Second John 9 says, “Everyone who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; he who abides in the teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.” Literally, the Greek word translated “goes beyond” means to lead forward (in a negative sense), that is, to go further than what is right, to advance beyond the limit of orthodox teaching concerning Christ. This is contrasted with abiding in the teaching of Christ. The Cerinthian Gnostics, who boasted of their supposedly advanced thinking concerning the teaching of Christ, had such a practice. They went beyond the teaching of the divine conception of Christ, thus denying the deity of Christ. Consequently they could not have God in salvation and in life.
In verse 9 John speaks of not abiding in the teaching of Christ. This is not the teaching by Christ but the teaching concerning Christ, that is, the truth concerning the deity of Christ, especially regarding His incarnation by divine conception.
According to verse 9, the one who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. But he who abides in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son. To “have God” is to have “both the Father and the Son.” It is through the process of incarnation that God has been dispensed to us in the Son with the Father (1 John 2:23) for our enjoyment and reality (John 1:1, 14). In the incarnated God we have the Son in His redemption and the Father in His life. We are thus redeemed and regenerated to be one with God organically so that we may partake of and enjoy Him in salvation and in life. Hence, to deny the incarnation is to reject this divine enjoyment, but to abide in the truth of incarnation is to have God, as the Father and the Son, for our portion in the eternal salvation and in the divine life.
In verse 10 John goes on to say, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Rejoice!” The pronoun “him” refers to a heretic, an antichrist, a false prophet, who denies the divine conception and deity of Christ, as today’s Modernists do. Such a one we must reject, not receiving him into our house or greeting him. Thus, we shall not have any contact with him or share in his heresy, heresy that is blasphemous to God and contagious like leprosy.
Do not think that because we are told to love others we should receive a heretic. Concerning this, love does not avail. John says clearly that we should not receive an antichrist, a false prophet, into our house, and we should not even say to him, “Rejoice!” The point here is that we should have nothing to do with such persons and their contagious heresy.
In verse 11 John says, “For he who says to him, Rejoice, shares in his evil works.” Just as bringing to others the divine truth of the wonderful Christ is an excellent deed (Rom. 10:15), so spreading the satanic heresy, which defiles the glorious divinity of Christ, is an evil work. It is a blasphemy and abomination to God, and it is also a damage and curse to men. No believer in Christ and child of God should have any share in this evil. Even to greet such an evil one is prohibited. A severe and clear separation from this evil should be maintained.
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