II. You are blessed (verse 20)
All of you who stay in a ministry that teaches the truth. All of you who stick with a ministry that preaches and teaches Christ. All of you who decide that you are going to suffer through listening to me preach because I preach Christ and Him crucified, you are all anointed “chrisma” by the Holy Spirit. You are assigned to a task. The implication of this Greek word is a supernatural sanction, a blessing, or an endowment. You have been given a specific and direct gift of the Holy Spirit. The verb associated with the noun for anoint is “to have.” It is a present form of the word. Let me encourage you to always read scripture in the present, applying to the present, but remembering the original circumstances, language, and time. Here we see the scripture telling us we currently have this anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
One thing that needs to be addressed concerning the text is the way the word for “all” is used here. In the sentence, it appears John is saying that the believers that stay know all things. Once again, word order in Greek is not important. The word for “all” is the very last word in the phrase and literally reads, “from the Holy one and you know all.” It is therefore easy to understand why most translators may place the word the way it is in the King James, but a more accurate translation will reflect that instead of believers being “all knowing,” we understand that “all believers know.” This places the absolute qualification on the believers, not their knowledge. The ESV and NASB both reflect this translation. The ESV reads “and you all have knowledge.” This rendition best expresses the “chrisma” of the Holy Spirit in a believer that is the focus of John’s encouragement.
What does this anointing do for you then?
A. You have resources
The term that identifies an anointing by the Holy Spirit is a form that is only used twice. The words here in Greek only include the terms “the holy.” The word for “spirit” is not in the text. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit regularly uses the terms we see here as a means to communicate something from God. In this case, the thing communicated is actually the Holy Spirit himself. Here again we have the article attached indicating “the” Holy Spirit, the one and only Holy Spirit. You receive this spiritual unction from God. In the Septuagint, the same phrase is used in Exodus when discussing “anointing oils” and in Daniel 9:26 metaphorically for the Messiah, the one who would save the world. This phrase only occurs twice in the New Testament–here and in 1 John 2:27. This is, therefore, a rare use of this phraseology. We should note that John does not stop to explain what this means, either. He has the expectation that everyone knows what it implies, and that it is a generally accepted term for a spiritual invigoration in worship. These regenerated spirits sitting before the reader of this letter know what “chrisma” means. The Jews of the day would be accustomed to the Septuagint and the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Old Testament texts. They knew and spoke Greek, not Hebrew. They grew up with it.
We have a great gift from God–the Holy Spirit residing within us. He gives us this illumination. He gives us this strength; He gives us this insight and ability to see that which is manifest to us.
What do we then know?
B. Knowing versus knowing
We should revisit knowledge and the words used here for knowing and knowledge. Police officers, wives, and very experienced hunters have hunches, feelings about things, or an intuition that is helpful to follow. When we read verse 20, this is something of what the verb “to know” or “oida,” indicates. This phrase is important and John uses these two words in his epistle purposefully and specifically in his arguments against Gnosticism. The issue is ”oida” vs. ”ginosko”. One is to literally have seen and perceived, witnessed and therefore know – a spiritual knowledge versus another knowledge that is experiential, analytical, academic, and technical. The difference is in this fashion; spiritual anointing and wisdom given by God, and intellectual knowledge by observed perception and studious learning. Are you a student and observer therefore a believer, or has your spirit been changed to give you the insight to the things of God versus the things of the world? Speaking volumes against scientific or ecclesiastical dogmatism, this passage tells us our conduct, wisdom, and understanding, being changed by the Spirit, is far more valuable than what we experience and observe about God. Remember the Gnostic argument is “know God and be saved”. John’s argument is that “God is in you, and you are saved”. John is here making a difference between a spiritually intuitive process and one born from study and experiential knowledge. This word, “oida,” associated with the spiritual unction gives John confidence that they all know what is going on because the Holy Spirit has enlightened them.
It is not what you know that matters, but who enlightens you. We must let the Holy Spirit guide us through times of strife caused by dissenters, secessionists, and individuals who would divide the church. We must search scripture to answer our questions. The Holy Spirit illuminates the scriptures for us. He does not “give” us all knowledge, but He provides the capacity for biblical wisdom.
John is now turning from his confidence in the congregation’s abilities to see the Gnostics for what they are, to encouragement for us as well.
III. You know truth (verse 21)
John again identifies a purpose for writing this letter. He is writing to convey his confidence in the believer’s ability to identify dissension, to seek the truth, to know truth, and to apply truth to their decisions and the issues in their lives. His confidence soars because the believers in the churches this letter is destined for, know the truth. Therefore, they also know a lie when they hear it and see it. They know what is right and John is encouraging them to search their spirit and their heart and listen to it concerning the truth. He knows if the Holy Spirit resides within a believer, the believer is not going to fall away.
We should have confidence in believer’s discernment. Equally, we should have confidence in our abilities to discern and be sensitive to truth and error.
There are three parts to this verse. The negative reason, the positive reason, and the understanding that these produce.
A. You are not ignorant
After John in verse 18 has just referred to these believers as “children”; he softens the blow by conveying some confidence in their abilities to discern truth and error. He says he is not writing because of their ignorance. He is confident they have the abilities to decide between truth and error. They know the truth just as he knows it. He wants to encourage them to take the truth, apply the truth, believe the truth, and follow what their spirit says about this Gnosticism, this “knowledge salvation”. He knows salvation is provided in a person not in oneself, and John knows that these people have been properly instructed in the truths of the day. He is clearly conveying a confidence in their ability. It is not because they do not know, but just the opposite. It is because they do know the truth.
The truth is, they know the truth, but needed some encouragement.
B. You know it
I am sure you have encouraged someone at some time in this fashion. Teachers do it quite frequently; good teachers actually get their students to get the answers out. When you are working with anyone whom you want to encourage in their use of the knowledge that they have, you encourage them to answer. All teachers know that children with the knowledge to provide the correct answer are often–more often than not, in fact–afraid to commit, out of fear of their being wrong, or being made a fool. What a good teacher is trained to do is get the child to think through the issue, and, in this fashion, consider the facts and information they know, and then give an answer. There is really no difference here except that in this case, the Apostle knows his people know the truth of salvation. They know right teaching from wrong teaching. To put it another way, they know, because of their indwelling Holy Spirit, the changes in their lives, and the testimony of many other lives. They know Jesus saves and it is through His blood that they were saved and changed and continue to change into His image. They also know that before He saved them, they knew nothing about Him. It was He, after all, who introduced Himself to them, not they who learned and studied Him for salvation.
If you know it to be true, why question it? There may be people who appear godlier than you do out there; nevertheless, you follow only Christ and His truth in your life. In knowing God, acknowledging His son, and accepting these truths, you therefore abide in Him and receive the promise of eternal life. Have you done this?
What exactly did they know then? What truth is John encouraging them to be bold about?
C. What you know
This point never need be made among believers. However, for those who are reading this who may not know Jesus Christ as personal Savior, what they knew is the specifics of how God saved the world from its sin. They know the truth about the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. They know that from the beginning God engineered salvation to depict the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. They knew that Jesus created the world in the beginning. They knew that Jesus Christ is God, not a god, but the one and only true God. He is 100 percent God and 100 percent man. Just as I am 100 percent a pastor, 100 percent father, 100 percent man, and 100 percent saved by the blood of the Son of God. Those are not just titles, I am those things. Now, admittedly, the analogy breaks down philosophically, but the truth remains that just as Jesus is 100 percent man, He was the Christ and therefore 100 percent God. The reason He has to be is that only God can save any one from their sins. Since Jesus Christ saved us from our sins, He is God. This argument is an integral part of the Gnostic combat that John is engaged in. Remember Gnostics did not believe Jesus could be God and man because God is holy and the flesh is corrupt, therefore God cannot be in the flesh. He cannot be a man too. Yet, Christ Jesus suffered all the temptations of man. He, God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ suffered in the flesh and submitted Himself to this world’s temptations to provide for our salvation through Himself.
Jesus Christ the righteous provides salvation to man. All you have to do is accept the gift. From then on, if you truly accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, your life will begin to change. This testimony, this change, these people’s lives being so dramatically altered to be more Godly, more Christlike, more loving, more enlightened concerning the things of man. These are the evidences of a changed life.
We opened looking at verse 19 and discussing the fact that those who stay in the church, seek the council of God, look for the truth by coming, they remain with Him. We looked at people who come to church, and people who leave, and the fact that some who leave do not belong in the church at all. We also looked at the blessing that we have in the Holy Spirit. We talked about the resource that is given us in our souls by the indwelling Spirit, and we looked at John’s argument against the Gnostics in his use of the two Greek words translated “to know.” We also talked about the reasons we are saved, who we are now that we are saved, and what we know because of it. Our salvation does not leave us ignorant; on the contrary, we have full mental faculties and a newly-living spirit ourselves, and an indwelling Spirit, Who is God. We now have a new spirit brought to life by God and for God’s glory. We are not ignorant at all; in fact, we are actually enlightened concerning the things of God and the things of salvation, far beyond the perceptibility of the world.
The question is, does any one reading here not know Jesus Christ as Savior? Is there a single person reading this message who is not aware of His abiding Spirit within you? If in fact you do suffer from ignorance concerning the things of God, I recommend you obtain knowledge of Him in the form of a spiritual connection with Him. Do you really know Jesus Christ as God, as your personal Savior, as the one who will stand before God for you? If not, please contact us today. Come and find Jesus. Let us help you.
