Walking in Truth

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

The Truth

ἀλήθεια

Truth - utilized 109 times in the New Testament

Sets us free - Jn. 8:32

John 8:32 ESV

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Is not present in the enemy - John 8:44

John 8:44 ESV

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Jesus is the Truth - Jn. 14:6

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

The Helper is the Spirit of Truth - Jn. 15:26

John 15:26 ESV

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

Those who forsake the Truth will find wrath and fury - Rom. 2:8

Romans 2:8 ESV

but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Johanine epistles are full of references to the Truth

1 John 1:6 ESV

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 John 1:8 ESV

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 2:4 ESV

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

1 John 2:21 ESV

I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

1 John 3:18 ESV

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:19 ESV

By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;

1 John 5:6 ESV

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

2 John 1 ESV

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 John 2 ESV

because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

2 John 3 ESV

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

2 John 4 ESV

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

3 John 1 ESV

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.

3 John 3 ESV

For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth.

The Walking

If we aren’t walking in Truth, we cannot worship Jn. 4:23-24

John 4:23–24 (ESV)

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

περιπατέω - to walk or to live / behave

The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary 1. The Message to Gaius (1–8)

To walk in (‘follow’, RSV) the truth is more than to give assent to it. It means to apply it to one’s behaviour. Whoever ‘walks in the truth’ is an integrated believer in whom there is no dichotomy between profession and practice. On the contrary, there is in him an exact correspondence between creed and conduct.

The Rejoicing

The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary 1. The Message to Gaius (1–8)

Such conformity of life to the truth on the part of his children brought John greater joy than anything else. To him truth mattered. The