WEEKLY SUNDAY
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Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday April 26, 2015
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OUT FOR DECEIVERS
(Love
and obedience keeps us from deception)
(2
John)
In the Apostle John’s second letter
to the Christian Church he expresses the need for Christians to beware of false
teachers and teachings that arise out of the antichrist influence that has long
existed in the world. In fact the antichrist influence predates the creation of
mankind, as satan himself, has inhabited the earth since being ejected from
Heaven by GOD the FATHER, long before HE created any other living beings on
this planet.
The purpose of this
letter is to encourage true Christians to continue in love, as well as to warn
them against those whose job is to deceive believers in matters concerning
their faith. Here John charges the believer not to participate in those evil
things that deceivers bring into the Church from the world, under the guise of saying
that “they are trying to attract people to CHRIST” by employing a “worldly familiarity”,
or method.
CHRIST does not have,
recognize, or endorse any worldly way of doing things, HE only recommends those
GODly strategies that are already laid out for the Church in biblical
literature. There is no room for “human ingenuity” in the Church (John 6:63b). Things
that contradict the SPIRIT of GOD should be left outside the Church when people
join, and those who pledge themselves to CHRIST must also pledge themselves to
living “a changed life” that coincides with the teachings of JESUS CHRIST, the
LIVING WORD.
Those who choose to
come to CHRIST must do so by accepting the GODly idea of “katharisomen” into
their spirit. Katharisomen is a Greek term that means, “separation from all
people and things that defile”. It is a term that is discussed more in debt in
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. When we join the Church where Christ JESUS is the head,
we make a vow to change and no longer live as partners with those people and
things that are intent on doing and promoting the lifestyles that GOD deems as
evil.
In the first century
and beyond, heavy persecution dictated the Churches use of “code words, or
expressions” whenever they communicated to each other in the various towns and
cities where they had established Christian congregations (mostly house
churches in hidden locations). Here in this letter, in verse one, we find the
code words “favorite mistress”, or “chosen lady”, in the Greek “eklektos kyria”,
and her “children”, in the Greek “teknon”, being used to hide the identity or exact
location of the church from those who sought to infiltrate it with worldly
ideas and false teachings, to the ends that the Church might be destroyed
before it could take roots. GOD does not wish for us to mix the “holy” with the
“profane” (i.e. “miming” with “praise dancing” in today’s Church), and the
early Church went to great lengths to keep that from happening.
John begins the letter (v.4)
by expressing his joy in how the newly founded church had been dedicating
themselves to the righteous living and truth that they had been introduced to
through the Word of GOD. Apparently John had recently met with some members of
that particular church, and wanted to express how pleased he was with their Christian
behavior in a public forum. He reminded the church to also stay in keeping with
the commandment of CHRIST JESUS that we “love one another”.
John also reminded the
church of how some had gone out of the church, who, did not truly believe their
reports about CHRIST, and were giving the world a bad impression of how true Christian
really behaved. They did not believe the “human example of perfection” that was
presented by CHRIST during HIS life on earth, which was intended to show the
world that “Christianity really does produce the best men and women”. In this
letter, John urged the church to be diligent so that they might receive the
full reward that they had worked so hard for (v.8). He tells them that they
must never wander away from the teachings of CHRIST, and always keep their fellowship
with GOD, and CHRIST, intact (v.9).
In verse 10 John warns Christians
that if anyone comes to their church and does not teach the truth about CHRIST,
don’t even invite them into your house, or encourage them in any way. JESUS
perfectly obeyed GOD as a 100% human being and HIS very life tells us that we
should too. Anyone who encourages a deceiver, or false teacher, becomes a
partner with them in their evil work.
All of the central
teachings of Christianity hinges on the 100% humanity and 100% deity of JESUS,
our LORD. HE is the one and only “Hypostatic Union”, and the only way to GOD.
HE is the one and only truth, and the one and only source of “eternal life”. No
one, who doesn’t teach the humanity and deity of JESUS CHRIST, can ever be held
up as a teacher of the Christian truth.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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