CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
1 John 2:20. Unction from the Holy One.—Or, “anointing.” The association of the Spirit coming to a man, when anointed to a Divine office, may be seen in the case of the kings Saul and David. Each believer, in the early Church, received an anointing from God in the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. Know all things.—Led by the Spirit into all truth, and therefore guarded against the attractions of error. Some read, “you all know”—that is, “you are in possession of the true knowledge” (John 16:13).
1 John 2:22. A liar.—Better, “the liar.” The Christ.—I.e. the Messiah. Denieth the Father and the Son.—Three tests by which the spirit of antichrist may be recognised. It will be found to oppose the Messiahship, and the Sonship of Jesus, and the Fatherhood of God. These tests of orthodoxy are seldom applied now, or indeed regarded as sufficient.
1 John 2:23.—The second part of this verse the R.V. preserves, and reads thus, “he that confessed the Son hath the Father also.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 John 2:20-23
The First and Supreme Christian Truth.—“Jesus is the Christ.” But this is repeated and explained. St. John shows how much is involved in it.
I. Jesus is the Christ.—This is the first apprehension of Jesus that can be gained. This begins the differentiation of Jesus from other men. There were other men named Jesus (Joshua), but this man stands out distinct from them all. He appeared before the Jews, and the first thing they were asked to do was to recognise in Him their long-expected Messiah. St. Peter expressed what all should have felt, when he said, “Thou art the Christ [Messiah] of God.” This first faith concerning Christ does not of course come so freshly and so powerfully to us as it did to the Jews of our Lord’s time; but we may apprehend what is always the first call of faith to us, if we express it in this form—we must believe in Jesus as the sent One. Jesus is commonplace and ordinary until we have that belief concerning Him. Then he becomes intensely interesting to us. He has a message: it may be that He is a message. We must know concerning this unique Man.
II. Jesus is the Son.—Fix exclusive attention upon Him, watch His doings, listen to His words, and it will increasingly be impressed upon you that what He is embodying in a human life is sonship; and it is so evidently beyond anything ever attainable by man, that you are compelled to call it a Divine Sonship. You find your faith claimed for the truth that He is “the Son of God.”
III. The Son implies the Father.—When Jesus is known, you find that God is known. The Son implies that He who sent Him is the Father. And so you gain the truth that is “worthy of all acceptation,” and in the acceptance of which is eternal life. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
1 John 2:20. The Unction from the Holy One.—The word rendered “unction” signifies “anointing oil.” Its reference is to the anointing of men who were set apart to special Divine service. The act of anointing was the symbolical act of consecration; the oil symbolised the endowments with which God fitted them for their work. The sacred oil with which the priests were consecrated, compounded of rich and varied medicaments, was the symbol of the manifold endowments of the Holy Spirit which should be given to all God’s consecrated people. The virtue of Christian consecration, and specially its power to discern between truth and error, is the present subject. The word “unction” might be changed to “chrism,” which immediately suggests the word “Christ.” John is intending to contrast the “chrism” with the “antichrist,” the Spirit with which Christians are endowed because of their fellowship with Christ with the spirit of error that is opposed to Him. The coming of antichrist was the sign of the last times. We too witness many antichrists, subtle signs of a spirit opposed to Christ revealing itself in many and diverse ways. We know that we are exposed to these seductions,—falsehood wearing the garb of truth; many a time-honoured habit and tradition concealing an essential denial of Christ; a spirit and a tone in society, and in the Church itself, and sanctioned by venerated names, which involve nothing less than the rejection of the precepts and teachings of the gospel. And John here affirms that we are safe against these things in the possession of the Spirit of Christ. In our consecration to Him, in our fellowship with His anointing, is given us a Spirit that cannot be deceived.
I. This is a common Christian endowment.—It is to a body of Christian disciples that John is writing. So simple are some of them that he calls them “little children.” John speaks of a gift bestowed upon all alike in their very consecration to Christ, and involved in that consecration,—the endowment of a Spirit, the Spirit of the Holy One, in which all are sharers; a Divine instinct, which enables those who receive it to look on what is true and good, and recognise it; to look on error, and on evil, and at once detect it.
II. Observe what this Spirit is which is given us in our consecration, and by which we are enabled to discern the truth of things.—
1. It is the spirit of the consecration itself. Decision of purpose is the secret of directness of judgment. We shake ourselves free from the influence of many a deluding motive; we are able to look right through plausibilities and discern hidden falsehood; we are delivered from confusion in the simple fact of our acceptance of one aim in life. When you resolved that you would follow Christ, you felt that you had attained a new power of judgment. A truer spirit, a spirit clearer and more confident, was yours in your consecration.
2. It is the Spirit of Christ—a chrism from Christ, who was Himself the anointed One. The mind that was in Christ is given to us; we are partakers of the Spirit of Jesus.
3. The spirit of consecration is the spirit of devotedness to our fellows. Priests and kings were anointed in symbol of their dedication to the service of their brethren. The Spirit of the Lord was on Christ, endowing Him for service. We share in Christ’s consecration; His purpose is ours; ours too is the Spirit that dwelt in Him. The devotion to men which we have learnt from Christ will be our protection. Our fellowship is with Christ’s love and hopefulness; a Spirit devoted to men like His to men is given us, and by this Spirit we discern all things. Christian character is the director of Christian life. The true heart of Christ within us is never-failing discernment, clearness of decision, promptitude of resolve, and stability of will. The Spirit of Christ is the possession of all who consecrate themselves to Him.—A. Mackennal, B.A., D.D.
The Oil of the Spirit.—I need not remind you how, in the old system, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with consecrating oil, as a symbol of their calling, and of their fitness for their special offices. The reason for the use of such a symbol would lie in the invigorating, and in the supposed, and possibly real, health-giving effect of the use of oil in those climates. Whatever may have been the reason for the use of oil in official anointings, the meaning of the act was plain. It was a preparation for a specific and distinct service. And so, when we read of the oil of the Spirit, we are to think that it is that which fits us for being prophets, priests, and kings, and which calls us because it fits us for these functions. You are anointed to be prophets, that you may make known Him who has loved and saved you, and may go about the world evidently inspired to show forth His praise, and make His name glorious. That anointing calls and fits you to be priests, mediators between God and man—bringing God to men, and, by pleading and persuasion, and the presentation of the truth, drawing men to God. That unction calls and fits you to be kings, exercising authority over the little monarchy of your own natures, and over the men around you, who will bow in submission whenever they come in contact with a man evidently aflame with the love of Jesus Christ, and filled with His Spirit. The world is hard and rude; the world is blind and stupid; the world often fails to know its best benefactors; but there is no crust of stupidity so crass and dense but that through it there will pass the penetrating shafts of light that ray from the face of a man who walks in fellowship with Jesus.—A. Maclaren, D.D.