Conservative Friends Bible Study of 1 John #05 Chapter 2 Verses 18-27

                Before going on to this passage in 1 John:18-27, Henry goes back to the previous session to further discuss the Greek word “kosmos”. In addition to the many meanings discussed in session #4, another one of the primary meanings of this word is one with a negative connotation: worldliness; a worldly way of acting, and that we should not be conformed to the world. Other meanings of kosmos : water, to adorn or beautify, orderliness, the sum total of everything in the world or universe, the sum total of all the creatures of the world, the earth/world, humanity in general, the system of human existence and its many aspects, the sum total collected aspect of an entity.  Verse 18: “antichristos”: antichrist. The word has two meanings:  Opposed to/opposite of Christ (the messiah, the anointed one); the antichrist is one who is opposed to the true Christ. In place of/instead of Christ. It can also be understood as someone or something that is looked upon as the true Christ, but instead is a false Christ.  Verse 19: There had been a split in the churches with which John was associated. Those who left didn’t really belong among those who stayed. Perhaps those who left were docetists who heretically  said that Jesus just seemed to be human, but He was not: The said that He was God with a human covering that only made him look like a human. But there are other places in Holy Scripture that show Jesus was both completely human, and completely God. Likely the docetists were the forerunners of the later gnostics. Verse 20: “chrisma”: anointing. This Greek word means to rub/put something into a person. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit because He had a special mission: messiah. “But you have been anointed by the Holy One . . . .” You too have Christ within you, so you too have His anointing within you. Early Quakers understood the truth that Paul was teaching: You have Christ within you and His anointing within you. Verse 21 : “alethea”: truth. This is not just truth, but Truth with a capital T: the Spirit of Truth/the way to God/eternal Life/Christ in you. In the writings of early Friends Quakerism itself was quite often simply  referred to as: Truth. At the beginning of the Quaker movement, to be called a Quaker by someone was a slur. Verse 24: “Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” The earlies Christians focused on “God is one.” There was no dividing of God into separate beings (as trinitarianism would later do.) The word, “trinity” would not be found in Christian authors until decades after John’s writing. It would finally be introduced and codified more than two centuries later in the early 4th Century in the Nicene Creed. Thus, because the word “trinity” is not found in Holy Scriptures, as Henry says, “Early Quakers were really pre-trinitarian”, rejecting the danger of leaning toward the of making three gods, instead seeing Father, Son and Spirit simply as “God is one.”ReferencesThe quote in our introduction is from Margret Fell's Epistle to Friends in Ireland.A complete list of our podcasts,  organized into topics, is available on our website.We will be publishing video interviews with Conservative Friends on YouTube.  See our YouTube channel.  The first interview is with Susan Smith. To learn more about Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative) of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), please visit  ohioyearlymeeting.org. Those interested in exploring the distinctives of Conservative Friends waiting worship should consider checking out our many Zoom Online Worship opportunities during the week here. All are welcome! We also have several Zoom study groups.  Check out the Online Study and Discussion Groups on our website.   Advices read in these podcasts can be found on page 29 in our Book Of Discipline.We welcome feedback on this and any of our other podcast episodes.   Contact us through our website.