November 19, 2026 | Be Connected
God in the Flesh
Scripture: 2 John 1:7-11(NIV)
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
Devotional
A couple of things seem counterintuitive to normal Christian teaching, when John commands, “do not take them into your house” and do not “welcome them.” While commentators vary on how to understand these prohibitions, here is my take. In the first century world, both of these actions legitimized the recipient as someone the community should trust and embrace. This is the last thing John wanted the believers to do. Why?
We have already seen in 1 John that Gnosticism had taken root like an invasive weed in the garden of God’s truth. Gnostics denied that Jesus was God in the flesh. They agreed that He was divine, bringing a special message that only they could receive. But they said He wasn’t really human. They said He came to enlighten us to the divine that was already within us. Since Jesus wasn’t really human, His death on the cross was not a sacrifice for our sin. If He wasn’t physically human, He couldn’t redeem physical humans.
You can see why John was so concerned about this heretical teaching. He had spent over three years with Jesus. He was present when Jesus was crucified. He ran with Peter to discover the empty tomb. He received the call to make disciples. He watched as Jesus ascended into Heaven. He worked side by side with Peter to launch Christianity in Jerusalem and throughout the world. It was now sixty years later, and he was watching deceivers infiltrate the family of God. That’s why he warned, “Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for.”
Gnosticism denied Christ’s full humanity. Another heresy that developed in the following centuries, Arianism, denied Christ’s co-eternal divinity. But orthodox Christianity declares Jesus to be the eternal God in the physical flesh. The Nicene Creed, developed in the fourth century, says it well:
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, Eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, Begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
