In 2 John 8-13 the elder reminds us that we need to cling to the prize of Jesus. We don’t want to come up with less than what Christ offers to us. “Beware of being like them and losing the prize that you and I have been working so hard to get. See to it that you win your full reward from the Lord.” The world will try and pull us away from Christ. To deny the Biblical Jesus is always to reject the Father and the Son both. John here draws a critical line of truth, over which it is heresy to transgress. We have to remain true to what Jesus taught because if we don’t, we are wandering from the truth and move away from God.
“For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will leave God behind; while if you are loyal to Christ’s teachings, you will have God too. Then you will have both the Father and the Son.” It’s dangerous territory to get away from truth. To say no to God’s way of revealing himself is to say no to God himself. We must be careful never to go beyond Jesus teaching as that is like “going beyond a boundary.” We must never go “beyond” the teaching of Jesus, of who He is and what He has done for us. If we do, we lose our connection to God – we leave Him behind. In order to stay in line with the teaching of Christ we must know those teachings, which ultimately means we need to know His Word.
There are plenty of false teachers out there pedaling their version of what Jesus taught. John warns us to stay far, far away from them. “If anyone comes to teach you, and he doesn’t believe what Christ taught, don’t even invite him into your home. Don’t encourage him in any way. If you do, you will be a partner with him in his wickedness.” His warning goes well beyond not listening to them. We aren’t to even be around them. Sometimes we fail to recognize the importance of who we hang out with or allow to speak into our lives, even if we are leary of their words and actions. It still impacts us. We need to stay away.
We should make a distinction between those who teach these Christ-denying doctrines and those who merely believe a false teaching. John has given us much wisdom and direction in his letter. He intends to come and visit this church soon, and to celebrate life together in Christ. “Well, I would like to say much more, but I don’t want to say it in this letter, for I hope to come to see you soon, and then we can talk over these things together and have a joyous time.” John writes this letter to a particular church, but ends by expanding the audience to other churches through his final words. “Greetings from the children of your sister—another choice child of God.”