No biblical writer wrote more about love than the Apostle John, who is known for this reason as the "Apostle of love." However, this is what the apostle of love said about church leaders who had left the path of truth:
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)
Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the anti-Christ, he who denies the Father and the Son. (v.22)
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil. (3:10)
Could we accuse John of lack of love for the firmness with which he resists theological error? Biblical love disciplines, corrects, reprehends, and tells the truth. And when it sees error that is followed by repentance and contrition, it forgives, forgets, and supports.
Therefore, the love that is practiced by those who get offended by the defense of the faith, the exposing of error, and the confrontation of untruths is not biblical love. Lack of love would be letting people continue to be tricked without at least trying to show them their errors.
[excerpt from "Is Confronting Unloving" by Augustus Lopes in TableTalk, November 2019]
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