“Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.”
John now demonstrates the gravity of defecting to the false teachers (cf. verse 8). Christian courtesy and hospitality do not extend to false teachers. It is a grave issue to tamper with false teachers.
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.
The word “transgresses” should be translated as “goes onward.” This is a sarcastic allusion to Gnostic false teachers trying to bring the church into their fold. These false teachers thought that their teaching went beyond the traditional view of Christ.
The transgressor here is a Christian who defects from the pure doctrine of Christ to a supposedly higher view of truth. Gnostics claimed to be advanced thinkers for the enlightened, but John warns against the teaching that does not stay within the structure of apostolic teaching.
He who abides in the doctrine of Christ
The term “abides” indicates that John speaks of vital belief in the truth. “Abides” indicates that this person is a Christian. Note that in the previous verse, John warns against loss of reward (v. 8).
True belief always revolves around a proper view of Christ. Dead orthodoxy cannot produce vital fellowship with God. It is one thing for the truth to abide in the believer, and it is another for the believer to remain in the truth.
1 Jn 2:22-23, 22 “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
has both the Father and the Son
If we confess the Son, we possess the Father. If we deny the Son, we renounce the Father. We cannot deny Christ and believe in the Father at the same time. That is why non-Christian religions cannot be true. It is not true that there are many roads to heaven, for either Jesus is who He claimed to be, or He is a faker. To advance beyond Christ is to reject Christ.
Those who embrace Jesus Christ embrace the Father as well. They have a dynamic relationship with both.
Jn 14:21-24, : 21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
The argument here is not that mere orthodoxy leads to dynamic fellowship but that genuine fellowship issues from right doctrine.
PRINCIPLE:
Those who go beyond the bounds of Scripture are not of God.
APPLICATION:
Whenever some teacher comes along and professes some special new revelation, be wary of him, for he is a faker. Groups that claim that the Bible is not fully sufficient to tell us all that we know about God are in error. The test of truth is always the Word of God and the person of Christ.
The exhortation to deal definitely with false teachers appears strange in a day when compromise, accommodation, and doctrinal confusion reign supreme. Much of truth today is watered down, diluted and adulterated.
Dear sir,
You given explained clearly about false teaching about Christ &the consequences of entertaining false teachers in these studies.There is false teaching about false teaching in the Christendom which has to be worried much.Thank you for the good teaching.
I had been attending a church for almost a year. Then around 3 months ago the pastor clearly distorted the Word of God to the congregation, so to make it fit his sermon, and what he taught was very wrong! After preaching his sermon he brought up Psalms 23 and told the congregation that God would not give you a running over cup until after you go through the valley of the shadow of death, and he repeated it a couple more times. He went on to say that after you go through the valley of the shadow of death, THEN God will set a table before you in the presence of your enemies. THEN he will cause your cup to run over. THEN God’s goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life…. My heart was grieved! At the same time this had happened I was asked by the pastor’s wife if I would teach Sunday School for the little children, but I knew that I couldn’t sit under false doctrine. I told her that I needed to speak with them before giving an answer. When I finally got a chance to speak with them I addressed the issue with the pastor distorting God’s Word. I explained that God’s Word in Psalms 23 does not say that you must go through the valley of the shadow of death before the following promises of God will apply to you. I explained how he was telling God’s people that God’s goodness and mercy will not follow them unless they go through the valley of the shadow of death, and so on. He made an excuse trying to say that he meant something else. Also, at the first he owned up to it, but at the end he denied it. However, this was posted on Facebook. But again, I let him know the seriousness of what he did, how that there are young Christians in the church who don’t know any better. He wound up telling me that if I was not happy there that I may need to find me another church to attend. No joke! …. I knew that I had to withdraw and I was tempted to do so quietly, but I felt like I couldn’t do that. He needed to be exposed, yet I was scared to expose him to the congregation. I’m just being honest…. I continued to attend the church for 3 to 4 more weeks, but he never once corrected what he had said to the congregation. During this time I was grieving in prayer over it. Then one night the Lord told me to read Galatians 1:8. When I read it I knew that my God had spoken , and that He had let me know how He felt about the matter! Also, that same night I felt led to read Ephesians 5, and I read “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” …. After God gave me this Word I attended church again, but I was afraid to confront him in front of everyone. He’s very well liked, and he knows how to “put on a show “, and the church has been growing. I was afraid…. During this same time the Lord was ministering to me that a timid faith WILL BE intimidated, and He had been leading me to other Words that I needed. Then I attended the next church service. I knew that I had to speak up, and yet again I felt afraid. Then it was as if I heard a still small voice say, “If you obey Me, I will bless you.” I don’t know that it was God, but I don’t know that it wasn’t either! At the end of the service, after he was done preaching, I asked if I could say something. I then stood up and as humbly as I know how to be, and in love, I began to discuss openly what he had said, distorting God’s Word. I explained in detail, and how that what he taught was not truth. I then explained that I had talked with him about the matter but that 3 to 4 weeks had went by and he had not corrected what he said to the congregation. I then told of the Word God had given to me in prayer concerning this matter in Galatians 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, were to preach any other gospel unto you than that which has been preached, let him be accursed.” …. When I had finished speaking he began giving the same excuse to the congregation that he had tried giving to me. He then said a quick prayer and dismissed service, and I haven’t been back since…. When I left the church service that night, I had so many emotions going on inside of me, including wondering if I had done wrong. I went to God in prayer and asked Him to give me a Word, to please speak to me. Shortly after, I went to try and find me a good sermon to listen to and I heard the Lord say “Last Days Deception.” I knew this was a message by David Wilkerson but I didn’t know what it was about. I pulled it up and listened to it. Pastor Wilkerson preached on exactly what had been going on at the church, and even discussed things that I haven’t bothered mentioning in this email. He even quoted the very Word God had given to me in Galatians 1:8. I knew that my God had answered my prayer and had given me a Word! And I felt that I had done right! …. I don’t know if what I said did any good. As a matter of fact, I felt like I stood alone, but I remember something I heard once. In the Bible there are 2 groups of people: the few and the many…. Please remember me in prayer for God to direct me to the right church to go to. Thank you.