2 John 1:9. Whosoever goeth forward, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. This seems beyond doubt the true reading, and the verse thus becomes one of the utmost importance and interest. To abide in the doctrine of Christ is to remain content with His teaching or what He teaches; to go beyond it is to follow an imaginary development, and affect to be wiser than the Master Himself. The penalty is an awful one: one step beyond the commandment received in the beginning leads to the loss of God.

But he that abideth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son: the change is in St. John's manner, from God generally to the Father and the Son. The Lord Himself declared that ‘all things' were delivered unto Him for the instruction of men; and the ‘all things' He explained as the knowledge of the Father through the Son (Matthew 11:27). On this rests the whole ‘doctrine' or doctrinal system of the Church, afterwards spoken of generally as ‘the doctrine.'

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Old Testament