001.35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

SEDUCERS

1 John 2:26 “These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.”

It is likely that quite a number of our readers will consider that there is little or no occasion for us to devote a chapter to our present subject, or, at any rate, that they feel in no need of anything thereon. If so, they are lamentably ignorant of their own hearts. Anyone who imagines himself to be so well taught and established in the Truth as to be immune from being imposed upon by error is in a dangerous state of mind, for he is possessed by a spirit of pride and self-sufficiency, and therefore very liable to fall a victim to the wiles of the Devil. It is written, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). There is nothing which God hates more than pride, and where it be allowed He humbles. Pride is “the condemnation of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6), being that which brought about his ruin. It was the insensate pride of our first parents—the desire to be as God—which plunged the whole race to destruction. Pride or self-confidence was the cause of Peter’s sad fall. Those who think highly of themselves affront God, and will be brought low. “Be not high minded, but fear” (Romans 11:20), dear reader. “When Majesty humbled Himself, shall the worm swell with pride?” (Bernard). The Christian is exhorted to “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21): to examine carefully and critically everything which he hears or reads, testing it by the Word of God. There is pressing need for him to do so, for there is much error, cleverly disguised, abroad today. As another has pointed out, “We may know a straight line, and be assured that there is in it no curve, or twist, or angle; and yet much that appears straight will be found to be irregular, and bent, and twisted, when tested by a measuring rod. In like manner we may know the Truth, and yet much that appears to be true will be found false when tested by the Truth Himself. The only perfect line of rectitude is Christ. All who are opposed to Him, in thought, or word, or deed, are liars; even as all watches are false which contradict the sun.” The Christ of many a pulpit is radically different from the Christ of God, yet because the preacher invests the figment of his own imagination with the name of “Christ,” many unlearned and unstable souls are deceived into supposing that it is the Christ of Scripture which is being set before them. It was so in John’s day, and that is why he devoted this section of his epistle to an exposure of the same, and warning the saints against them. The apostle was very jealous of the spiritual welfare of Christ’s sheep, and anxious to secure them from the fierce wolves. In his other epistles he revealed the loving spirit that animated him when he declared, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth” (2 John 1:4), and “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:4). How greatly distressed, then, must he have been to discover that some had forsaken the same and espoused error (1 John 2:19)! He therefore wrote to instruct and warn those who might be wavering. He knew that in the most enlightened there is much ignorance. In the most determined there is yet irresolution. In the most spiritual there is still corruption. Especially in the case of the newly converted was there a need for precept upon precept, line upon line. His long experience had shown him how many defects and dangers encompassed the most favoured and advanced believers, and how requisite it was ever to address unto them the word of exhortation. In the case before us it appears that he was very hopeful of success in thus addressing them. In 1 John 2:21, he intimates that he set the Truth before them encouraged by the belief that there would be found in them a readiness of mind to receive it; while in 1 John 2:27 he expresses the confidence that the anointing they had received would ensure their abiding in Christ. A “seducer” is one who, by means of his blandishments or sophistries, seeks to allure another from the path of rectitude. The ungodly are allured by their own lusts. “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them” (Proverbs 12:26). Even in this life the righteous are “more excellent” than others, in their character, their spiritual possessions, and their privileges. But the worker of iniquity is deceived by the way of the world, which tempts and cheats him by its promises of temporal gains, honours and pleasures, and blinds his mind to his eternal undoing.

“He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside [from the paths of wisdom and holiness], that he cannot deliver his soul” (Isaiah 44:20). On the other hand, professing Christians are seduced by false teachers, who seek to corrupt their minds and turn them away from the Truth. They tacitly repudiate the total depravity of man, concealing the fact that he is dead in trespasses and sins, completely incapacitated to perform a single spiritual act; and flatter him by assuring him of his “free will,” and that he has power to decide his own eternal destiny. They pervert God’s way of salvation, omitting that which is abasing to pride, and substituting that which is pleasing to the flesh. They preach “another Gospel” than that of Christ. By “cunning craftiness... they lie in wait to deceive,” and “allure through the lusts of the flesh” (Ephesians 4:14; 2 Peter 2:18). Of old God declared, “Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies... Because, even because they have seduced My people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar” (Ezekiel 13:9-10). “The peculiar guilt of these prophets consisted in seducing the worshippers of God into idolatry and iniquity, and encouraging them to harden themselves in impenitence; by assuring them of peace and prosperity at the very time when Divine judgments were about to be poured on them... Thus they acted, as if a man were to build a wall with loose stones or bricks of earth without cement; and others should seek to give an appearance of stability by daubing it over with mortar, made of bad materials, and not properly mixed; and should then expect that such a wall would protect them” (T. Scott). And those men were not heathen soothsayers, but Israelites who claimed to be the mouthpieces of Jehovah. So it is in Christendom: many have entered the sacred ministry as a means to worldly advancement and applause. They pretend to speak in the name of Christ, but they are strangers to Him. They love money rather than souls, and prefer the praise of men to the approbation of God.

“All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). The seducers and the persecutors of God’s people are two very different types. The former seek to turn them away from the Truth, whereas the latter oppose them because of their fidelity unto the Truth. The former conceal their real character, but the latter come out in their true colours. The one feign themselves to be friends and helpers, the other make no attempt to disguise the fact that they are enemies and antagonists. The former are harder to detect, and we are very apt to be less on our guard against them. Constant vigilance is required lest we be deceived by their “good words and fair speeches” (Romans 16:18). Let us not overlook, but rather be awed by, the striking accuracy of this prophecy. It is not that persecutors would become fiercer and fiercer as the Christian era proceeded, but that evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse. And so it has been historically. Nothing comparable, either in scale or ferocity, has equaled the persecutions of the saints by Nero and others of the Roman emperors who followed him. On the other hand, efforts to corrupt the Truth and beguile Christians by those claiming to be the servants of Christ have increased in number, daring, and subtlety. The arch-seducer is Satan, who beguiled Eve through his wiles. He pretended to have her best interests at heart and to sympathize because of the restriction placed upon her liberty. He made her imagine that she was mistaken in supposing that she would be injured by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that such a thing was quite incompatible with God’s goodness and His interest in her well-being. He assured her that, on the contrary, she would be the gainer by partaking of its fruit. The gilded bait was swallowed, and fatal was the result. That was the beginning of his trade in seducing souls, and he has plied it energetically ever since. The Devil is the instigator of innumerable devices to cheat the unwary and ruin their souls. He often appears as an angel of light, and his ministers are disguised as those of righteousness.

Such abounded at the commencement of this Christian era. The Lord revealed their method and aim in the parable where He spoke of the evil leaven being surreptitiously introduced into the meal (Matthew 13:33). The epistles contain many warnings against them. Paul declared, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). It is so today. The wicked one has many of his seducing emissaries in Christendom, who pose as men of superior enlightenment, with great spiritual zeal and love for souls, yet are engaged in stealthily propagating error and undermining the fundamentals of the faith. And, as we have seen, it was Divinely foretold that these evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. The word “evil men” signifies wicked, being the same one as used in “the wicked one” (1 John 2:14). They have vile designs, though they appear under “a form of godliness” (2 Timothy 3:5). They are dissemblers, assuming a character which does not belong to them. They are tricksters, beguiling many by their arts to receive as good and true that which is pernicious and false. They are themselves deluded by the father of lies. They jettison the law of God under the pretence of magnifying His grace. They set aside the duty of the sinner to repent and believe, by overstressing his moral impotence. The most searching and humbling sections of Scripture are shelved by an erroneous system of what is termed “rightly dividing the word of truth.” Eternal punishment is represented as being incompatible with the goodness and mercy of God. In other instances, these seducers of souls and corrupters of the Truth introduce, gradually, practices not sanctioned by Scripture, until there is a fully developed system of superstitious observances. Such wax worse and worse both in principle and practice. They grow increasingly ambitious and audacious. An awful example of this is seen in the everadvancing blatancy and blasphemy of Romanism. In 1854 the dogma of “The Immaculate Conception” was invented and announced, Pope Pius proclaiming that the Virgin Mary was absolutely pure and sinless from the womb, and declaring the same to be “the established doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church”—thereby ascribing to her body what pertained alone to the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1870 the Vatican Council declared that the Pope was infallible in the execution of all that pertained to his pontifical functions, thus investing him with a Divine attribute. In 1951, amid unprecedented pomp and pageantry, the Pope published the dogma of Mary’s Assumption, wherein it was averred that she had been taken “body and soul into the glory of heaven,” placing her on a par with the Saviour. The same increasing wickedness is seen in thousands of non-papish churches, whose pulpits are now occupied by men voicing the skepticism (the denial of miracles) of infidels and agnostics.

“These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you,” or, as the American Revised Version (often more literal and accurate in translating the Greek verb) has it, “These things have I written unto you concerning them that would lead thee astray.” The “these things” refers to what is contained in 1 John 2:18-25, and probably many would be helped if we briefly reviewed their contents. First, it is to be noted that John was here addressing the youngest in the family, the “little children,” or “babes,” as the word properly signifies. It is the newly converted who, in their ignorance and simplicity, most need to be warned against false teachers. They are informed that this Christian dispensation is “the last time” or concluding era of the world’s history, so that no further revelation from God is to be expected, and therefore any who claim to be favoured with such are impostors. The character and will of God have been fully and finally made known in and by His incarnate Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). The presence of “many antichrists” furnished evidence that “the last time” had even then begun, for their activities demonstrated that the true Christ had come, and since He had ushered in the final age, and they were opposing Him, naught remained but the judgment of God.

Then the apostle intimated that there was no occasion for those young Christians to be stumbled because some of their fellows had given ear to the antichrists and had apostatized from the faith, for he assured them that those renegades were never anything more than nominal disciples. Though they had made a profession, had much head knowledge of the Truth, and appeared to be full of zeal for the Gospel, nevertheless they were graceless souls, strangers to the saving operations of the Holy Spirit. They “were not of us:” though members of the churches, they never had vital union with Christ and His people. Their going out made it “manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19). While it cannot but be a distressing and disturbing experience unto God’s people to behold some of those deserting the assemblies and proving to be traitors with whom they had enjoyed outward fellowship, yet it should not shatter their own faith, for God often suffers the chaff to be thus sifted and separated from the wheat. The Scripture gives plain warning that there are thornyground hearers as well as fruitful ones, that the Gospel net encloses bad fishes besides good ones, that many shall follow the pernicious ways of false prophets.

Next, in 1 John 2:20, he assured the babes, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One,” which distinguished them radically from the apostates. That “unction” is God’s gracious provision for His own people, to preserve them from embracing fatal error. That unction or “anointing” is the coming of the Spirit from Christ upon those for whom He shed His blood: it is both the communication of a spiritual gift and a Divine operation which separates the recipient from the world and all that is opposed to God, consecrating him to Him. The first benefit which believers have by this anointing is an illumination of the mind: “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” The knowledge imparted to the Christian by the gift of the Spirit and His effectual application of the Truth unto the heart is radically different from the wisdom of the natural man, or any mental apprehension of spiritual things which he may obtain. It is a supernatural, spiritual and saving acquaintance with Divine things. It is an experiential and certifying knowledge, by which the soul is infallibly assured of the verity of God’s Word. It is a humbling and conforming knowledge, casting the heart into the mould of Divine doctrine (Romans 6:17). It is therefore a preservative knowledge, which prevents its possessor being fatally deceived by error. It is an operative knowledge which stirs the soul unto holy action.

It was because these babes in Christ were savingly acquainted with the Truth that John thus addressed them, and because they knew “that no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:21). When the eyes of the understanding be opened by God, there is the capacity to distinguish between light and darkness. Because the sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd, they refuse to follow the call of a stranger. Nevertheless it was needful for the apostle to put them on their guard against false prophets, that they might be still further established in the faith and fortified against specious error. Error often has a very plausible appearance, and many are deceived thereby: since they have no inward and saving experience of the Truth, they are unable to discern that which is opposed to it. But those who know and are established in the Gospel are assured that no lie can be found in or deduced from it: as well expect foul water from a clean fountain as heresy in the pure Word of God. Whatever be contrary to the Gospel of Christ cannot be sound and wholesome. From that general principle John proceeded to point out that anyone who denied that Jesus is the Christ was a liar and an antichrist, and no matter what be his pretensions “the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:22-23)—a repudiator of the Truth, an antagonist of God’s Son, a seducer of souls, and therefore a deadly enemy of the saints. By such fearful names of opprobrium does God stigmatize the corrupters of His Gospel, and warn His people against them. In view of such a menace John made a practical application of the foregoing, exhorting the saints to persevere in the faith and heed not those who sought to entice away from it (1 John 2:24). It is only by means of the Truth abiding in our hearts and operating in our lives that we are rendered immune to the Devil’s lies and kept from apostasy. A cherishing of that which was blessed to our conversion, and the conforming of our characters and conduct thereto, maintains the soul in communion with the Lord, and that will make us turn a deaf ear unto those siren voices which seek to draw us from Him and bring about our eternal ruin.

Finally, to encourage these young converts to hold fast the Truth and shun lying novelties, the apostle: reminded them, “And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life” (1 John 2:25). “Eternal life” is both a present possession and a future prospect. It is received by faith’s laying hold of the Gospel offer, and it is realized in the soul just so far as fellowship with Christ is practically maintained by subjection to His will. But the full possession and fruition of “eternal life” (the sum of the believer’s blessedness and the climax of his bliss) awaits the world to come, and it is by hope’s anticipation thereof—through faith’s keeping steadfastly in view the joy set before him—that the believer is strengthened to run the race set before him and kept from straying. Now there is nothing more pleasing to God than our making a good use of His promises. First, by collecting them, storing them in our minds, meditating much upon them, and making them our spiritual food. Second, by faith’s laying hold of the same and pleading them before the throne of grace: “do as Thou hast said” (2 Samuel 7:25; and cf. Psalms 119:49; Acts 27:25). Third, by cleansing ourselves from everything contrary to holiness (2 Corinthians 7:1).

“These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.” From which we may see, first, that all teachers of error are beguilers of souls—what terrible appellations: liars, antichrists, seducers! How they should be feared and shunned! Second, how needful it is that we be well informed and instructed from the Scriptures, that we may be enabled to detect and reject everything that is contrary thereto. The welfare of our souls and the glory of God demand that we thoroughly familiarize ourselves with the Word of Truth. Third, “it is the duty of a good and diligent pastor not only to gather a flock, but also to drive away wolves; for what will it avail to proclaim the pure Gospel, if he connive at the impostures of Satan?” (Calvin). Error must be exposed and refuted if the minister is to “take the stumblingblock out of the way of My people” (Isaiah 57:14). Finally, we see how that, humanly speaking, we are beholden to the seducers of the first century for not a little in the Epistles, their attacks giving occasion to warn against them. Thus God can bring light out of darkness, and by error make way for a more complete discovery of the Truth.