'Who so leadeth forward (proagon, L., T., Tr.) and abideth not in the

doctrine of Christ hath not God ... If there come any unto you, and

bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, and greet him

not; for he who greets him Has Fellowship (koinoneo) with his evil

deeds' (2 John 9 -11, a revised translation).

Here is Scriptural ground for a cleavage.  No plea of fellowship, or

love, or our own liability to err, or the sadness our attitude may cause, or

the fact that most probably our motives will be misunderstood, or that we

shall lose the support of many a dear child of God, or that ties of sweetest

friendship may be severed, none of these things can alter the plain teaching

of the Word.  The forerunners of the apostasy are everywhere busy.  Earnest

students of the Word are sowing seeds the harvest of which would horrify them

could they but foresee it.  The Person of Christ, His nature and offices, are

prominent in the list of doctrines marked down for attack.  Sin, too, by the

fact that its absolute origin is not a subject of revelation, affords scope

for much teaching that either reduces sin from a crime to a blessing in

disguise, or compromises the fair name of God and declares His policy to be

let us do evil that good may come.  We must not allow the words of those who

misrepresent our motives, calling us partizans and what not, to prevent us

from faithfulness.

The spirit in which the separation is made must certainly be one of

love, even as the apostle enjoined the Thessalonians:

'If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have

no company with him, that he may be ashamed.  Yet count him not as an

enemy, but admonish him as a brother' (2 Thess. 3:14,15).

'It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful'.  Stewards

dare not betray their trust by encouraging on the one hand faction and the

drawing away of disciples after them, or by a false interpretation of

fellowship on the other.  It is sometimes forgotten that a narrower margin is

allowed a leader or teacher than is allowed the simple believer.  Fellowship

with a believer may be without compromise, which in a teacher would be

impossible.  2 John 9 -11 has the leaders and teachers of doctrine in view.

This line of teaching is manifest in 1 Timothy 3.  A bishop must be

blameless, the husband of one wife, etc.  In the early church (as in foreign

missions today), where converts were made from paganism, there were many who

would have more than one wife.  This was no barrier

to fellowship; the responsibility could not be lightly repudiated.  As a

believer he would have to walk softly.  While the fullest fellowship would be

his as a believer, such could not be the case as a teacher.  Such a man could

not take oversight.  His many wives would not commend the truth, hence he

must be blameless, the husband of one wife.  The home life of a believer is

no qualification or disqualification for fellowship as a believer, but if a

believer cannot rule his own house well he cannot be allowed to attempt to

rule the church of God.  We are not discussing whether the office of bishop

still obtains, we are considering this principle concerning the higher

qualification of teachers.  Faithfulness may compel me to repudiate

fellowship with some as teachers lest I be implicated in their deeds, and

faithfulness must be the touchstone increasingly as apostasy draws near.

Our hearts are heavy sometimes as we learn the emptiness and the error

of the churches.  We cannot, however, join in with their errors to endeavour

to stem the tide.  Faithful, separated Abraham could have done more for