In this message we shall continue to give an introductory word concerning the writings of John. In the previous message we saw that John’s writings are a revelation of divine things and that these writings are supplementary to the revelations of the other holy writings and complementary to the entire divine revelation. As we go on, we shall see that John’s writings are mysterious to human understanding and all-inclusive concerning the Person of Christ.
The writings of John are mysterious. Matters such as the divine life and the divine fellowship (1:2-3), the anointing (2:27), and the divine birth (3:9) certainly are mysterious. Such things are mysterious because they are divine.
Have you ever realized that from the day you received the Lord Jesus, you have been a mysterious person? If a person is not mysterious, I doubt whether that one has been saved. Instead of asking others if they have been saved, we may want to check to see if they are mysterious.
We Christians are mysterious because we have the mysterious divine life with the mysterious divine nature. The divine life with the divine nature makes us mysterious beings. Do you know what a Christian is? A Christian is a person who is mysterious. Because we are mysterious, others should not be able to understand us so easily. Furthermore, because we are mysterious, sometimes we shall be misunderstood. In the church life and in our family life, there should also be an element of mystery. We are mysterious persons with the mysterious life of God.
Toward the end of the first century, when the apostle John was writing his Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation, there were already heresies concerning the Person of Christ. One heretical teaching was that Christ was God but not man, and another heresy was that Christ was man but not God. Other heretics denied that Jesus was the Christ. Because of such a situation, John was burdened to write concerning the Person of Christ in an all-inclusive way.
In John’s writings we see that Jesus is the Christ and that the Lord Jesus Christ is both God and man. As we shall see, in chapter two of 1 John, the apostle John deals with the heresy of the Cerinthians, those who separate Christ from Jesus and thus deny that Jesus is the Christ. When we come to chapter four, we shall see that John deals with the heresy of the Docetists, those who deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. The writings of John reveal that Christ is all-inclusive, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is both God and man.
In his writings the apostle John was polemical, not against the law, circumcision, or Judaism, but against the heresies of the Gnostics, Cerinthians, and Docetists. The word “polemical” or “polemic” refers to the fighting for the truth by debating or disputing. A person who is polemical will debate strongly and sharply on behalf of the truth. He will fight for the truth and wage war for it. We need to follow John to be polemical against heresy.
We have pointed out that John was polemical against the heresies of the Gnostics, Cerinthians, and the Docetists. One source of these heresies was Greek philosophy. As Paul was polemical in his writings against such matters as the law, circumcision, and Judaism, John was polemical against philosophical concepts that led to heresy.