The Abiding Truth Within the Believer

2 John 1-3 ESV

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.

There is no greater honor in this world that any could receive than to be known as a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is defined as a pupil or follower of a teacher. But a true disciple of Jesus is one who not only learns from their Teacher, but who applies what their Teacher has taught them.

And the only way that someone can truly be a disciple of Jesus is if God has graciously granted that person a new heart and thus made that person both willing and able to follow Jesus. Thus, it is most blessed to be a disciple of Jesus; for if you are a disciple of Jesus, that indicates that you have truly been saved by Jesus.

In the gospel of John, we read where Jesus reveals to His twelve original disciples what the fruit or proof that a legitimate disciple of His will show in chapter 13 and verse 35, where we read Jesus saying to His disciples:

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Love: Jesus says that the sole way in which someone will know that someone else legitimately follows Him is if they truly love one another.

Jesus loved; He loved until the bitter end. And as was said, to be a disciple of Jesus means to follow and apply what Jesus teaches us. So, with that being said, I would most certainly say that if we profess to be legitimate disciples, legitimate followers of Jesus, what we must possess is a love for other disciples of Jesus.

Because this is obviously very vital towards evidencing legitimate discipleship among the followers of Jesus, I thought that it would be best for us, in the month of August, to work through a series of messages from the seldom read second epistle of John on the subject of mutual Christian love.

We begin our exposition of this epistle by looking at both the sender and the receiver of this epistle in the first part of the first verse, where it says:

2 John 1a (ESV)

1a The elder to the elect lady and her children

So, the first thing that we notice here in our reading is that John addresses himself as “the elder”.

Now, there has been a lot of discussion and debate throughout the centuries as to what the title, “the elder” means in this epistle. Some have even gone as far as to say that who wrote this epistle was someone other than John the apostle.

But from my study and research, I believe that here, John the apostle addresses himself as “the elder” in order to communicate to his recipients that he is writing to them from a pastoral perspective.

And when I say that he writes from a pastoral perspective, I mean that he writes in a loving, nurturing, tender spirit that was most needed for the spiritual wellbeing of these particular recipients of his.

And speaking of John’s recipients, this first part of verse 1 addresses them as “the elect lady and her children”.

Now, once again, there has been a lot of discussion and debate throughout the centuries concerning who “the elect lady and her children” are.

But I believe that the best interpretation for “the elect lady” is not that of an individual person, but of an individual church.

We all know that those saved by Christ are among the elect of God. That God chose them to be saved before the foundation of the world. We also know that the universal Church is also often described as a woman, or bride.

Thus, I believe that the “elect lady” in this epistle is in reference to a specific church body that John was writing to. And I believe that the elect lady’s “children” spoken of in this verse is in reference to the individual members of this particular church.

Now, concerning this particular church and its members, John says in the next part of this first verse that they are those:

2 John 1b ESV

1b whom I love in truth,

Now, as was said earlier, Jesus proclaimed that the way in which others will know that His disciples are indeed His disciples is if they have love for other disciples. And if we speak of this “elect lady and her children” being an individual church and its members, and if John says that he, as a disciple of Christ, loves them, then that shows that John obviously passes the litmus test for being a true disciple of Jesus.

Jesus says, “all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And John is professing that he loves this group of legitimate Christians, fellow disciples of Jesus, thus he is doing exactly what Jesus declared His disciples would do.

But John also tells us the way in which he loves this church and its members when he says that he loves them “in truth”.

Now, what this indicates is that those who are in this church that he is writing to are in the truth, just like John is in the truth. What this indicates is that because those in this church have been born-again, just as John has been born again, their new, born-again nature compels them to love one another, fellow believers. And as they love one another in truth, they prove that they are legitimate disciples of Jesus Christ.

But it wasn’t just John who loved this church and its members in the truth as the last part of this first verse lets us know when it says:

2 John 1c ESV

1c and not only I, but also all who know the truth,

So, once again, what we see here is the proof of genuine discipleship when John tells this church that it is not only he who loves them in the truth, but it is all other genuine Christians who love them in the truth.

Because all other genuine Christians are legitimate disciples of Jesus, they too pass the litmus test for genuine discipleship; they love other disciples of Jesus.

Now, in verse 2 of our reading, John gives the reason why he and all other legitimate disciples of Jesus have love for one another, when he says:

2 John 2 ESV

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

So, John confesses that he and all other legitimate Christians love one another, and now in this verse, he gives the reason as to why they all love one another. John says that legitimate Christians love one another because of the truth that abides in us.

Thus, we see that we who are truly Christians truly love one another not because we choose to love one another, not because we try harder to love one another than other people do, no, we love one another because truth, the Holy Spirit Himself, abides, remains in us.

To say that something is in someone is to suggest that whatever it is that is in us, leads us, compels us, and to a certain extent, controls us. Therefore, if the truth, God the Holy Spirit is in us, then He leads, compels, and in fact causes us as legitimate Christians to love one another, for as Jesus said, our loving one another is the mark of our genuine Christianity.

Now, that is great news! But what is even greater news is that this truth, God the Holy Spirit, abides in us. To suggest that something abides within you is to suggest that what abides in you remains, continues, stays within you.

Now, like I said, that is great news! God the Holy Spirit abides within us. But for how long? How long does He abide within us? For a day? A year? A decade? Until we mess up so bad that He has no choice but to leave us?

Look again at what John says in this verse; the truth, the Holy Spirit abides in us and will be with us forever.

Forever, with no ending whatsoever. And furthermore, John does not say that He may be with us forever, that He will be with us forever if we do this, this, and this. No, it is a promise with no conditions whatsoever. He says that the one who is truly saved by God has abiding within him God the Holy Spirit, and He will remain there forever, and under no circumstances will He ever leave.

So, John speaks of the evidence of a legitimate disciple, love for one another. He then speaks of what causes legitimate believers to love one another when he says that the truth abides in us forever. Now, in the last verse of our reading, verse 3, John speaks of how we obtained this standing before God which then resulted in our love for one another in the first place when he says:

2 John 3 ESV

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.

The salvation and new standing that believers have before God comes about as a result of God’s grace that He lovingly extended and applied to us. Grace is not something that someone earns, it is not even something that someone asks for, it is something that is given to the receiver as a result of the love that the giver has for the receiver.

Now, typically the reason why we as humans have love for one another is because there is something about the person who we love that precedes our love for them.

For example, even if your children are not always the easiest to get along with, you still love them because they’re your children, that’s the condition, them being your children. Or it may be that you best friend can sometimes do things that get under your skin, but you still love your best friend; why? Because that person is your friend, that’s the condition, that person is your friend, so you love him.

But the love that God has for those He has chosen to save is unlike any love that we could ever possess for anyone, for the love that God has for His elect is an unconditional love.

Now, that love that God has for His elect is truly unconditional because He loved us before we even existed. While we were still in the mind of God, He loved us. While we hated God, feared the thought of Him, and wished that He did not exist, even then, He loved us.

And because of this, there naturally was and is nothing about us that would cause a holy God to love us. He beheld us in all of our sin and utter hatred that we have for Him, and He said, “These I choose. These I will love. These I will save.”

That love truly is unconditional love, it originates in the Father and is extended to us who deserve the absolute opposite of it. And as John says here in our reading, that unconditional love will be with us, it will continue with us, abide with us forever.

Beloved, it truly is impossible for us to love unconditionally, but when it comes to our brothers and sisters in the faith, that love does not have to be unconditional for we are already in the same household of faith, we have already met the condition for us to love one another.

Therefore, let us love one another.

Amen?