The Exhibition and Condemnation of Heretics
W. Jones 2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh… For many deceivers are entered into the world, etc. Our text is set forth as a reason for the exhortation of verses 5 and 6. "Walk in love - in that love whose condition is truth, because many deceivers are gone forth denying the truth." Notice - I. THE HERESY HERE MENTIONED. The denial of the great truth of the incarnation of the Son of God. "They confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh." There were persons who held that the humanity of the Lord Jesus was not real, but apparitional; that the Son of God assumed only the appearance of humanity. And there was the heresy of Cerinthus, that the AEon Christ came into the flesh - "entered into the man Jesus at his baptism, and remained with him until the commencement of his sufferings; but Cerinthus denied that Jesus Christ came in the flesh." The sacred Scriptures, assert the reality and completeness of our Lord's humanity; that "he took a body of flesh, and his whole humanity both of soul and body shared in the sinless infirmities which belong to our common nature" (Liddon. Cf. Hebrews 2:14-18). His body passed through the real experiences of a human body, performed its duties, endured its sufferings, etc. The heresy which St. John is exposing arose in the Church. "Many deceivers are gone forth into the world," i.e., from the Church, as in 1 John 2:19. We are not in danger from error in this form at present, but in the opposite form, even the denial of the Godhead of our Lord. It is not now the fact of his humanity, but the fact of his Deity, that is called into question. Both are essential to a true Christology. II. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE HERETICS. "This is the deceiver and the antichrist." The "this" points to these heretics as a class. Here are two of their characteristics. 1. Their injuriousness to men. They were "deceivers," "makers to wander" from the truth in faith, and (as a consequence) from the truth in practice. The influence of the misbeliever tends to corrupt the faith of others, and thus to impoverish and enfeeble their lives. 2. Their hostility to Christ. They were "antichrist," i.e., against Christ. "The antichristian principle was then," says Alford, "as it is now, and will be in every age, working, realizing, and concentrating itself from time to time, in evil men and evil books and evil days, but awaiting its final development and consummation in the antichrist who shall personally appear before the coming of the Lord." These deceivers corrupted Christian doctrine and practice; they troubled the Church; they were opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ. III. THE REASON WHY THE APOSTLE ATTACHED SO MUCH IMPORTANCE TO THIS MATTER. Why does St. John write so earnestly upon this question? Why does he use such strong language in respect to these heretics? Because of the great importance of the truth which they denied. The manhood of the Saviour is one of the essential facts of Christian teaching and life. The denial of the reality of his manhood: 1. Invalidates his atonement and redemption; for it makes his sufferings fictitious, and his death an illusion. 2. Nullifies his mediation. The mediator must be in contact with those between whom he mediates, and by his manhood Jesus Christ places himself in contact with us men; but if his humanity be only apparent, he is not in any real contact with us, and he cannot be a Mediator for us. 3. Deprives his example of all its force and reality. If our Lord did not truly share our human nature, his life cannot be exemplary to us. 4. Does away with his sympathy with us. Sympathy is fellow-feeling - feeling-together; and if Christ Jesus has not participated in our humanity, how much soever he may feel for us, he cannot feel with us. "If Christ be not truly man, the chasm which parted earth and heaven has not been bridged over. God, as before the Incarnation, is still awful, remote, inaccessible." Beware, brethren, of any departure from the essential truths of Christianity, especially from the truths which relate to the Person and work of our blessed Lord. - W.J. Parallel Verses KJV: For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. WEB: For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don't confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist.