“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. 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! For he who says to him, Rejoice, shares in his evil works” (2 John 9-11). These verses reveal that we should not contact those who do not abide in the teaching of Christ-the teaching concerning Christ’s deity and incarnation by divine conception. Literally, the Greek word translated “goes beyond” in verse 9 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. Those who go beyond in this way go beyond the teaching of the divine conception of Christ and thus deny the deity of Christ. Consequently they do 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.
Today’s modernists go beyond and do not abide in the teaching of Christ. They also claim to be advanced in their thinking. According to them, it is out-of-date to say that Christ is God, that He was born of a virgin through divine conception, that He died on the cross for our sins, and that He was resurrected both physically and spiritually. Denying this truth concerning Christ, the modernists claim to be advanced in their philosophical thought.
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.
According to verse 10, we should not receive the one who does not bring the teaching concerning Christ. The pronoun “him” in this verse refers to a heretic, an antichrist, a false prophet, who denies the divine conception and deity of Christ. Furthermore, we should not tell such a one to rejoice, to be happy. We should not have any contact with those who do not abide in the teaching of Christ; that is, we should have a severe and clear separation from those who do not have the teaching concerning Christ’s deity and incarnation by divine conception.
At this point I would like to say a word concerning the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus, the God-man. Matthew 1:20 says, “While he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary your wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” In this verse the King James Version uses “conceived” instead of “begotten.” The word “conceived” is a proper, normal, ordinary description of conception within a woman. The word “begotten” is a particular expression used to describe the conception that had taken place in Mary’s womb. Within Mary something was not merely conceived but was begotten.
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