“Hold Fast To The Teaching Of His Anointing!”

“Hold Fast To The Teaching Of His Anointing!”(I Jn.2:26-29).
“I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.”
Yesterday, we pointed out the biblical emphasis on the teaching ministry. Can we today say, “The anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you”?
Of course, long before Jesus, the prophet Jeremiah talked of the time when no man was to teach his neighbour to know the LORD because the LORD’S word will be written in every heart.
However, meaning is within context. John is certainly not undermining the importance of human teachers. He wants the believers to guard against “Those who are trying to lead you astray.” Such misleading liars are those who deny that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
John was challenging the Gnostics of his time who challenged the Christship of Jesus or that salvation was through faith in him. Rather, salvation came by special knowledge (we cannot be exhaustive on this here). It is enough to note that Gnosticism may have been an early New Testament form of heresy that has continued over the generations down to our time.
It is necessary to understand fully the place of Christ in any new teaching before falling for it.
The anointing we received from the Lord remains with us, and it teaches us to remain in him. Therefore, let us “continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.”
Heresies are the reasons for creeds. That is why the Nicene Creed and Apostles’ Creed are selected among others to serve as reminders of what the anointing teaches us!
Dear friend, let the anointing remain your best teacher, but do not let your imagination run wild so that you are misled to think that what you imagine is an anointing. That may become a new heresy!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, keep me in constant discernment to guard against the antichrist and to remain in Christ. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
02/04/2025.