such a thing
were proposing a belief that was an insult to Jewish concept and tradition
of what messiah was to be.
He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father:
[(but) he
that acknowledges the Son has the Father also].
John then appeals to his followers to abide by the Jewish
traditions that they had heard “from the beginning”.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the
beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
you also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he has promised us, [even] eternal
life.
John anticipated the messianic age, the resurrection of the dead,
and the “world to come”, were all at the doorstep. He was unaware that there was to be two thousand years to
follow.
In time, what had been the majority view became the minority view.
Eventually, through creeds, various church councils, and the formation of
Christianity as a state religion, the divinity of Messiah became the
official church doctrine.
Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia (vol.6 / Christianity)
Councils and Creeds
Early creeds began the process of specifying the divine in Christ, both in
relation to the divine in
the