, and ceased to be theirs."

 

The deceit is a bit of truth mixed with lie in order to remove all the restrictions on believers that they do not like, which varies from one to the other. To say you have fellowship with God and yet walk in darkness, you are a liar and do not practice the truth [word of God].

 

Dr. Crisp taught that we are no longer sinners because of the imputation of Christ's righteousness. The danger of gnosticism and antinomianism is that some truth is mixed with lies and in this it shows how satan-esk it is.

 

In church history we find them popping up in every client nation and in every formed denomination.

 

1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 

1Jo 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

Fellowship with the Father and Christ are of first priority. Fellowship with other Christians, if it occurs, is based on this.

 

Churches that emphasize fellowship with other people above all else simply become social clubs (of the very nice kind - at least on the surface) and do not become schools of fellowship with God. When the pulpit teaches fellowship or partnership with God's mind and walking in that common thinking with Him, exposing the deeds of darkness, then there is no need for fellowship programs within the church designed to get people together.

 

The perfect bond of unity in the body of Christ is agape love and not programs.

 

The words "one with another" are the translation of a preposition and a reciprocal pronoun in the Greek text. A reciprocal pronoun shows reciprocity.

 

Wonder of wonders, not only do we have fellowship with God, but He reciprocates in having fellowship with us!

 

This fellowship is not a one-sided affair like that of a couple where only one is in love with the other. God condescends to have fellowship with worms of the dust, sinners saved by grace, creatures of His handiwork.

 

1Jo 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

There are several interpretations of the last part of the verse, "and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." Some believe it refers to unknown sins or sins of omission while others believe it refers to the confession of verse 9. While both of these are valid enough, I personally believe that here John is referring to the believer who by walking in the light is constantly in the understanding that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Whether we confess sin or we don't, the blood of Christ, those three hours of darkness on Calvary, paid for every one of them and we are forgiven. However, walking in darkness is uncleanliness in the NT. Though we are forever clean in our position our thinking and our behavior can fall under the category of unclean.

 

2Co 7:1

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

 

The believer walking the light still sins from time to time but he does not carry guilt or self-condemnation over them because he lives in the grace of God.

 

It is easy to agree with God over the sinfulness of a particular sin, which is confession, acknowledgment, but it takes growth in grace to not retain guilt or condemnation over the sin or sins as well as to cease from them, i.e. chain sinning, and change our thinking immediately back to the light. The believer that walks in the light does confess and recovers with ease, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. He doesn't beat himself up over his failures but claims the blood of Christ and gives reverent thanksgiving for it. This, to me, fits the context better.

 

Now John attacks the Gnostic heresy that we do not have any principle of sin within us, since matter is evil and the soul is not of matter, i.e. it is not contaminated by the sinful flesh.

 

1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 

Here we have the heresy of the eradication of the totally depraved nature during the earthly life of the Christian. The heresy of perfectionism and of the eradication of the evil nature is the present day form of this problem of the indwelling sinful nature. Sin is in the singular without an article and so it refers to the sin nature and not acts of sin. This is a flat out denial of the nature handed down to each person from Adam and its corrupting influence on the soul. For anyone or any believer to think that he either has no sinful nature or that he has fully eradicated the infection of the sin nature upon his soul, John says, is deceiving himself.

 

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

"confess" - homologeo = to say the same thing as another or to agree with another.

 

Confession of sin on the part of the saint means therefore to say the same thing that God does about that sin, to agree with God as to all the implication of that sin as it relates to the Christian who commits it and to a holy God against whom it is committed. All sin in essence is against God.

 

What does God think of sin? He hates it.

 

Psa 97:10

Hate evil, you who love the Lord,

 

Psa 101:3

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;

I hate the work of those who fall away;

It shall not fasten its grip on me.

 

Psa 119:104

From Thy precepts I get understanding;

Therefore I hate every false way.

 

Pro 8:13

"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;

And the perverted mouth, I hate.

 

Isa 61:8

For I, the Lord, love justice,

I hate robbery in the burnt offering;

And I will faithfully give them their recompense,

 

Jer 44:4

'Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate."

 

Amo 5:15

Hate evil, love good,

And establish justice in the gate!

 

Zec 8:17

'Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,' declares the Lord."

 

If we are to agree with God about sin we are to hate it, not condone it or make excuses for it. You can hate the sin without hating yourself because of the blood of Christ.

 

The believer is to ever recognize it in his life when it occurs and understand his guilt of it, not in guilt, but in that it was his decision and no one else's fault.

 

Sin committed is our fault and we are to be determined to put it out of our thinking, our lives, immediately through the application of truth by means of the Spirit.

 

The verb is present subjunctive, speaking of continuous action. This teaches that the constant attitude of the saint toward sin should be one of a contrite heart, ever eager to have any sin in the life discovered and ever eager to confess it and put it out of the life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Psa 51:16-17

For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

Thou art not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

 

We must be wise enough to discern words so that we will have proper thought. Does a broken and contrite heart mean guilt and self-condemnation? In certain contexts they can be similar, but not in the scripture. David here speaks of the opposite of rejoicing over sin. He speaks of the opposite of offering an animal sacrifice as just going through the motions with no concern over the sin. He speaks of the opposite of have a "whatever will be will be" attitude over sin. He speaks of the broken pride of man who doesn't care for God's ways or God's righteousness.

 

A broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart speaks of a broken pride and a broken laissez faire attitude over sin as well as a humility before God who has forgiven all sin.

 

Everything that God does for us is permanent or eternal. He gives us His righteousness. He makes us His sons and daughters. He enters us into union with Christ. These things and many more are eternal and unchangeable. They cannot increase or decrease. One of these unchangeable and eternal, permanent things is forgiveness.


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