001.31. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
LIES AND LIARS
Once more there is a very close connection between our present verses and the two immediately preceding them—a point which the expositor requires to keep ever before him. There the line of demarcation is drawn between apostates (1 John 2:19) and the anointed ones. Those who have an unction from the Holy One “know all things.” The scope and nature of their knowledge we have already explained: briefly, it consists of a saving and influential understanding of the Truth.
It was because he was assured that those to whom he wrote were experientially acquainted with Christianity that John was persuaded they would heed the solemn warnings he was about to pen.
“I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:21).
As. T. Scott well expressed it, “When we are thus established in the great truths of the Gospel, we shall know that no lie is of the Truth, and shall therefore disregard the eloquence, learning, ingenuity, and confidence of those who contradict the Bible; and be satisfied with opposing the express testimony of the Truth itself to their well-varnished and ably defended falsehoods.”
It is by the knowledge of the Truth that the Lord’s people are able to discern whatever be contrary thereto. As an old adage declares, “The line which shows itself to be straight, shows also what line is crooked.” “No lie is of the truth:” either springs from it or is according to it, but the very reverse. Error often has a very plausible appearance, and by it multitudes are deceived. Not only is it propagated, frequently, by men of scholarship and seeming spirituality, but their lies are presented in most subtle and attractive forms, appearing to promote the glory of God and the good of souls—were it otherwise, the unwary would not be beguiled. Many a heresy seems to remove difficulties which perplex the thoughtful people of God, to solve doctrinal problems which are a real puzzle to them, to be favourable unto practical piety, and to give peace and happiness to those who accept the same. Nevertheless, if they are not foursquare with the Truth, but really conflict with the same, they are falsehoods, and therefore worthless, pernicious, dangerous. No matter how fair the fruits they bear, how apparently excellent their “results,” they are to be rejected and shunned. That declaration “no lie is of the truth” seems rather like a truism—something so self-evident as to need no stating. In reality it expresses a principle of deep moment. First, as S.E. Pierce pointed out, “here we have expressed the transcendent excellency of the everlasting Gospel: there is no darkness in it: there is no lie in it, there is no error can arise out of it.” Divine revelation is inerrant and flawless: “Thy Law [not only “contains” but] is the truth” (Psalms 119:142). “Every word of God is pure” (Proverbs 30:5). There are indeed in it “some things hard to be understood,” and not a little that is quite beyond our comprehension. It would be very strange were it otherwise, for the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. No amount of searching or inquiry by the keenest intellect can find out God to perfection, nor can it account for many of His ways or explain why He fore-ordained one unto salvation and not another, how the Eternal Three subsist in one essence, how the humanity of Christ never had a separate existence, but was from the first moment of its conception united to His Divine person. These and other mysteries are to be reverently received, and humbly submitted to, for they are true—the mouth of the Lord has spoken them.
Second, this Divine declaration “no lie is of the truth” ought to warn all those who profess to be called of God to preach of their solemn duty to be diligent in preaching the preaching which the Lord bids them (Jonah 3:2): “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2). Otherwise, they are in grave danger of falling under that terrible indictment, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they speak unto you... the deceit of their heart” (Jeremiah 14:14). “Christ is essential Truth. His Gospel is so, in and throughout every part thereof. Therefore no one thing, sentence, or call it doctrine if you will, which differs one hair’s breadth from that which the Lord hath delivered to His church... can be other than a lie” (Pierce).
Third, “no lie is of the truth” was a word of warning against and an exposure of the method employed by those who seek to seduce the saints. It tells us that sophistries and frauds are not necessary in order to support or propagate it. There is no deceit in the Gospel, and there should be none in the handling of it. It requires no fleshly help, and cannot be advanced by cunning and trickery. Alas, how few there are who really believe that unless the Truth itself, under the blessing of God, convicts and converts men, nothing else will. Because they lack faith in the power of Truth itself, preachers resort to all sorts of carnal devices to render their message more palatable to the unregenerate, and those devices are nothing more than lying deceits, dishonest arts. The lure and love of popularity is too strong to resist for those who seek the praise of men rather than the approbation of God. Such preachers think less of the Author of the Word than they do of rendering it acceptable to the carnal mind. Recourse is had to abstruse philosophies, displays of oratory, histrionics, or musical attractions and worldly allurements, rather than the plain and faithful preaching of the Truth itself.
“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but.. as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:17) declared the beloved Paul. A most solemn proof is that of how early the Gospel was corrupted, and a portent of how extensively this evil was to spread among the professed servants of God and expounders of the Truth. The word “corrupted” signified adulterated: the mixing of it with a foreign element. Few indeed preserve the purity of the Truth, and fewer still preserve its holy balance or proclaim it in its fullness and entirety. Too many have sought to conciliate opposers by blunting the sharp edges of the Spirit’s sword. They deliberately explain away the most distasteful aspects of Divine revelation. Others resort to dishonest exegesis or attempt to “harmonize” the teaching of Holy Writ with the hypotheses of “science falsely so called.” But the faithful minister is “sincere”—open, above board, without guile. Sent of God, he speaks in His name and conducts himself as in the Divine presence, and refuses to stoop to any form of a lie in order to commend the Truth.
Said the apostle again, We “have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2). The apostle disdained his own wisdom, discarded all artifices to win the esteem of his hearers, refused an appeal to the traditions of men, declined to mingle anything human with his Divine message. He abjured and abhorred all dishonest tricks. His sole aim was to show himself approved unto God, and therefore he declared the whole of His counsel, keeping back nothing that was profitable. Even the winning of souls was made entirely subordinate to preaching the Truth in its purity. He therefore used great plainness of speech, and sought to humble and not to flatter, directing his message to the conscience rather than to the intellect or the emotions. “The veracity of God, and not the reasonableness of any doctrine, is the ground of our faith. It is the work of the Gospel to cast down reasonings against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought unto the obedience of Christ” (Reformed Presbyterian Testimony).
Fourth, taking the verse as a whole, its last clause points an important practical lesson. The apostle addressed himself unto the saints with the confidence that they would readily accept what he was writing to them, that they would—like himself—detest and refuse error. That confidence shows that men’s reception or rejection of the Truth turns mainly upon the state of their hearts. Sufficient evidence must indeed be advanced to carry conviction, but if the heart be right, then the mind readily perceives the force of the evidence; whereas if the heart be wrong—prejudiced—no amount of evidence will satisfy it. “Convince a man against his will, and he is of the same opinion still” says the old proverb. It is the perversity of the will which so often blinds the judgment: let that be properly disposed, and the understanding will function properly. If any doctrine of Scripture be hated, no demonstration of its verity by a hundred proof texts will be of any avail—unless God removes the enmity. On the other hand, if the Word be received “with all readiness of mind,” and the Scriptures searched daily whether these things be true (Acts 17:11), assurance of them will soon be ours. This deeply important practical lesson was inculcated by Christ when He declared, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22-23). The eye has no light of its own, but is merely the receptacle thereof, and the actions of the body are directed by the illumination it admits. The “eye” is here a figure of the understanding, and by its light conduct is regulated: “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). A “single” eye has but one object—God, the pleasing and glorifying of Him. At regeneration the heart is renewed and its vision rectified, the eye of faith is Divinely opened, the understanding is spiritually illumined, and God becomes its all-absorbing object. In consequence, light is seen in God’s light (Psalms 36:9), and all the faculties of the soul come under its benign influence. A spirit of discrimination follows, so that the child of God discerns between the voice of Christ and that of a false shepherd (John 10:4-5), and by his spiritual judgment he distinguishes between truth and error, loving and heeding the one, eschewing and refusing the other. But since the children of God be spiritually illumined and able to discern between the truth and error, why are there such differences of belief among them? In fact, there is far more agreement than disagreement. But why not entire unanimity?
Because God is sovereign and bestows varying measures of light. But why should anyone who has the Holy Spirit for his Teacher cling to or imbibe any error? Because of indwelling sin: the counteracting of the intellectual effects of the fall, like the nullifying of its moral effects, is not perfected in this life. Yet that is to our shame, and in no wise excuses us. There is nothing but light and truth in God’s most holy Word, and everything in it is expressed accurately. But alas, we do not receive our views wholly therefrom, nor are our minds so brought under the power and spiritual influence of the same as for its contents to be fixed in our understanding exactly as they are in the Scriptures. “No lie is of the truth:” error springs not therefrom, but from the darkness and sinfulness of our minds. Human depravity, acted upon by Satan, disposes men to put a false gloss on one passage, to wrest another, and to receive false doctrine.
If we would avoid a lie, we must neither give heed to the reasonings of men upon the Word nor put our own interpretation upon it. Instead, we are to “hold fast the form of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13), expressing truth in our minds and with our lips precisely as it is formulated in Scripture. Our first concern should ever be a seeking to know the mind of the Spirit therein; and our second to receive it meekly without any cavil or attempt to evade its meaning. It is men’s wrangling over the Word and altering the mode of God’s expression which leads so many into error, and renders them still more susceptible to Satan’s lies. The most effectual way to be preserved from false doctrine and practice is to accept God’s Word at its face value, to believe all that the Lord has spoken. “It should ever be our study and prayer, the utmost aim and bent of our minds, to have the truths of God received into our minds and stated in our understandings exactly as they are in the Word; for there they are expressed as they are in God” (S.E. Pierce). Alas, men prefer their own reasonings and statements thereon, and then turn to the Word to support them.
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). The Greek Interlinear and the Revised Version render it “Who is the liar,” not because any specific one is in view, but because the reference is to those who are guilty of the greatest falsehood of all. Who is the liar of all liars? John does not wait for a reply, but at once furnishes the answer: he that repudiates the Messiah, the Anointed of God—he is outstandingly the cheat of men, the false prophet, the imposter. Here then is the link between the two verses: when the apostle said, “no lie is of the truth,” he had particularly in view the antichrists or seducers of souls, who were propagating that which was flatly contrary to the Gospel, and as far removed from it as darkness is from light. As Haupt pointed out, “No lie is of the Truth seems so clear and self-evident as to require no explanation; but however plain theoretically, it very little governs the conduct of many professing Christians,” and therefore John is still more specific and amplifies his abstract aphorism with a concrete example.
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?” Once again we find “the apostle of love” refuses to mince words. He calls things by their right names. Love for Christ and fidelity unto the saints required that he declare plainly what their enemies really were. “Such was his zeal for the Truth, he makes no scruple of calling such by this term who would dare pronounce an untruth, let their profession and quality be what they might. We have had instances of this before: If any would venture to say they had fellowship with God, whilst they walked in darkness, he is bold to pronounce this to be a lie (1 John 1:6). If any professed they had no inward sinfulness, he declares this to be self-deceit; and it is also willful lying, and truth was not in such (1 John 1:8). If any professed himself to be in Christ, and lived carelessly, paying no regard to the Lord’s commandments, he pronounces such an one a liar (1 John 2:4). So here, having appealed to those unto whom he wrote concerning the truth of sound doctrine, and that no lie is of the Truth, he goes on to express more fully what he had in his eye and would bring forward” (Pierce).
Note well the particular test here applied, the standard by which preachers are to be measured, namely the person of Christ—the liar is the one who denies Him. Christ is Himself the Truth, and therefore anyone who disowns Him is a false prophet. If we form false conceptions of Him, we cannot rightly apprehend any part of the Truth. “The denial of Christ is the greatest of all sins. To deny Him is not merely to turn away from a truth, but is the forsaking of the Truth. And to change the centre is to alter the whole circumference. If, then, Christ is not the centre of our life, no part of our life can be right. To break with Christ, therefore, is to part with Truth, and of all lies that which denies that Jesus is the Christ is the greatest” (L. Palmer).
“What think ye of Christ is the test, To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest Unless you think rightly of Him.” The denial that Jesus is the Christ was the fearful and fatal sin of the Jewish nation. They rejected the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah promised in the Old Testament Scriptures: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11). In so doing, they sinned against the clearest light and fullest evidence. All the predicted marks were found in Him, but they were blinded by prejudice—from false teaching, their own conceits, and worldliness. He was the true light, but they, through their blindness, perceived it not: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross... their eyes they have closed” (Matthew 13:15). But to deny that Jesus is the Christ has yet both a deeper meaning and wider scope. It is necessary for us carefully to consider exactly what is connoted by “the Christ.” It means “The Anointed,” and as Candlish pointed out, “This appellation marks not only a certain relation to the Jewish Scriptures, but also, and still more, a relation to God, whose Christ He was.” This raises the question, For what was He anointed?
During the Old Testament economy, prophets, priests and kings were set apart to their several offices by being anointed with oil. Therein they foreshadowed the Redeemer, who was the “Christ” or Anointed One from the moment of His birth (Luke 2:11) until His death (Romans 8:34). In this official character the Lord Jesus proclaimed Himself at the very beginning of His public ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.. And He began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:18, Luke 4:21). The blessed Spirit had anointed Him to be the Prophet, Priest and King of His people, and it is to designate Him as bearing these offices that He is called “Christ.” He was owned as such by His disciples (John 1:41; John 4:29) and by God (Acts 2:36). Thus, to receive or reject Jesus as the Christ has respect to all His offices, and consequently to all the blessing which we may obtain or forfeit by accepting or refusing Him.