We have here a reference to false teachers who first made themselves out to be believers, but later left the company of believers in order to spread deceit, as we read in John's first letter: they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. (1 John 2:19)
The last part of verse 7 reads, literally, the deceiver and the antichrist: one individual is referred to. These deceivers are as many "antichrists" having the same spirit as the deceiver par excellence, in popular expectation (1 John 2:18,22). Like them, he typically will deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He will deny the deity of Christ, therefore everything that is said about Him, everything that He said, and everything that He did for us in redemption by dying on the Cross and by being raised bodily from the dead.
The antichrist is coming in the future, and everything at this time is preparing the way for his coming, so that when this political ruler and the religious ruler (the false prophet) finally appear, the world will be ready for them. At the time he comes there will be a religion that doesn't really believe anything. We are now being urged to leave aside all that separates us, the apostolic faith and the biblical doctrine, from others who also call themselves Christians, and even from other religions. If we get rid of all that separates us, there will be nothing left to hold us together. And the scene is then set for the antichrist. Like any deviation, it begins with apparently small things and develops into bigger ones, until the end product has no semblance left of the original. That is the kind of church union that is coming about today.
They are going nowhere, they believe nothing, and therefore, they can all get together.
There are many deceivers who call themselves "Christians". The way we tell who is true is by his viewpoint, his teaching, his beliefs concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless he thinks rightly of Him, everything else he says becomes untrue, and that person is a false teacher.
This does not mean that a person cannot hold a different view from what we hold on philosophical matters which are not clear from Scripture, for example, on election. All of us have differences of opinion, but we can differ without being disagreeable. But when we believe in the deity of Christ, it means we believe in the virgin birth, it means we believe the record that we have in the Word of God, and it means we believe in the apostles' doctrine which they taught in their epistles. It is what we think of Him that is all-important.
John's letters emphasise that we are to walk according to the commandments of Christ, and the proof that we are a child of God is that we walk in love for the brethren.
The believer today walks a very dangerous pathway through the world. To the left side of the pathway is the jungle of liberalism and apostasy. It is an attractive but dangerous jungle because in it are beautiful concepts of freedom and broadmindedness, but also dangerous heresies which are ready to capture us. Then, on the opposite side of the pathway, there is a wilderness of extreme legalism. It is a straight jacket which confines us to a strict discipline of do's and don'ts but is totally devoid of love and compassion for those who infringe the rules. God's men who stand for the truth and who preach the Word of God, by and large, are men upon whom we can depend and who are very gracious in every manner.
We need to understand very clearly that a believer does not lose his salvation when he has fellowship with the wrong folk, although he does place himself in a dangerous position. The minute he identifies himself with an apostate "church", or cult or an association where the deity of Christ is put into doubt, he has lost his reward.
Every believer ought to be working for a reward, to be able to hear Him say someday, "Well done, good and faithful servant… Enter into the joy of your lord." (Matthew 25:21). Paul, for example, was able to say at the end of his life, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." (2 Tim 4:7-8). Therefore, we must be very careful not to be taken in by deceivers.
A better translation of verse 9 is Whosoever goes forward and abides not in the doctrine of the Christ has not God. He that abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son. Whoever goes beyond the doctrine of Christ does not have God. In John's days the Gnostics claimed to have a little more knowledge than the apostles themselves. Today we have "churches" built on traditions, on new "revelations", which have been added to the apostolic teaching, weakening or nullifying the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some time ago several theologians in the East met with a group of preachers, and together they came to the conclusion that they no longer needed to affirm the virgin birth of Christ, or the deity of Christ or whether Christ died for our sins. They felt they were now above that and were able to look down on all the rest of us poor folk who still believe in the deity of Christ and His death for our sins. They were not abiding in the doctrine of Christ, therefore did not have God.
If we are abiding in the doctrine of Christ, we have God the Father, and we have God the Son, and we have access to the Father through the Son. The word abide means "to remain": this is a permanent arrangement, and doesn't allow for change in any way whatsoever.
The homes of believers in those days were always open to travelling evangelists and teachers, for there was very little accommodation available elsewhere. Paul, for example, stayed in the home of Aquila and Priscilla when he was in Corinth. But this was not to be the practice where the deceivers were concerned, those who added to the pure doctrine of Christ (verse 9), carrying dissension and danger with them: they should not be allowed to enter the home nor wished farewell. They should not be received in home and church (usually meeting in the home).
It does not refer to entertaining strangers (Hebrews 13:2; 1 Timothy 5:10) but men who were already known for their deceitful doctrine. Our attitude today toward an apostate, toward a heretic, toward one who denies the deity of Christ but pretends to be a follower of Christ is not to be of love, fellowship and hospitality: he is not to be made welcome at all, either in our homes or in the church, nor are we to wish him well.
If these travelling deceivers were allowed to spread their doctrines in these homes and then sent on with endorsement as Apollo was from Ephesus to Corinth (Acts 18:27), there was no way of escaping responsibility for the harm wrought by these propagandists of evil. It was not a case of mere hospitality to strangers.
Equally, if we entertain a false teacher, if we support him, we are a partner with him in his deeds. This is the reason that we ought to investigate everything that we give to as Christians, because if we are giving to the wrong thing, God considers us a partner in it. There's many a man trying to pull the wool over our eyes today, with some sentimental story, pictures of a few orphans, of little children in foreign countries. Do we know that our money is getting to them? Are we motivated just by sentiment? If we are a partner in that which denies the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He is and stands for and all that He did for us, if we are supporting that sort of thing, God will hold us responsible for it.
Charity has become a big racket today. Collecting money under false pretences is one of the biggest rackets there is. Our business is giving out the Word of God to the lost and that should be where our giving is channelled.
It would be nice to know what else John had to say, but we can be alerted and obey what he wrote in this tremendous little letter.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that you may not lose what you have worked for, but may win a full reward.
9 Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son.
10 If any one comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him any greeting;
11 for he who greets him shares his wicked work.
12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink, but I hope to come to see you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your elect sister greet you.