1 John 5:21 - Homiletics

Beware of the idols!

Closing warning. By how much the evidence is clear that in Christ we have the true God, and eternal life, by so much should we be sternly jealous over ourselves that we suffer naught to take the place in our regard which he alone should fill. Hence it is not unnatural that a sentence like this should come from the apostle's pen ere he closes the letter. It is easy to detect an undertone of deep emotion, as the apostle, having discharged his responsibilities in unfolding the truth, now reminds his readers most tenderly of theirs, in cleaving to it and rejecting all besides. Topic— A warning against the idolatry of cleaving to any but Christ.

I. WE ARE UNIFORMLY TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE TO CHERISH AN ABHORRENCE OF IDOLS . The second commandment forbids any worship to them. Isaiah poured scorn on idol-worship. "Idols" ( εἴδωλα , simulacra ) — images, dead representations of the Living One. Anything which fills the place in the understanding, the heart, the life, which is due to God alone, is an idol. Note: None have ever been more noted for horror of idolatry than those who have paid the most reverent worship to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. It is, in fact, in connection with the most distinct avowal of him as "the true God and eternal life," that this warning against all idolatry is found. But the verse is not general and indefinite, for observe—

II. THE APOSTLE HAS BEFORE HIS EYE THE VARIOUS " IDOLS " WITH WHICH HIS LEADERS WOULD BE SURROUNDED . "Guard yourselves from the idols ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων ." It is absolutely necessary to study with close attention the actual surroundings of John and the Churches of his care, if we would rightly apprehend and expound the caution here recorded. £ There appears to be no reason to doubt that the apostle wrote this Epistle at Ephesus. The worship of the great goddess Diana had its seat there. The temple of Ephesus was a wonder of the world. And, over and above the dark black mass of people who cared not either for religion or morals, Gnosticism and Dualism were prominent there. The doctrine of the Nicolaitanes was taught there, and there too a spurious and magic spiritualism had its seat (see Acts 19:19 , Acts 19:26 , Acts 19:35 ; Revelation 2:6 ). There was both a denial of the true and a presentation of the false claim to the regard of men.

III. WITH ALL THESE FORMS OF ERROR BEFORE HIM , THE APOSTLE HAD CALLED THEM BY THE ONE NAME — ANTICHRIST . With this one word he indicates the one feature they all have in common. They so mar the representation of Christ that he is no longer the Christ; and set up in his place a substitute of their own, which is no better than an antichrist. There were many of them; but their huge denials of the truth were not to be tolerated ( 1 John 2:22 , 1 John 2:23 ; 1 John 4:1-3 ; 2 John 1:7 ). If the Incarnation were denied, along therewith must be the denial of the Propitiation, the Redemption, the cleansing, the fellowship, the life. All goes if the Christ goes. And inasmuch as men will have a faith of some kind, so that when they have dethroned the true, they will enthrone the false, there will at once come to be some antichrist—some rival to the Son of God. It may appear in the form of some worldly attachment, eliciting a false affection ( John 2:15-18 ); or in the disguise of some intellectual subtlety, leading to or from a false philosophy ( 1 John 4:1-3 ); or in some manifest depravity of morals denying the need of an atonement or of cleansing grace, through denying the fact of sin ( 1 John 1:8 , 1 John 1:10 ). The "many antichrists" which John espied were but so many εἴδωλα , and whoever followed them would be, in fact, an idolater.

IV. FROM ALL THESE FORMS OF IDOLATRY IT IS NECESSARY FOR BELIEVERS TO GUARD THEMSELVES . The preposition ἀπὸ is significant here. They must keep away from them. From everything that

"Keep yourselves, guard yourselves, the word is—as in a watch-tower φυλάχατε . But what is the fortress? Can we be wrong in saying:

1 . The truth is the stronghold in which they were to remain, while keeping a vigilant watch on the foe? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of men, the Propitiation for sins, the final Judge of men, the true Object of a devout and adoring worship, the Life, the Mediator, the Model, the Leader, the Lord.

2 . They were to ensure remaining in this stronghold of truth by cultivating fellowship in him who is the Truth. ( 1 John 2:28 ; cf. also the analogous phrase in Philippians

4 . φρουρήσει τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν Communion with God will ensure a holy peace that will guard the heart from restlessness and the thinkings from error.

V. THIS KEEPING OF THEMSELVES IN GUARD AGAINST THE IDOLS IS HERE THROWN ON THEIR OWN PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY . "Guard yourselves." It is as if the apostle had said, "I have done what I can in writing down the truth and in warning you against the errors of the day. Now, where my responsibility ends, yours begins." Compare the parting words of Moses ( Deuteronomy 29:9-29 ; Deuteronomy 31:2-13 ) and of Paul ( Acts 20:28-31 ).

VI. THIS REMINDER OF THEIR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IS GIVEN WITH THE UTMOST TENDERNESS OF PASTORAL SOLICITUDE . The last stroke of the pen reminds the apostle of his own inability to do more than he has done. He cannot always be with the Churches. And as if the thoughts that they and he must soon part, and that he, the last surviving apostle, must leave the Churches "as sheep in the midst of wolves," as their Lord had said, were almost overwhelming, his tone at parting is that of the utmost tenderness: "Little children, hold yourselves aloof from all the idols."

VII. THE PRECEPT , THOUGH IT HAS A LOCAL AND TEMPORAL REFERENCE , IS OF WORLD - WIDE AND PERMANENT SIGNIFICANCE . Forms of antichrist still abound, and there is as much need for vigilant watchfulness on the part of believers now as there was in the apostle's time. Can we think of pantheism, agnosticism, positivism, materialism, rationalism, anti-supernaturalism, without seeing how many forms of error would supplant the Christ, and put a rival in his place? Can we think of sacerdotalism, rampant and wild, without seeing how many there are who would put a priest between the soul and the Saviour; who teach that the Church is to be our bulwark, by remaining in which we shall keep from idols; £ who would make an idol of the sacramental bread, as if it would nourish the spiritual life, and even of the baptismal water, as if it could initiate it? And we venture to think that these sacerdotal εἴδωλα are more perilous to many than those of the unbelieving world. They are more specious, and therefore more deceptive. May the Holy Ghost grant us his enlightening unction, that we may discern and detect error with a glance of the eye! Amen.