Commentary on "Walking in the Light:
Rejecting Antichrists"

STEVE PITCHER

 

Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, August 1, 2009

The first lesson for this week, Sabbath afternoon, begins with the statement: “From the earliest day, the church had to deal with false teachings and heresy. ” This is well documented in the New Testament itself. The Gospel of Luke was written specifically because there were other, incorrect versions of the Gospel story circulating at that time. Throughout the book of Acts, the believers confront false teachings of various kinds. Virtually all the NT letters are dealing with one or more false teachings taking place in the church(es) to which the letter is directed. The seven letters of Revelation also deal with many false teachings.

The lesson includes a statement that there is an antichrist, and that there are antichrists, and the question is asked as to whether there are differences between these. A final question for the lesson is “[h]ow are Christians to test the spirit?”

There is one comment made in this first lesson that must be mentioned as it relates to something following later this week.

“...false teachers from among themselves...” This is an important statement. Most of us are capable of identifying false teachers from outside the church. Those involved in the occult, or religions which deny Jesus Christ outright are easy to identify. It is identifying the false teachers within the congregation that is of immediate importance to the health of the local church. The letters of the New Testament deal primarily with false teachings within the church, not from the outside.

The letters of John are dealing both with false teachings in the church as well as false teachings that are occuring outside the congregation. As Christians, we must be on guard for both. But our most immediate danger, and the point at which many churches are at their weakest, is identifying the false teachings occuring within their own church from week to week.

As this weeks lessons progress, we will especially focus on false teachings as they occur within our week to week fellowship.

 

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