Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 7 - Watch & Abide

Read 2 John 7-11.

Focus on 2 John 8-9.

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

v. 8 What are we commanded to do?

In order that what might not be lost?

But in order that we might receive what?

v.9 Who does not have God? (2 attributes)

Which teaching are we to abide in?

If we abide in that teaching, what do we have? (2 answers)

Understanding & Wisdom

In verse 7, John warns us that many deceivers have infiltrated the world. While they might sound good and look good, their teaching is cracked at the very foundation and leads those who listen astray. Indeed, though these deceivers may claim to be Christ followers, they are actually opposed to Christ—antichrists.

Having clarified the danger, John now provides additional instructions for how to best deal with this.

Watch Yourselves

John’s first instruction for dealing with this danger is simply for us to watch ourselves. What does this mean?

First, watch is a command. This is not an optional action, but something imperative that we do, something we are obligated to follow. Watch is also in a form that usually indicates a repeated or continuous action. It isn’t something we do once and are done, but it is an action in which we must regularly engage. As for the word watch itself, it first refers to physical sight (as opposed to blindness). Then it is applied figuratively for intellectual and spiritual perception. (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 179; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged, pages 706-707). So it is a word of observation coupled with insight.

Then this is coupled to the plural reflexive pronoun, yourselves. So I have an obligation to keep an eye on myself, just as you have an obligation to watch yourself. But it is likely we are to keep an eye on each other as well.

So watching ourselves implies being aware and observant. We see and notice those things which are visible—how I am acting and reacting, how you are acting and reacting. More than that, though, it also entails perception—noticing what might not be obvious and explicit, piecing together things to glimpse that which is beneath the surface. And upon noticing such things, like a watchman over a city, we sound warnings, strengthen fortifications, address vulnerabilities, and seek to protect.

And what is the purpose of this watching? John provides a twofold reason, one negative and one positive.

First, we are to watch ourselves in order that we might not lose what was accomplished. What are these things which John says “we have accomplished”? The terms used are pretty generic, making it hard to say. Accomplish is the common term for work and engaging in an activity that involves effort (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 389).

Even the we is ambiguous in this context, so it’s not clear if John is including the lady’s family as co-laborers, or whether he is referring to others he has worked with, such as the other apostles. So John could be referring to the spreading of the Gospel, the training of people in the Truth, the establishment of a church, or something completely different.

Whatever John exactly refers to, we can know that it took effort, it took time, and it took multiple people to accomplish, making the result valuable and worth guarding. Thus John warns us to watch ourselves in order that we might not lose what was accomplished. To lose isn’t merely the idea of misplacement. Rather, it refers to destruction and to something being ruined (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 115-116; Vine’s Expository Dictionary, page 164).

This emphasizes again that deceivers and their false teachings aren’t inconsequential or harmless. They wreak destruction. They destroy what is good. They ruin the work of Christians. Thus we need to watch ourselves.

Question to ponder: How can failing to watch ourselves, especially in matters pertaining to verse 7’s deceivers, ruin or even destroy our work?

Now avoiding this destruction is a good reason to watch ourselves, but John doesn’t stop there. He not only provides us the push of the negative, but also the pull of the positive: Watching ourselves will enable us to receive a full reward.

Reward is the word for payment of work done, what we might in this context call wages today (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 652). So when we work as Christians, we aren’t doing it for free, as it often seems. We are accumulating heavenly wages which God will someday pay out to us.

These wages are then described as full, that is, the wages will be complete and lacking nothing (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 826-827). Not one penny that we are owed will God withhold. All we’re due, He will pay.

Question to ponder: How does watching ourselves guarantee we’ll receive these complete wages?

Abide in the Teaching

Our first instruction from John on dealing with the danger of deceivers is to watch ourselves. In verse 9, he now provides a second guardrail: abide in the teaching of Christ.

Now John doesn’t tell us this through a command, as in the previous verse. Rather, he explains it through a comparison, a contrast.

First, he speaks of a person “who does not have God,” that is, he lacks a relationship with God (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 420). Why does this person lack God? Because he has gone too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ.

Gone ahead (or too far) literally means to “go before” and refers to someone who “leads from one position to another by taking charge.” (Bauer’s Lexicon, 864) The idea seems to be of a person usurping power and taking charge of a situation that he has no right to, in order to lead in the direction he wants to go. And according to this verb’s form, this person does not do this once or twice, but repeatedly does this, over and over again.

Now by leading when he should be following, this person ends up no longer abiding in the teaching of Christ. This could refer either to the teaching about Christ, such as verse seven’s reference to the Incarnation, or the teachings received from Christ, such as verse five’s command to love one another. Or perhaps John has both in mind. Whichever one is in view, this person has abandoned those teachings. He believes he knows more than God and that his progressive thinking is better than the ageless teaching of Scripture. Such a person, John declares, has no relationship with God.

Question to ponder: How does going too far and failing to abide in the teaching of Christ destroy our relationship with God? 

This person is then contrasted with the one who abides within the teaching of Christ. This one knows both the teachings about Christ and the teachings from Christ, and he or she abides in them. They acknowledge there are boundaries set by those teachings, and they choose to remain within the parameters of those teachings. Such a person, says John, has a relationship with both the Father and with Jesus.

For if we are abiding in the teaching of Christ, we are abiding in Christ. Through Christ, and only through Him, can we come to the Father (John 14:6) and know the Father (John 14:7) because Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:11). So by abiding in the teaching of Christ, we gain a relationship with Jesus, and through Jesus, we gain a relationship with the Father.

Question to ponder: How, practically speaking, do we watch ourselves and abide in the teaching of Christ so that deceivers and their false teaching don’t lead us astray?

Make it personal

One truth learned:

One area of conviction:

One way to correct:

Written prayer: