Let us now go on to consider again 2:20-27. Verses 20 and 21 say, “And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” In verse 20 John speaks of the anointing, and in verse 21 he speaks of the truth. No doubt, the truth in verse 21 is related to the anointing, and the anointing points to the truth.
In verse 22 John continues, “Who is the liar if not he who is denying that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who is denying the Father and the Son.” This indicates clearly that if we deny that Jesus is the Christ, we deny the Father and the Son. This also indicates that Christ is the Father and the Son.
Verses 23 and 24 say, “Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will abide both in the Son and in the Father.” Some who disagree with our understanding of these verses may say, “These verses mean that the Son is the way. In John 14:6 Jesus said that He is the way and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. These verses in 1 John mean that if we do not have the Son as the way, we shall not be able to reach the Father as the destination. Therefore, to deny the Son is to deny the way, and this results in not having the Father as the destination.” However, according to verse 24, if we take the Son as the way to reach the Father, eventually we reach both the Son and the Father. In this verse John speaks of abiding both in the Son and in the Father. It may sound logical to say that Christ as the Son is only the way for us to reach the Father as the destination. Therefore, if we do not take the way, we shall not arrive at the destination. If we take the way, we shall reach the destination. However, here it says that if we take the way, we shall have not only the destination, but we shall have both the destination and the way. Here John indicates that we shall abide not only in the destination but also in the way, that is, both in the Son and in the Father. This proves that both the Son and the Father are the destination. Not only is the Father the abiding place, but the Son is also. This means that the Son is both the way and the destination, both the way to enter into the dwelling place and the dwelling place itself.
In verse 25 John goes on to say, “And this is the promise which He promised us, the eternal life.” In this verse John does not say, “They promised us”; he says, “He promised us.” The singular pronoun “He” in this verse refers to both the Son and the Father in the preceding verse. This indicates that the Son and the Father are one. As far as our experience of the divine life is concerned, the Son, the Father, Jesus, and Christ are all one. It is not that only the Son and not the Father is eternal life to us. It is that Jesus being the Christ as the Son and the Father is the eternal divine life to us for our portion. The point we are emphasizing here is that the antecedent of the pronoun “He” is the Son and the Father and that this indicates that the Son and the Father are one.
Verse 26 says, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are leading you astray.” This verse indicates that this section of the Word is to inoculate the believers with the truth of the Divine Trinity against the heresies concerning Christ’s Person. The Greek words rendered “leading you astray” can also be translated “deceiving you.” To lead the believers astray is to distract them from the truth concerning Christ’s deity and humanity by deceiving them with heretical teachings concerning the mysteries of what Christ is.