2 John
June 25
Reading: 2 John
1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.
4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady-- not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning-- that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your elect sister greet you.
In The Apostle John’s second letter is written “to the chosen lady and her children.” (vs. 1) This allows for two possibilities. John might have written the letter to a Christian woman who he knows who has children and a sister that is currently with John (vs. 13). More likely, John is writing to a church (the chosen lady) from a church (your chosen sister) and is using code language to avoid the possibility of trouble for the recipient.
This little letter raises two issues important for every church: love (vss. 4-6) and truth (vss. 7-11). In the first verse he refers to the chosen lady (the church to which he is writing) as the one “whom I love in truth.” Truth and love appear again at the end of verse 3.
The importance of love that we read of in verses 4-6 mirrors the teaching in 1 John. There is an intimate relationship between the vertical component of love, that we obey God’s commandments, and the horizontal component of love, that we care for one another in the body of Christ. You cannot have one without the other. Today, our society encourages us to think of love in terms of making people feel happy and good about themselves, whatever they might be doing. We can see in these verses that John thinks about love entirely in terms of obedience to God. If you love God, you will obey Him. If you obey Him, you will love others. If you love others, you will tell them the truth that is in God’s Word.
While the importance of truth is first raised in verses 1-4, the concern regarding the truth is developed in verses 7-11. John is concerned about “many deceivers” who “do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” There were and are people who want to say that Jesus was a spirit and not completely human. Gospel ministry does not consist primarily of being creative or winning. We are not trying to entertain people. We are communicating truth, spoken by God, revealed in the God-man Jesus Christ, and displayed on the Cross. No one is allowed to modify it for their own purpose.
It is important to understand that nearly every book in the New Testament contains warnings against false teachers. They were a problem. They are a problem today. Many pastors in American churches are false teachers. When we run into people who are editing the gospel for their own purposes, we are to cast them out of the church and treat them like they are not a Christian.