2:24 “What you yourselves heard from the beginning, keep in you. If what you heard from the beginning stays in you, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.”
The construction of this Greek sentence emphasizes the word “you” by putting it first in the sentence. This is to contrast John’s readers with the false teachers who “deny the son” (Westcott 77, Hanna 435). John exhorts his readers to hang onto the teaching they had heard from the beginning rather than going after the newfangled doctrines of the antichrists.
Cotton says (278) “Primary antiquity is a certain note of apostolic verity,” and it’s true. The apostles had taught good doctrine from the beginning of the church, and the good scripture of the O.T. had been with God’s people since the beginning of time. Believers must “think about it, talk about it, and even sing about it… [for] theology is not to be reserved until converts become mature” (Clark 83). It should “abide/remain” in the believer all the time.
On page 276, John Cotton gives a good discourse on how the word abides in us by “faith,” “fear,” and “obedience.” He goes on to say, “This may show us what a hard thing it is to persevere and abide in the doctrine of the apostles as appears from the strong exhortation… Seeing that the world makes such a large offer to withdraw us…
He outbids the world and even promises fellowship with the Father and the Son, and eternal life” (277). Retaining this “primary antiquity” is equivocated here with remaining in fellowship with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. That’s pretty crucial! How tenaciously are WE hanging on to the ancient truths of the Bible?
2:25 And this is the promise which He Himself declared to us: the life eternal.
If we steadfastly keep “what we heard from the beginning” and abide in the Son and the Father, then God gives us the promise that we have eternal life. Eternal life is not a reward of good works; it is God’s grace given to us by His promise (Cotton 280). It is given to us by Jesus Christ Himself; the sentence in Greek gives special emphasis to this (which the KJV and NIV ignore). Jesus Himself gave the promise.
Now there is some dispute as to whether the promise was given to “us” (John including himself and probably the apostles) or given to “you” (John’s readers). Most Greek manuscripts favor “us” and it makes sense that if John is calling attention to something Jesus Himself said, it was something Jesus said in the presence of His disciples while He was living on earth.
So, what it the “promise,” and what does “eternal life” mean? The promise, says Clark (83-84) is the whole Gospel, and eternal life is defined by John 17:3 “this is eternal life, that they should know the only True God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” Sounds like an equivocal phrase for “abide in the Father and in the Son” from the verse above.
Keeping the ancient doctrines, being in fellowship with God the Father and God the Son, and having the promise of eternal life all go together.
By Nate Wilson.
