The Strange Grace in Apostasy

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:19

In studying 1 John I discovered something…John made a mistake. That’s right. The Bible can’t be inerrant, which means it must be…errant. You see, as I was reading I saw here in 2:19 where it says “…that it might become plain that they all are not of us…” and I yelled (in my head) “John! Stop talking like God intended this to happen!” But alas, John cannot hear my screaming thoughts, not from Jerusalem, nor from Patmos, nor from Heaven. So I am left with this strange verse.

I am kidding of course. The Bible doesn’t make mistakes; I make mistakes (according to my professors, spell check, and my girlfriend). So instead of yelling at John or claiming that God-breathed Scripture is errant I have to figure out what John meant and what the implications of that meaning are for my life.

So what does the Holy Spirit speaking through John mean when speaking about apostasy in 1 John 2? I think the meaning of this is that those who currently deny Christ as Lord, whether by word or actions (James 2:14), have never been saved by Christ; and therefore have never truly been a member of the flock of Christ. But the surprising thing about this is that John claims that the “going out” of these antichrists was by design.

But who is the designer? I doubt John is saying that the designer is the apostate because it doesn’t seem like they would do something so bad in order to be nice to the true flock. The clear implication is that God is working this terrible act of rebellion for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

But why? What grace could there possibly be in God causing those who were “not of us” to “go out from us”? I came up with 4 reasons:

To preserve the truth of the gospel. 1 John 2:22 connects a theme of 1 John, namely, being a liar, with these apostates who claim that Jesus is not the Christ. That is not to say that every unregenerate person goes that far in their explicit teaching but any person who’s life has not been changed by the gospel cannot grasp the fullness of the gospel (1 John 2:20) and will distort it in some way.

To protect the flock from deceivers. 1 John 2:26 makes this point clear. I don’t know any good pastor who says, “I sure do hope there are some wolves in my flock.” That is not to say that non-Christians shouldn’t be allowed to come to church services and activities. It is to say that they shouldn’t be a part of the flock.

To present the church without spot or wrinkle. Let’s face it, there are 80 year-old ladies who have taken a seat in a pew every week for the last 75 years who will die lost because they did not truly embrace Christ as their Savior. But Scripture still reveals that anytime a goat leaves the flock it’s a win for the church. Remember Paul’s reason in Ephesians 5 for Christ’s death, “that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (5:26-27).

To promote evangelism of the apostate. This lesson is definitely found in the Bible (Matthew 18:15-20, remember to treat someone like a heathen or a tax collector includes evangelism). I didn’t fully see this truth until it crashed into my life. Last year I learned that two people with whom I had attended church abandoned the faith. I got the chance to plea with them to obey the gospel and put their faith in Christ. But had those two not gone out I would not have had the opportunity to ask them to genuinely come in. Neither of them have repented (to my knowledge) but at least all the cards are on the table.

Long post, I know. But I hope it was helpful.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen