2 John
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Letter written by the Aposlte John, we know this because much of the wording and style of writing is the same
Written in the later years of John’s life, 80’s-90’s AD
At this point in John’s life, he was giving pastoral leadership to churches in Ephesus, as this is where he was living
You may have heard of someone called Polycarp, who was a very old Christian writer in the generation after the apostles, after the NT was written
claimed to have known John and lived in the same city
it has been thought for a very long time that John lived in ephesus even outside of what Polycarp says
John wrote this letter out of concern for the congregation he wrote it to, and to remind them of what is truly important in the Christian walk
1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; 2 for the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
“The elder” - John calls himself an elder in 3 John, elders are mentioned elsewhere in the NT as well
they had elders in pretty much the same way that we do ourselves
“the elect lady” - essentially saying “to the saved lady” and her children, we see the word “elect” a lot in the NT, and means someone who is saved
it’s likely that there was a congregation meeting in her house, you may not see it now but as we go through the letter you will see why
“whom I love in the truth” - truth is one of John’s more used words in not only his Gospel but also his letters
what is the truth? - whether you are a Christian or an unbeliever, truth is God’s Word, truth is the Gospel, truth is Jesus Christ
interestingly, pontius pilate asked Jesus at His trial the question, “What is truth?” and the truth was standing right before him and he couldn’t see it
“love in the truth” - John is saying he loves the lady and her children in Christ, as a believer in God, in God’s love
Christians should have love on a different level, in a different way than the world
we have seen the love of God, the love God has for us, and we are supposed to reflect God’s love like a mirror onto others
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Jesus a few times has taken a commandment that was in the Old Testament, and given an even stronger command
for instance, when Jesus talked about adultery of the heart, He took a sin (adultery) from the OT and raised the stakes
that’s what’s going on here, “love your neighbor as yourself” come from the Old Testament, from Leviticus
So ultimately, not only are we to reflect the love of God to others, we are also very much to love and look out for our fellow believers
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“for the truths sake, which dwelleth in us...” - John again references that truth IS Christ, truth IS the gospel, truth IS God’s Word
these are the truths of life, and what life revolves around
This helps us understand what Jesus meant when He said, “the truth shall set you free”
the truth sets us free from the bondage of sin, the slavery of sin, and additionally we have eternal life through this truth
3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
We see some qualities that John lists about God
Grace (unmerited favor) - God’s certainly shown each and every one of us a ton of grace
mercy - God’s shown us great mercy in so many ways
peace - the peace of God is beyond all understanding - certainly this peace can be very strong with God
God provides help for us, God listens to us, God has provided heaven for us, we can find so much peace in God through His forgiveness and help
truth - the gospel
love - we love God because He first loved us
4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
We see here that John mentions how much he cares about those he is writing toward/about and their spiritual state
ideally, a new Christian will have some spiritual guidance after they get saved
this is a large component of what the church is for
Paul talks about in his writings about spiritual milk and spiritual food
so if we are able, and we help lead someone to Christ, if they don’t come to church for whatever reason we should still be concerned about their spiritual development
we also see in Paul’s writings that HE greatly cared about the churches he helped foster
So we have Paul, John, and others are very concerned about not only leading people to Christ, but about the rest of their spiritual development as well
at the end of the verse John emphasizes that we have been commanded to walk in this truth by the Father
so it’s not something that we only do when we feel like it or it’s convenient for us, but we are commanded to and we’re responsible for it all of the time
5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
John reminds the lady the absolute basics of the Christian faith, that we love one another
Our main two commandments, we love God with all our heart mind soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves
John says “that which we had from the beginning” further emphasizing that this is the foundation upon which we build
God loved us, we are to be conformed to Christ’s image, Christ loved us, and so we are to love everyone
the ultimate form of love is introducing someone to the gospel, leading them to Christ
how could one even possibly love in a better way?
you would be showing someone the truth, which could set them free from their sin
the thing is, it’s not just the setting free from sin, but it’s also the setting free from the consequences of those sins
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our lord
so not only is it the setting free from sin and it’s consequences, but it’s the gift of God of eternal life
introducing someone to the love of God can be life changing, whether or no they accept it is on them
but if we had an opportunity to be able to lead someone to a way of changing their life, wouldn’t it be worth it?
are we willing to pass up on what could be their only chance of hearing the gospel because of our discomfort?
is that love? or is that selfishness?
at the end of the day we are simply commanded to have this love, and that’s really all there is to it, we can love, or we can not love, there is really no in between
6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
This begins a second theme of 2 John, dealing with false teachers
we talked about this a bit with Peter’s letters, but it’s dealt with from a different angle here
John talks about deceivers “who confess not that Jesus Christ came in the flesh”
there were many, many forms of false beliefs starting around this time, which really goes to show how influential Jesus was in His day
a few of these false beliefs thought that Jesus only came into the earth in spirit form, and that His flesh was only some kind of illusion
there are a myriad of Biblical reasons why this cannot be true, primarily because Jesus had to actually suffer and shed blood to accomplish remission of sins
some of these people who thought this were called “gnostics” who were kind of prevalent in those days
they would take some words of Jesus and twist them, write their own false books and “gospels” and teach all sorts of false stuff
John lived to be a very old man by all accounts, so he would have lived to see the church having to battle against all these kinds of people
So he writes to this woman to hammer home the point of remaining true to Christian doctrine
Christ coming in the flesh, again, is basic and essential to Christian belief
He HAD to have come in the flesh to accomplish His goals
So John lays it out clearly, that these people are deceivers and antichrist - we know that there is the spirit of antichrist, fighting against all things good and Godly
while this particular false belief might not be as prevalent today, the way things are going, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if there are “Christians” who don’t believe He came in the flesh
regardless, we can take from this that we need to take doctrine seriously, we need to be good Bible students, and to know what we believe and why we believe it
this helps us not to get caught up in false teachings, or to go astray
anything that is teaching against the Bible is antichrist
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
Be true to the Word, keep your eye on the prize, keep running the race
“lose not which we have wrought” - John didn’t want all that they had worked for, built up with the church, to be lost to false beliefs
we should feel the same way, we don’t want to lose what we’ve built up with the church, we should want to keep building
we should never have enough people in the church, we want to keep building and building
John also puts the rewards that us Christians will receive in mind, so not only keeping our eye on the prize and to keep building, but also keep in mind the rewards we will get
an encouragement from John, we have many reasons to keep moving forward, and plenty of motivation, which all stems from Christ
9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
John makes it clear, whoever does not follow, walk in, abide in the teachings of Christ hath not God
we have the Word of God, we have the Words and example of Christ, we have everything we need to live a Godly life
if you go outside of these teachings, make up your own, or get someone elses, you hath not God
to have God, you have to go by God’s teachings, and we have it in black and white
you can’t modify it, ignore what’s not convenient, or only do what’s right in your own eyes
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
We talked earlier about the possibility that the lady John wrote this letter to had a congregation meeting in her house
it was common in the early Christian days for Christians to meet in each others houses, for example, say if one Christian had a large house who could accommodate a gathering, they would meet there
either way, ultimately, the point of this we can see in verse 11 where it says “He that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds”
we cannot be in any way approving of false beliefs and especially false teachers, and this is true no matter what
22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
what Paul is saying here is that “we don’t want to condemn ourselves by what we approve”
22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
if you’re not with Christ, you’re against Him, and if you passively approve of something which is against Christ or contradicts Christ, that is not okay - Christ should be above all and all important in our life
sometimes we have to speak the truth in love, sometimes we need to not allow something to go on, sometimes we need to take up for Christ, etc.
12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
So this gives us a reminder of the troubling times that John and his audience were living
he likely doesn’t want to write these things because of the persecutions of Christians going on in those days
this is truly something we often take for granted
sometimes it seems like things are going crazy here in america, and surely in the nearish future everything will be much worse
but we can thank God we don’t have to worry about dealing with some of the things the early Christians did at this time
13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
CONCLUSIONS
the conclusions are two fold - to remember love, the most basic and foundational quality of the Christian
and also to reject false teachers/teachings and ANY FORM OF APPROVAL THEREOF, even if it’s just not rejecting the false teaching
and at the end we see a sobering reminder of how hard the early Christians truly had it, but yet how faithful and dedicated they were, we would do good to be more like them!