Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.
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 ( AB), Whosoever, or Every one that (see on 1Jn 3:16) goeth before ( ) 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., (as here) and (which S. John does not use), the former should be rendered ‘doctrine’, the latter, as being closer to and , should be rendered ‘teaching’. But no hard and fast line can be drawn.
of Christ ] The doctrine which He taught (Joh 18:19; Rev 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 1Jn 2:23.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 Joh 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, 2Jo 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 Joh 1:18; Joh 5:23; Joh 15:23; Joh 17:3; 1Jo 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 Joh 14:7, Joh 14:9-11 notes; 1Jo 2:23 note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Jn 1:9
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ.
The doctrine of Christ
The words doctrine of Christ may signify either that doctrine which Christ taught when He was here on earth, or that doctrine of which Christ is the subject–the doctrine which sets forth the truth concerning Him. I believe it is in the latter sense that the phrase is used here. By doctrine here we are not to understand what that term commonly means as used in the present day, viz., a dogmatic or speculative affirmation of truth. The original word means simply teaching, and it embraces all kinds and matters of teaching–the assertion of facts, the elucidation of beliefs, as well as the affirmation and proof of dogmatic propositions. The doctrine of or concerning Christ, then, here referred to, is the whole body of truth made known to us by Christ and His apostles concerning Him. Now, you will observe that to this the apostle here assigns a supremely important place. A real religion must have a basis in real beliefs. As a fountain which is itself poisoned will not send forth waters that are wholesome, as little will beliefs that are false or erroneous conduct to a religion that is true and beneficent. From this it follows that, as Christianity is offered to men as the only true religion, its teachers are shut up to the necessity of requiring the belief of the facts and truths upon which it is founded as the indispensable condition of a mans receiving the benefits of this religion or being recognised as a true professor of it. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. The apostle regards the doctrine of Christ as coming to us under Divine authority, as a command to which we are bound to submit, and consequently he speaks of all departures from the truth thus binding on us as transgressions.
I. The grand fundamental fact of Christianity is The incarnation, the assumption by the Second Person of the Trinity of human nature into personal union with the Divine, the manifestation of God in the flesh of man. This is a great mystery which we cannot comprehend or explain. The fact transcends human reason, and therefore never could have been discovered by human reason, which can no more rise above itself than the eagle can outsoar the atmosphere in which it floats. But, though reason cannot discover this, the history of mans efforts after a religion give ample proof that this is a felt necessity of the human soul. How can the weak and sinful come before the All-perfect? How can the finite enter into relation with the Infinite? How can the weak voice of man be heard across that tremendous gulf which yawns between him, the creature of a day, and the Eternal? Who shall bring God nigh to him? His soul cries out after a Living, a Personal, an Incarnate God. This shows that the fact of an Incarnation is not foreign to our nature; nay, that it is felt by the human consciousness to be essential to religion. And this great want the doctrine of Christ alone supplies. God manifest in the flesh is the solution of mans sorest difficulty as a religious being, the grand accomplished fact on which he can securely rest in his approaches to God.
II. Another fundamental truth of Christianity is the Atonement. That in some sense it is only through Christ that we can come unto God so as to be accepted of Him, is admitted on all hands by those who profess to be Christians. Now, no attentive reader of the New Testament can fail to see that that on which stress is everywhere laid in this respect is Christs offering Himself as a ransom and sacrifice for men. He has taken our sins upon Him, and by His obedience unto death hath removed the obstacle which our sin placed in the way of our acceptance with the Father. And thus has He made atonement for us. Now, this also meets an acknowledged and widely felt want of man. Everywhere, and in all ages, man is seen acting upon the principle that some satisfaction must be rendered to the Divine justice before man can be accepted by God. Man, conscious of guilt, condemned at the bar of his own conscience, has asked himself the question, How shall man be just before God? Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? That it is with something he must appear is a settled point; the only question is, What shall that be? And the only answer he has been able to find to this is that which tradition has handed down from the earliest times, namely, sacrifice–in which the offering up of an animal to the Deity was an acknowledgment that the sin of man deserved death, and a petition that a substitute might be accepted for him. Now, what all men thus feel they want, the Scriptures tell us Christ has supplied. He offered for us a real and all-sufficient atonement when He offered up Himself. He took on Him our sins, He bore them away, made an end of sins, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness. Man, with his conscious weakness and his deep wants, finds here at length that which meets his wants, satisfies his conviction and gives peace to his conscience, so that he is filled with a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. (W.L. Alexander, D. D.)
Whosoever goeth onward
(R.V.) 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 anti-Christian gnostics were advanced thinkers; the gospel was all very well for the unenlightened, but they knew something higher. (Cambridge Bible for Schools.)
The law of self-restraint
This ninth verse appears to contain one of the counsels that occurred to the apostle, as he thought on the one hand of youthful impulsiveness and love of novelty, and on the other of the fascinations that are wont to attach to dubious doctrines and to evil deeds. Its real meaning may be seen in the rendering of the Revised Version. St. John wrote, not whosoever transgresseth (for he was not thinking of general breaches of the law of God), but specifically whosoever goeth onward, and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God. If that be taken in connection with the preceding verse, where a man is represented as through half-heartedness, losing whatever he has gained, the unexpected but important lesson is obtained, that to advance over-eagerly and to hang back are alike violations of duty.
I. The first thing to avoid is over-eagerness. Whosoever goeth onward (at too great a rate, it means, or impelled by a hot fancy that has broken away from every restraint) hath not God. It is possible to imagine that the phrase might be interpreted in a different way, as denoting that all progress in the statement or application of religious truths is for ever barred, and that the incapacity or the refusal to see in them any other bearings than have been found in the past must be classed amongst the virtues. But with such teaching no sympathy can be found in the Bible. The body of revealed truth is not a dictionary, and when Christ teaches, He teaches free men, providing them not with endless minute rules which they must mechanically follow, but with great principles which they must use their own wits in interpreting and their own responsible skill in applying. The germs of religious truth will be perpetually unfolding themselves, expanding into new conceptions of the glory of God and of the spiritual privileges possible to man; and through all the future, one of the rewards of loyalty to Christ is to be that the loyal will be continually advancing in Christian thought, ever more completely knowing as they are known. To make this or similar paragraphs, therefore, an old mans protest against progress, or an apology for intolerance, is to sin against the entire Scripture. The warning is against needless progress, a progress that is suicidal and unworthy the name, the impulsiveness and the haste that ignore all the restraints of reason. It is more than doubtful whether any Christian can get to know much about God, unless he be stirred by an ambition to know, or can make much progress in personal religion, unless he be taken possession of by the ambition to be made like his Saviour. The mistake is in allowing the ambition to separate itself from Christ, and, as men say, to run away with them, so that no influence from above or from within can withhold them from extravagance, but the force of every reasonable restraint is broken. Of the serious mistakes, in matters of opinion and in matters of practice, to which this over-eagerness leads, the disposition that sweeps onwards under the dominancy of a single idea, and consents neither to look back upon the point from which it started, nor to glance around at the facts with which relations should be maintained, there are instances enough. One man, for instance, is led to no good result by his own investigations into Gods existence, and quickly pronounces that all such investigations must prove sterile, and founds an entire system upon the alleged impossibility of attaining any certainty in certain branches of knowledge.
II. At the other extreme there is the equal, perhaps the more common fault of hanging back, and so, as the apostle teaches, gradually letting slip and losing every beneficent truth and every holy privilege we have gained. It is a fault that goes by many names–half-heartedness, colourlessness, lack of principle, of decision, of earnestness; but there can he no doubt that it is one of the most prevalent defects in the modern Church, tending throughout the Christian world to destroy the force and very vitality of personal religion. The fashion is to hold opinions and views that are as colourless as possible, and carefully to refrain from committing oneself to anything; to remember that every question has so many sides that life is not long enough for men to examine them all, and that therefore a man should not venture to be positive about anything. Accordingly men compromise with obligation, hesitate in their allegiance to truth, and make a disposition to hang back, and a lack of thoroughness in opinion and in practice, the most prominent feature of their lives. There can be no question as to the effect. The man who hangs back, permitting his convictions to become indefinite, and his sense of duty to die down into silent weakness, must in reason hold himself responsible for so much of the evil in the world as is done, because he provides the opportunity, or at least removes the hindrance. But that is not all. Let a man try to discover the reason why his progress in religion is slow, why he does not throw off evil habits that have disturbed him for years, why his influence for good in his own neighbourhood is so limited and uncertain; and he will generally, though not always, find that the secret of it all is his own half-heartedness, the superficiality of his religion.
III. Those being the faults at either extreme against which the apostle warns us, The conclusion is obvious, that the best and most perfect Christian life is one in which both are avoided, and the path midway between the two is trodden. The ideal Christian life, according to this old apostle, is one in which the progress of the fancy in regard to religious truth or duty is restrained by the reins of a sanctified reason, in which all backwardness is for ever prevented by thorough religious earnestness. There is a tendency at times to imagine that such matters are merely a question of temperament; that the vivacious man will be certain to go forward, and the languid man to hang back; and that neither can be held responsible for faults that arise from the peculiarities of their very natures. But that is not the way in which the Bible looks at the matter. To plead personal temperament in excuse for the habit of over-eagerness or of backwardness, is to overlook the grace of God. But it is well to look a little more closely at the reasonableness and advantage of maintaining this intermediate position between the two extremes. That it avoids on the one hand presumptuous positiveness concerning everything, and on the other the faltering that turns religious conviction and obligation into matters for compromise, is in itself a sufficient, but far from the only, commendation. It is also the course that should be adopted, the state of mind that is most defensible and helpful, in relation to the fluctuations of religious opinion and the controversies that periodically shake the kingdom of God. In the department of Christian service similarly, most men will agree that the best human qualifications for doing it well are not over-eagerness, still less backwardness, but steady earnestness or well-controlled zeal. The man who in his work hangs back, never manages to get much done; and the man who is always apt to go a little too far forward, is also always apt to miss his mark, and to awaken in others suspicions of his discretion that seriously weaken his influence. The strongest man is he whose enthusiasm is disciplined by self-control, whose devotion to Christ is whole-hearted and well-nigh incapable of increase, but yet is closely regulated by a sanctified reason, and thus made provident of its resources and unalterable in its purposes. In all associated warfare or service, the perfect heart of devotion is good, but waste and failure follow unless there is also the power to keep rank. But the teaching of the verse applies quite as much to personal religious life as it does to service or to opinions; and what it urges as the condition of swift progress to the highest spiritual attainments, is that the spirit and the life should be, as it were, ringed round with the teaching of Christ, never advancing far forward from the neighbourhood of Him, never drifting far behind, but keeping day by day as closely as possible within the circle which His influence fills. If he be tempted to advance beyond the Saviour, the master-passion of love for Him will hold him back; or if he be tempted to linger behind, the love will draw him on. A more blessed kind of life no man can conceive; and that becomes our kind of life, according as we crush out the disposition to regulate our ways in independence of Christ, and pour our hearts upon Him in continuous trustfulness. (R. W. Moss.)
Doctrine and character
Some one may say, Oh, I do not want doctrines, I look at doctrines as so many dry bones. True, we may compare doctrines to bones, but they are like the bones in your body, and they need not be dry. The skeleton is not a live body, it is true, but what would that body be without the skeleton? In the natural world there are living creatures that have no vertebrae, and they consist of a soft gelatinous mass, very yielding and compressible. And in the moral world there are those whose religion is of the same sentimental kind. They are accommodating, because it has no backbone. How different is that religion from the robust Christianity that we see exemplified in the Apostle Paul! He taught that the framework of definite truth or doctrine was essentially the strength and stability of the Christian character. (E. H. Hopkins, B. A.)
Error affects conduct
As a small mistake in levelling an arrow at the hand makes a great difference at the mark, so a small mistake in the notion of truth makes a wide difference in the practice of the ungodly. (E. H. Hopkins, B. A.)
Abide in the doctrine of Christ
The text itself consists of two general parts, a negative and an affirmative. We begin with the first, viz., the negative, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth, etc., which is a censure of all such persons as do withdraw from the doctrine of Christ. First, no knowledge of God without Christ, because it is He that manifests Him (Job 1:18). Secondly, no knowledge of God neither out of Christ, because it is He that represents Him: as we cannot look upon the sun directly. So that those who deny the doctrine of Christ, they have not God. First, in point of knowledge. Secondly, they have not God neither in point of worship. God out of Christ is an idol, as to any true adoration of Him, or religious service exhibited to Him. This is true both in regard of the object of worship, as also in regard of the medium. Thirdly, they have not God in point of interest, they have not that relation to God as is desirable for them. They have God indeed in the common relation of a Creator. But they have not God as a God in covenant. Those that think to come to God upon the terms of nature and common providence they will have little comfort in such approaches; for God considered out of Christ He is a consuming fire. Lastly, they have not God, i.e., they have Him not in point of influence. And that according to all these kind of influences which are to be desired, and those benefits which are of the greatest concernment. As first, of grace and holiness; they have not God to sanctify them and to communicate His Holy Spirit unto them. God is the God of all grace, but it is God in Christ; He is the channel of the grace of God unto us in all the several kinds and particulars of it wherein it is communicated. We must rightly understand this method and order which God has set for the conveying of saving grace unto us. We have not grace from the Spirit immediately but from the Spirit in reference to Christ. Secondly, as not to the influences of grace so neither to the influences of comfort; no true comfort or peace of conscience but from God in Christ; He is our peace, both in the thing itself as also in the discovery and manifestation of it. The spirit of comfort, it is of His sending and comes from Him. He that hath not Christ and His Spirit, he hath not God to comfort him. Thirdly, as to matter of salvation, not God to save him. There is no salvation out of Christ (Act 4:12). And thus we have the point in the several explications of it, wherein it holds good unto us, that he that transgresseth, that is, rejects the doctrine of Christ, he hath not God. The use and improvement of this point by way of application: First, it comes home to sundry sorts of persons who are hence concluded in a very sad condition. This is so much the more grievous as it is the less thought of and expected; for these persons which we have now mentioned, they make a full account they have God whatever they have else. At least they have Him not in that way and to that purpose for which they would have Him. They have God to judge them, but they have not God to save them. Therefore we see what cause we have to pity and to bewail such persons as these are. Here is the misery of all unregenerate persons; these come under this censure likewise, who though they should hold this doctrine in judgment, yet deny it in affection and practice; forasmuch as they do not submit to the power and efficacy of it. Therefore in the second place, let us make this use of the point, even to acknowledge Christ and His doctrine and the grace of God which is revealed in it. First, this conveyance of all good to us in the covenant of grace and in the name of Christ, it is the safest and surest dispensation. We are now upon very good terms which we may rest upon. If salvation with the appurtenances of it had been in any other hands besides we had not been so sure of it. Secondly, there is the sweetness of it also; there is a great deal of delightfulness also in it if we were capable of it; to see everything coming to us, strained through the love of God in Christ; it is wonderful pleasing and satisfying, and the heart of a true believer does exceedingly rejoice in it. The second is of unworthy recession in apostacy or departure from it, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. He that abides not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. First, as to matter of judgment: here is a censure upon declining in this; for any that have formerly embraced Christ and His doctrine to depart from it thus, it is a business of great danger to them and does exclude them from interest in God Himself. But secondly, as this may be extended to matter of judgment, so likewise to matter of practice. A man may in some sort abide in Christs doctrine so as to give assent and credence to it, and yet not abide in it so as to improve it and to live answerable to it. Therefore this must be taken in likewise together with the other; then do we indeed abide in it when it abides in us and has an influence and efficacy upon us. The second is laid down in the affirmative, He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. The sum of all is this, that he that hath not both, hath neither; and he that hath one, hath both. This having may admit of a threefold interpretation. First, hath them in him, by way of abode and habitation. Secondly, hath them with him, by way of society and communion. Thirdly, hath them for him, by way of assistance and approbation. ( T. Horton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth] . He who passes over the sacred enclosure, or goes beyond the prescribed limits; and abideth not in the doctrine-does not remain within these holy limits, but indulges himself either in excesses of action or passion; hath not God for his Father, nor the love of God in his heart.
Hath both the father and the Son.] He who abideth in the doctrine of Christ, his body is a temple of the Holy Trinity, and he has communion with the Father as his Father, and with the Son as his Saviour and Redeemer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See 1Jo 2:23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Theloss(2Jo1:8)meant is here explained: the nothaving God,which results from abidingnot in the doctrine of Christ.
transgresseth The oldest manuscripts and versions read, Every one who takesthe lead;literally, goes, or leads on before; compare Joh10:4,He goeth before them (not the same Greek).Compare 3Jo1:9,Loveth to have the pre-eminence.
hathnot God (1Jo2:23;1Jo5:15).The second of Christ is omitted in the oldest manuscripts, butis understood in the sense.
He emphatical: Heand He alone.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whosoever goeth onward ( ). “Every one who goes ahead. literally means to go on before (Mr 11:9). That in itself is often the thing to do, but here the bad sense comes out by the parallel clause.
And abideth not in the teaching of Christ ( ). Not the teaching about Christ, but that of Christ which is the standard of Christian teaching as the walk of Christ is the standard for the Christian’s walk (1Jo 2:6). See John 7:16; John 18:19. These Gnostics claimed to be the progressives, the advanced thinkers, and were anxious to relegate Christ to the past in their onward march. This struggle goes on always among those who approach the study of Christ. Is he a “landmark” merely or is he our goal and pattern? Progress we all desire, but progress toward Christ, not away from him. Reactionary obscurantists wish no progress toward Christ, but desire to stop and camp where they are. “True progress includes the past” (Westcott). Jesus Christ is still ahead of us all calling us to come on to him.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Whosoever transgresseth [ ] . The best texts read proagwn 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, pav every one, with the article and participle, see on 1Jo 3:3.
Abideth – in [ ] . See on 1Jo 2:6.
Doctrine [] . Better, as Rev., teaching.
Of Christ. Not the teaching concerning Christ, but the teaching of Christ Himself and of His apostles. See Heb 2:3. So according to New Testament usage. See Joh 18:19; Act 2:12; Rev 2:14, 15. In the doctrine of Christ. Omit of Christ. Didach teaching, is used thus absolutely, Rom 16:17; Tit 1:9.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Whosoever transgresseth “ This term means the one (anyone) going headlong, disregarding an expressed standard of right. 1Jn 3:4.
2) “And abideth not in the doctrine of Christ” or does not remain in the teachings of Christ, going beyond or coming short of, or departing from His teachings, doctrinally or morally to the right or the left Jos 1:7; Psa 1:4-6.
3) “Hath not God” does not have or hold God in his walk, or course of life – “by their fruits ye shall know them.” Mat 7:15-23. Morality and good works do not save, but they are evident fruit in one who is saved.
4) “He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ”. The one (anyone) continuously (Greek menon) progressively remaining in the teaching of Christ, through love’s walk, certifies or verifies that he has salvation. He is safe in Christ, as Christ is, in God the Father. Joh 10:28-30; Joh 17:19-21.
5) “He hath both the Father and the Son.” To abide, remain in, the teaching of Jesus Christ, is to have and furnish visible and valid testimony that one is saved, possessed by the Father and the Son. 1Jn 3:22; 1Jn 3:24.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. Transgresseth Rather, Whosoever goeth before or leadeth. That is, every one that sets up as leader, and abideth not in the realistic doctrine of Christ. Hath not the true
God Who is the Father of Christ, and of us in the gospel.
Both the Father and the Son The same distinctness as in 2Jn 1:3, and for the same reason. The Docetist, who idealized Christ, would be prone to idealize God, and be a pantheist; or he might accept Jove, and be a pagan. But as he destroyed the true Son, so he destroyed the true Father. Christianity evaporated when Christ was idealized.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Jn 1:9. Whosoever transgresseth, Instances of expressing the same thought, both negatively and positively, abound in the first epistle of St. John; (see ch. 2Jn 1:5.) and not only the sentiments, but many of the words of this verse are contained in the first epistle. The doctrine of Christ means the pure Christian doctrine mentioned, 2Jn 1:7.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Jn 1:9 brings out clearly the importance of abiding in the truth
2Jn 1:9
2Jn 1:9 brings out clearly the importance of abiding in the truth.
] and form a natural antithesis; in the neuter sense: “ to advance farther ,” signifies here in reference to : “ 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. means: “to pass by anything;” we must supply along with it either (according to the analogy of , Mat 15:3 ), or ( ) ; comp. Act 1:25 : ( Rec. ) ; it is clearly unwarrantable to supply the idea out of 2Jn 1:7 .
] comp. Joh 8:31 : ; 2Ti 3:14 .
is not the objective (Sander, Ebrard, etc.), but the subjective genitive (Dsterdieck, Ewald, Braune); the doctrine which, proceeding from Christ, was proclaimed by the apostles.
] comp. 1Jn 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 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 , which is the cause of changing to . [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 1Jn 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.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 9. Hath not God ] And so consequently hath nothing. Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia, He hath all that hath the haver of all. (Aug.) But sine Deo omnis copia est egestas, Plenty without God becomes penury. (Bern.) The wicked, for want of God, in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits, Job 20:22 ; as he that hath God for his portion, in the fulness of his straits is in a sufficiency.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 .] Explanation of this loss , that it is the non-possession of God, which is incurred by all who abide not in Christ’s teaching. Every one that goeth before ( you ) (such I believe to be the meaning of the somewhat difficult : every one who would set up for a teacher, , as Joh 10:4 , and they following. The expositors who take this reading interpret it, “goeth forward too fast,” “maketh false and unsound advance,” regarding it, either as ironical (so Huther), or as serious (so Dsterdieck)), and not abiding in the doctrine of Christ (i. e. in Christ’s doctrine, that truth which Christ Himself taught. This is far more likely than that the gen. should be objective, as Bengel (“in doctrina, qu Jesum docet esse filium Dei”), Lcke, Sander, al.: and thus we have the personal gen. after wherever it occurs in the N. T.: cf. Mat 7:28 [1] , Mar 4:2 , Joh 18:19 , Act 2:42 , al. fr.), hath not God (see 1Jn 2:23 ; 1Jn 5:12 , notes): he that abideth in the doctrine, that man hath both the Father and the Son (see as above. The order in the text is the theological one, the Father being mentioned first, then the Son. That in [2] &c. (see digest) is the logical and contextual one, seeing that the test is, abiding in the doctrine of Christ. Thus he has Christ, and through Him, the Father).
[1] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
[2] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 : as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50 , to , Joh 8:52 . It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria; it does not, however, in the Gospels , represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Jn 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.”
: the Corinthians (see Introd. pp. 156 f.) boasted of their enlightenment. They were “progressives,” “advanced thinkers”. , the teaching which recognises Jesus as the Christ (see note on 1Jn 4:1-2 ), i.e. the Messiah, the Saviour. , i.e. according to His true nature as the Father manitested in the Son ( ). It is necessary not merely to believe in God but to believe in Him “through Christ” (1Pe 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. Mat 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.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
transgresseth. App-128. The texts read “goeth before”, Greek. proago. See 1Ti 1:18; 1Ti 5:24. Heb 7:18. This refers to false teachers who claimed to bring some higher teaching, beyond the apostle’s doctrine. Compare 1Ti 6:3. 2Ti 1:13; 2Ti 3:14.
abideth. See “dwelleth”, 2Jn 1:2.
Christ. App-98.
of Christ. The texts omit.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] Explanation of this loss, that it is the non-possession of God, which is incurred by all who abide not in Christs teaching. Every one that goeth before (you) (such I believe to be the meaning of the somewhat difficult : every one who would set up for a teacher, , as Joh 10:4, and they following. The expositors who take this reading interpret it, goeth forward too fast, maketh false and unsound advance, regarding it, either as ironical (so Huther), or as serious (so Dsterdieck)), and not abiding in the doctrine of Christ (i. e. in Christs doctrine,-that truth which Christ Himself taught. This is far more likely than that the gen. should be objective, as Bengel (in doctrina, qu Jesum docet esse filium Dei), Lcke, Sander, al.: and thus we have the personal gen. after wherever it occurs in the N. T.: cf. Mat 7:28 [1], Mar 4:2, Joh 18:19, Act 2:42, al. fr.), hath not God (see 1Jn 2:23; 1Jn 5:12, notes): he that abideth in the doctrine, that man hath both the Father and the Son (see as above. The order in the text is the theological one, the Father being mentioned first, then the Son. That in [2] &c. (see digest) is the logical and contextual one, seeing that the test is, abiding in the doctrine of Christ. Thus he has Christ, and through Him, the Father).
[1] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
[2] The MS. referred to by this symbol is that commonly called the Alexandrine, or CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. It once belonged to Cyrillus Lucaris, patriarch of Alexandria and then of Constantinople, who in the year 1628 presented it to our King Charles I. It is now in the British Museum. It is on parchment in four volumes, of which three contain the Old, and one the New Testament, with the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. This fourth volume is exhibited open in a glass case. It will be seen by the letters in the inner margin of this edition, that the first 24 chapters of Matthew are wanting in it, its first leaf commencing , ch. Mat 25:6 :-as also the leaves containing , Joh 6:50,-to , Joh 8:52. It is generally agreed that it was written at Alexandria;-it does not, however, in the Gospels, represent that commonly known as the Alexandrine text, but approaches much more nearly to the Constantinopolitan, or generally received text. The New Testament, according to its text, was edited, in uncial types cast to imitate those of the MS., by Woide, London, 1786, the Old Testament by Baber, London, 1819: and its N.T. text has now been edited in common type by Mr. B. H. Cowper, London, 1861. The date of this MS. has been variously assigned, but it is now pretty generally agreed to be the fifth century.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Jn 1:9. , he who transgresseth) from perfidy.- , in the doctrine of Christ) in the doctrine which teaches that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.-) he, I say.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
transgresseth
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”) .
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
abideth not: Joh 15:6, 1Jo 2:22-24
the doctrine: Joh 7:16, Joh 7:17, Act 2:42, Col 3:16, Tit 2:10, Heb 6:1
hath not: Mat 11:27, Luk 10:22, Joh 5:23, Joh 14:6
He that: Heb 3:14
he hath: 1Jo 1:3
Reciprocal: Mat 10:40 – and he that Joh 1:34 – this Joh 8:19 – if Joh 8:47 – General Joh 15:4 – Abide Joh 15:23 – General Joh 20:31 – these Act 13:43 – persuaded 1Co 14:6 – doctrine 2Co 1:3 – the Father of our 2Co 1:19 – the Son Phi 1:18 – and I Col 2:6 – received Col 3:11 – but Col 4:10 – receive 1Ti 1:3 – charge 1Ti 3:9 – the mystery 1Ti 4:6 – good doctrine 1Ti 4:16 – unto the 2Ti 3:10 – my 1Jo 2:23 – denieth 1Jo 5:12 – that hath the Rev 2:6 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
TEST OF PERMANENCE IN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
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.
2Jn 1:9 (R.V.)
The time we live in is a time of widespread religious unsettlement. It would, indeed, be hard to exaggerate the uncertainty of belief in many classes of society. This is due in part to what is our weaknessthat the faculty of criticism far outruns the constructive faculty of our minds; and that in a period of diffused education the materials of criticism are presented to all kinds of minds and are sufficient to overturn positive beliefs without leading on to any reconstruction.
Since so many things have been taught as Christian truth, and afterwards proved false or uncertain, how do I propose to distinguish essential Christianity from the variable or uncertain or false accompaniments to it?
I. The test of authority.The first and to some minds the most obvious test is that of authority in its broadest sense. There has been a common, a universal faith of Christendom, which has, most authoritatively, expressed itself in the Catholic Creeds, the Apostles and the Nicene Creeds. There are features in the common faith which are only slightly or by implication touched on in these formulas of faith; but at least in what they contain they represent what has been universal Christianity.
II. The test of history.If the Creeds stand, with their historical and doctrinal statements, it must be because the Gospels stand. No fair historical criticism can dissolve the force of the historical evidence we have to such propositions as the following: that Jesus Christ was, and knew Himself to be, sinless in the midst of a sinful world of which He came to be the Saviour; that, moreover, He encouraged in His disciples towards Himself and claimed from them the sort of allegiance and faith which only God can rightly claim and which can only be rendered without impiety to God; that He worked miracles which no reasoning can allow us to ascribe to anything else than the creative power of God working with Him to authorise His teaching; that after His death and burial His tomb was found empty on the third (or, as we should say, the second) day, and His disciples were raised from despondency and despair to a sure faith and confident hope by repeated manifestations of Himself risen, in a body transformed and spiritualised, but the same. Further, I see the best reasons for thinking that in the early circle of believers the fact of our Lords birth of a Virgin was believed on the evidence of the only first-hand witnesses, Joseph and Mary, and that it is Joseph and Mary whose testimony is embodied in the first and third Gospels. I believe, therefore, that the faith of the Creeds is supported by free inquiry into historical facts.
III. The test of rational coherence.The whole set of ideas about sin and redemption and the Incarnation and the Trinity which belonged to the Catholic Creeds, and are the commonplaces of historical Christianity, cohere and are practically indissoluble. It suggests what I am sure is true, that to abandon our maintenance of miracles as an integral part of our creed, is simply due to lack of perception. In fact, the writers who ask for the particular surrender make it manifest enough that what they are asking for is something much more than a single surrender; it is the substitution of one whole set of ideas for another. And if we examine wherein lies the secret of the difference between the Catholic and the Unitarian set of ideas, we shall find it in the different views of what sin is and what it needs. The deeper, severer view of sin is the clue to the whole Catholic sequence of ideas.
IV. In an age of change and criticism and new knowledge, what are we to regard as permanent Christianity?What are we to regard as the permanent faith for which we are to contend to deathany advance out of which, to use St. Johns phrase, is only advance along a road which separates from God and Christ? I reply, first of all the faith summarised and expressed in the Catholic Creedsthat faith in God and man and mans destiny; in the Incarnation and the Person of Christ and the accompanying miracles, and the eternal Triune Being of God disclosed in Christs revelation. And my reason is, because in a remarkable manner it obeys all those three tests which I may restate in a different order. And if the mind is already furnished with the ideas which render it susceptible of the evidence, it will not fail to find the evidence convincing.
Bishop Gore.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Jn 1:9. This and the following verse is written in view of the warning expressed in verse 8. John is giving this group some instructions on how to detect false teachers. 01 course the principles laid down are general in their application and should be observed by churches today. To transgress means to go beyond something, or go farther than it indicates. The particular thing that John means is expressed by the words doctrine of Christ. The word “to go beyond” offered above as a definition of transgress is confirmed by the words in this verse, namely, abideth not in; the man who does this hath not God. This is logical and consistent with other passages in the New Testament. God is to be found in His word only as far as salvation is concerned, hence if a man leaves the word it necessarily follows that he leaves God. The doctrine of Christ cannot be restricted to the teaching that He gives in person, for he is not on the earth now and was not when John was writing. In Joh 13:20 Jesus says: “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” This shows that the doctrine of Christ includes the teaching of the apostles and all others who are inspired.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Jn 1:9. Whosoever goeth forward, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. This seems beyond doubt the true reading, and the verse thus becomes one of the utmost importance and interest. To abide in the doctrine of Christ is to remain content with His teaching or what He teaches; to go beyond it is to follow an imaginary development, and affect to be wiser than the Master Himself. The penalty is an awful one: one step beyond the commandment received in the beginning leads to the loss of God.
But he that abideth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son: the change is in St. Johns manner, from God generally to the Father and the Son. The Lord Himself declared that all things were delivered unto Him for the instruction of men; and the all things He explained as the knowledge of the Father through the Son (Mat 11:27). On this rests the whole doctrine or doctrinal system of the Church, afterwards spoken of generally as the doctrine.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The character given of the gospel, it is the doctrine of Christ: that is, the doctrine relating to Christ, and the doctrine taught by Christ.
Observe, 2. What is affirmed of those that apostatize from, and abide not in, the doctrine of Christ, they have not God; that is, say some, they have not God to be their Father, nor the Spirit to be their guide and sanctifier; they have, say others, no knowledge of God, no interest in God, no influences of grace and holiness derived from God.
Observe, 3. The happy condition of those that abide in the doctrine of Christ, they have both the Father and the Son: he that has one, hath both; and he that has not both, has neither: and this having may admit a threefold interpretation, thus; he has the Father and the Son: by way of abode and inhabitation; he dwelleth in God, and God in him; they have the Father and the Son with them by way of society and communion, We will come unto them, and make our abode with them.
Lastly, They have the Father and the Son, by way of assistance and approbation; they have God to assist them, to accept them, to reward them.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 9
In the doctrine of Christ; in the belief and obedience of Christ.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The picture in John’s mind seems to have been that of a Christian who, the false teachers said, did not have the whole truth. It is common even today for false teachers to claim that those who do not agree with them are still intellectual infants. However, John regarded that "infantile" position as proper for the Christian (cf. Mat 10:16). If his readers advanced beyond it, they would really step out of the truth into error. John warned his readers of the danger of apostasy, namely, forsaking truth to embrace error (cf. 1Jn 2:23-24).
John’s use of "abide" indicates that he spoke of a vital personal relationship with God that comes with adherence to the truth, not just dead doctrinal orthodoxy (cf. Joh 8:31; Joh 14:21-23; Joh 15:1-7).
The teaching "of Christ" could be the teaching that Christ gave (subjective genitive), "the standard of Christian teaching," [Note: Ibid., 6:254.] or the teaching about Christ (objective genitive). Perhaps John meant both things.