Progress Isn't Always Good - July 18 Reading: 2 John

Today’s Readings

Context

There is little about this epistle that not debated by scholars. Who wrote it? When was it written? To whom was it written? The author identifies himself as "the elder" and writes to the "elect lady and her children." The strongest traditions assign the book to John, the son of Zebedee, the author of the gospel and also the first (and third) epistles. This seems the most likely.

Who is the elect lady? The majority see that as a reference to the church, the bride of Christ, chosen as the people of God. Some believe this is a reference to a particular lady and some even believe that "electa kyria" (elect lady) is not a designation but an actual name. A few have even suggested that the book was written to Mary, the mother of Jesus and that her children were the earthly siblings of Jesus. Again, the majority is probably right and the church is the lady. The children are the people in the church.

The purpose of this book is easier to determine. As with the first epistle, John writes to combat the spread of docetic or gnostic Christianity, which denied that Jesus was actually born in the flesh. He continues to balance the love of one another in the Body of Christ and the importance of discernment, especially where the person and work of Christ are at stake. 

Devotional

It is one of my favorites of the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." One of the first stops in the epic adventure takes Prince Caspian and his band to an island where they are captured and enslaved. The island has become a haven for slave traders. Caspian is freed and marshals his forces to free his friends and the entire island. When he confronts Governor Gumpas about the slave trade and demands it be stopped, Gumpas responds,

But that would be putting the clock back," gasped the Governor. "Have you no idea of progress, of development?"

Prince Caspian's rejoinder is brilliant, demonstrating CS Lewis' absolute mastery of metaphor.

"I have seen them both in an egg," said Caspian. "We call it Going bad in Narnia. This trade must stop."

Obviously, some progress is good - we are not called to be curmudgeons, to live in the past or to oppose anything new. But neither are we to fall for the modern idea that all progress is good, that newer is better. Look at what John said in 2 John 9. 

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.

There are ways in which we must make progress. We need to do better in race relations, in finding ways to proclaim Christ, in world evangelization. But there are areas in which progress is never good, in which it always "going bad." Doctrinal progress is seldom a good thing. Oh, we can refine our views and do a better job of stating them, but the word of God does not change and when people come up with brand new approaches to scriptures they are often not new insights, but they are violations of the 2 John 9, they are "going bad." 

There's an important warning here. We must never assume that we know everything and that anything that varies from OUR understanding is heresy. That's arrogance. But we must also be wary of that which diverges from the core truths of the faith - the truth of God's word, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, his substitutionary atonement, the exclusivity of Christ, his glorious second coming. When men depart from these truths we must not follow them in the name of progress!

We live in a rapidly changing world and we have to change. But some things must never change. Those things that are central to the gospel are the things that can never change. They will just cause us to "go bad." 

Father, I want to be flexible and willing to change, but help me to be unyielding and unbending on those things that matter. May we be strong and courageous where that is needed.  

Think and Pray

Do you tend to rigid on things other than gospel issues?
Do you compromise on key truths?
Think through these issues and consider how to be flexible where it's needed and uncompromising where that is required.