The intention, laid out for us in Scripture, is for the institutional Church to receive the apostles, their emissaries, and their letters. When we get their letters, we in the Church are supposed to open them up and do what they say. Unfortunately, Diotrephes has an online discipleship training program, and his imitators are everywhere. Moreover, his imitators and heirs are, just like he was, entrenched in the Church.
Douglas Wilson
Tagged “Diotrephes”
“From the very beginning the Christian faith has had to deal with imposters who gain control of the governmental mechanisms of the church”
From the very beginning the Christian faith has had to deal with imposters who gain control of the governmental mechanisms of the church, doing so in order to undermine the entire point of the Church. Think, for example, of Diotrephes, who would put out of the church anybody who had even voted in favor of receiving emissaries of the apostles (3 John 9–10). That man had control of the perks of preeminence, he had control of the minutes and file cabinets, he had control of the office keys. The only thing He didn’t have was control of the Spirit. The Spirit blows where He wills.
Douglas Wilson