2Jo 10 | KingComments | STEP | . The call “watch yourselves” preludes the great warning that John has for this sister regarding the antichristian deceivers. These people attack the Son and teach things about Him that are blasphemous. They come at the door to bring their false teachings. The lady must not associate with them or receive them. You do not need to know all false teachings about the Lord Jesus. It is enough if you know the teachings of the Scripture about Him. John speaks about himself and his co-workers. Those who came to faith through them must be careful not to lose those things that the apostles have worked for by listening to the deceiver. He who does not watch himself and thinks he can have contact with false teachers will lose the reward that he was going to receive. If the fruit of the labor will remain to the end, it will be ascribed to the one who received the teaching. That will happen when the believers do not open themselves for deceivers. . “The teaching of Christ” is not the teaching that Christ has brought, first Himself and later by His apostles. It is the of which He is the object, the teaching concerning Him. The important characteristic of the teaching of Christ is wholeheartedly believed and acknowledged by each child of God, while the devil is making major efforts to spread false teachings about that. The teaching of Christ regards His eternal Godhead, His birth from a virgin, His perfection as Man, His sinlessness, the impossibility of sinning, His substitutionary suffering, His physical resurrection, glorification and return. Each deviation of this teaching must be firmly rejected by you. The difference between the teaching of Christ and that what deviates from it and how you recognize it, is to be illustrated as follows. It is like someone who is trained to distinguish false banknotes from the genuine ones. Such a person is taught in the smallest details about the composition, the appearance and the structure of a genuine banknote. When after his graduation he receives a stack of banknotes with some false ones in between, he will surely pick the false ones out. Has he studied the false ones? No, he has studied the real ones, which made him able to recognize the deviations. The counterfeits are many and ever more variants are emerging. All counterfeits have in common that they deviate from the genuine banknote in some detail. Apply this to the voice of the good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger of the devil. If you know the voice of the good Shepherd, then any other voice will be that of a stranger, someone who serves the devil ( ). It is about false teachers here, people who know what they say and who try to get their false teachings accepted. It is not about people who are deceived or who even ignorantly use terms that dishonor the Lord. Such people would be willing to admit their mistake directly when they are corrected by others. The description in goes further than only the denial that is mentioned in , the denial of the Manhood of the Lord Jesus. The teaching of Christ contains the whole revealed truth about the Lord Jesus, everything concerning His personal glory. With “anyone who goes too far” are meant the false teachers, who claim to have and to bring more light, new epiphanies, something new that was unknown before. Many have been caught up in their errors by their credible but deceptive language. ‘Going too far’ is to go beyond a limit that God has determined. He “who goes too far”, goes beyond the Divine revelation and in that way deviates from what God has made known. Going too far is adding something to God’s Word, which will certainly be judged by God ( ). It is not a progress but apostacy. He who is not satisfied with the truth of God in Christ and for that reason goes further than that truth, will lose it. To go beyond the inspired Word by exchanging it for fabrications of the human spirit means not to have God. On the other hand, he who abides in the teaching has the highest, deepest and most intimate revelation of the Godhead. . John points out that when someone comes at the lady’s door who does not bring the teaching of Christ, she may not to receive him in her house and may not to greet him. He forbids any support here to all who deny in their teaching that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God Who became Man. To accommodate and give food to such people means that she spends her time, strength and means for the advance of false teachings. In that way she supports the devil with his despicable work. You are not to open your door to false teachers. You are not to allow your house to be serving as a base for something that destroys Christendom. It is important to see that it is not so much about what the false teacher brings, with which false teaching he comes, but what he does not bring. He does not bring the Son of the Father. In no way it is permitted to have any contact with such a person. The greeting John is talking about, is not the simple greeting ‘good morning’ that you say to someone if you meet him and of whom you do not know whether he is a false teacher, for instance a Jehovah’s witness. If you know that your neighbor or colleague belongs to the sect of the Jehovah’s witnesses, your attitude toward him will be reserved. You will have the necessary contacts, but no more than that. If he is in need of help you will not leave him alone. But as soon as your neighbor or colleague or an unfamiliar person comes at your door to impose his false teaching on you, you must be radical and certainly must not wish him a ‘good morning’. The man is out spreading pernicious teachings. If you then wish him a ‘good morning’ you wish him success in his wicked works and participate in it yourself. I assume that is not what you want. You are not to do anything that could give the impression that a false teaching is something insignificant. You must keep yourself far away from everything that gives the false teacher the opportunity to influence others. . You cannot separate a person from his wicked works. To bring a wicked teaching is doing a wicked work and a wicked teaching results in wicked works. Greeting such a person is participating in his evil deeds. It means having fellowship with his person and with everything that is in him, in this case also with his wicked works. It goes without saying that in the church both the false teacher and the one who receives him or greets him, cannot partake of Christian fellowship and of course not of the Lord’s Supper. He who partakes of a church where a false teaching is being proclaimed or where evil practices occur, which are not judged by that church and which are not removed from their midst ( ), cannot be allowed to partake of the Table of the Lord. Such a person must first purify himself of those practices by withdrawing himself from them ( ) and then he can partake of the Lord’s Supper. He who thinks that he can remain in a fellowship and can even partake of the Lord’s Supper where these things occur, indicates to be indifferent toward evil. It may be the case that he himself does not partake of them, that he even condemns these things, and even resist against them. However, if a person does not do anything with the evil and lets it happen, he cannot possibly remain there with a free conscience. To him the call applies: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues” ( ). . John could have written more, but he has limited himself to write the most necessary, what has direct relevance. God’s Spirit has made sure that he has written down what is important for the church in all ages. He would like to share with her what he has more on his mind when he will meet her (cf. ). John longs to see her face to face and to rejoice together with her in the blessings of the Christian faith that have become their part in Christ. The joy that is found therein is complete ( ). Exactly the thought of joy in time of need and confusion, an end time, is encouraging. John writes this letter with a view to that time ( ). . John concludes his letter by conveying to the lady the greetings of her nephews and nieces who are apparently with him. The nephews and nieces have a good relationship with their aunt. By the way, this is a proof that it is about persons here and that with the addressed lady is not meant a church in veiled terms. The sister is as the lady to whom John is writing, a chosen lady ( ). Her being chosen is not a hidden matter. John also sees in her life the proofs of it. In that way others may talk about you and the other way around. That does not make a person proud, but rather humble. It implies the awareness that God did something with you, which was already established before the foundation of the world ( ). Was there anything in you that could have been a reason for it to happen? It also gives a great assurance that He knows you, in spite of what you are in yourself. You can only give Him the glory for that in great gratitude. Now read 2 John 1:8-13 again. Reflection: What is ‘the teaching of Christ’?

‏ 2 John 10

The Teaching of Christ

2Jn 1:8. The call “watch yourselves” preludes the great warning that John has for this sister regarding the antichristian deceivers. These people attack the Son and teach things about Him that are blasphemous. They come at the door to bring their false teachings. The lady must not associate with them or receive them. You do not need to know all false teachings about the Lord Jesus. It is enough if you know the teachings of the Scripture about Him.

John speaks about himself and his co-workers. Those who came to faith through them must be careful not to lose those things that the apostles have worked for by listening to the deceiver. He who does not watch himself and thinks he can have contact with false teachers will lose the reward that he was going to receive. If the fruit of the labor will remain to the end, it will be ascribed to the one who received the teaching. That will happen when the believers do not open themselves for deceivers.

2Jn 1:9. “The teaching of Christ” is not the teaching that Christ has brought, first Himself and later by His apostles. It is the of which He is the object, the teaching concerning Him. The important characteristic of the teaching of Christ is wholeheartedly believed and acknowledged by each child of God, while the devil is making major efforts to spread false teachings about that. The teaching of Christ regards His eternal Godhead, His birth from a virgin, His perfection as Man, His sinlessness, the impossibility of sinning, His substitutionary suffering, His physical resurrection, glorification and return.

Each deviation of this teaching must be firmly rejected by you. The difference between the teaching of Christ and that what deviates from it and how you recognize it, is to be illustrated as follows. It is like someone who is trained to distinguish false banknotes from the genuine ones. Such a person is taught in the smallest details about the composition, the appearance and the structure of a genuine banknote. When after his graduation he receives a stack of banknotes with some false ones in between, he will surely pick the false ones out. Has he studied the false ones? No, he has studied the real ones, which made him able to recognize the deviations. The counterfeits are many and ever more variants are emerging. All counterfeits have in common that they deviate from the genuine banknote in some detail.

Apply this to the voice of the good Shepherd and the voice of the stranger of the devil. If you know the voice of the good Shepherd, then any other voice will be that of a stranger, someone who serves the devil (Jn 10:4-5).

It is about false teachers here, people who know what they say and who try to get their false teachings accepted. It is not about people who are deceived or who even ignorantly use terms that dishonor the Lord. Such people would be willing to admit their mistake directly when they are corrected by others.

The description in 2Jn 1:9 goes further than only the denial that is mentioned in 2Jn 1:7, the denial of the Manhood of the Lord Jesus. The teaching of Christ contains the whole revealed truth about the Lord Jesus, everything concerning His personal glory. With “anyone who goes too far” are meant the false teachers, who claim to have and to bring more light, new epiphanies, something new that was unknown before. Many have been caught up in their errors by their credible but deceptive language.

‘Going too far’ is to go beyond a limit that God has determined. He “who goes too far”, goes beyond the Divine revelation and in that way deviates from what God has made known. Going too far is adding something to God’s Word, which will certainly be judged by God (Rev 22:18). It is not a progress but apostacy. He who is not satisfied with the truth of God in Christ and for that reason goes further than that truth, will lose it. To go beyond the inspired Word by exchanging it for fabrications of the human spirit means not to have God. On the other hand, he who abides in the teaching has the highest, deepest and most intimate revelation of the Godhead.

2Jn 1:10. John points out that when someone comes at the lady’s door who does not bring the teaching of Christ, she may not to receive him in her house and may not to greet him. He forbids any support here to all who deny in their teaching that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God Who became Man. To accommodate and give food to such people means that she spends her time, strength and means for the advance of false teachings. In that way she supports the devil with his despicable work.

You are not to open your door to false teachers. You are not to allow your house to be serving as a base for something that destroys Christendom. It is important to see that it is not so much about what the false teacher brings, with which false teaching he comes, but what he does not bring. He does not bring the Son of the Father. In no way it is permitted to have any contact with such a person.

The greeting John is talking about, is not the simple greeting ‘good morning’ that you say to someone if you meet him and of whom you do not know whether he is a false teacher, for instance a Jehovah’s witness. If you know that your neighbor or colleague belongs to the sect of the Jehovah’s witnesses, your attitude toward him will be reserved. You will have the necessary contacts, but no more than that.

If he is in need of help you will not leave him alone. But as soon as your neighbor or colleague or an unfamiliar person comes at your door to impose his false teaching on you, you must be radical and certainly must not wish him a ‘good morning’. The man is out spreading pernicious teachings. If you then wish him a ‘good morning’ you wish him success in his wicked works and participate in it yourself. I assume that is not what you want. You are not to do anything that could give the impression that a false teaching is something insignificant. You must keep yourself far away from everything that gives the false teacher the opportunity to influence others.

2Jn 1:11. You cannot separate a person from his wicked works. To bring a wicked teaching is doing a wicked work and a wicked teaching results in wicked works. Greeting such a person is participating in his evil deeds. It means having fellowship with his person and with everything that is in him, in this case also with his wicked works.

It goes without saying that in the church both the false teacher and the one who receives him or greets him, cannot partake of Christian fellowship and of course not of the Lord’s Supper. He who partakes of a church where a false teaching is being proclaimed or where evil practices occur, which are not judged by that church and which are not removed from their midst (1Cor 5:13b), cannot be allowed to partake of the Table of the Lord. Such a person must first purify himself of those practices by withdrawing himself from them (2Tim 2:19-22) and then he can partake of the Lord’s Supper.

He who thinks that he can remain in a fellowship and can even partake of the Lord’s Supper where these things occur, indicates to be indifferent toward evil. It may be the case that he himself does not partake of them, that he even condemns these things, and even resist against them. However, if a person does not do anything with the evil and lets it happen, he cannot possibly remain there with a free conscience. To him the call applies: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues” (Rev 18:4).

2Jn 1:12. John could have written more, but he has limited himself to write the most necessary, what has direct relevance. God’s Spirit has made sure that he has written down what is important for the church in all ages. He would like to share with her what he has more on his mind when he will meet her (cf. 1Cor 11:34). John longs to see her face to face and to rejoice together with her in the blessings of the Christian faith that have become their part in Christ. The joy that is found therein is complete (1Jn 1:4). Exactly the thought of joy in time of need and confusion, an end time, is encouraging. John writes this letter with a view to that time (1Jn 2:18).

2Jn 1:13. John concludes his letter by conveying to the lady the greetings of her nephews and nieces who are apparently with him. The nephews and nieces have a good relationship with their aunt. By the way, this is a proof that it is about persons here and that with the addressed lady is not meant a church in veiled terms. The sister is as the lady to whom John is writing, a chosen lady (2Jn 1:1). Her being chosen is not a hidden matter. John also sees in her life the proofs of it.

In that way others may talk about you and the other way around. That does not make a person proud, but rather humble. It implies the awareness that God did something with you, which was already established before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4). Was there anything in you that could have been a reason for it to happen? It also gives a great assurance that He knows you, in spite of what you are in yourself. You can only give Him the glory for that in great gratitude.

Now read 2 John 1:8-13 again.

Reflection: What is ‘the teaching of Christ’?