Verses to review today: 1 John 2:14-2:22
New Verse: 1 John 2:23

No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. (ESV)

Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. (KJV)

Greek: πᾶς ὁ ἀρνούμενος τὸν υἱὸν οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει, ὁ ὁμολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει.

Transliterated Greek: pas ho arnoumenos ton huion oude ton patera echei, ho homologōn ton huion kai ton patera echei.

Literal Word for Word Translation: every one denying the Son also does not have the Father, the one confessing the Son also has the Father.

Vocab: πᾶς, pas, all/every; ἀρνούμενος, arnoumenos, one denying; υἱὸν, huion, son; οὐδὲ, oude, and not/neither; ἔχει, echei, he/she/it is having, he/she/it has; ὁμολογῶν, homologōn, one confessing; τὸν πατέρα, ton patera, the father.

Commentary: Verse 23 continues from 22 showing that the Son is the link to the Father. For the Gnostics to have any claim that they know God, yet deny the Son, is a lie, even if they don’t know for themselves that it is lie. They cannot know God if they don’t know the Son. Yet, the believers to whom John is writing know God, because they acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God.

Notice here that there is no middle ground. One either confesses or denies Christ, and their relationship with the Father follows from that. A person who is agnostic or not sure what to believe, in effect, denies Christ. Anything other than an affirmative acceptance and confession of Jesus is a denial of Jesus.

Matthew 10:32 “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.

What does this say about the claim that there are many ways to God?

Some might ask about the salvation of the Jews before Jesus. However, keep in mind that even in the Old Testament, salvation came through faith in God (Rom. 4:13-25; Heb. 11). The Jews were expected to follow the law for blessing and to avoid curse (Deut. 11:26-32), but their salvation was entirely in the work of God and the promise of a coming Messiah (Psalm 62; Isaiah 11). One who insisted that their own righteousness earned them favor with God was as lost as anyone else. Those who relied upon the Lord for His strength and righteousness were saved due to their faith in the work of Christ that was to come.