4 I rejoice greatly that I have found certain of thy children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father. 5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ Cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which we have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting: 11 for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works.

The letter opens, like many of Paul's epistles, with an expression of joy in the consistent life of Christian believers. The writer has found certain men in the Church, certain "children" of "the elect lady" to whom the letter is written, "walking in truth," that is to say, "actually", or "really," as God has commanded. Surely no pastor has a more exalted cause for rejoicing than to find such true life manifested by the members of his flock.

To encourage such living on the part of his readers, John exhorts them to Christian love, which, in one sense, is not "a new commandment," for it was strikingly set forth in the law of Moses; yet, in another sense it is "new," for Christ has given a new standard and a new example and a new motive to love. John further reminds us that the real exercise of love will result in keeping all the commandments of God: "And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments." Love is ever the fulfilling of the law. Obedience finds its motive in love, obedience is the fruit of love. "That ye should walk in it" has ever been the commandment for all Christians. Right living is certain to result from love.

John has been led thus to encourage the exercise of love, because love so realized in life will be a safeguard against error. It will not prevent one from opposing error. Christian love should not make one indifferent to Christian truth, for if this truth Is lost, love will lack its motive and its form. Thus John comes to the very heart of his message In the warning against the false teachers, many in number, who are endangering the faith and so the life of believers.

They were once nominal members of the Church but have "gone forth Into the world"; In every age the most dangerous of all delusions and denials of truth have come from those who have been acquainted with Christianity, who have claimed to hold many of Its doctrines, who have cloaked themselves under its name, who have used its phrases, who even have followed Its forms.

These false teachers are called "deceivers," for they lead to false living as well as to false views of truth. Belief and life are inseparable. Faith always manifests itself In works. Corrupt doctrine inevitably results in corrupt morals. The vital error of these "deceivers" related to the person of Christ. They denied that he is at once truly man and truly God. They were the first in the long line of heretics who, under various names, have refused to accept this cardinal truth of Christianity. There is something very striking in the phrase used by John: "They confess not that Jesus Christ cometh In the flesh." The divine humanity ever continues and will again be manifest: but were Christ only a man, then his claims were untrue, his death also would have no saving power. Nothing could be more fatal than to deny either his true humanity or his essential deity.

Such teachers John condemns In unsparing terms. One who advocates their errors Is declared to be not only a deceiver of men, but also an enemy of Christ. He is animated by the spirit of that last great deceiver of mankind, that "man of sin," that "antichrist," who will yet appear to oppose himself to God, and to be destroyed by the personal appearing of the returning, divine, victorious Christ. Because of the presence and the perilous influence of such false teachers, Christians need to be on their guard lest they lose the faith and the hope and the love which have come to them through the labors of true teachers; they need to watch and to persevere that, when Christ appears, they may receive for their steadfastness a full and complete reward.

Such watchfulness Is the more necessary because these teachers make proud claims of being "advanced" and "progressive" and "leaders of new thought"; whereas, in fact, those who deny the teachings of Christ about his person and his saving work have fallen back into darkness, and have lost nothing less than God himself, for one cannot know God or live in a vital relation to him or enjoy conscious fellowship with him, in case he rejects the revelation which God has made of himself in Christ. It is far better to seem "behind the times" than to be without the truth. True progress consists in retaining the realities which the past has assured, and in growing in the knowledge of Christ. His teachings cannot be contradicted or abandoned as out of date. They may be explored and explained and applied, but they set limits of revealed truth which no one may disregard : "He that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son."

These false teachers are the more dangerous because they often move in the best circles of society, and are of pleasing personality, and claim the name of "Christian." Their presence at public gatherings, their participation in social and civic movements, raise questions of extreme difficulty and delicacy. The advice of John is uncompromising; "If any one Cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting: for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works," We should note at once, however, that the reference here is to teachers who claimed to be official and authoritative, and to such treatment of them as plainly would indicate sympathy with their errors and support of their professed efforts to overthrow fundamental truth. John does not forbid ordinary courtesy, he aoes not encourage impoliteness or churlishness or unkindness or cruelty. It must be remembered that the provision of hospitality was, in the days of the early Church, a definite means of furthering the gospel; but it might quite as easily be used to help in the spread of error. It is against such a wrong use of hospitality that John here protests. He means that professional, recognized teachers of heresy are not to be aided in their efforts, are not to be recognized as entitled to support, are not to be so welcomed and greeted as to be encouraged in their work. Truth is not to be sacrificed even in the name of love.