2 John 7-13
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Background
2 John is the shortest book in the entire Bible by verse numbering, consisting of 13 verses.
The overall theme of the book is similar to 3 John, commending believers to love one another, and to remain in and walk according to the truth of the gospel.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.
9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
In the previous section, we saw the apostle John commending the “chosen lady” and “her children” for walking in the truth.
He reminded them of the command from Christ to love one another - the Church.
The love that we have for one another is how the world will know we are Christians.
In verse 7, we see what John’s motivation is for his writing: there are those who are false, who deceive, going out into the world, misrepresenting Christ.
For various reasons, some people will look like Christians, but take the truth of the gospel and distort it.
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
We see those who deny Christ are not from God:
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
Christ warned of this when He described the end times:
11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,
7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
John says to watch out for ourselves, that we not fall into the trap of deception.
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
Our job is to take what we have received, the gospel, and use it as our standard for truth.
We have been set free by the truth, and cannot allow ourselves to be deceived.
We have been set free by the truth, and cannot allow ourselves to be deceived.
If we do not abide in the truth, then we show the truth about ourselves - that we are worse off than before.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
This is why it is so important to know the truth - study Scripture!
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting;
11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Here now is a practical warning: if someone comes to you and shares a gospel different than what is presented in Scripture, we are not to associate with them (recall before 2 Tim. 3:5).
17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
If we choose to fellowship with such people, we will be deceived and corrupted into believing a lie.
20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
This teaching does not preclude us from interacting with non-believers or even false teachers. We are not to be associated with them.
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.
11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
This is why Christian leaders must be careful with whom they are associated.
We must guard against false teachings by knowing the truth.
We must guard against false teachings by knowing the truth.
12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full.
13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.
John prefers to speak in person on these matters, and hopes to do so.
The “chosen sister” is a significant reason why the “chosen lady” is thought to be a local church.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
We have been set free by the truth, and cannot allow ourselves to be deceived.
We must guard against false teachings by knowing the truth.
Next week, we will pick back up where we left off in Genesis.