If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Just how far should you extract yourself from false teaching? If we honestly think someone is teaching some doctrine contrary to the Gospel of Christ, what should be our Biblical approach? According to the Apostle John, late in his life, we are not even to give them a greeting (see above verse). So, if we believe a particular sect of religion or denomination of religion is preaching a false gospel, how close should we be in working with them, IF, John is telling us here, to not even greet them? To be specific we have to understand what the Greek word for greeting (Chairo) means. The intent of the word is not simply a greeting of "hello" or some other Western form of speech. The word "chairo" carries more weight than a trite phrase. It carries a meaning of wishing them joy or grace. This is why someone who doesn't believe in the saving grace of Christ (the Gospel) should not be afforded such a greeting. To see the greeting used in the wrong way, note how Judas uses "chairo" when he greets Jesus in the Garden for the purpose of betrayal:
Matthew 26:49
Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.
Judas conveyed "grace to you" to Jesus, but in his heart was betrayal. John is telling us to not convey to those who preach another gospel, even by way of your opening greeting, that you might be wishing them favor or respect. We are not to wish those well who reject our Savior. We are not, for the sake of political correctness, convey to them that we are in link with them in any respect. God has made us part of His family and He wants to to convey love and peace to those in the family. But, those who reject our Savior are not in line with that love and peace. John is writing this little letter well after all the other Apostles were probably gone. By this time in the Church many false teachers were going from church to church to preach their false doctrine. John wants to make sure that this church he is writing to does not even greet these false teachers, much less bring them into the church to hear them. He is saying, "Don't send them on their way with favor." Make sure you remember we are children of the King and purity (the combination of love and truth) is important in the Body of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment