A common criticism of Christians by the “natural world” is that we are hypocritical, judgmental, and unloving. Because the world sees what is most like itself it, is easy for them to find our faults and errors, and because it IS the way of the world, they hold those faults against us as if the life we pursue is not a worthy one.
And speaking of hypocritical, judgmental and unloving, isn’t ironic the same natural world that chooses to live by those same criteria hold it against those who do not? It is a very good thing indeed that God doesn’t hold us to the world’s standards! As Christians we might disagree with the world’s judgment of us but many outside the church hold it against us that we actually ARE human.
Often, as a group, we become easy targets for such judgementalism because of the “holier-than-thou” attitude that a number of spiritual people project. Some of them are worse than vegetarians or vegans in holding themselves as superior to others who are not of their thinking.
But being holy does not mean a holier-than-thou attitude. It does mean seeking and adhering to a lifestyle that is clearly marked by love and truth as was Christ’s example on Earth.
That is the point of today’s study: we grow in Christlikeness as we walk in truth and love. We look at 2 John verses 1-9.
John wrote his second epistle from Ephesus probably sometime between AD 85–95. John commended church members who taught and lived by the truths of Jesus Christ, recognizing their love for one another. He also warned his readers to stay away from the false teachers.
Let’s look at what John tells us about a Christlike walk.
1 The elder: To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth — and not only I, but also all who know the truth —
2 because of the truth that remains 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 Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father.
John’s second letter begins with John addressing himself as the elder, presbyteros. By this time in his life, John was an older apostle and leader at the church in Ephesus, so he was probably as old or older than most of the people to whom he was writing. But Elder is also a title used within the church indicating an officer or minister in the early Christian Church. The word presbyter is etymologically the original form of “priest.” So John was referring to himself as a “priestly officer of the church.”
He addressed his letter to “the elect lady and her children.” As we know that Jesus referred to the church as both “the called out ones” (elect) and “the bride” it is not a stretch for John to refer to the church and its members as “the elect lady and her children.” The letter might have been addressed this way in order to hide who the true recipients were due to the first-century persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire.
Truth referred to in this verse means what God has told man; in short, it speaks to the nature of reality, which God creates and defines. The love of the truth, which is found in the gospel message and all it entails, kept John and this church together because there is nothing greater than the love of God as expressed in Jesus Christ. John wanted this church to love God’s truths, and love one another, more and more. And John said that he was not the only one who loved this group of believers. He stated that all who know the truth loved the church. This church was, in John’s words, a fitting example of the Christian Church and those dealing with this church knew it. Truth is an important theme in the opening two verses of this letter. It is what caused John to love this church so much as it lived in these believers with a transformative power. John continues to highlight the transformative power exhibited by this church.
The word remains means stays, abides, or dwells. John references “the truth that remains in us.” When Christ saves us, He abides with us from that moment on. We then begin the life-long process of discovering what that means. Once Jesus saves us, He will never leave us. Our faith in Him is real and it will last for eternity. The abiding truth of Jesus Christ was the foundation upon which John and this church were built. It empowered them to love and live for Jesus, and it was what bound them together in faith with other first-century believers. It is what binds us together with Christians all over the world today.
Following the address, the greeting offered by John was his wish for God’s goodness and favor on the people who were reading his letter. This includes us. Mercy here denotes God’s compassion, kindness and spiritual generosity toward us, rescuing us from sin and death. John wanted his readers to be ever mindful of their experience of God’s mercy in salvation.
Mercy is from a Latin word indicating reward, kindness, pity. John reminded them of God’s grace (un-earned favor, love or help) demonstrated in their receiving the totally undeserved gift of eternal life. For example, If a law enforcement officer doesn’t give you a ticket for speeding, that is mercy. But if the same officer gives you $50 even though you were speeding, that’s grace.
The Peace that John wished for the congregation comes from God and it means, among other things, harmonious relationships in the church. John wanted these church members to continue to work together, and in so doing, accomplish so much more. He assured his readers that grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. The triune God is the true source of grace, mercy, and peace, and when one Person of the Godhead is mentioned (e.g., Father, Son), the others are understood to be there as well (Holy Spirit).
At the heart of John’s longings for his readers was his desire that they remain in the truth and love that’s found only in God. They could count on God’s truth and love to be always there and always the same. Unlike the world, God’s love is NOT dependent upon anyone or anything BUT God. But John began to caution them, and us, about living in the World. He began teaching them about truth and deception.
The phrase he uses “some of your children walking in truth” indicates that John recognized that not everyone he was writing to was on board with the truth of the incarnate Christ and other truths about Jesus. Some of these believers were living for Jesus and some were not. Like today, humanity likes to develop its own concepts of what is real. Like today, some of these concepts were no longer “exploratory discussions”, but may have become doctrinal or even dogmatic expressions of belief or faith. John told these Christians to order their lives according to the truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. Don’t live by what you think is correct, live by what Jesus SAID was correct. This was a sure way to peace and harmony.
John pointed out to them that he wasn’t “telling them anything new”, this was what Jesus was teaching and preaching from the beginning of his ministry. Next he reminds us of HOW this occurs.
2 John 5-6
5 So now I ask you, dear lady — not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning — that we love one another.
6 This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love.
John talked about the importance of needs-meeting-love and encouraged his readers to do more of it. This wasn’t a new idea, Jesus was telling us to do this from the very start of his ministry. John reminded them to daily practice godly love for each other. Like our coaches of all kinds, he was driving home to them “its the fundamental techniques that bring mastery. Don’t forget the fundamentals.”
John said “so now I ask you.” The word for ask means beseech or implore. This was not an “if you get around to it” request that John made, it was a heart felt emotional invocation that the church continue as Jesus has taught us.
John asked his readers to remember the command of the Lord, that we love one another. Love (agape) was what God showed mankind when He gave His Son to die on the cross to save us from our sins. John asked the church to remember Christ’s atoning death and to live out the reality of that loving sacrifice. This is love: that we walk according to his commands. John gave those first-century Christians a very doable definition of love. He encouraged these first-century believers to look for ways to express Godly love to the people around them during their daily routines. John expected them to use their minds (their knowledge and common sense) to see what people needed and to reach out in love to fill those needs the best way they could, relying on God’s help at every step.
His commands refers to Jesus’s commands which can be narrowed down to: Jesus says 1) we are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and 2) to love our neighbor as 3) ourselves; or paraphrased as “Love GOD with all of YOU, Love those who are near to you with the same needs meeting Love that you extend to yourself.” The best example is the Ten Commandments. The first four of the Ten Commandments are about loving God, and the last six are about loving our neighbor.
Jesus issued another overarching command when He gave the church the Great Commission, a command to: “Go… and 1) make disciples of all nations (peoples), baptizing (immersing) them in the name (character) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (and) 2) teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.” It is the mission of the church – immerse people in the character of God, teach them to heed God’s commands, and make students from among all peoples willing to learn.
John was aware of this commission as he wrote this letter. He wanted to actively immerse people in the truths of God’s Word and the good news of God’s love to everyone he could, and he wanted this church to do the same. The Bible is a love story of God loving man from Genesis through Revelation. You can summarize the Bible in one word: love.
Jesus was completely unselfish when He was here on earth. By telling his readers to walk in love, John reminded them of Jesus’s unselfish love. These Christians were taught by John to love each other without expecting love in return, to meet needs without any selfish motives or worldly agendas of any kind. That’s what living set apart lives is all about, but John warns us that there are those who are “anti-love”.
2 John 7-9
7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Watch yourselves so that you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.
9 Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.
This reminded his readers of a threat about which they were already aware. Just like a caring parent, John cared enough for this church to remind them not only of Jesus’s command to walk in love but also of the threat of heretical teachers. Deceivers means people who lead others astray to keep them from believing the truths of the Bible and implies they are wanderers, wandering from one false teaching to another, making it their mission to get others to wander away from what the Bible teaches.
The deceivers had gone out into the world and had gotten into the churches of John’s day. The word world used here is the word from which we get cosmetic and cosmos, and means the world system, the universe. The deceivers were everywhere in John’s day and this reality had become a significant challenge for early believers called to stand for truth. They are still in OUR world today!
False teachers in John’s day added chaos to God’s ordered universe. John named the proponents of this heresy as the deceiver and the antichrist. Those who spiritually deceive others by not adhering to the truths of God’s Word align themselves with Satan and are like him. They attempt to influence unbelievers to doubt Jesus and oppose Him. They are anti-christ. Biblical prophecy teaches that in the latter days there will be a persona who emerges as the antichrist and that there will be many people before that time who will falsely claim to be the Messiah.
John told his readers to watch yourselves. Watch means to see, look, discern, and perceive. John cautioned this first-century church to exercise discernment when they heard teaching so that they wouldn’t be deceived. John and other faithful teachers in the church had carefully instructed the believers about Jesus and the truths of God’s love. John wanted them to be alert to false teaching so that they could reject it and help others to reject it too.
Remain means to abide or stay, in this case it means to abide by Christ’s teaching, to stay in it, to follow it. John encouraged these Christians to stay with Christ’s teaching because it is true; in addition, they were not to go beyond it. Beyond means to go ahead of it. In this case the term means to go outside of biblical truth. John warned the church that anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God.
This didn’t mean that John didn’t want them to continue learning new truths about God in His Word. But rather, I think he meant, “don’t take Jesus’ principles from the Bible, and then ‘turn it into a living document’ to suit YOUR desires. Much as the 613 Jewish laws were deduced from 10 Godly principles, don’t go beyond the principles to create your own rule book.”
Instead, he didn’t want their learning to lead them away from sound principled doctrine concerning Jesus and the gospel message. The one who remains in that teaching has both the Father and the Son and the assistance of the Holy Spirit to heed their commands.
The more we pattern OUR lives after the pattern of Jesus and HIS teachings, the more Christlike we become throughout our lives and beyond.
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