Blogging for Class: Abide in the Doctrine of Christ

Let's talk about 2 John today.

2 John 1:7 says "for many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-christ."

What John was talking about here is a group who were preaching that Jesus never had a body of flesh and bone, that he was an apparition who only appeared to be human. This was based on the false idea that matter is evil, thus no deity could be material and remain holy.

Not only was this idea false, it was dangerous. The truth it corrupted is so fundamental to the gospel--Jesus came to Earth and lived a human life. He suffered in the Garden and died on the Cross and was resurrected, conquering death and sin and making it possible for us to have hope for the next life.

John suggests a few ways that we can avoid false teachers and false doctrine today. If we hold on to the spiritual knowledge that we have acquired and keep the commandments in faith, we can know how and when to distance ourselves from those who would lead us away from the truth.