seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 John 1:1 The elder,
To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we[a] have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
12 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.
a. 2 John 1:8 Some manuscripts you
This is from the easy English site.
In the early days of the church, there were teachers who travelled from place to place. As they went, they taught the people about Jesus. It was the duty of the church members to receive these teachers into their homes. The church members gave the teacher whatever he needed. They looked after the teacher until he went to the next place. When he went, they blessed him.
The problem was that some of the teachers taught false things. Many of them had wrong ideas about Jesus. They did not agree that Christ became a real man. They taught that the Christ did not really die for us. They said that Jesus died as a man and not as Christ. They denied the truth that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God.
John said that such teachers were not real Christians. He said that they were against Christ. What they taught about Jesus was not true. They tried to damage the church by what they taught.
John warned the church about the false teachers. He told the church members not to accept these men into their homes. The church should not allow them to teach. If the church members greeted the false teachers, the church members were helping the false teachers. The church must be careful to obey the true message of Jesus. They must love each other and live in the truth. The word truth means the true message that they had received. They believed in Jesus and what he has done. They must separate themselves from everyone who denied the truth about Jesus.
You must love each other because many false teachers are in the world. In the days of John, men told people about Jesus as they went from one place to another. Among these, some were false teachers. They were once members of the church but they had left it. The false teachers acted as if they were true Christians. But they taught against the truth.
When John wrote this letter, there were many false teachers. These men argued that Jesus was not always the Son of God. They did not think that Jesus was both God and man through his whole life. So they taught that Jesus was an ordinary man. And they taught that Jesus became the Christ only for a short time.
Since John’s letter, there have been many more false teachers in the churches. Some false teachers teach that Jesus was never a real man. They might teach that Jesus was an angel. (That is, a servant of God from heaven. See Hebrews 1.) Some other false teachers do not teach that Jesus died for us. And other false teachers say that Jesus was merely a man. They refuse to believe that Jesus is God.
These are terrible ideas, because they oppose the Bible’s message. If people believe such ideas, they cannot trust Jesus to save them from their sins. Everyone needs to know the truth about Jesus.
Verse 7 contains a simple test for all teachers in churches. All teachers should teach that Jesus Christ came as a man. This means that:
- Jesus was a man (Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:11). So the devil could test Jesus. But Jesus did not sin. He always obeyed God (1 Peter 1:19). And Jesus is still a man, in heaven. So Jesus knows our problems and our weakness (Hebrews 4:15). And he cares for us.
- Jesus is the Christ, whom God appointed to save us from our sins. But a mere man could not be the Christ. A mere man could not save us from our sins (Romans 3:10-12). So we know that Jesus is also God the Son (Hebrews 1:3). With God the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus created the world (John 1:1). But there are not three Gods. There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). So Jesus is completely God (Colossians 2:9).
False teachers oppose Jesus Christ and speak lies about him. They have become the servants of the devil. They are enemies of Christ. John calls them false Christs.
When the Christians really love each other, they will see who the false ones are. So, their love is like a guard against false Christians.
What the false teachers say may sound good. They teach their message so well that it seems to be true. Unless we test it with care, we might believe it as the truth. If we were to believe it, we would suffer loss. We would lose all that for which the apostles and teachers had worked. We would not be able to grow in the truth if we believed lies.
We must believe the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and we must love each other. There are rewards for those who remain true to Christ. John is eager that we should not lose these rewards. He wants us to have eternal life and all the promises of God. So, we must refuse all that is false. We must receive all that God has for us.
The false teachers thought that they had new knowledge. This replaced what the apostles taught. The false teachers said that their message was new and different. And their message really was a new idea. But it was a wrong idea. They had added their own idea to the truth. They had changed the truth into what is false.
They did not continue to teach what Jesus Christ had taught. They did not believe the truth about Jesus as the Christ. They denied that Jesus was always the Son of God. And they tried to lead other people away from the truth by what they taught. They changed the truth. And they did not do as Christ said. They did not live in truth and love as he wanted.
Many people, like these false teachers, do not believe what Christ taught. They do not obey what Jesus said. So, they cannot know God. They do not have the life that Christ gives. They do not live with God.
We can come to God only through Jesus Christ. We must believe the truth about him and trust in him. This is how we know the Lord Jesus. We cannot know the Father unless we know the Son. When we know the Son, then we know the Father as well. This is eternal life. The Lord gives eternal life to those who trust in him.
We should give strangers a welcome to our churches and our homes. But we must be careful and not give a welcome to false teachers. The purpose of their visit is to teach errors. So, we should not give them a chance to teach. If false teachers come to the house (or the church), we should not let them in. We should not even greet them. If we greet them, we share in their evil task. If we help them, it is against our own church and against Christ. We should not greet them when they arrive. And we should not bless them when they go.
This is from the enduringword.com site.
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God: There is nothing noble, sincere, courageous, or admirable in a false Jesus. To deny the Biblical Jesus is always to reject the Father and the Son both. John here draws a critical line of truth, over which it is heresy to transgress.
In our own day, we must deal with modern denials of the Biblical Jesus with the same passion John did in his day. Today, with our “scholarly” denials of Jesus and the historical record of the Gospels, it is more important than ever to know who the true Jesus is according to the Bible and to love and serve the true Jesus.
“To say no to God’s way of revealing himself is to say no to God himself, for he will not let himself be known by men except on his own terms.” (Marshall)
Transgresses: The word transgresses has the idea of “going beyond a boundary.” We never go “beyond” the teaching of Jesus, of who He is and what He has done for us. Anyone who thinks we have or should go beyond what the Bible plainly says about Jesus transgresses.
“There is a true progress in the Christian life, but it is progress based upon a deeper knowledge of the historical, biblical Christ. Progress on any other ground may be called progress, but it is a progress that leaves God behind and is, therefore, not progress at all.” (Boice)
“When the teaching of the Bible needs to be supplemented by some ‘key’ to the Bible or by some new revelation, it is a sure sign that ‘advanced’ doctrine is being put forth.” (Marshall)
Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for: To depart from the true Jesus means you put yourself in jeopardy to lose the things the apostles and other faithful saints worked for. This shows us that it isn’t enough for us to start out right, we must finish in faith to receive a full reward
Shares in his evil deeds: We are defined by what we reject as much as by what we accept. In this, some are so open minded that they are empty headed. It is wise to keep an open mind on many things; but one would never keep an open mind about which poisons a person might try. You may say yes to all the right things; but one must also say no to what is false and evil. We need to become good at rejecting what should be rejected.
“They were persons who claimed to be leaders; they were advanced thinkers, they were progressive. The Gnostic teachers of the time were claiming that while the gospel of the historic Jesus might be all very well for unenlightened people, they had a profounder knowledge. Such were to receive no hospitality.” (Morgan)
In the late 19th Century, the rise of theological liberalism brought forth generations of Christian pastors, leaders, and theologians who denied many of the fundamentals of Biblical Christianity. Though it was a broad and varied movement, at its root theological liberalism thought that Christianity had to re-evaluate all its doctrines in the light of modern science, philosophy, and thinking. They rejected the idea that a doctrine was true simply because the Bible taught it; it also had to be proved true by reason and experience. They believed that the Bible was not an inspired message from a real God, but the work of men who were limited by the ignorance and superstitions of their time. For them, the Bible was not either inspired or supernatural. The importance of the Bible and its message was not in its literal or historical truth, but in its changing spiritual message.
Wow... all read out..... John really wanted the church to be careful.Humans can only comprehend so much. The whole idea that a human can be more than just a human and a God cannot become human for a while and then be God at the same time just blows the human mind.
God created humans to have someone to talk to. God gave humans the ability to figure things out so humans would be interesting to talk to. God gave humans the ability to decide.
Humans used that talent to decide human scientists and historians are smarter than anyone else. Humans used that talent to decide either Jesus was just a man or He was God.... but since a human scientist or historian had never run into another human who was both God and human.... it just couldn't logically be true. Scientists and historians present theories and then prove them true or false. There is no test to prove for God.
I have a friend who really wants to love the Lord. The problem is.... she's been reading a lot of stuff from a lot of different teachers.... and she's gotten some off topic ideas mixed in with the Gospel. She believes God is everything.... God is the "key". Now, according to my friend... God cannot see or touch evil... so God could not be in the human body because the human body is sinful. So there is some kind of barrier between God and human in Jesus. That's like saying Jesus wasn't human.
Jesus was very human. He cried.
Jesus became a human because He needed to take away the human's excuse for sinning. Jesus became a human to teach humans they can reject temptation.
If Jesus hadn't become human.... at the judgement... humans would have a loophole... they could claim God doesn't "understand what it's like to be human... totally human... not the Son of God... but the average Joe carpenter from Nazareth, a bastard child, accepted into a human family as a human brother and human son.
The Son of God must always be revered. People hated the human named Jesus. The Son of God doesn't know what it's like to be lied about. If Jesus hadn't been hated, beaten, judged in a human court.... He wouldn't have "understood" what it's like to be an outcast. Jesus had to take all the excuses away.
John says there were people in the early church who just could not come to grips with the fact that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.... because He is one of a kind.... Jesus is really the One True Living God.... who created everything.... from the tiniest nano molecule to the biggest mountain on the biggest planet in the largest galaxy in the hugeness of eternity.... God created everything... so why is it so hard for humans to accept that God can become anything... to see how it feels.... to totally understand how it works.
I hear there are people in the church today who are praying for end times to descend on us right now. According to social media.... they think they found the one anti-christ and they are going to follow him into the end times. He's a cruel and wicked soul who lies regularly... but they are sure he is the real deal... they claim he has found God... and he will usher in the second coming so they can finally be his chosen ones. Problem is... the he they are following is not a He [capital H].... they are following a demented human who thinks he [little h] is "chosen" by God I'm pretty sure they had those in the early church.
John says when the church runs into a false teacher... they are to run them out and not let them back in.
Humans who lie about the gospel.... Humans who think the gospel needs an update..... Humans who think the Bible can only be a fable or a novel.... are calling God a liar.
