John, the disciple of Christ, wrote, 'let what you heard from the beginning abide(remain) in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides(remains) in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father."
(I John 2:24).
John was writing to a cluster of churches in Asia minor; present day Turkey. The recipient was arguably the church at Ephesus. John was compelled to write due to a noxious heresy that was being propagated.
This false teaching was conceivably being peddled by some who were apart of the Ephesian church, who had formerly heard the message of the gospel that was delivered at the beginning, but had since then abandoned the truths of the gospel; (cf.1:1-3,5,2:19) even denying the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. The doctrine that Christ, the second person of the God-head, assumed a human nature while remaining fully God.
However many false teachers there were is unknown. Regardless of their number these aptly called 'anti-christs' and 'false prophets'(1:18,4:1,3) were not satisfied with the bare knuckled gospel message. They 'cut and carved' the message as it suited their insatiable pallets. They weren't content nor satisfied with the profundity of truth/s that the gospel message comprised!
The fact that John chooses to employ the word 'abide' -which means to remain - in relation to the gospel message underscores the fact they these gospel detractors failed to do so themselves. Moreover, John describes these gainsayers as 'trying to deceive' those abiding in the gospel message.(2:26) The word 'deceive'(= roam or stray in the Greek) means that they were attempting to cause others to 'roam' or 'stray' from the gospel they 'roamed' and 'strayed' from.
It is additionally clear from how John identifies and counteracts their teaching/s (1:1-10, 2:22 et al) that their was an early proto-gnostic nuance to their heresy. One that separated mind from matter and spirituality from physicality. It boasted a 'secretive wisdom' that involved special 'oil anointing' ceremonies as a right of passage, so to speak.The gospel message simply was inadequate and insufficient for them! Wow. Really?
John's recourse was to contend with these anti-gospel heralds and to counteract what they had promulgated in and around the church at Ephesus.
He does so throughout 1,2,3 John by developing the gospel reality of 'abide'. Remaining in the gospel of Jesus Christ is paramount. There is no justifiable grounds, nor will there ever be such grounds, for abandoning the gospel message that has been posthumously delivered by Christ and then by his commissioned apostolic heralds fait a compli! The dye has been cast.
We Christians are to vigilantly remain in the gospel message! There is no substitute...no new enlightened version...no fantastical experience that will ever displace what was originally delivered. In our day and age new vistas of experience are sought to transform our lives instead of turning to Christ. In our day and age entertainment value within the local church has diminished how one personally values the gospel in and of itself. In our day and age materialism in the guise of a 'prosperity gospel' has located hope in wealth and success beyond the actual promises of the gospel.
The GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST is glorious! It is the mystery of the ages now revealed! It is the good news established in eternity past that will carry us into that eternity where Jesus Christ is in glory!
For John it is THE ONLY MESSAGE worth dwelling on...contemplating...rejoicing in...boasting in...living in...remaining in. Which is why at the end of his life, as he writes this epistle, he is still glorying in the same gospel he had received 'from the beginning',(1:1-4) some 50-60 years later!
The gospel is ageless. Its value and veracity does not change from age to age. It remains the same! We are to revel in its truthfulness and immutability(changeless-ness). Our appreciation and understanding of the gospel may increase as WE age but the gospel itself does not change as WE age.
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