The Apostolic Teaching About Jesus

Ikthus Dumaguete

Ikthus Daily Word | November 8, 2023 | Wednesday

1 John 4:2 “. . . Jesus Christ is come in the flesh . . .”

What is the apostolic teaching concerning Christ? Now in a phrase in our text John gives us the perfect answer. John does not use words like this haphazardly. Listen to the way in which he puts it: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:2). Now here is the statement: “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” Jesus Christ arrived in the world “in the flesh.” What does this mean? Let me try to show you how John in putting it like this was countering and answering some of those grievous heresies that had already arisen even in his day in the church, before the end of the first century.

Take the expression “Jesus Christ.” Why does John say, “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh”? Why did he not say that Jesus or Christ has come in the flesh? Ah, that is most important; that is his way of emphasizing the unity of the blessed person. The Lord Jesus Christ has two natures—the divine and the human—and yet there is only one person. The earlier chapters of 1 John make it plain that there were false prophets, antichrists, in the early church, and some of them said something like this: “Jesus of Nazareth was just a man like every other man; but when He was baptized by John in the Jordan, the eternal Christ came upon Him and began to use Him; and the eternal Christ continued with the man Jesus until He came to the cross. But on the cross the eternal Christ went away, back to heaven, and it was only the man Jesus who died. There were two persons— the man Jesus and the eternal Christ.” No! says John; “Jesus Christ,” one person but two natures—the two natures in one person.

A Thought to Ponder: The Lord Jesus Christ has two natures — the divine and the human — and yet there is only one person.

Devotional Source: Walking with God Day By Day

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