If
Christians are to be kind and loving to everyone (Luke 10:29-37), some question
why 2 John 10-11 teaches, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this
doctrine (‘the doctrine of Christ’—vs. 9), do
not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares
in his evil deeds” (emp. added; cf. Wells, 2015). Also, why did Paul instruct
Timothy to “shun profane and idle babblings” (2 Timothy 2:16; 1 Timothy
6:20-21)? Are Christians to shun those with whom we disagree, and even go so
far as not to greet them or allow them into our homes?
First,
Scripture, indeed, repeatedly calls for Christians to love everyone—whether
family, friends, fellow Christians, or enemies (Matthew 5:43-48; 22:36-40;
Romans 12:9-21). We are to “[r]epay no
one evil for evil” (Romans 12:17, emp. added), but strive to “be kind to
one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
forgave” us (Ephesians 4:32). But Christian kindness and love is not
antithetical to such things as, for example, punishing rule breakers. A father
who loves his son, and would even die for him, will promptly discipline him for
unruly conduct (Proverbs 13:24; Ephesians 6:4). A school principal may
genuinely love and care for every student under his oversight, but he may
occasionally have to expel a disorderly child from the school for at least two
reasons: (1) so that the hundreds of other students who want to get an
education can safely and successfully do so, and (2) in hopes that such drastic
measures will cause the unruly child to awaken to his senses before it is too
late (and he does something far worse as a teenager or as an adult). An uninformed outsider, who sees a father
disciplining his son or a school principal punishing a student, may initially
think less of these adults and wonder how they could call themselves
Christians. The logical, more informed
bystander, however, will quickly size up the situation and easily see the
consistency in the loving, disciplinary actions.
In the
epistle of 2 John, the apostle expressed his concern for the eternal destiny of
Christians, saying, “Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have
accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward” (vs. 8, NASB). John was
alarmed because deceptive false teachers who denied the incarnation of Jesus
were a serious threat to the salvation of Christians. “For many deceivers have
gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh”
(2 John 7). These false teachers (known as Gnostics) alleged that Christ could
not have been incarnated because the flesh is inherently sinful. And, since the
flesh is supposedly intrinsically evil, Gnostics taught that Christians did not
need to resist fleshly temptations. Just “do whatever feels good” and know that
such wicked actions are only physical and not spiritual. Allegedly, the soul
could still be pure, even if the individuals themselves participated in wicked
activity. (For more information, see “Gnosticism”, 1982, 2:484-490.)
The apostle
John (who had “seen” and “handled” the actual body of Christ—1 John 1:1-4;
i.e., Jesus did come in the flesh)
repeatedly condemned the central teachings of certain Gnostics who were
confusing and misleading first-century Christians.
Beloved, do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God;
because many false prophets have gone
out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit
that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and
is now already in the world (1 John 4:1-3, emp. added).
Whoever
commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that
He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is
righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil…. Whoever has
been born of God does not sin (1 John 3:4-9).
False
doctrine was a real and present danger in the first-century church, just as it
is today. Christians were (and are) to be on “guard” because “some have strayed
concerning the faith”—profane and idle babblers and teachers of contradictory
doctrines of “what is falsely called knowledge” (Greek gnosis; 1 Timothy
6:20-21; cf. 2 Timothy 2:15-26). Denying the physical life, death, burial, and
resurrection of the body of Christ was heresy, and thus John and others warned
the early church of such deception. What’s more, claiming that “all
unrighteousness is not sin”, was to
directly contradict the Law of Christ. In truth, “the works of the flesh are
evident”, and “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19,21, emp. added).
John wrote: “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God”, because
“all unrighteousness is sin” (1 John
3:10; 5:17, emp. added).
Christians
are commanded to withdraw fellowship (lovingly, faithfully, and sorrowfully)
from brethren who rebel against the teachings of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians
5:1-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15). Such actions by Christians and churches are
taken for at least two reasons: (1) to keep the church and the Christian
families that comprise her from being harmed spiritually by the defiantly
unfaithful (whose very tolerated presence would have even more damaging affects
than an incessantly disruptive student in a school room; cf. 1 Corinthians
5:6-7), and (2) in hopes of causing the wayward child of God to come to his
senses (being “ashamed” of his sinful conduct; 2 Thessalonians 3:14; 1
Corinthians 5:5)—repenting of sin and being restored to the family of God.
Similarly,
in 2 John 10-11, the apostle of the Lord instructed hospitable Christians to
recognize the seriousness of greeting and housing deceptive false teachers.
[NOTE: “The greeting was ‘Chairo!’
literally, goodspeed or God speed. This greeting was more than mere formality;
it was an approval of the course being pursued by the one thus greeting, and
included a desire for success in the effort attempted” (Woods, 1979, p. 349,
italics in orig.).] First-century roaming teachers and preachers “depended on the generosity of the
members of the church” for their housing and hospitality (Marshall, 1978, p.
74, emp. added). John the apostle, however, wanted the church to understand the
serious threat that these dangerous false teachers posed to the precious bride
of Christ. Doctrinal error is not something to “play with”, especially when
such error involves the foundation of the Church (the life of Christ—2 John 7)
and the denial of sin (the very thing that results in eternal death for the
impenitent—Romans 6:23; Luke 13:3,5). By refusing to house and bid God-speed to
deceptive teachers, the ungodly efforts of these misleading “messengers” would
be greatly diminished. In time, they might choose to (or have to) stop their sowing
of error altogether because of lack of opportunities, assistance, and
encouragement. Such a result combined with genuine repentance would be the very
thing for which Christians hope and pray.
Anyone who
can see the reasonable and loving consistency of parents telling their children
to “be nice to everyone”, but “don’t
listen to these dangerous people” (showing them pictures of known child
molesters), should be able to see the consistency of God’s message concerning
Christian love and hospitality, and the way Christians react to false teachers
who espouse damnable error. Children who shun dangerous sexual predators are
protecting their own innocence, as well as keeping themselves and their
families from a moment (or a lifetime) of grief. What’s more, the avoided,
dangerous strangers are not given the opportunity to continue in their sins.
Thus, the children’s obedient avoidance of them could be of great help to the
sinful strangers in the highest way possible—if they awaken to their spiritual
senses.
Christians
are actually fulfilling the Law of Christ to “do good to all” (Galatians
6:2,10) even as we identify and refuse to embrace and fellowship false
teachers. We are “doing good” to the “household of faith” by helping keep her
pure and unaffected by cancer-spreading deceptive teachers (2 Timothy 2:17-18).
Allowing error to spread would be tantamount to “rejoicing in iniquity”, which
is unloving (1 Corinthians 13:6). What’s more, the false teachers themselves
are in no way encouraged to continue down the road of deceit. Rather, it is the
hope and prayer of Christians that false teachers would become convicted of the
error of their ways and repent before the Master Teacher (Luke 2:47; John 7:46)
returns and judges them eternally for their doctrinal deceit (2 Peter 2).
[NOTE: Near
the conclusion of his excellent commentary on 2 John, Guy N. Woods made an
appropriate observation that both Christians and critics of 2 John 10-11 should
consider: “John does not here forbid hospitality to strangers, or, for that
matter, to false teachers when, in so doing, false teaching is neither
encouraged nor done. Were we to find a teacher known to be an advocate of false
doctrine suffering, it would be our duty to minister to his need, provided that
in so doing we did not abet or encourage him in the propagation of false
doctrine…What is forbidden is the
reception of such teachers in such fashion as to supply them with an
opportunity to teach their tenets, to maintain an association with them when
such would involve us in the danger of accepting their doctrines…The test is,
Does one become a partaker by the action contemplated? If yes, our duty is
clear; we must neither receive them nor give them greeting; if No, the
principle here taught is not applicable” (pp. 349-350, emp. added).]
REFERENCES
“Gnosticism”
(1982), The International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Marshall,
I. Howard (1978), The Epistles of John
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Wells,
Steve (2015), “Should Believers Discuss Their
Faith with Nonbelievers?”
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/discuss.html.
Woods, Guy
N. (1979), New Testament Epistles of
Peter, John, and Jude (Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate).
