I once had a very interesting encounter. I was preaching at a small church in the deep south, when there came some rumblings from the congregation that what I was saying might be heresy. I can assure you up front that it was not, but that is neither here nor there. After one particular service, I was approached by a rather senile old lady and asked "Pastor Z" (That's what they called me... why? I'll never know) "do you believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?" I said something along the lines of "yes, old lady, yes I do." She walked over to a group of other ladies, apparently reporting my answer, and they all nodded their approval. The rumblings of heresy stopped.
Now, I am not a heretic, but that was a blatant misuse of this particular text, and really proved nothing. This little passage is not a litmus test by which you can gauge whether or not someone is a genuine, bona fide, true blue Christian. It is a word of warning to a specific group of people.
At about the time that this letter was being written, there was a group of folks who had started telling anyone who would listen that Jesus did not have a body, but was merely a specter made by God- sort of a holy hologram, if you will. These people, who have been called Gnostics, Valentinians, Heretics, and here antichrist, believed that all flesh was naturally evil, and only the spirit was good, so Jesus must have been only spirit. Of course, this meant that you could indulge whatever evil desires your body had, because it was only your spirit which stood any chance of being good, and the two were completely independent of one another.
John knew about these people, and he knew that those receiving his letter had heard their message, so he drew a line in the sand- either accept that Jesus had a physical body, and that body was not evil, or you cannot call yourself a Christian.
The lesson here is not that we should now be running around willy nilly checking to see who does or doesn't think Jesus had a body. Rather, it is that those who wish to rewrite our faith in such a way that the basic things of Christianity are ignored or denied should be exposed for what they are. Those who wish to say that Jesus was not the son of God, or that the atonement, however defined, was unnecessary, or that there is no Trinity, or reject any other fundamental tenet of the faith are not to be heeded.
**Shea Zellweger is a pastor and author. You can find his book (which I reviewed on this blog) HERE and should take full advantage of that little fact.