2 John 1:9

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:7-11 The deceiver and his deceit are described: he brings some error concerning the person or office of the Lord Jesus. Such a one is a deceiver and an antichrist; he deludes souls, and undermines the glory and kingdom of the Lord Christ. Let us not think it strange, that there are deceivers and opposers of the Lord Christ's name and dignity now, for there were such, even in the apostles' times. The more deceivers and deceits abound, the more watchful the disciples must be. Sad it is, that splendid attainments in the school of Christ, should ever be lost. The way to gain the full reward is, to abide true to Christ, and constant in religion to the end. Firm cleaving to Christian truth unites us to Christ, and thereby to the Father also; for they are one. Let us equally disregard such as abide not in the doctrine of Christ, and those who transgress his commands. Any who did not profess and preach the doctrine of Christ, respecting him as the Son of God, and salvation by him from guilt and sin, were not to be noticed and countenanced. Yet in obeying this command, we must show kindness and a good spirit to those who differ from us in lesser matters, but hold firmly the all-important doctrines of Christ's person, atonement, and holy salvation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God - In the doctrine which Christ taught, or the true doctrine respecting him. The language is somewhat ambiguous, like the phrase "the love of Christ," which may mean either his love to us, or our love to him. Compare John 15:9. It is difficult to determine here which is the true sense - whether it means the doctrine or precepts which he taught, or the true doctrine respecting him. Macknight understands by it the doctrine taught by Christ and his apostles. It would seem most probable that this is the sense of the passage, but then it would include, of course, all that Christ taught respecting himself, as well as his other instructions. The essential idea is, that the truth must be held respecting the precepts, the character, and the work of the Saviour. Probably the immediate allusion here is to those to whom John so frequently referred as "antichrist," who denied that Jesus had come in the flesh, 2 John 1:7. At the same time, however, he makes the remark general, that if anyone did not hold the true doctrine respecting the Saviour, he had no real knowledge of God. See John 1:18; John 5:23; John 15:23; John 17:3; 1 John 2:23.

Hath not God - Has no true knowledge of God. The truth taught here is, that it is essential for piety to hold the true doctrine respecting Christ.

He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ - In the true doctrine respecting Christ, or in the doctrine which he taught.

He hath both the Father and the Son - There is such an intimate union between the Father and the Son, that he who has just views of the one has also of the other. Compare the John 14:7, John 14:9-11 notes; 1 John 2:23 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. The loss (2Jo 8) meant is here explained: the not having God, which results from abiding not in the doctrine of Christ.

transgresseth—The oldest manuscripts and versions read, "Every one who takes the lead"; literally, "goes," or "leads on before"; compare Joh 10:4, "He goeth before them" (not the same Greek). Compare 3Jo 9, "Loveth to have the pre-eminence."

hath not God—(1Jo 2:23; 5:15). The second "of Christ" is omitted in the oldest manuscripts, but is understood in the sense.

He—emphatical: He and He alone.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See 1Jo 2:23.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whosoever transgresseth,.... Not the law of God, of which everyone is a transgressors and that daily, in thought, word, or deed; but who passes over the rule and standard of doctrine, the word of God, and will not adhere to that, nor walk according to it, but rejects and despises that rule:

and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ; which he received from his Father, and delivered to his apostles, and of which he is the sum and substance; the doctrine which is concerning his person as the Son of God, and as truly God, and the union of the two natures, divine and human, in his one person; and concerning his office, as the Mediator, surety, and messenger of the covenant, and as the prophet, priest, and King of his church; and concerning his incarnation, obedience, sufferings, death, resurrection from the dead, ascension to heaven, session at God's right hand, intercession for his people, and second coming to judgment; concerning peace and pardon by his blood, atonement by his sacrifice, justification by his righteousness, and complete salvation by him: this is , "the doctrine of the King Messiah", or the Messiah's Talmud (h), to use the Jewish phrase, and which agrees with John's. Now, whoever has embraced and professed this doctrine, but errs concerning it, and rejects it, and abides not in it, as Satan abode not in the truth, appears to be of him:

hath not God; for his Father, but the devil, the father of lies; he has no true knowledge of God, for there is none but in Christ, whose doctrine such an one has denied; nor has he, nor can he, have communion with him, nor any interest in him.

He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ; as he hath received and professed it; neither can anything remove him from it, not the arguments of false teachers, nor the reproaches and persecutions of men, or the snares and allurements of the world:

he hath both the Father and the Son; he has an interest in them both, and has knowledge of each of them, and fellowship with them. The Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin version leave out the phrase, "of Christ", in the preceding clause, and only read, "in the doctrine"; and the Syriac version, "in his doctrine"; the sense is the same.

(h) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 98. fol. 85. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 John 1:9 brings out clearly the importance of abiding in the truth

2 John 1:92 John 1:9 brings out clearly the importance of abiding in the truth.

πᾶς ὁ προάγων καὶ μὴ μένων] προάγειν and μένειν form a natural antithesis; προάγειν in the neuter sense: “to advance farther,” signifies here in reference to διδαχή: “to advance beyond the limits of the (Christian) doctrine,” and contains an ironical allusion to the pretensions of the false teachers to have advanced to a higher degree of knowledge.[11] The Rec. παραβαίνων means: “to pass by anything;” we must supply along with it either τὴν διδαχήν (according to the analogy of παραβαίνειν τὴν ἐντολήν, Matthew 15:3), or ἀπὸ (ἐκ) τῆς διδαχῆς; comp. Acts 1:25 : ἀποστολῆς ἀφʼ (Rec. ἐξ) ἧς παρέβη Ἰούδας; it is clearly unwarrantable to supply the idea ἐντολή out of 2 John 1:7.

καὶ μὴ μένων ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ] comp. John 8:31 : μένειν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐμῷ; 2 Timothy 3:14.

τοῦ Χριστοῦ is not the objective (Sander, Ebrard, etc.), but the subjective genitive (Düsterdieck, Ewald, Braune); the doctrine which, proceeding from Christ, was proclaimed by the apostles.

Θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει] comp. 1 John 2:23. The doctrine of Christ is the truth; he who has not the truth has not God; for in its deepest source the truth is the living God Himself. Weiss (p. 29) unsatisfactorily interprets ἔχειν of the mere “possession in knowledge,” in place of which, on p. 77, however, he says: “the possession effected by means of the contemplative knowledge of Christ,” as if the latter were identical with the former. By the following sentence the same thought is expressed positively, and is completed by τὸν υἱόν, which is the cause of changing Θεός to πατήρ.[12]

[11] When Braune rejects this with the remark: “there is a bitter truth in fact,” he did not consider in what connection the above was said.

[12] According to Ebrard, this verse is a quotation of the passage 1 John 2:23. But that this is not so is shown by the manifold deviations, the existence of which can otherwise be explained only by arbitrary conjectures in an artificial way.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 John 1:9. Progress in Theological Thought. “Every one that ‘progresseth’ and abideth not in the eaching of the Christ hath not God; he that abideth in the teaching—this man hath both the Father and the Son.”

ὁ προάγων: the Corinthians (see Introd. pp. 156 f.) boasted of their enlightenment. They were “progressives,” “advanced thinkers”. τῇ διδαχῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, the teaching which recognises Jesus as the Christ (see note on 1 John 4:1-2), i.e. the Messiah, the Saviour. Θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει, i.e. according to His true nature as the Father manitested in the Son (καὶ τὸν Πατέρα καὶ τὸν Υἱόν). It is necessary not merely to believe in God but to believe in Him “through Christ” (1 Peter 1:21).

St. John does not here condemn theological progress, which is a necessity of living and growing faith. A doctrine is a statement of Christian experience, and since there is always more in Christ than we have ever experienced, our doctrines can never be adequate or final. Theology is to God’s revelation in Grace as Science is to His revelation in Nature; and just as Science is always discovering more of the wonders of the First Creation, so Theology is always entering more deeply into the glory of the New Creation and appropriating more of the treasures which are hidden in Christ. Even the inspired Apostles did not comprehend all His fulness. Each saw only so much as was revealed to him, and declared only so much as he saw. Each approached the infinite wonder along the lines of his temperament and experience. St. John saw in it a revelation of Eternal Life; St. Paul the Reconciliation of sinners to God, the satisfaction of humanity’s long desire and the completion of its long discipline under the Law; the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews the rending of the Veil and the opening of free Access to God. St. John does not condemn theological progress; he defines its limits: “abide in the teaching of the Christ”. (1) We must never break with the past; the new truth is always an outgrowth of the old. A theology which is simply old is dead; a theology which is simply new is false (Cf. Matthew 13:52). (2) We must maintain “the teaching of the Christ”. Jesus is the Saviour, and no interpretation of Christianity is true which eliminates Redemption or obscures the glory of the Cross.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Explains more fully what is at stake; no less than the possession of the Father and the Son.

Whosoever transgresseth] This is a simplification (KL) of a much more difficult reading (אAB), Whosoever, or Every one that (see on 1 John 3:16) goeth before (πᾶς ὁ προάγων) or that goeth onwards. The verb is fairly common in the Synoptists and the Acts, but occurs nowhere else in S. John’s writings. It may be interpreted in two ways: 1. Every one who sets himself up as a leader; 2. Every one who goes on beyond the Gospel. The latter is perhaps better. These antichristian Gnostics were advanced thinkers: the Gospel was all very well for the unenlightened; but they knew something higher. This agrees very well with what follows: by advancing they did not abide. There is an advance which involves desertion of first principles; and such an advance is not progress but apostasy.

in the doctrine] ‘In the teaching’, as R. V., is no improvement. Of the two words used in N. T., διδαχή (as here) and διδασκαλία (which S. John does not use), the former should be rendered ‘doctrine’, the latter, as being closer to διδάσκαλος and διδάσκειν, should be rendered ‘teaching’. But no hard and fast line can be drawn.

of Christ] The doctrine which He taught (John 18:19; Revelation 2:14-15), rather than the doctrine which teaches about Him.

hath not God] This must not be watered down to mean ‘does not know God’: it means that he has Him not as his God; does not possess Him in his heart as a Being to adore, and trust, and love.

he that abideth] The opposite case is now stated, and as usual the original idea is not merely negatived but expanded. ‘Of Christ’ in this half of the verse must be omitted: it has been inserted in some authorities to make the two halves more exactly correspond.

hath both the Father and the Son] This shews that ‘hath not God’ implies ‘hath neither the Father nor the Son’. See on 1 John 2:23.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 John 1:9. Ὁ παραβαινων, he who transgresseth) from perfidy.—ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, in the doctrine of Christ) in the doctrine which teaches that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.—οὗτος) he, I say.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - For whosoever transgresseth πᾶς ὁ παραβαίνων we must substitute whosoever advanceth πᾶς ὁ προάγων: both external and internal evidence are strongly in favour of this correction. "Whosoever advanceth" probably means whosoever goes beyond revealed truth and professes to teach something more profound. Gnostic teachers professed to have advanced a long way beyond the simple facts and simple moral teaching of the gospel; they "knew the depths;" they had "things ineffable, secret, higher than the heavens," to disclose; and these secret things were often not merely incompatible with Scripture, but a complete reversal of it. But it is possible that πᾶς ὁ προάγων may mean no more than "every one who takes the lead," i.e., chooses a line for himself, which in matters of doctrine means creating a heresy. 2 John 1:9

Vincent's Word Studies

Whosoever transgresseth (πᾶς ὁ παραβαίνων)

The best texts read προάγων goeth onward. So Rev., with taketh the lead in margin. The meaning is, whosoever advances beyond the limits of Christian doctrine. Others explain of those who would set themselves up as teachers, or take the lead. Such false progress is contrasted with abiding in the teaching. On the construction, πᾶς every one, with the article and participle, see on 1 John 3:3.

Abideth - in (μένων ἐν)

See on 1 John 2:6.

Doctrine (διδαχῇ)

Better, as Rev., teaching.

Of Christ

Not the teaching concerning Christ, but the teaching of Christ Himself and of His apostles. See Hebrews 2:3. So according to New Testament usage. See John 18:19; Acts 2:12; Revelation 2:14, Revelation 2:15.

In the doctrine of Christ

Omit of Christ. Διδαχή teaching, is used thus absolutely, Romans 16:17; Titus 1:9.