What is the Doctrine of Christ in II John 9-11?
By Kerry Duke
In this age of great controversy and turbulence in the church, the meaning of II John 9-11 is a hotly debated issue. John wrote:
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. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Violating this doctrine is serious. One who does so does not have God, and one who supports or encourages him partakes of his evil teaching. This passage is basic in the discussion of Christian fellowship.
What is "the doctrine of Christ"? Is it the doctrine Christ teaches or the doctrine about Christ? Put it another way, is it the teaching of the New Testament in general, or is it limited to the specific doctrine of Christ’s deity? If it is the New Testament in general, then we are forbidden to fellowship those who teach falsely on any one of a number of points. But if it only refers to the teaching concerning Jesus’ deity, then this passage only forbids us to fellowship those who deny that Jesus was deity manifested in the flesh. The difference between these interpretations is great; thus, the meaning of "the doctrine of Christ" has enormous practical application.
"The doctrine of Christ" in II John 9 is the teaching of Jesus through the inspired writers of the New Testament. "The doctrine of Christ" is the same as "the apostles’ doctrine" (Acts 2:42), "the gospel" (Gal. 2:14), "the truth" (I Pet. 1:22), "the new testament" (Heb. 9:15), and a number of other equivalent expressions. It includes but is not limited to the doctrine that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh.
What is the proof of this claim? How can "the doctrine of Christ" in II John 9 refer to the teaching of Christ as a whole where just two verses earlier John wrote, "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 antichrist" (v.7)? This verse, contrary to the claims of some, is not the central context of the book of II John. It is actually only a sub-point of the larger and more central theme of the book; this will be shown later. Before demonstrating this point, however, it is useful to expose the weakness and inconsistency of arguments commonly used to disprove the idea that "the doctrine of Christ" is simply the doctrine about Christ.
Writers who contend that "the doctrine of Christ" refers to the teaching of the New Testament in general often make the mistake of trying to prove this interpretation solely on the basis of Greek grammar. The Greek for "the doctrine of Christ" is t_ d?da?_ to_ ???sto_. As far as Greek grammar alone is concerned, "of Christ" ( to_ ???sto_) could be either a subjective genitive, which means Christ is the subject who is producing the action signified by the noun (the doctrine or the teaching) or an objective genitive, which means Christ is the object which is receiving the action of the verb signified by the noun (the doctrine or the teaching). For instance, Matthew 11:2 states, "Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples." The "works of Christ" are the works Christ did; this is a subjective genitive. But Paul said Epaphroditus was near death "for the work of Christ" (Phil. 2:30). "The work of Christ" here is the work he did for Christ; this is an objective genitive. Only the context of a particular passage determines which usage is employed. And note that the context is the same in English as it is in Greek. There are no magical signs in the Greek phrase t_ d?da?_ to_ ???sto_. It just means "the doctrine of Christ" – nothing more, nothing less. Yet some brethren claim that the Greek text of II John 9-11 proves that the "doctrine of Christ" is the New Testament in general, citing as many Greek "authorities" as they can find who agree with them without giving contextual proof of their position. They are oblivious to the fact that the only way those Greek "authorities" can determine whether a subjective or an objective genitive is used in II John 9 is the context, not some mysterious grammatical key that unlocks the meaning of the Greek text!
Another well-intended but inadequate way of trying to establish this position is to examine similar constructions elsewhere and to form a conclusion on this information alone without fully consulting the context of the passage in question. This procedure can be helpful, but it must not to be employed to the neglect of the context or to the overriding of the context of the passage at issue. For instance, "his doctrine" (Matt. 4:2; 7:28; 22:33; Mark 1:22; 11:18; Luke 4:32; John 18:19) is literally the doctrine of him, that is, of Christ. This is a subjective genitive: the doctrine Jesus taught. The same is true of "the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matt. 16:12), "the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes" (Lev. 2:15), "my doctrine" (the doctrine of me, John 7:16), and "your doctrine" (the doctrine of you, Acts 5:28). Thus it is true that when the New Testament mentions the doctrine "of" someone, it means in all these passages cited the doctrine which they teach, not the doctrine about them. But this frequency by itself does not prove that the same meaning occurs in II John 9. Each passage must be weighed on its own bases according to its own context. For instance, what is "the preaching of Jesus Christ" in Romans 16:25 – the preaching Jesus did, or the preaching about him? Since the verse says the Roman Christians were established "according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ," it is the preaching about Christ, for the Romans were converted and edified by such preaching, not the actual preaching Jesus did during His lifetime (though Dana and Mantey regard this as a subjective genitive). If "the preaching of Christ" can refer to the preaching about Jesus Christ, then we should not prematurely conclude the usage of "the doctrine of Christ" in a particular passage before we carefully consider the context. We must also admit that a word of phrase can be used in a particular sense in the majority of instances in which it occurs and yet take on a different or a modified meaning in a certain verse because of the context and the way it is used. For instance, "sanctify" often means in the New Testament to set apart someone from sin and the world and into the church. But this cannot be the meaning of Jesus’ words "I sanctify myself" in John 17:19 (or, contrary to the way it is often quoted, in John 17:17, since the disciples had already been set apart from sin). The sanctification of which Jesus speaks is being set apart for a special work. Similarly, "the doctrine of Christ" must be analyzed from the context of II John, not the context of other passages where a similar construction is found.
A far more simple and definitive way of identifying "the doctrine of Christ" is to begin at II John 1, where John twice mentions "the truth." What truth is this? Obviously, "the truth" is that which Jesus promised in John 16:13: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." It is synonymous with "the word," "the gospel, "the doctrine," and other such expressions. It is certainly not limited to the truth concerning Jesus’ deity. The same is true in verse two where John says this truth "dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever." After a greeting in verse three, John introduces the basic theme of the epistle: "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth." The central point of II John is to encourage the Christian walk and to warn against departing from this walk. Verses one through six contain the admonition; verses seven through eleven contain the warning. John is both exhorting them and warning them about the same thing. He is not admonishing them on one point in verses one through six and then warning them about something else in verses seven through eleven. This admonition centers on love in verse five and then explains what this love means in verse six: "And this is love, that we walk after his commandments." The "truth" is "his commandments," not just the doctrine of Jesus deity, but the commandments of God in general.
The key mistake made by those claiming that "the doctrine of Christ" is limited to Jesus’ incarnation is their misunderstanding of the role of verse seven. The verse begins with "For" which means Paul is explaining why the admonition of verse six is so important: "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 antichrist." Walking in God’s commandments is all the more important because of these deceivers. Thus, verse seven is not the main point of the book; it is actually a subpoint of verse six, an explanatory comment on the previous admonition. It is not the focal point of the book or the contextually determining thought of the verses before or after it. Verse eight hearkens back to the admonition of verse six, adding a warning: "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought."
The meaning of "the doctrine of Christ" in verse nine is clear when this warning is seen in context as a contrast with the admonition of verse six. The admonition is to "walk after his commandments" (verse six). What is the opposite of this? It is to "abide not in the doctrine of Christ" (verse nine)! For the contrast to make sense and for the warning to be clear, "the doctrine of Christ" must refer to "his commandments." To "abide in the doctrine of Christ" is to "walk after his commandments"; to "abide not in the doctrine of Christ" is to fail to "walk after his commandments." Thus, the emphasis on "the truth" in the opening verses, the admonition to keep "his commandments" in verse six, and the clear contrast between the walking of verse six and the failure to abide or walk in the doctrine in verse nine clearly demonstrate the meaning of the doctrine of verses nine and ten.
There is a separate inconsistency in the position that "the doctrine of Christ" refers only to Christ being God in the flesh. If only the deity of Jesus is meant by this expression, then are we free to bid God speed to those who deny the personal existence and deity of the Holy Spirit? Can we rightly fellowship those who deny the inspiration of Scripture? Can we bid God speed to one who preaches that Christ was not raised from the dead? The proponents of this view of II John 9 respond to these questions in two ways. One is to say that "the doctrine of Christ" represents the other essentials and includes more than just Jesus’ deity; that is, this expression is a synecdoche, a part that stands for the whole. This defense cites I John 4:2 as a parallel: "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." The confession of this truth obviously includes other essentials. But this defense obviously backfires, because if "the doctrine of Christ" includes other essentials of the faith, then their argument on the application of II John 10-11 falls flat. Another way used by these advocates is to assert that while "the doctrine of Christ" in II John 9 is limited to the deity of Christ, there are other passages which show that there are other essentials that are matters of fellowship. But if they allow this procedure for themselves, why do they forbid those who disagree with them to do the same? Thus, even if one granted for the sake of argument that the interpretation these men have of II John 9 is correct, one still is not forced to limit the application of II John 10-11 to those who deny the deity of Christ, since by their own admission these men do not believe that this doctrine is the only essential or the only matter of fellowship.
We must interpret the Bible as a whole to determining what is and what is not a matter of fellowship. It is clear that a person cannot consistently argue from II John or from the rest of the New Testament that the only false doctrine which should be disfellowshipped is the denial of the person and deity of Jesus Christ.