...who made a profession of religion, were members of the church, and yet they...withdrew themselves from the church, or churches to which they belonged...but they were not truly regenerated by the grace of God, and so apparently were not of the number of God’s elect: notwithstanding their profession and communion with the church, they were of the world, and not of God (John Gill, D.D., ibid., pp. 630-631; note on I John 2:19).