Logos, Antichrist, and Creation--No Greek Origin

 There is a common practice of trendy evangelical theology and evidentialist apologetic methods among preterists to continue propagating the idea that Gnosticism is the heretical motif confronted by John’s epistles and even in the Gospel of John, as well as in some of Paul’s epistles. This idea has garnished continued momentum by virtue of leading “apologists” who are incessantly bent on trying to prove God’s existence, Christ’s resurrection, and win over those involved in “gnostic” cults who have aberrant views on the divinity of Christ. Of course we applaud efforts to dissuade others from any view which attempts to reduce Christ’s position as God and Creator of all things. However, when we broad brush the New Testament with an unrelated movement (Gnosticism) simply because we want to confront a cult, we have to be careful of decontextualizing the intent of the inspired author.
 
The repudiation of the idea that New Testament authors were addressing Gnosticism is simple. The entire New Testament context addresses two general problems/aberrations which were also addressed by Christ, namely, the rejection of Christ’s divinity as God/High Priest and the rejection that Christ alone was the means, provision, and cause of eternal life and salvation to all who trust in Him.
 
The Bible is a book about how God would use Israel as a guinea pig to show what humanity does when given the law of God. Throughout the history of Israel’s idolatry, rebellion, abuse of the law, and sinfulness, the Gentiles are inconspicuously included in the glorious hope that awaited Israel through the revelation of Christ/Messiah. When Messiah came and the Spirit was given at Pentecost, Paul revealed that all the promises made to Israel were fulfilled and that through faith alone the Gentiles would partake of those promises (Ephesians 3:6). But the unbelieving Israelites would be filled with envy, attempting to dissuade Gentiles by bringing in truth mixed with the error that Christ and circumcision were necessary for salvation. This is one of the two fundamental heresies. The Israelites rejected Christ as Messiah, but they were trying to slowly turn the believing Gentiles and Israelites away from Christ. These heretical Israelites fundamentally denied Christ as divine High Priest and Messiah (anointed One). In the Old Testament, the high priest was always anointed as such:
 
"And you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him; and you shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests.” (Exod. 28:41 NAS)
 
The Hebrew word for anointed is Mashach, and for anointed one is Masheach or Messiah. The Greek word is Christos or Christ. It is a term of priesthood, and specifically, Israelite priesthood. There is nothing in the Old Testament biblical accounts that takes priesthood out of the Israelite parameter. It is always associated with the Israelites and all who were in covenant relationship to God. There are little to no lexical references outside of the scriptural usage of the Greek and Hebrew terms for “anointed” or Messiah/Christ. The reason for this is because the terms are exclusively related to the high priesthood. If any such lexical information exists, it is with the early Church Fathers who almost always use it within the context of scripture. With this in mind, Paul’s defense of Messiah and his warning to “beware,” is manifestly pointing to apostate Judaism. The chief text used by apologists to assume Paul was confronting Gnosticism is found in Colossians:
 
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,” (Col. 2:8-9 NAS)
 
One such apologist, William Barclay, comments on this passage:
 
“It is a philosophy which has been handed down by human tradition. The Gnostics were in the habit of claiming that their special teaching was teaching which had been told by word of mouth by Jesus, sometimes to Mary, sometimes to Matthew, and sometimes to Peter.” (Barclay Study Bible)
 
Ellicot’s commentary on vv.1-7 reads: “The reason of that anxiety is found in the “beguiling and enticing words” of an incipient Gnosticism.”
 
The problem is, there is nothing contextually or historically that indicates this. In fact, the very context displays that Paul is confronting Jewish Christians who were retreating to apostate Judaism and trusting in the law of Moses:
 
“having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. 16 Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day”-- (Col. 2:14-16 NAS)
 
Sabbaths, festivals, dietary laws, and new moons were Israelite devotions and mandates under Moses. But even Isaiah chides the Israelites for their abuse of Moses inasmuch as professing Jewish Christians under Paul’s ministry were chastised for going back to Moses. Isaiah writes:
 
"Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them.” (Isa. 1:13-14 NAS)
 
Gnosticism was not a problem to Isaiah nor was it to Paul. They were concerned with the true worship of God, which, upon the Messiah’s once-for-all offering, took place in the new kingdom through the finished work of Christ (Christos-anointed). To deny Christ was to deny Emmanuel, that is, God with us. Christ was the eternal High Priest who offered Himself without sin and who remains a High Priest:
 
“Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. 13 For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. 15 And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.” (Heb. 7:11-16 NAS)
 
The reference to Melchizedek is important and is in direct reference to the divinity of Christ. Christ said to the Pharisees, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58). This is a statement of divinity as it not only displays His Messianic eternality; it also equates Him with the I AM (a statement of eternal being) of Exodus, having neither beginning nor ending of days:
 
“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’'" (Exod. 3:14 NAS)
 
This would naturally provoke the Pharisees to attempt to stone him (John 8:59ff). They knew Christ was claiming to be Messiah (anointed) and Emmanuel (God with us), and therefore they rejected His claims as blasphemy and considered Him worthy of death. This problem is evident throughout the book of Acts as well as the New Testament epistles. 1 John takes no different approach. He uses the Israelite high priestly term to convey the essence of Jesus: He is the Christ. To deny this is anti-Christ or anti-High Priest. John first commences his epistle with affirmations of communion with the Father through the Son:
 
“what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn. 1:3 NAS)
 
This is another transparent reference to the mercy seat through which God promised to commune with Aaron:
 
"And there I will meet ( with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” (Exod. 25:22 NAS)
 
Paul also affirms that Christ became our mercy seat in order for us to commune with the Father:
 
“[Jesus Christ] whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;” (Rom. 3:25 NAS)
 
It was sin that prohibited the people of God from entering the earthly tabernacle, a shadow of the heavenly holy of holies into which God would bring all His children by the blood of Jesus:
 
“Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. 19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:18-22 NAS)
 
The “great priest” or high priest is none other than Messiah/Christ (anointed one) whom the unbelieving Israelites denied. It was in this context that John, a minister to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, wrote his epistles, not to an unrelated Greek audience given to Gnosticism. While Barclay regretfully assigns Paul’s warning against Gnosticism, at least he conjoins it with the glaring revelation that Paul is referring to the elements of Judaism:
 
“It can be seen that [in Colossians 2:18] there is a mixture of Gnosticism and Judaism,” yet nowhere does Barclay show how this passage is addressing this unfounded “mixture.” Paul is strictly referring to Judaism. So likewise, John writes in his epistle concerning the rejection of the anointed one:
 
“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. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” (1 Jn. 4:1-3 NAS)
 
Once again, Gnosticism pertains nothing to John’s urgent subject, specifically, the rejection of Christ as High Priest, which is also the rejection of His deity:
 
“Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1 Jn. 2:22-23 NAS)
 
John, surrounded by the Jewish world (kosmos), capitalizes on this theme with his enunciation of Christ’s words about Himself and His union with the Father:
 
“in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” (Jn. 5:23 NAS)
 
And again in what theologians commonly (and rightly) call the “High Priestly prayer”:
 
“These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee,” (Jn. 17:1 NAS)
 
It is anti-Christ (Gr. “antichristos”), or that spirit of antichrist which was opposed to Christ, and this is none other than the wicked system of the scribes and Pharisees which exalted themselves against Christ, and Paul shows this spirit of antichrist to be directly connected to the Jewish Temple which was still standing at that time:
 
“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” (2 Thess. 2:3-4 NAS)
 
John points to no different antichrist as they were approaching the last hour of the Temple, and it serves us well to observe the contrast between communion/anointing and antichrist:
 
“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 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. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” (1 Jn. 2:18-27 NAS)
 
John did not wander beyond the scope of Israelites. That would be Paul’s domain in terms of his primary evangelical outlook, yet even Paul, as we have noted, had to address the heresy of law/grace justification as it was ill-affecting the Gentiles. However, John is exclusively Jewish.
 
This is where we turn to an overarching biblical theme, namely that of the genesis of God’s covenant people and the Logos of God. John refers to Christ as the Logos or Word or Power of God. Paul calls Him, “Christ the Wisdom and Power of God.” The Logos of God was in the beginning, that is, the beginning of the creation of the covenant people of God. Out of God was spoken “Let there be light.” and thus flows John’s renowned introduction:
 
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (Jn. 1:1-3 NAS)
 
This is clearly an allusion to the Genesis commencement, with Logos having no relationship to Gnosticism whatsoever. The Word/Logos became flesh, i.e. incarnated under law to perform and finish the high priestly work of transferring earthly Old Covenant things into heavenly New Covenant things. Though a rather lengthy text, one must read the following in light of the purpose and work of Christ as High Priest. Close attention must be given to the use of “Christ” or “anointed one.” In order to elucidate this truth, “Christ” in the following context will be translated as “the Anointed One” as well as all pronouns referring to Him:
 
“But when the Anointed One appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, the Anointed One entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through the Anointed One’s own blood, the Anointed One entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of the Anointed One, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason the Anointed One is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you." 21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. 22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For the Anointed One did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear {the first appearance) in the presence of God for us; 25 nor was it that the Anointed One should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood not his own. 26 Otherwise, the Anointed One would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages the Anointed One has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so the Anointed One also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await the Anointed One. (Heb. 9:11-28 NAS)
 
His first appearance was not becoming flesh, as many suppose. Rather, the first appearance is clear: “when the Anointed One *appeared* as High Priest of good things to come, the Anointed One entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle.” The appearance, therefore, is when Christ ascended as High Priest, not when He was incarnated. This seemingly small, but very significant difference must be appreciated. Because of the Christmas story and the identification of the Anointed One as having made a “first advent” as a baby, a great theological disservice to the High Priestly work has been done. In fact, ascribing the “first appearing” to the newborn Anointed One steals from the profoundly important role of His High Priestly appearance before God after the sacrifice of Himself. Thus, just as most of Christendom has ‘decovenantalized’ Genesis (the beginning of God’s covenant with a people) and turned it into a cosmological thread and overarching doctrine which would inevitably demand a cosmological end, so also they have disregarded the purpose of Christ’s high priestly “appearance” at his ascension after His sacrifice and have created a micro-cosmological monument in the birth of Christ restricting it from Christ’s high priestly role. In doing so, Christendom has forged a non-covenantal high priestly work, dismissing the true meaning of His first appearing. If one sees the first appearing as a high priestly work, they will then see His second appearing as a high priestly work as well and be able to see its fulfillment in the first century at AD 70 and the destruction of the Temple, the outward sign to the unbelieving Jews that the sacrifice of Christ was accepted and that they were now being judged (Heb. 9:8-11).
 
Once this is understood and the role of Christ/Anointed One is established, Logos then returns to His important role, not merely as a Greek talking point of relevance for the koine Jewish/Greek context in which the Apostles wrote and audience to whom they wrote, but also as a covenantal commencement seen in both the Old and New Covenants. Christ as the “firstborn of all creation” no longer is seen as the firstborn of the cosmological creation (i.e. rocks, trees, humans, animals etc.) but instead He is seen as the firstborn of the creation of the covenant people of God out of the earthly Old Covenant of death, i.e. guilt). He is the Logos and Alpha and Omega. This does not diminish His eternality from past to future throughout the chronos, but it rightly places His eternal power and Godhead into that which raises the dead to life by the power of His own eternal (without beginning or ending of days) high priestly life. Just as the Gospel of John is filled with statements of the power of Logos to speak light and life into existence, so also the epistles of John confirm that the Logos calls those things which are nothing as though they were, or as Paul says:
 
“(as it is written, "A father of many nations have I made you") in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. 18 In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall your descendants be." (Rom. 4:17-18 NAS)
 
It is about the creation of a people by the Logos/High Priest, who would bring all into the high priestly anointing of the holy nation and new creation of God’s people:
 
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Pet. 2:9 NAS)
 
John speaks of this priesthood without restriction to the Levitical line:
 
“and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”(Rev. 1:5-6 NAS)
 
“And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 "And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." (Rev. 5:9-10 NAS)
 
The eternal Logos/High Priest/Anointed One has also anointed the eternal people of God as the new creation in Christ Jesus. We commune with God, as Aaron did temporarily. Yet we, through Christ’s power of an endless life, are anointed and dwelling in unity with the people of God, even by the command of God for all eternity:
 
“ Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron's beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing-- life forever.” (Ps. 133:1-3 NAS)
 
There is nothing historically or biblically which supports the idea of a Gnostic problem the Apostles had to confront. This historic and grossly elongated fabrication has done great harm to the interpretation of the more ancient context, theme, and person of Christ as the everlasting Logos, the Power and Wisdom of God, yea, God Himself, our eternal High Priest and Anointed One by whom we too have received the anointing.
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