Barbs With A Point

By Rowland Femi GBAMIS | Ontario, Canada

2 John 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.”

The above Bible passage should cause us to pause and reflect on all human-made religious empires and organizations beyond the local church that usurp and replace the local church’s simple organizational structure and work that the Lord has not commanded (Eph. 3:10; 1 Tim. 3:15). The admonition in 2 John 9 should not be difficult if not that many Christians have little appetite for spiritual things because they are already gorged with the world’s junk food (James 4:4). When the church seeks to be identified with the world, apostasy begins. Thus, trying to “keep up” with the denominations is already leading the church away from the divine pattern (Gal. 1:6-10). Certainly, the quality of our love for the Lord will determine the intensity of our disdain for lack of scriptural authority in all we do.

Upon a profound reflection on having respect for God’s word, the following thought resonates from Deuteronomy, Proverb and Revelation: 

To take away from the word of God is to remove that which God has spoken. To add to the word of God is to interject that which God has not spoken. To diminish what God has explicitly said is to violate speaking where the Bible speaks. Besides, to add to God’s word is to speak where God has not spoken and thereby contravene the silence of the scripture. Therefore, “to speak and be silent” are equally valid principles in the Bible (Heb.7:11-14; Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18, 19).