In 2John 1:10 John warns the elect lady and her children against receiving anyone who comes to them and doesn’t bring this doctrine—which doctrine does John have in mind? It is the doctrine of Christ (2John 1:9), which is to love God, which is expressed in our trust in Christ (1John 5:3; cp. 3:23) and love the brethren, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us (1John 5:2; cp. 3:11, 14-18). John’s warning, then, was that folks who came to the elect lady and her children, preaching something else, something that did not express the nature of this doctrine, they were to neither let them into their houses nor bid them Godspeed (2John 1:10).
How then should John’s warning be applied? For example, some come knocking on your door in the blistering heat of summer, you know what they preach and you want none of it, can’t you offer them a cool drink of water or ice tea? Or, perhaps they come braving the unwelcome cold of winter, can’t one offer them a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate? I don’t believe John is telling his readers to be unkind or to be unresponsive to an obvious need. After all, a cool drink in summer or a hot drink in winter may be just the thing that helps one to successfully reach out to the hearts of those who oppose Christ and cast down the very doctrinal stronghold that keeps them from seeing him as he should be known (cp. Titus 1:9; 2Corinthians 10:3-5).
Therefore, it isn’t that John is denying folks the normal hospitality that one would come to expect of a follower of Christ, but, rather, one shouldn’t allow a deceiver to preach in one’s church building. John mentioned “house” but what he had in mind was the house-church in which the elect lady and her children met to worship the Lord and enjoy fellowship with one another (2John 1:10). In a modern context, this could include inviting the TV-evangelist into your home to teach you his doctrine, which may not be the “doctrine of Christ” (2John 1:9-10), so beware. They don’t appear to be deceivers at first, because their tongue is trained and sweet (Proverbs 6:24; Psalm 52:1-4), but when one considers the end of their doctrine, it doesn’t fit into an environment of love of God and one’s brother (Psalm 64:1-6; cp. 2Timothery 3:5-6).
To bid one Godspeed is to desire God to bless them (cp. Genesis 24:12; Psalm 129:8) with success in their endeavor of deception. This sort of thing would be unwarranted for anyone who loves Christ or his brother in Christ, for why would one want to wish success to a deceiving antichrist who doesn’t submit to the Lord and causes division among one’s brethren (2John 1:11; cp. Romans 16:17-18; Galatians 1:8-9)? To do so would lend one’s heart to their cause, and such a one would be partaker in their wicked deed of deception (2John 1:7; cp. Titus 1:10). In a more modern context, this might be supporting the deceiving ministries of many TV-evangelists.
Finally, we need to consider a few things about John’s letter in hope that this would lend further evidence of both the urgency and the importance of its content. Why would his letter need to be so short (2John 1:12), and why did John feel the need to speak face to face with the elect lady, instead of taking the time to write a longer letter? Moreover, why doesn’t he mention anyone’s name, not his own, nor the elect lady’s nor any of her children’s names, especially those he found walking in truth (cp. 2John 1:4)? It seems to me that such things speak of danger. Hiding the identities of folks would be the prudent thing to do during dangerous times. Keeping identities anonymous protects those involved from the persecution of an enemy who is at large. This would be especially important, if the possibility of the letter falling into the wrong hands was likely to occur, as would be the case, if the enemy were still among the believers.
John mentioned that he intended to travel to the house-church of the elect lady, because he had many things to tell her in person, that he’d rather not make known on paper (2John 1:12), presumably because, if such things became known and understood by the enemy, such knowledge could be used to persecute both John and the elect lady and her children. Therefore, the need of a face to face meeting was necessary.
In closing, John mentioned that the children of the elect lady’s sister greet her (2John 1:13), which may indicate where John was at the time of his writing his epistle (cp. 1Peter 5:13). Nevertheless, Peter mentioned both his own name (1Peter 1:1, and that of Mark (1Peter 5:13), and although his epistles were also written during a time of persecution (cp. 1Peter 1:6-7; 4:12-19), it seems the persecution had not arisen to the point that one’s identities had to be hidden for safety sake, as what seems to be the case with John’s second epistle. Wherever the elect lady and her children resided, that seems to have been at the center of trouble and interest to the antichrists.
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