Chapter
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Verse

1 John 2:23

ESV No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
NIV No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
NASB Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
CSB No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.
NLT Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
KJV Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
NKJV Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

What does 1 John 2:23 mean?

This verse offers the other side of verse 22, which referred to those who deny the Father and Son. Specifically, those who reject Jesus are rejecting God, as well. A true believer will accept both God the Father and Jesus the Son. John specifically notes this by confirming that those who accept Christ accept God the Father. The person who confesses or believes in Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) has the Father. This is because Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6) and is the only name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). This is the message they had heard from the beginning (1 John 2:24). Any different message was to be rejected.

Second John 1:7 also confronted this problem of those denying Jesus' status as God incarnate. A person who deceives by changing core teachings about Jesus is considered a false teacher and antichrist. This was true not only in the church to which John wrote 1 John, but in any time or place where this occurs.
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