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Scripture Reading: 2 John 1:7-13
In this message we shall consider verses 7 through 13 of 2 John.
Verse 7 says, “Because many deceivers went out into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” The deceivers mentioned here were heretics, like the Cerinthians, the false prophets (1 John 4:1).
These deceivers do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. This means that they do not confess that Jesus is God incarnate. Thus, they deny the deity of Christ. Jesus was conceived of the Spirit (Matt. 1:18). To confess Jesus coming in the flesh is to confess that, as the Son of God, He was divinely conceived to be born in the flesh (Luke 1:31-35). The deceivers, the false prophets, would not make such a confession.
In verse 7 John says that those who do not confess Jesus coming in the flesh are not only deceivers but also antichrists. We have seen that an antichrist differs from a false Christ (Matt. 24:5, 24). A false Christ is one who pretends deceivingly to be the Christ, whereas an antichrist is one who denies Christ’s deity, denying that Jesus is the Christ, that is, denying the Father and the Son by denying that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 2:22), not confessing that He has come in the flesh through the divine conception of the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:2-3). Whoever denies the Person of Christ is an antichrist.
In verse 8 John goes on to say, “Look to yourselves that you do not lose the things which we wrought, but that you may receive a full reward.” Here “look to yourselves” means watch yourselves, watch for yourselves, and “lose” means destroy, ruin.
In verse 8 John speaks of not losing the things which we wrought. The things which the apostles wrought are the things of the truth concerning Christ, which the apostles ministered and imparted to the believers. To be influenced by the heresies regarding the Person of Christ is to lose, destroy, and ruin the precious things concerning the Person of Christ which the apostles had wrought into the believers. Here the apostle warns the believers to watch for themselves lest they be influenced by the heresies and lose the things of the truth.
In verse 8 John also indicates that the believers “may receive a full reward.” According to the context, especially verse 9, the full reward must be the Father and the Son as the full enjoyment to the faithful believers, who abide in the truth concerning the Person of Christ and do not deviate from it by the influence of the heresies regarding Christ. This interpretation is justified by the fact that there is no indication this reward will be given in the future, as the rewards mentioned in Matt. 5:12; 16:27; 1 Cor. 3:8, 13-14; Heb. 10:35-36; Rev. 11:18 and Rev. 22:12. If we are not led astray by the heresies, but abide faithfully in the truth concerning the wonderful and all-inclusive Christ who is both God and man, both our Creator and Redeemer, we shall enjoy in Him the Triune God to the fullest extent as our full reward, even today on earth.
If we lose the precious things wrought into us by the apostles, this means that we do not abide in the truth. Then we shall miss the enjoyment of the Father and the Son. But if we stay in the truth, we shall receive a full reward, a reward that is actually the enjoyment of the Father and the Son. Praise the Lord that such a reward is in view waiting to be enjoyed by us! To enjoy this reward, we need to remain, abide, in the divine truth concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Those, like today’s modernists, who do not abide in this truth certainly do not have this enjoyment. For them, there is no reward of the Father and the Son as their enjoyment. If you contact them, you will find them spiritually starved and dry.
In verse 9 John continues, “Everyone who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; he who abides in the teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.” Literally, the Greek word translated “goes beyond” means to lead forward (in a negative sense), that is, to go further than what is right, to advance beyond the limit of orthodox teaching concerning Christ. This is contrasted with abiding in the teaching of Christ. The Cerinthian Gnostics, who boasted of their supposedly advanced thinking concerning the teaching of Christ, had such a practice. They went beyond the teaching of the divine conception of Christ, thus denying the deity of Christ. Consequently they could not have God in salvation and in life.
The modernists today go beyond and do not abide in the teaching of Christ. They also claim to be advanced in their thinking. According to them, it is out of date to say that Christ is God, that He was born of a virgin through divine conception, that He died on the cross for our sins, and that He was resurrected both physically and spiritually. Denying this truth concerning Christ, the modernists claim to be advanced in their philosophical thought. In principle, they follow the way of the Cerinthian Gnostics.
In verse 9 John speaks of not abiding in the teaching of Christ. This is not the teaching by Christ, but the teaching concerning Christ, that is, the truth concerning the deity of Christ, especially regarding His incarnation by divine conception.
According to verse 9, the one who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. But he who abides in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son. To “have God” is to “have both the Father and the Son.” It is through the process of incarnation that God has been dispensed to us in the Son with the Father (1 John 2:23) for our enjoyment and reality (John 1:1, 14). In the incarnated God we have the Son in His redemption and the Father in His life. We are thus redeemed and regenerated to be one with God organically so that we may partake of and enjoy Him in salvation and in life. Hence, to deny the incarnation is to reject this divine enjoyment; but to abide in the truth of incarnation is to have God, as the Father and the Son, for our portion in the eternal salvation and in the divine life.
This point in verse 9 concerning having both the Father and the Son has helped me to interpret the full reward spoken of in verse 8. The full reward is to have both the Father and the Son for our enjoyment. Today’s modernists, like the ancient Gnostics, do not have the Father and the Son, for they do not abide in the teaching of Christ.
In verse 10 John goes on to say, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Rejoice!” Concerning the teaching of Christ, we should not only teach this as a theory, but also bring it as a reality. Wherever we go, we should bring this reality, the reality of what the all-inclusive Christ is. Some of the young people may have an opportunity to present to their parents this reality, which is a wonderful treasure.
In verse 10 the pronoun “him” refers to a heretic, an antichrist (v. 7; 1 John 2:22), a false prophet (1 John 4:1), who denies the divine conception and deity of Christ, as today’s modernists do. Such a one we must reject, not receiving him into our house or greeting him. Thus, we shall not have any contact with him or share in his heresy, heresy that is blasphemous to God and contagious like leprosy.
We should not receive anyone who does not bring with him the teaching of Christ. Do not think that because we are told to love others, we should receive a heretic. Concerning this, love does not avail. John says clearly that we should not receive an antichrist, a false prophet, into our house, and we should not even say to him, “Rejoice!”
The Greek word for rejoice is chairein, be happy, rejoice, hail; it is used for greeting or farewell. Instead of telling false prophets to rejoice, we should tell them to weep because they do not have the enjoyment of the Triune God. The point here is that we should have nothing to do with such persons and with their contagious heresy.
In verse 11 John says, “For he who says to him, Rejoice, shares in his evil works.” Just as bringing to others the divine truth of the wonderful Christ is an excellent deed (Rom. 10:15), so spreading the satanic heresy, which defiles the glorious deity of Christ, is an evil work. It is a blasphemy and abomination to God! It is also a damage and curse to men. No believer in Christ and child of God should have any share in this evil. Even to greet such an evil one is prohibited. A severe and clear separation from this evil should be maintained.
The New Testament is very strong in the matter of not receiving one who denies the Person of Christ. Even though the second Epistle of John is an Epistle about loving one another, here John prohibits us from sharing, participating, in heresy. We should not have any contact with heretics, false prophets. We should not receive them, and we should not greet them. They are lepers, and this leprosy is contagious. Therefore, we should have nothing to do with them.
In verses 12 and 13 we have the conclusion of this Epistle. In verse 12 John expresses the hope of closer fellowship for more joy: “Having many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I am hoping to be with you and to speak mouth to mouth, that our joy may be made full.” Here the apostle expresses his desire for a deeper and richer fellowship with the church member for fullness of joy in the enjoyment of the divine life (1 John 1:2-4).
On the one hand, John’s writing is divine; on the other hand, he is very human in his behavior. We see this humanness in verse 12, where John expresses his hope for fellowship that He describes as mouth to mouth.
In verse 13 John says, “The children of your chosen sister greet you.” This indicates what an intimate fellowship with the church members and what an endearing care for them the aged elder had.
We have pointed out that the sister to whom this Epistle was written may have lived near Ephesus and that her sister lived in Ephesus, where there was a church under John’s care. In this Epistle John greets the one who received this Epistle on behalf of the children of her chosen sister. That she was not included in the greeting may indicate that she was deceased. However, her children were still in the church at Ephesus under John’s care. In this verse we can see the endearing care of the apostle John for the saints.
The three Epistles of John are arranged in a good sequence. No doubt, the writing of the second Epistle was based upon the first. In the first Epistle of John we see what the divine truth is.
In 1975 I gave a series of messages on the seven mysteries in 1 John: the mystery of the divine life, the mystery of the divine fellowship, the mystery of the abiding, the mystery of the anointing, the mystery of the divine birth, the mystery of the divine seed, and the mystery of the water, the blood, and the Spirit. Recently, I have been deeply impressed with the divine reality in John’s first Epistle. The central factor in 1 John is the divine reality. This reality is actually the Triune God. The divine reality is the Triune God not merely in theology or doctrine; this reality is the Triune God in our experience, that is, the Triune God dispensed into us for our enjoyment. This is the divine reality in 1 John.
If you review the messages given in the Life-study of 1 John, you will see that in those messages the divine reality is ministered to you. Of course, in those messages there is ministered to us the eternal life, the fellowship of the divine life, the abiding in the Lord, the anointing, the divine birth, the divine seed, and the water, the blood, and the Spirit. When all these divine factors are put together, what we have is the enjoyment of the Triune God. Hence, the Triune God is the reality, the truth, we are enjoying. What are we doing day by day in the Christian life? We are enjoying the Triune God. If you were to ask me what I have been doing for more than fifty years, I would answer that I have been enjoying the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. As a result of my enjoyment of the Triune God, I have been burdened to share this enjoyment with others. However, because of the influence of traditional teaching, certain ones are not open to hear about the enjoyment of the Triune God.
People everywhere need to hear of the divine reality in the Epistle of 1 John. Do you not believe that this is what others, including religious leaders and Bible teachers, need today? Some recite the Apostles’ Creed in their services every week, yet they are not saved and do not have any experience of the Triune God. We thank the Lord for opening to us the Epistle of 1 John, a book that contains course after course for our spiritual nourishment. Oh, what riches of our Triune God are revealed in this Epistle for our experience and enjoyment!
According to 1 John 5:20, we not only experience and enjoy the Triune God, but we are in Him: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” We have pointed out that a better translation of “Him who is true” would be “the true One.” Actually, the Greek simply says “the true.” Only our Triune God is true; everything and everyone else is false. John tells us that we are in the True, in His Son Jesus Christ. No longer are we outside the True, and no longer are we outside His Son Jesus Christ.
In the second part of 1 John 5:20, John goes on to say, “This is the true God and eternal life.” The true God becomes our experience as eternal life. This is the basic factor of John’s first Epistle.
In 1 John we have the enjoyment of the Triune God as eternal life. Because we are in the true God, He contains us. When we are in the true God, He becomes eternal life to us.
In 1 John 5:20 we have the true One, Jesus Christ, the true God, and eternal life. In John’s concept all these are one. However, in doctrine they are four: the true One, His Son Jesus Christ, the true God, and eternal life. But in our experience they are one. When we are in the true One, we are in His Son Jesus Christ. Then the true One becomes our God, and His Son Jesus Christ becomes eternal life to us. This eternal life is actually the true God. Furthermore, because the true God is real to us, in our experience He becomes our eternal life. This is the true God and eternal life.
John’s second Epistle is based upon the truth revealed in his first Epistle. Second John 1 says, “The elder to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth.” In the foregoing message we pointed out that the first instance of “truth” in this verse denotes the revealed divine reality — the Triune God dispensed into man in the Son Jesus Christ — becoming man’s genuineness and sincerity. This sincerity is the issue of the enjoyment of the divine reality. Hence, when John says that he loves in truth, he is saying that he loves in a sincerity that is the issue of the divine reality. We have also seen that the second usage of truth in this verse denotes the divine reality of the gospel, especially concerning the Person of Christ. This is “the truth which abides in us and shall be with us forever” (v. 2). These verses are simple, but their implication is profound. The entire first Epistle of John is needed for the explanation of the first two verses of his second Epistle.
After speaking concerning truth in verses 1 through 3, John goes on to tell us in verses 4 through 6 that we need to walk in truth and love. Truth is the reality of the Trinity, and love is the expression of this reality. When we walk in truth, we walk in the divine reality we enjoy daily. Love is the expression of this reality. As we walk in the divine reality, spontaneously we love others. This love is the expression of the divine reality we enjoy day by day. Because of this reality and love, grace, mercy, and peace are with us (v. 3). Praise the Lord that we may walk in the divine reality and in the divine expression!
