NOTES for Jo2 1:8

What does the apostle mean when he calls his fellow believers to "watch themselves" so as not to lose the promised reward? What loss is being spoken of? And what exactly must be watched so that everything will be in order?

Judging by the context of the statement, one can think that the matter concerns doctrine, orthodoxy, which must be preserved, otherwise there is a risk of losing the Kingdom, and with it salvation. At first glance, such a call is quite natural: representatives of every religious teaching, and indeed of any other teaching, are always to one degree or another concerned about the purity of their own ranks, including purity, so to speak, of worldview. After all, any religious community needs adherents capable of spreading the teaching and attracting new members. But Christianity is not a religion; it is life in the Kingdom brought into the world by the Savior. To be its inhabitant, one needs faithfulness not to an idea, not to a doctrine, and not to a creed, but to God and Christ, to the Torah and the Gospel. This is a question not so much of views as of practical life, not so much of orthodoxy as of orthopraxy.

But then what do questions of right belief have to do with it? Can they influence that very life in the Kingdom which constitutes the essence of Christianity? It is obvious that if such influence is possible, then only in one aspect: in the aspect of the relationships that bind an inhabitant of the Kingdom with God, with Christ, and with neighbors. A person's relationships with God and neighbors are exhaustively described and regulated by the Torah; the Decalogue is sufficient for them. But relationships with Jesus depend in many respects on whom the person approaching Him sees in Him. Jesus' question, "Who do people say that I am? And who do you say that I am?" is addressed, in essence, to each of us. And one must answer it every time one wants to share a meal with Him during the breaking of bread in the church assembly.

Apparently, already in John's time there were many gnostics in and around the Church for whom Jesus was never a Man, who were ready to see in Him rather an angel or some higher spirit. The spiritual danger here lay not in wrong belief as such, but in the fact that such a view of Jesus made transformation impossible for a person, and therefore participation in the Kingdom impossible, at least in this life. Then both the breaking of bread and the very existence of the Church lost their meaning: after all, according to another apostle's definition, she could in no way be the "body of Christ" in such a case, and in any other capacity she could give a person nothing that the Synagogue could not give him.

Orthodoxy was never needed by the Church in itself; in itself it could be needed only by church structures parasitizing on her. For the Church herself, in fact, it was always necessary only from the point of view of the main question Jesus once asked the apostles: who do you say that I am? Because the very possibility of life in the Kingdom depends on the answer to it. And therefore so does the possibility of salvation.

Today the apostle John reminds us of a rather unpleasant possibility: it turns out that everything we labor over in the Church, our relationship with God, can all be lost. One so wants to sit down and relax... but one cannot. The apostle John says that in order not to lose what has been attained, one must watch oneself. How can this be? Grace is given forever, and God does not take back His gifts... This is true, but not the whole truth. There is not only He who is unchanging, but also we who change, and not always for the better. This is what John is talking about: one must constantly check one's inner state against the basic criterion - His commandments

The truth has already been given to us once and for all, and no one can take it away from us unless we ourselves renounce it. Outwardly, rejecting the truth may not look like directly repudiating it. The sign of faithfulness to the truth is love for God, manifested in keeping His commandments. It is therefore possible to fall away from the truth while acknowledging it in theory but not living in accordance with it.

The deceivers who seek to sow discord among Christians do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. An antichrist, not necessarily the final one, since he may be one of the many “little antichrists,” can call Christ something like a “disembodied spirit,” just as certain heretics denied the reality of His incarnation and called His sufferings on the cross illusory. The deceivers may not confess Christ at all, denying His existence and therefore His coming in the flesh. Finally, they may even acknowledge Him as a real person while denying that He is the Son of God who came in the flesh. In all such cases, this is not about sincere but mistaken people who know nothing of Christ, but about ideologues who set their own false teachings against the Gospel and thereby try to lead believers astray.

The appeal not to associate with such people or even greet them might seem excessive and contrary to the principles of tolerance and neighborliness. But we must remember that this is not about neighbors who have not yet accepted Christ, but about itinerant preachers who make their way to brotherly communities in order to introduce discord and confusion. They have no intention of practicing religious tolerance or of being good and peaceable neighbors. They, too, must be loved, but alas, this is love for enemies.

To defile the gift received from the Lord is worse than never to have had it at all.

Today two texts are read which, at first glance, are striking because their thoughts do not coincide. The Second Epistle of John can be called a pastor's letter to friends, in which he blesses them and informs them of his arrival. In the Gospel text we read about the execution and death of Christ. And after reading these texts it may seem that, after such an execution of the teacher, a group of people continues his work, speaks about what he spoke about, and remembers him. But that is not so. Before His death Jesus says, "My God, My God! Why have You forsaken Me?" And, as if in answer to Christ's words, the apostle writes to a Christian family: "Whoever abides in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son." This points out to us that, in following Christ, we are not alone on this path. Doubts and fears, a feeling of abandonment and confusion, may torment us, but we are guarded and led by Christ. Christ's death proclaimed to us the Resurrection from the dead and the salvation of the world through His sacrifice, through Communion. And as we follow Christ, we must remember His sacrifice and partake of His Holy Mysteries. Lent is a time of constant prayer and of following the path of repentance. During Lent the Church helps the Christian on this path. But the path of repentance always passes through Communion without condemnation, with a pure heart and humility. Let us walk the path of those who followed Him in Galilee, who came to Jerusalem and became silent, suffering witnesses of the execution. And let us approach the bright days of Easter in prayer and in special participation in the works of Christ.