In the last article we identified one of the limitations of Christian fellowship: those who refuse to repent of sins cannot be in Christian fellowship (see Matthew 18:15-17 & 1 Corinthians 5:11). Another limitation of Christian fellowship is this:

Those who don't hold to the teachings of Jesus & His apostles can't be in Christian fellowship.

Consider 2 John 9-11, "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teachings of Christ, he does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 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." John was addressing a specific problem of false teachers coming in and teaching that Jesus was not God in the flesh. God makes it clear that people with that teaching cannot be in fellowship with Christ. But I don't think it is limited to that one teaching. John said "Anyone who does not abide in the teachings (plural) of Christ." Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:37 "...the things I write to you are the Lord's commandments..." The message the apostles brought, by preaching and writing, were the very commands of Jesus Himself! If someone denies and teaches contrary to what is found in scripture, they cannot be welcomed in Christian fellowship.

The implications of this are many. First, this means we have to know our Bibles well enough to detect things that aren't inline with scripture. Acts 17:11 says, "they searched the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." We ought to have that mentality that we will test what we hear by God's word. 1 John 4:1 says to test the spirits to see wether they are from God! Secondly, we need to watch ourselves to be sure we are not straying from the truth of God's word. 1 Timothy 4:16 says, "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation for both yourself, and for those who hear you."

The bottom line is that Christians cannot be in fellowship with that which is not from Jesus.

— Kolton Ballance