TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER
Second John 10 tells believers that if someone comes without bringing the apostolic teaching, they should not receive that person into the house or offer a greeting. Some may wonder whether this covers cult members who come to the front door, and whether it forbids hospitality toward people of other religions.
The background is the travelling teacher of the ancient world. Such teachers carried their message from place to place and relied on the homes of others for lodging. Jesus addressed this custom when he sent out the twelve and later the seventy. He told them to check whether a household was worthy and, once they stayed, to remain there and avoid moving around in search of a better social position in the town.
Against that background, the apostle John is saying that a teacher who asks for hospitality while misrepresenting Christ should be refused. A faulty view of Jesus Christ marks every cult. Believers should not open their homes to such a person or offer a haven or hospitality.
The instruction leaves room for witnessing to people in cults or other religions. What it rules out is sitting down with them and providing a base from which they can work.
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
2 John 1:10-11
