“I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.”- 2 John 1:7 New Living Translation
What was it that John had said? He has said repeatedly to love one another. We can show love in many ways: by avoiding prejudice & discrimination; by accepting people regardless of their financial status or physical appearance; by listening, helping, serving, & refusing to judge. We can’t just know God’s word; we are expected to put it into practice.
One false teaching in particular taught that things of the spirit are good & things made of matter were evil. With that reasoning Jesus could not have been both God & man. John strongly warns against such a teaching. These heretics distort the truth of the gospel & undermine the foundations of Christian faith. In many cases they used all the right words, but changed there meaning. They & we should have nothing to do with charlatans of this nature.
The term ‘deceiver’ can also mean ‘imposter’. Either way they were not sharing God’s truth correctly. They sought to lead others down their own path, like a sort of spiritual Pied Piper. They are to be shunned & ignored for our own spiritual preservation. We’ll move a little further into this 13-verse letter again tomorrow. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.
No comments:
Post a Comment