Day 359a: 2 John

Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. (2 John 7)

In John’s later years, the church was in the very early stages of defining the Incarnation – what it meant for God to put on human flesh. One group that spurned the growing consensus of the church and specifically the teachings of John was the Docetics. Docetism insisted that Jesus was pure spirit and only appeared to be flesh. Even after the Docetics were gone, their teachings were adopted by the Gnostics, another heretical group.

By emphasizing Christ as spirit and not flesh, they elevated the importance of spirit and diminished the importance of the body; not only his but ours as well. By extension this implies that what we do physically has no impact on who we are spiritually. Carried to its extreme, this allows for vile indulgence of carnal desires.

For a more subtle effect, consider this in light of the teachings from 1 John. If Jesus did not come in the flesh, but instead was only spirit, how does that influence the teachings about love for God and love for others? John writes that if we love Christ we must 1) obey his teachings; 2) love our brothers and sisters; and 3) love them with our actions, not just our words (from 1 John).

Christ put on flesh. So must our claims of loving Christ and loving others.

How will your love put on flesh this week?