What Love Does Not Do

The first half of the letter focused on the importance of truth and love. Verses 7-13 show us that balance. John would not have us believe, as the world would, that love involves compromising our beliefs or approving of what God condemns. Let’s consider a few things from these verses that love does not do.

Love does not accept all religions as equally true. Look at verse 7. John tells us that many deceivers are entered into the world. The word “deceiver” means “wanderer”. It describes a person that has drifted away from the truth. The deceivers in John’s day espoused a particular false doctrine. They taught that Christ did not come in the flesh. The Gnostic heresy would not allow for God to become man. In their understanding, if God became man then He would be evil, He would be a sinner. John is pretty blunt about these folks. He says they are deceivers and they are antichrist. Their doctrine was not just another way to understand Jesus. It was a damning doctrine. It deceived people. It was in complete opposition to the teaching and work of Jesus.

Deceivers will always attack the person of Christ. That’s why it is vitally important that we find out what a person or movement believes about Jesus. To believe anything less than Jesus is God in the flesh is to be a deceiver and an antichrist. Jesus said in Matthew 24:24 “For there shall arise false Christ’s and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect”. To accept all religions as equally true would be to neglect clear teachings that Jesus gave us. In fact the Old and New Testament’s are both filled with warnings about false teachers. Jesus rebuked the false teacher’s of His day. Paul rebuked the false teachers of His day. And here we have John rebuking the false teachers of his day. Certainly these three men loved, but they did not accept all religions as equally true. There is only one truth and that is found in the Jesus of Scripture. Anything that contradicts that should be considered a false religion.

Let’s look at verse 8. This is an interesting verse. John warns believer’s about losing rewards. He tells the believer’s to “Look to yourselves”. In other words “Be careful”, “Watch out”. Allowing false teaching in the name of tolerance can affect believers. In 1 Cor. 3:15 Paul warned about losing our rewards. To refuse to reject and or confront false teaching could cause us to lose rewards in heaven. Some people think that their tolerance of other faiths and teachings is a result of the fruit of the Spirit. They believe they are reacting as Christ would react. Therefore, they believe they will be rewarded for their behavior. It’s not that they believe the false teaching, but they think calling folks out would be unkind and unloving. They could not be any more wrong. God has not called us to be passive with false teaching. He has called us to confront it (Jude 3). Not only has God called us not to accept all religions as equally true, but He has also called us not to appear as if we accept all religions as equally true.

Love does not embrace false doctrine. We see that in verse 9. In the previous verse John tells us what happens if we ignore false teaching. We lose rewards. Here he tells us what happens if we embrace false teaching. We lose our soul. This verse describes a person that has gone too far. They are no longer abiding in the doctrine of Christ. In other words, they have denied a fundamental of the faith. The false teachers add to Scripture. They add to the teachings of Christ. The problem is that when they add to Scripture they inevitably take away truth (Rev. 22:18-19. To “abide” means to continue in. It is imperative that as believers we continue to believe the truth that has been once delivered. Our continuance in the truth reveals if we are true believers or not.

False teachers prey on church members. They capitalize on the freshness of a person’s new found faith. They promise deeper and greater knowledge. If a person is not truly saved they are defenseless against these teachers. False converts flock to false teachers. Some of those that follow false teachers have bought into the lie that we should not focus on doctrine. As long as a person says they believe in Christ we should listen to what they have to say. In fact some false teachers are considered as persecuted by their followers. That martyr mentality actually lends credibility to the false teacher in the eyes of the false convert. Those that embrace false doctrine believe they do so out of love. We have to understand that not all doctrine is from God. There are “doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). The idea that we should not allow doctrine to separate us is completely unbiblical. To embrace certain doctrines is to reveal that a person is unsaved. Sure, some doctrines are open for debate. We don’t reject folks because they believe Christ will return before the rapture or after it. We don’t reject them because they sprinkle and we dunk when it comes to baptize. But we do reject doctrine and those that hold to doctrines that contradict fundamental such as issued regarding who Jesus is. Love does not embrace false doctrine.

Love does not embrace false teachers. John gives a very specific command in verse 10. Believers are not to receive false teachers into their homes. In John’s day and in his culture it was a very normal thing to allow someone into your home. Not necessarily for just a meal, but for a night or two. Believers were known for their hospitality. The culture was far different from ours. There were not as many motels to stay in. As well, you couldn’t travel hundreds of miles in one day, as we can. Travelers were often accepted into people’s homes. There were men, such as Paul, that traveled from city to city preaching the gospel. These men needed a place to stay. Sometimes they might even stay with church members for an extended time.

Some of the teachers that traveled from town to town were false teachers. They followed the gospel into a city. Satan would send his workers to undo what godly men and women accomplished in each city. These false teachers would need a place to stay. Some of the believers in the church John is addressing must have been allowing these false teachers to stay in their home. In doing this they were actually enabling the false teachers. If the false teachers had no place to stay, perhaps they would move on. But if they were given shelter and food, they would remain in the town. As well, allowing the false teachers to stay in the home of a believer may give the impression that the false teacher is credible. John says to allow the false teacher to stay in your home is to bid him “Godspeed”. “Godspeed” was a greeting used by early Christians. The word means “rejoice” literally. The greeting was a way to wish someone happiness. In verse 11 John says to wish false teachers “Godspeed” is to be a partaker of their evil deeds. As we already mentioned, if we give the appearance of approval we lend credibility to the false teacher. We should not want a false teacher to succeed. False teachers are happy when they are winning converts. Therefore, we should not want them to be happy. This may sound odd, but a believer should not want any other religion to grow other than true Christianity. That’s what John is teaching here.

Now I don’t think that this is teaching that we can’t be friends with a false teacher. Certainly we need to try and win them to the Lord. But we should never help them promote their message. And we should never allow anyone to think that we approve of their message. False teachers should be kept at a distance. We should love them and hope that they come to Christ. We should pray for them and witness to them. But we must remember that there is a line we cannot allow them to cross. We never want to give the impression that we agree with them or that we want them to succeed in the efforts of their religion.

v.12 John had a lot more he wanted to say to the church. He needed to do it face to face, however. The church seemed to be having some discernment issues. John needed to come and teach them some things. Notice John says that the result of his coming and teaching them would be a fullness of joy. John told us in verse 4 that his joy was the result of knowing some in the church were walking in truth. But John also had sorrow because some were being led astray or were not standing up for the truth as they should. Correcting the error would bring joy both to John and the church members. False teaching robs us of joy. The truth gives us joy. The more anchored we are in the truth, the more joy we will have. Jesus said in John 15:11 “These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full”.

v.13 In conclusion John sends greetings from the church in which he was serving. “The children of thy elect sister” is a metaphorical way to describe the church from which he was writing. The believer’s did not have to worry about finding a family among the false teachers. They had sister churches full of believers that were abiding in the truth. John’s hope was that they would continue. They should focus their love on the Bride of Christ. They should beware of the false gospel. Truth and love can only exist together. The church should never divorce the two.