Read 2 John 7-11.
Focus on 2 John 10-11.
Knowledge
Answer the following
questions from the text:
v. 10 What should we see if a person brings with him or her?
If someone doesn’t bring it, what is the first thing we ought not to do?
What is the second thing we ought not to do?
v.11 What kind of deeds does this person have?
What happens if we do greet such a person?
Understanding & Wisdom
John has been providing us instructions throughout this tiny letter how we are to love one another—and how we are not to.
So he explained in verse 6 that loving one another means conducting ourselves according to the commandments of God. Agape love simply cannot be divorced from God’s truth, otherwise it ceases to be agape love.
This is important to remember because, according to verse 7, many deceivers have gone into the world. Such people will prevent true love, because they bring lies and untruths and false teaching with them. Lies and truth cannot coexist, and where there is no truth, there is no real love.
Therefore, John’s first instruction for dealing with such deceivers is to watch ourselves. We need to stay aware and observant, lest we lose the good.
John’s second instruction for dealing with deceivers is to abide in the teaching of Christ. We need to continue remain within the boundaries of the teaching about Christ as well as the teaching from Christ.
Which brings us to John’s third instruction for dealing with deceivers: avoid them.
Context
Because this last instruct from John has been misapplied and abused, let me make it clear again who is—and is not—being spoken of.
1. This is not referring to non-Christians in general. John is not advocating that we shut ourselves away from the world and associate exclusively with Christians.
2. This is not referring to Christians with whom we disagree. There are many disputable matters, as Paul refers to them, gray areas where there is no clear right and wrong. Indeed, there are areas where what is right for you may be wrong for me and vice versa. Moreover, we are not going to see eye to eye with every Christian on every matter. So these disputes are not what John is addressing here, otherwise we couldn’t fellowship with other believers.
3. This is not referring just to Christians with an erroneous belief. Again, if it did, we wouldn’t be able to associate with ourselves, much less with any other Christian. For we all carry areas of wrong beliefs, no matter how hard we might try to understand rightly. It is simply part of being a fallen human and a growing Christian.
Rather, the person in view here is the deceiver who advocates false teaching. He or she claims to be Christian, when in reality they oppose the real Christ, and the teaching they are advocating is not the teaching of Christ. Rather, they have slipped outside those boundaries to promote false teaching and heresy.
Moreover, the phrases in verse 10, “comes to you” and “receive into your house” points to the letter’s historical context of traveling teachers and preachers. At the end of the first century, before the New Testament was compiled and canonized, the churches relied heavily upon traveling teachers and prophets to provide additional instructions, much as Paul provided on his missionary journeys. Because their traveling prevented them from earning money through a normal job, church members would house, feed, and provide for the needs of these itinerate preachers. Of course, both Christians and non-Christians soon figured this out and decided this was an easy and comfortable way to live. Thus many charlatans arose.
This all reveals that John is specifically referencing deceivers who not only claim to be Christians but also are or claim to be leaders and teachers in the church. Like false prophets of the Old Testament, these people claimed to speak for God or at least speak with a certain amount of authority from God. Yet their teaching directly opposed the clear, fundamental truths of God.
So as we deal with this final instruction, please keep in mind John’s advice is for handling leaders within the body of Christ who claim to be Christian but whose teaching is false and shows them to be opposed to Christ.
Question to ponder: In view of this, what kinds of people could potentially fall into this group? That is, who qualifies as a Christian leader?
Method #3: Avoid
This brings us back to verse 10, where John provides our third instruction for dealing with these people. There it says that if this type of false-teaching leader comes to us, we aren’t to receive them into our house.
Again, the historical practice of receiving someone into a house is a little more complex than we tend to think of it today. To receive someone into a house, especially in Middle Eastern culture, was more than simply offering a room to stay. You were taking responsibility for that person to the point of treating that person as a family member during their stay, giving financial support, providing for their needs, and offering protection against outsiders if necessary.
In addition to this cultural context, the verb receive, according to Bauer’s Lexicon, can include the recognition of another’s authority (page 584). To receive them could also be an acknowledgement of their position and power, and therefore their right to a certain amount of control.
Now in 21st-century
Question to ponder: What are some of the other ways we can receive into our home these leader-deceivers?
The second half of the command in verse 10 is to not “even speak a greeting to him.” This greeting is rooted in the concept of happiness and well-being. So even though this is a formalized welcome, much like wishing someone a “good day,” it is still the speaking of a wish that the other is well and will be well, and it indicates you’re on good terms with that person (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 1074-1075).
So in short, we’re to shun these leader-deceivers. We’re not to support them financially. We’re not to affirm them verbally. We’re not to protect or provide for them. We’re not to associate with them. We’re not even to engage in friendly conversation or wish them well. We’re to sever all contact, if possible, with them. All this from the apostle who instructed us just a few verses earlier to love one another.
Question to ponder: Why is this shunning not a violation of the command to love one another?
Evil Deeds
All this leads to verse 11, and the reason we’re to avoid and shun such people: Even simply offering a greeting makes us a participant in their evil deeds. That is, we have in common, share in, declare a mutual interest in, and indicate a close association with such a person. We create, as the verb says here, koinonia (fellowship) with them. This makes us equally responsible for those deeds.
What kinds of deeds are we becoming responsible for? Here they are called “evil,” a characteristic which is emphasized in the Greek by how the adjective is set apart: we participate in his deeds—his evil ones. This makes it very clear that partial support of such a person is not possible. We can’t claim to be supporting just the “good” part of the person’s ministry. Supporting any part of a false teacher’s ministry or any association with a deceiver is a participation in the evil. Period.
And what kind of evil is being spoken of here? This evil is that which “causes labor, pain, sorrow, malignant evil.” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary, page 212) It can refer to an unhealthy physical condition, the qualitatively worthless, and the morally destructive (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 851-852). In short, the deceiver’s deeds are unhealthy, worthless, and destructive, only leading to trouble, pain, and sorrow.
Question to ponder: How does giving a greeting, much less receiving into our homes, such a person cause us to participate in his or her evil deeds?
Therefore, as much as our culture and even some churches might say otherwise, we must love within the bounds of Truth, which means there is a time and place for shunning certain people. To do otherwise is to foster evil, which is neither love nor truth.
Make it personal
One truth learned:
One area of conviction:
One way to correct:
Written prayer:
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