Let’s read 2nd John 9-11: “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. If anyone comes to you and does not bring THIS DOCTRINE, do not receive him into you house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (NKJV). The apostle John was writing to exhort believers to have no fellowship with anyone who teaches anything contrary to the “truth about Christ.” John is often referred to as the “apostle of love,” for in his gospel he writes a great deal about love. He tells us of Jesus’ commandment, “that we LOVE one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). John was also focused on Jesus’ love for him and called himself the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20, 24). But in our passage today John is occupied with “false teachers” who deny who Christ is and he exposes them for their errors and strongly exhorts all believers in Christ to reject them and their false teachings by refusing to invite them into their home or even give them a friendly greeting. In contrast to the love we should show other believers, John was now inspired to command us to show God’s holiness to false teachers by rejecting them.

We are all aware of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who go door-to-door spreading their “false gospel.” They come with smiles on their faces wearing nice clothes and carrying a Bible in their hand, asking you if they can share some “good news” with you. But what they call “good news” is indeed “fake news” for they DENY WHO CHRIST IS. The Bible clearly teaches us that Jesus Christ IS GOD in many passages of Scripture. In John 1:1, 14, 18 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth…No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” In these few verses we learn the truth that the eternal Son of God became flesh to reveal God to men. He never ceased being God; He was “God manifest in the flesh” (1st Timothy 3:16). Jehovah’s Witnesses deny this. They say Jesus was “a god,” (their Bible translation says “The Word was “a god” in John 1:1). They teach Jesus was NOT EQUAL WITH GOD, but was the “first creature that God created.” Yet John 1:2-3 goes on to say, “He was in the beginning with God. ALL THINGS were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” In other words, He IS GOD, the Creator of ALL THINGS. The apostle Paul taught this clearly and emphatically in Colossians 1:16, “For by Him ALL THINGS were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. ALL THINGS were created through Him and for Him.”

To deny that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and coequal with God the Father is blasphemy. Jesus Himself taught that “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). In John 5:23 He said, “All should HONOR THE SON JUST AS THEY HONOR THE FATHER, he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” We saw in 2nd John 9 that the one who “does not abide in the doctrine of Christ DOES NOT HAVE GOD.” They may “think” they know God because they say they believe in God the Father, but in denying the Son they are denying the Father. John says elsewhere that this is the “spirit of antichrist” (see 1st John 2:22-23). Again, it is blasphemy to deny that Jesus is God and yet Jehovah’s Witnesses (and others, such as Mormons) do deny this, and thus they are to be rejected when they come to our door. We should not be rude to them nor should we stand and argue with them; we should gently but firmly deny them access into our home and we should not “wish them well” as they leave. If we do engage them, it should simply be to tell them the Bible instructs us to deny them because they do not “abide in the doctrine of Christ.” We may “think” we can “win them to Christ” by showing them hospitality but in doing so we are guilty of “having fellowship with them” and are “defiled by that association with them.”  (DO)  (591.5)