Those Who Lead You Astray
This article talks about:
- Lies and Deception
- Obeying the Commandments
- Discernment and Messiah
-By Ariel & D’vorah Berkowitz-
Lies are blatant attempts to hide the truth. Deception is a clever attempt to hide the truth. In the end, however, the goal of both is the same—to deliberately try to make sure that truth, especially God’s truth, is hidden, smeared, masked, and prohibited from manifesting itself. We have been asked to write about such lies and deceptions. Because of this title, one might expect to read about names of people, movements, and groups that practice such lies and deceptions. This article will not do that. Instead, we will briefly examine the subject of lies and deceptions from the biblical book of 1 John.
First John was a letter written by John (people assume it was the Apostle John) to an unspecified group of believers. It was penned sometime in the late 1st century CE. In this letter, John specifically says, “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray” (2:26). The Greek word that is rendered “lead you astray” could also be translated “deceive.” Hence, if one wants to learn about lying and deceiving in matters related to our faith in Yeshua, 1 John is the place to look! John mentions several areas of our lives that are vulnerable to lying and deceiving. We will have a brief look at each in the order that they appear in the text of 1 John.
The Believer’s Relationship to Sin (1:5–10)
This first area of possible deception concerns itself with our walk with the Lord. John says in 1:6, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” If a person says that he/she has fellowship with the Lord, yet does not walk in the light, that is a deception.
An important key to understanding what John is saying is the tense of the Greek verb translated “practice.” It is in the present tense, which suggests continual walking. Thus, John is not speaking about an occasional, inconsistent walk contrary to the Lord. He is speaking about one’s habitual lifestyle. In other words, if a person claims to be a believer in Yeshua yet does not have a consistent habitual life of walking with Him, then there is good reason that person is either deceived or is deceiving others that they are a believer.
This concept is repeated later in 1 John 3:4–10. Throughout this passage John again uses the word “practice” in the present tense. However, John adds another significant piece to the puzzle. He says, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (3:9). Notice that when John speaks of “practicing sin,” he is using the Greek present tense again. Hence, John is talking about one’s habitual lifestyle, not an occasional lapse. However, John adds that knowing that Yeshua’s presence inside the believer can be a major deterrent to deception. The new creation does not sin because he/she is simply not a sinner any longer. Yet, John is careful to remind us that we still have a flesh, wherein sin dwells. The believers shall yield his/her members to righteousness to avoid habitually walking in sin.
The Believer’s Relationship to the Torah (2:1–6)
John mentions a second area of possible deception of which the believer needs to be aware. He writes in 1 John 2:4, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
John uses the word “commandments” seven times in this brief letter. Many believers have a rather nebulous understanding about this word “commandment.” Some have assumed that these “commandments” are things that either Yeshua or one of the Apostles have taught. Few consider the very real possibility that John is speaking about the Torah of Moshe. The Greek does not really help. It uses the word entolas which has a wide variety of possibilities. Yet, we also need to consider that entolas is the most common way to render the Hebrew word mitzvot (מצות), a word used frequently in the Torah to speak of the specific instructions from the Lord.
We would suggest that this is most likely how John is using the word “commandments.” Why not? Is there any good reason why John would not be rebuking his readers for neglecting the Torah? After all, when the Apostles, such as John, went about teaching the Scriptures, the Torah of Moshe would have been their primary text! When Yeshua instructed His students to teach people His commandments in Matthew 28:19–20, it is safe to assert that all of Yeshua’s commandments were explanations and applications of instructions already taught by Moshe.
If we are correct in our understanding of the word “commandments,” then John is saying that another area of lying and deceiving among believers is to say that the teaching of Moshe has been rendered inoperative. In fact, Moshe himself speaks to this issue in Deuteronomy 4:2 when he implores his people, “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Historically, many Jewish thinkers have added to the Torah by positing the divine authority of the Oral Torah, and many Christian thinkers have taken away from Torah by insisting that the Torah has either been replaced by the Apostolic Scriptures or done away with altogether. We need to see that John is emphasizing the centrality of the commandments in the lives of believers. Therefore, John tells his readers, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
The Believers’ Love for One Another (2:7–11; 4:20–21)
Some of the oft overlooked mitzvot of Moshe are the instructions to love our brothers. He repeats it at least twice in Leviticus: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18) and “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:34).
Because Moshe taught about the importance of love within the covenant community, John informs us that the command to love is not new. He says, “Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard” (1 John 2:7). However, John also remarks that his readers needed to revive that commandment; for they were claiming to be believers yet not doing as the Torah teaches and loving their brothers and sisters. Hence, John says that they were in darkness because of that.
Furthermore, John says to them, “On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). When he says “new” commandment, of course he knew the Torah taught it already! Therefore, we are to understand the word “new” in the sense of “renewed” or “refreshed.” It is a reminder to live the Torah consistently by loving others in the body of Messiah. Those who habitually do not, are shrouded in darkness. Once again, the key to understanding this is to see that John is constantly speaking about consistency in loving consistently. He is not addressing an occasional lapse.
The Truth about Messiah (2:18–25)
The final area of possible lying and deception spoken of in 1 John concerns itself with what people believe about the person of Yeshua. To be sure, this is a controversial area of thinking in the Body of Messiah today.
At the very beginning of his letter, John says that he is testifying to his readers what he had experienced in his own life concerning Yeshua. He says, in 1 John 1:3, “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also.” So, whatever John says about Yeshua, he is speaking from firsthand knowledge. What does John say about the matter?
He says in 5:1 that “Yeshua is the Messiah and is born of God,” indicating that there was something supernatural about Yeshua’s birth. This was John’s way of referring to what is called the “incarnation.” John continues to speak about Yeshua’s incarnation in terms of posing three witnesses to the fact that Yeshua was incarnated. John says the Spirit, water, and blood together make a combined witness that Yeshua was incarnated.
John Stott comments on this by saying,
“The Spirit, the water and the blood all testify to [Messiah], and the reason why they agree is that God Himself is behind them. The three witnesses form, in fact, a single divine testimony to [Yeshua the Messiah], which God has given. The perfect tense indicates the continuing validity (in itself and through the Spirit) of God’s historical testimony to [Messiah]. It is God who testified to His Son in history, in the water and the blood, and it is God who testifies to him today through His Spirit in our hearts. Moreover, it is because…the witness is divine, that we ought humbly to receive it. For we accept man’s testimony, when it consists of the evidence of two or three; how much more, then, should we accept the testimony of God which is itself threefold and which, because it is God’s, is greater than any man’s?” [Italics are Stott’s]
John continues to say that this Yeshua “is the true God and eternal life.” Earlier in his epistle, John warns his readers, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:21–23). Thus, those who deny that Yeshua is the Messiah and that He has come in a special way from His Father are those who have fallen into deception.
Many today, including some in what is known as the Messianic movement, have succumbed to a low view of the person of Yeshua. Perhaps they want to be accepted by others, especially other Jewish people, who insist that an incarnation is impossible. Let us not fall into such problematic thinking! Nothing is impossible with God! If He wants, He can even take upon Himself a human body for a specified period of time — which is what He did in Yeshua. One Hassidic Jewish commentator says this:
All references to God having body parts are metaphors. However,…“Since he so chooses, God can even dwell in the dimensions of time and space, even though they have no reality for Him. They are His creations, and He completely transcends them, yet He chooses them for a dwelling place. Although He always remains beyond time and space, He desires that in the reality of time and space, it should be known that He is one.”
This is a good description of what God did in Yeshua. In Yeshua, God came to dwell in the dimensions of time and space. This is exactly what John is teaching about Yeshua concerning His incarnation. Let us not give in to lies and deception by denying this precious truth.
The Believer’s Discernment (4:1–6)
In this precious and helpful letter John provides for us the certain cure for falling into lies and deception. He says in 4:1–6, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (4:1). Believers everywhere need more than ever to rely on the Spirit of God to help them to test the teachings that are given to them from so-called prophets. They need divine discernment. John simply teaches us to not accept everything a teacher says. If we are careful and discerning, then we will not fall prey to the plethora of lies and deceptions that abound.
[1] Planao (planaw), in A Greek - English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition, (“BAOG”), revised and edited by Fredrick William Danker, 821.
[2] John Stott, The Letters of John. (Tyndale Commentary), Nottingham NG7 3HR, England Inter-Varsity Press, UK, 2010, 181.
[3] Gurary, Nosson, The Thirteen Principles of Faith — A Chadisic Viewpoint (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1996), 54
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Ariel received a B.S. from West Chester State University and Philadelphia Biblical University, and he received his M. Div. from Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, PA, USA. He also attended Rodef Torah School of Jewish Studies and was an instructor at Israel College of Bible, Jerusalem. Presently, he is an adjunct Professor with the “IBEX” program of The Master’s University. He is also an instructor with Torah Resource Institute and with Torah Resource International.
D’vorah studied Social Work at West Chester State University and Philadelphia Biblical University in America, and then attended Rodef Torah School of Jewish Studies. Presently, she is a Learning Environment Consultant and CEO of Table Talk Torah Truths which provides practical aids to living God’s Word in practical, life-changing ways. She is also an instructor with Torah Resources International. She and her husband have been working Internationally for over 21 years and have written over 10 books. They moved to Israel 30 years ago and have four grown children and seven grandchildren.