Revelation, however, rings out a strong warning. Some congregations are healthy, but other congregations are spiritually sick and dying. Jesus warns them to repent, or else be removed.30
“I will spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16).
What if they fail to repent and Jesus has to expel them? In that case, they are no longer His churches, even if they claim otherwise.
Indeed, even while John writes, some sects think they are Christian, but are not. These include false ‘apostles,’ Nicolaitans, and those likened to Balaam and Jezebel.31 Second century writers report that John spends his final years in Ephesus. While there, they say, he writes the Gospel of John and the letter known as 1 John. These, like 2 and 3 John, oppose a movement that grows into what is later called “Gnosticism.”32 Gnostics view all matter and flesh as evil. Their version of ‘Christianity,’ therefore, denies that God came in the flesh. John writes his Gospel to reaffirm that Jesus is truly divine and truly human. “The Word was God… the Word became flesh” (John 1:1,14).
1, 2 and 3 John oppose Gnostic roots more directly. Certain teachers claim special ‘knowledge’ of God,33 but John calls them “false prophets” and “the antichrist”.34 Yes, strange as it may sound, there are forms of ‘Christianity’ that are “antichrist,” which is to say, “against Christ.” There are claims to ‘godliness’ that mislead and destroy the soul.35 Many people today reject Jesus because they listen to forms of ‘Christianity’ that lie about Him. The ‘churches’ they see are separate, divided bodies that seem to deny the reality of “one Head” with “one body.”
32. The name Gnostic comes from gnosis, a Greek word for knowledge. Gnosticism was a form of dualism, which treats spirit and body as opposites. After the apostles died, it grew into a major movement that threatened Christianity. See Study Note Seven: Gnosticism.
33. 1 John 2:4; 1 Timothy 6:20
34. 1 John 4:1-3;1 John 2:18,22
35. 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 4:3-4; Colossians 2:8,16-23; Matthew 7:15-23; Acts 20:29-30