My Thoughts on John's Admonition to an Elderly Lady

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It's very easy to ignore books in the Bible with only one chapter, right? I was thinking about the letter of John to an unknown elderly lady. Perhaps, this woman was faithful but was under persecution so she wasn't named. The Bible is rather silent about who she is and her circumstances. The letter had a commendation and an admonition. 
7 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. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 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. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

The unknown elderly woman was admonished probably because she had received false teachers into her house. This is a very dangerous thing. It was already dangerous enough for Jehoshaphat to seek an alliance with the House of Ahab. Ahab's daughter Athaliah was even bloodier than her mother Jezebel. An unequal yoke is obviously dangerous!
2 Corinthians 6:14 
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

The whole principle is not to be equally yoked with unbelievers. Marriage with an unbeliever is not the only way to be caught in that unequal yoke. Another is doing business ventures with someone who is obviously unsaved. Jehoshaphat suffered much material loss as a result of God's chastising for having financial transactions with the wicked house of Ahab. The prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, in 2nd Chronicles 19 had the duty to rebuke Jehoshaphat of helping the ungodly and loving (in the wrong way) those that hate the LORD. Receiving false teachers into your house is really a dangerous thing!

Vernon McGee also comments that this unknown elderly woman may have been very outstanding. Why he kept her name secret is probably because God it. I can't be certain but that's just what I think. I will only know in eternity about it. It's possible that the Gnostics of her day were entertained by her. John then wrote to her as a concerned brother-in-Christ, rebuked her of her error.

The very life lesson is that I shouldn't be entertaining false teachers. I find myself in that compromise every now and then. Why should I be entertaining such people who are obviously false teachers? There's the call to investigate. I once thought the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Iglesia ni Cristo were Christians until an Anabaptist TV program I used to watch warned me about them. Although I no longer support the same program because the pastor is a King James Version (KJV) Only extreme - he still had several good doctrines to talk about. Right now, I still use the KJV for most of my readings. I'm still in a way KJV Only but not an extreme KJV Only. However, he was right in warning about Roman Catholicism as well as the so-called Christian groups that outright deny the vital doctrine of the Deity of Christ. Those groups claim to be Christians but deny the Trinity. Christianity has the Trinity as its doctrine - in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

The same rebuke should apply today in the last days - the Laodicean age. Many Christians today are saved, showing fruits of salvation, but aren't bearing as much fruit as they should be bearing. It's something to consider that a lot of Christians today are asking for God's extra pruning and beating by not being so diligent. How are Christians seldom indirectly supporting false preachers? If they are bidding him Godspeed (as the KJV translates it) or as the English Standard Version (ESV) renders it as "greets him" and the New International Version (NIV) renders it as "welcomes them" - such persons already become an accomplice even if it's indirectly.

This has me thinking about a limit to hospitality in regards to John's brotherly rebuke to an elderly lady. A Christian is obliged to help others in need but what if that person in need is a dangerous criminal? I was thinking about granting shelter while handing over the injured crook to the police. It would also be good to grant hospitality to unbelievers but being careful not to mingle in their sinfulness. This would be a sound command to Christians today regarding not to be become too hospitable to the point of becoming a doormat.

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