Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
John has just warned about deceivers who refuse to confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh. Now he turns his readers back on themselves, and ties their steadfastness to someone else's reward. Two questions follow: what could be lost, and who loses it?
Watch Yourselves
John's answer to deceivers is care at home. Commentators tie the safety of the soul to the truth itself.
William KellySo he calls them to look carefully at home, in case they should stray. For God alone keeps the soul, and He does this by the truth and in the truth.
Another writer says what that daily care looks like.
The Christian's FriendNothing preserves believers from wrong and false teaching like walking in the power of the truth. The nearer we are to Christ, the more readily we notice what is not of Him. The best safeguard against drifting, or being led astray, lies in the cultivation of our own spiritual condition.
"We," Not "You"
The older text reads "that we lose not." One writer makes that pronoun the point of the whole sentence.
William Kelly"Look to yourselves that we may not lose what we wrought, but may receive full reward," or wages (v. 8). It is not only an earnest caution but an appeal to love, thoroughly in our apostle's manner, as in 1 John 2:28. Old copyists, and modern editors and translators, missed this. They lost its point and reduced it to something ordinary. The Authorised Version follows the commonly received text. It has excellent support, and it gives a deeply touching sense. "Look to yourselves that we," not you, "may not lose," and so on.
Translations differ here. The ESV has "so that you may not lose what we have worked for." The older text Kelly follows keeps "we" in both halves of the sentence.
The Servant's Work Is in Other People
John's work was people. If they did not hold on, that work was lost. One writer sets it beside a builder whose materials burn.
J. N. DarbyIf they did not remain in Him, the apostle had lost all his work. To that extent it would have been to his shame. You find the same thing in the second letter, verse 8. It is just what the apostle says to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 3:12 and following). If we build wood, hay and stubble on the foundation, the work will be burnt; there will be loss: it proves him a bad workman.
The same principle reaches everyone who teaches and serves.
F. B. HoleVerse 8 contains a healthy word for all who labour in the word and doctrine. If the saints they minister to are turned aside from the truth, they cannot expect a full reward in the coming day. Their reward is bound up with the faithfulness and prosperity of the saints.
Reward Is Not Salvation
What is at risk here is wages, not rescue. One writer draws the line, and says why John presses the danger on people whose faith he did not doubt.
The Christian's FriendIt is no question of salvation, as the reader will see at once; for that is pure and sovereign grace. The Lord Himself gives both the ability to serve and the privilege of serving. Even so, He is pleased to attach a reward to His servant's faithfulness. So John urged the elect lady and her children to look to themselves. They might fail under testing. Then it would turn out that they were only professing Christians and not real ones, that he had laboured in vain as far as they were concerned, and that he had lost his full reward. He had no doubt that their faith was real, as verses 1–4 show. He only wanted them to be fully aware of the dangers around them.
Why It Must Be Full
The word "full" is not decoration. One writer ties the size of the reward to the glory of Christ Himself.
Leslie M. Grant"Look to yourselves," they are told. God does not want a single one of His own contaminated by the slightest link with what degrades His blessed Son. This would tend to destroy the precious work of God — work done among Christians by the devoted labour of the apostles for the person of Christ. And if believers stand firm, those who laboured for them will receive a full reward. In such a matter, a full measure is the only acceptable one, for it involves the fulness of the glory of Christ.
This reward has its day, and it reaches far beyond the first apostles.
An Outline of Sound WordsThis reward they will have from Christ in the day of His glory, in having a part with Him in His kingdom. These "wages" are not for the twelve alone, but for all who serve our Lord Jesus faithfully here below.
Summary
- Look — the guard against deceivers is care at home. God keeps the soul, and He keeps it by the truth.
- Labour — John's work was people. If those he taught turn aside, that work burns like wood, hay and stubble.
- Love — the older reading "that we lose not" makes this an appeal to their love. Their faithfulness guards his reward.
- Wages — this is reward, not salvation. Salvation is sovereign grace; the reward answers to a servant's faithfulness.
- Full — only a full measure fits, because the glory of Christ is at stake. These wages belong to all who serve Him, not to the apostles only.