Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

consider the spiritual truths the Bible articulates, so they work to undermine Scriptures
authority. This too is the spirit of the anti-Christ at work.
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you
have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even
now many antichrists have come, by which we
know that it is the last hour. They went out
from us, but they were not of us; for if they
had been of us, they would have continued
with us; but they went out that they might be
made manifest, that none of them were of us.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One,
and you know all things. I have not written to
you because you do not know the truth, but
because you know it, and that no lie is of the
truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that
Jesus is the Christ He is antichrist who
denies the Father and the Son. Whoever
denies the Son does not have the Father
either; he who acknowledges the Son has
the Father also (1Jn. 2:18-23).
In contrast to compromise, God calls the corrupt to conversion, or change, and turning
from their wicked ways (cf., Joh. 3:1-20). When God’s people compromise and behave
as the world does, there is no longer light, salt, witness and hope for those lost in the
darkness of sin-corruption. God purposes His own to be different and counter-cultural,
pointing people to God through acts of love and words of truth. Missiologists sometimes
call this a holistic witness, or the incarnational approach, where the gospel is ‘incarnated,’
or made flesh, in and through the missionary, so that people everywhere may not only
hear the gospel spoken, but also see it ‘lived out’ among them.
Jesus, Immanuel (Isa. 7:14, 8:8; Mat. 1:23), is holiness personified. He calls His
followers to live a life of holiness, but certainly not self-righteousness, like the religious
leaders of His day. Like the prophets Amos and Hosea, Jesus appealed for more than
ceremonial holiness, saying: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Hos. 6:6; Matt. 12:7).
When God’s people compromise to the demands and lures of the world, the prophets are
sent to challenge and correct them, calling them back to ‘set-apart’ thinking and living.
Jesus, like the prophets and apostles, taught that true holiness was expressed in patient,
obedient, and loving service, while awaiting the Lord’s return. Knowing Christ was
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa