2 John 1:10-11 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
At the beginning of
Church history, as now, traveling teachers or evangelist depend on local
congregations for financial support for boarding and nourishment (Acts
18:2-3; Acts 21:17; 3 John 5-8),
John was warning believers in Christ Jesus not to provide hospitality to false teachers. If we receive any false teachers into our midst and accept them as Christians, we are giving credibility to their false doctrine. This concept applies to the teachers of false declaration specifically, not necessarily anyone that might believe in the false teaching. John was not speaking of turning our backs on someone just because they may not have ever had the opportunity to hear the truth. There will be people who come into our lives that have been caught in Satan's trap and had their heads filled with false teachings. We most certainly should not turn our backs on these lost souls; we should attempt to lead them to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus gently. We should not disagree with their false beliefs just for the sake of congeniality; we should very gently show them, from God's Word, the error of their ideas and help them to see the truth of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
With that said, how are we going to be able to discern the difference between the two, the false teacher or someone just caught up in the trap? First, there is no middle ground between the truth of salvation by grace through faith and the false teaching of salvation by works. There is a very well-defined line between the two that is not blurred. There is only one way to eternal life with God, and that is Christ Jesus (John 10:7; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 3:11).
These false teachers
will come into your congregation with the express intent of spreading what they
believe is the truth, although it is far removed from the truth of God's Word (Matthew
7:15). The only way we can know the false is to see the truth
confidently. When someone is in training to spot counterfeit money, there is a
considerable amount of time teaching them the real money's appearance. Once a
person gets to know the authentic currency, then all there is to do is spot one
mistake on a bill and see that it is counterfeit. The same goes for the gospel;
if we are intimately familiar with God's Word, then all it takes is for one
slip of the truth, and the wolf will shed the sheep's clothing.
John's point is that once we recognize that this wolf is among us and we continue to welcome them, as we would one of our true brothers or sisters in Christ, then we "share in their wicked work." If someone is continuing to try to spread this false teaching after we have pointed out to them that it is not the truth of God's Word, then you have found the actual false teacher. On the other hand, if someone truly desires to learn the truth, you have found a poor lost soul that has gone adrift, and we should help them find the validity of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
At times, people will misunderstand this verse as not inviting anyone into our home that is not a believer in Christ Jesus. This misunderstanding is not John's intent here; he is speaking of not giving support to false teachers and not to welcome them into our midst and accept their false teachings for any reason. Sometimes these "wolves in sheep clothing" get a free pass in some bodies of Christ for the sake of larger congregations or more monetary support. John is saying that we should never accept these into our midst and agree with their false teaching, for any reason.
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