2 John 1

Read 2 John 1 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.

John as the last surviving apostle, the only one to die a natural death (all others having been martyred) was dealing with several heresies in the early Church:

Antinomian heresy

In the Greek, anti – “against” + nomos – “Law,” one of the first heresies confronting the Church. It says that since the Law is no more binding on believers for salvation, none of its tenets apply, resulting in licentious living. Jesus dealt with it:

“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Mat 5:18-20

Paul dealt with it:

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace? Certainly not! Rom 6:15 (See also, 1 Cor 6:9-10).

And nearly every chapter of John’s epistles deals with it, as in today’s reading:

And this is that love: that we walk according to His commandments. 2 Joh 1:6a

Gnostic heresy

In the Greek, gnosis – “to know.” It implied a hidden knowledge closed to outsiders or newbies. Interestingly enough, the word “occult” means, hidden, and all of the religions and philosophies in the world today which claim an elevated knowledge, closed to outsiders, are derived from Gnosticism and occultism, its parent. God is not that way, He is upfront about the whole kit and kaboodle from the outset.

Gnosticism was a child of Greek philosophy, in which the 1st century was soaked. To boil it down, the body, the flesh, and the material world was evil; the spirit was good. So they reasoned that if Jesus came in the flesh, that would be a bad thing. There were varying schools within the large tent of Gnosticism, but most denied His earthly incarnation or His physical death on the cross. So John says,