A Letter to the Elect Lady

2 John

2 John

Context:

Author : John

Recipient : The elect lady and her children

Occasion : False teachers had gone out of the church and now seem to be trying to get their heretical doctrines back into the church.

A Letter to the Elect Lady

2 John is the elder’s call to walk in truth and love while keeping watch out for those who deny the truth and seek to infiltrate the church.

Author : John

Recipient : The elect lady and her children

Occasion : False teachers had gone out of the church and now seem to be trying to get their heretical doctrines back into the church.

Read 2 John

INTRODUCTION

As John opens his letter to the elect lady, we see his heart. We see his love and concern for the individuals of the church. Consider all of the ways John could have opened this letter.

· The disciple whom Jesus loved to the elect lady.

· The apostle to the elect lady.

· The one who was on the Mt. of Transfiguration to the elect lady.

· One who was at the cross of Christ to the elect lady.

· One who performed miracles in Jesus name to the elect lady.

· Had it been me, I would have opened with The Son of Thunder to the elect lady….

But how did he open this letter? With the heart of an aged shepherd….The elder to the elect lady and her children. John was one of Jesus’ inner circle, but when he opens this letter to the elect lady and her children he comes with a pastor’s heart. A heart to shepherd this lady and her family. A heart to shepherd the church of God.

How do we know this, look at the next part of verse one, whom I love in the truth. John didn’t greet the recipients of his letter with apostolic authority which he had all rights to do, instead he greeted her with a deep affection and care to gently guide, lead, and shepherd them through a time of distress and concern.

Before we dive into the body of the letter we must consider for a moment the recipient, the elect lady and her children. John here is likely writing to a specific congregation, a local church. The church throughout the Scriptures as the elect, as the bride of Christ therefore John is likely referring to her the church including her children, all who are adopted into the family of God as the body and bride of Christ.

Even if he is writing to a specific lady and here children, the letter of 2 John is still relevant and applicable to the local church today!

Here s

· Secondly, because the Holy Spirit not only inspired, but also preserved these words for the church’s instruction and edification.

· Third, because it is filled with gospel truth this letter written to the elect lady was then and is now preserved for the reading, explaining, and application by the local church and individual believers.

Danny Akin who believes the symbolic or metaphorical view may be the wisest sums up his assessment this way,

Dr. Akin, “What the author would expect in belief and behavior of a lady and her children he would also expect of a local church and its members.”[1]

Regardless of your interpretation of who the elect lady and her children are, we can be assured John, the elder is writing to her for our instruction as well.

Now that we have walked through who the author and recipients of this letter were.

Let’s consider John’s purpose for writing this letter. Why would the Holy Spirit inspire John to write this short, 13 verse, 245 word letter to a specific lady and her family. Why would the church see the need to include this letter in the canon of Scripture?

This letter from John to the elect lady was written in order to instruct her family and the local church on how to protect the church against false teachers by walking in the truth and love of Christ.

I believe we will see three ways in which John instructs the church in this letter. We will see John lets the elect lady know….

1. How the elect should walk (1-6)

2. Who the elect should reject (7-11)

3. What the elect could expect (12-13)

Let’s look first at,

I. How the elect should walk. (1-6)

First, John the elder lets the elect lady know,

a. The church should walk in the truth (1-4)

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.

When you read these first four verses it is not difficult to detect the theme or main point John is driving at in these verses. What word do you see repeated over and over? Truth. Seeing these first few verses saturated with the word truth ought to cause us to stop and ask why is John repeatedly pointing us to truth?

When a word is used that heavily in a passage I would say it is important to first begin by defining truth.

(alētheia), truth, i.e., that which is in accord with what really happens, facts that correspond to a reality, whether historical (in the time/space continuum), or an eternal reality not limited to historical fact[2]

As we consider this definition of what truth is, lets make sure we understand what truth is not. The author of an article on biblical truth provides us with these helpful thoughts.

1. Truth is not what works. This is pragmatism – an ends vs. means type approach. The reality is, lies can appear to “work”, but they are still lies.

2. Truth is not what is coherent or understandable. A group of people can get together and form a conspiracy based on a set of falsehoods where they all agree to tell the same false story, but it does not make their presentation true.

3. Truth is not what makes people feel good. Unfortunately, bad news can be true.

4. Truth is not what the majority says is true. The fact is, 51% of a group can reach a wrong or false conclusion.

5. Truth is not what is comprehensive. A very detailed and long presentation can still reach a false end result.

6. Truth is not what is intended. A good intention can still be wrong.[3]

With this understanding of truth in mind why would John spend so much time and space in this letter talking about truth?

Look ahead at verse 7 for a minute, 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.

John begins his letter by reminding the elect lady and the church that there are those who deny the truth of the gospel who seek to deceive and destroy followers of Christ. We will look deeper at these false teachers in a little bit. But for now let’s seek to understand what John has to say about the truth.

If we are going to walk in the truth, we must understand how to walk in truth. I believe John gives us four truths about the truth.

The first truth John writes about the truth is

1. The church loves in truth. (vs. 1)

In this first verse we see the balance between truth and love. John said he and all who know the truth love in the truth. What truth is he talking about? John is referring to the truth of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

I think it is vital that we take some time to lay out what all makes up the truth of the Gospel to help us better understand why walking in the truth is so important. So here we go we are about to walk through some of the main truths of Scripture to help us understand the importance of knowing and loving in the truth.

We believe in a

· historical creation of the heavens and earth

· God created man in his image.

· Historical Adam and Eve

· Historical, literal fall when sin entered the world through one mans disobedience.

· Historical flood where God poured his judgment out on the earth.

· Historical prophecies through men of God who pointed to a greater Savior, a Messiah, who would bring salvation to his people.

· Historical incarnation, when God became man through the person of Jesus Christ.

· Messiah who came who was both fully God and fully man (important for later).

· Savior who died a substitutionary death on a Roman cross.

· Three days later rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures.

· Forty days after his resurrection he ascended into heaven where he is sitting on the right hand of the Father where He is ruling and reigning and waiting to return and receive his bride.

· His bride who consists of all those whom the Father has chosen and called, the Son has died for, and the Holy Spirit has converted, and sealed. It is these whom God has saved that await Christ return and seek to bring Honor and Glory to our triune God by living lives of trust, repentance, service, and worship.

Orthodox Christians for centuries have all believed these in these persons and events throughout redemptive history, because God said these things were true, Jesus fulfilled these prophecies concerning himself, and the apostles and thousands of Christians over the years have been martyred defending these truths.

So as we begin to look at the truth John presents in this letter we have solid ground to stand on and be assured these Words and this gospel he presents is historically and eschatologically true.

God’s people do not love one another because we are good people, because we are easy to love, we love one another because God love us first, because Christ demonstrated his own love toward us by dying for us while we were still sinners.

John wants the elect lady to know because of and in this gospel truth that he and all who believe this truth love on another including her. It is because of these truths that we care enough for one another to live self-sacrificing lives in order to show our affection and care for one another.

What do we learn from this? Truth and love go hand in hand. ― Warren Wiersbe has said it this way.

“Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.”

Later in this letter John says some pretty hard things about the way the church is going to handle those who deny the truth and teach heresy. However, this doesn’t mean that as the church fulfills her call to doctrinal fidelity and purity that she is not loving. John begins this letter by telling us the exact opposite. It is because of the truth that we love one another.

What does John tell us next about the truth, look at verse 2.

2. John writes, we love in the truth because the truth abides in us forever.

Where does John get this understanding of the eternal indwelling truth? From Jesus himself. John wrote in chapter 14 of his gospel.

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

How then do we walk in the truth and love in truth?

By remembering Jesus is the truth, Jesus sent another Helper, the Spirit of truth to help us see the truth, know the truth, and live according to the truth.

Dr. David Allen writes, “Christians who truly possess the truth, which is eternal life through Christ who is the truth, are eternally secure based on Christ’s abiding presence in his children forever.”

Edmond Hiebert comments regarding this truth, “Although assured of its eschatological permanence, believers need again and again to grasp anew this truth.”

Look with me at the third truth about truth John discusses.

3. John lets the lady know, the gift of God’s grace, mercy, and peace is with us, and grounded in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Grace is all God has done for us in Christ we do not deserve. - Allen

Mercy is God not giving us all we do deserve. - Allen

Peace flows from the experience of grace and mercy and denotes that inner sense of tranquility and well-being with is the sure result. – Hiebert

The fourth truth John gives us about truth is.

4. John finds great joy in individuals walking obediently in the truth. (4)

As a parent is there anything more rewarding than finding our children walking in the truth. Doing what is good and right, obeying the commands of God. As an elder John finds the same joy in seeing faithful believers living out the truth.

As John closes verse four shifts his attention from walking in truth to walking in love.

Secondly, the elder lets the elect lady know,

b. The church should walk in love. (5-6)

First in verse five, John reminds the dear lady of the content of the commandment.

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.[4]

The content of thrust of the commandment is what? That we love one another. Is there any debate that the Scriptures are full of the importance of the command that we love one another? This command is.

The second greatest commandment.

The way in which a watching worlds knows that we belong to Christ.

Secondly, John explains the conduct that flows from commandment.

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.

If loving one another is the old and new commandment, then what does this love look like.

John goes on to say this love looks like obedience to the rest of his commandments. So as we walk in these commandments we show love to one another. As we live out our daily lives loving one another in the truth, and walking in love together we exhibit God’s grace, mercy, and peace by pouring out what God has poured in, His love for us.

Let me give you three ways we live this out practically in the church.

1. Closeness – spending time with one another

2. Care – providing for and praying for one another’s needs

3. Correction – providing discipleship for one another

Think about the people who love you the most, you spend time with them, you are the first to come to their aid when they are in need, you also correct them when needed to keep them from walking into danger. This is how we should walk with one another as the church, the bride of Christ, the elect of God.

To love the truth is to love the Church and to love the Church is to love the truth, these two are wed together!

Do you see the importance of this first half of John’s letter? He wants the elect lady know the importance of walking in truth, avoiding falsehood, and also walking in love. They are not in opposition, but instead the go together, you cannot have one without the other.

The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary 1. The Introduction (1–3)

Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth hard if it is not softened by love. Scripture commands us both to love each other in the truth and to hold the truth in love.

As we come to verse seven we see a shift in John’s letter. He switches from telling the lady how the church should walk to warning her……

II. Who the elect should reject. (7-10)

John is now turning to tough part of his letter. The part that many people will disagree with, they will say it is harsh, hard, and unloving. But we cannot separate if from the first section where truth and love are in unity.

Look with me at verse 7. John let the lady know to watch out…..

a. Deceivers who deny the incarnation 7

2 John 7 ESV

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.

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.

Do you see the change in direction? John has switched from encouraging the church to walk in truth in love to a stern warning to watch out for deceivers, false teachers.

The first thing we see about these false teachers is that they are deceivers. John warning the church about false teachers is not a new topic for him to cover in his letters.

Consider his three epistles for a moment.

In he warns about false teachers who have left the church.

1 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

Here in 2 John he warns about those who may infiltrate the church.

2 John 10 ESV

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,

10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting

In 3 John he warns about false teachers who are already in the Church.

9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church[5]

John is a bold apostle and elder. He has seen false teachers and false converts do damage to the church and to the faith of the saints. He has watched them raise doubt as they leave the body of Christ. He understands the destructive doctrine they may try and bring back to the Church and he understands what happens when a deceiver denies the authority of the Word of God and those who preach and teach it.

Secondly, consider the deceptive doctrine of these who oppose Christ.

They are, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

1. They deny the incarnation.

2. They deny the humanity of Christ.

How important are these two doctrines? Notice what he writes in 1 John

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already,

“Whereas orthodox followers of Jesus are sent out into the world to preach the truth, the heretics went out, as itinerant emissaries of the devil, to teach error and gain converts for their own cause.” – Stephen Smalley

Denying the humanity of Christ is not some unimportant third order doctrine, this denial is a straight on attack on the person of Christ and must be rejected. Why,

Listen to these words form Athanasius an early church father,

“Therefore, as I said earlier, the Word (Christ), since he was not able to die—for he was immortal—took to himself a body able to die, that he might offer it as his own on behalf of all (us) and as himself suffering for all (us), through coming into it “he might destroy him who was the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (,)

Do we all need the incarnation? Absolutely, we needed Christ to take on flesh so that he might take on the suffering and death that we all earned and could not pay back!

1-3 John The Cause, the Cure, and the Coming Crisis

For, you see, John’s emphatic answer to the question “Why did God become man?” is this: to be the “propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2). Without a fully human/fully divine Savior, we humans have no assurance of God’s full salvation.

Notice next,

John doesn’t just let the lady know to keep her eye out for deceivers, he also warns her to watch out for…..

b. Themselves: their own devotion to sound doctrine. 8,9

Notice the warning in verse 8,

8 Watch yourselves,

How about that, it is easy for all of us to watch everyone else’s doctrine but how about our own?

Here are a few ways to watch ourselves.

1. Watch how much time we spend in the Word. We don’t know what we don’t know.

2. Watch who we allow to speak the Word into our lives.

3. Watch out that we don’t become unwilling to accept doctrinal correction when needed.

In the next verse and a half John lays out at least two reasons to watch ourselves.

First, To avoid being a loser and winning a full reward

so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

What is John saying here? Could he be saying it is possible to lose our salvation, absolutely not.

Instead he is more than likely referring to the reward, wages, that is due the believer as we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians in

2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

John is letting us know that being deceived by these heretical teachers will result in loss as we meet Christ at his judgment seat. I am not sure exactly what these rewards are, but we know even Jesus tells us not to store up treasure in this world that moth and rust will destroy, but to store up treasures in heaven. These treasures and rewards are what is at risk as we seek to serve Him in truth and love. Therefore, we must watch our own doctrine to keep from being deceived.

Notice the second reason the elect must watch themselves.

Secondly, To assure we have the Father and the Son

2 John 9 ESV

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.

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.

John is not saying we should not grow in our knowledge of Christ and his teaching.

What he is saying is we need to be careful not to get ahead or out in front of Christ teaching. If we get to the point where we believe we have some new teaching, some new word, some new knowledge that is better than what Christ has given us through his Word, WATCH OUT!

If a believer gets to a point, Christ’s teaching is not enough, this is how you end up in a cult. A religion that teaches Christ + anything has gone ahead of Christ teachings, has decided they know better.

And what does John tell us? They do not have God!

The good news is he contrasts those who go ahead of Christ teaching with those who what? Abide, live, remain, in Christ teaching.

Who do they have? Both the Father and the Son!

In other words, we have been reconciled to the Father, who created us in his image, whom we rebelled against. This reconciliation comes because we have trusted in the Person and Work of his Son. This means we will receive the full reward when the Son of God returns. Are you starting to see the eternal, eschatological nature of the truth of the gospel!

So far John has warned the lady to watch out for deceivers, watch their own doctrine, his last warning is to watch out for…..

c. Those who depart from the teaching of Christ. 10,11

2 John 10–11 ESV

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

John 2

John explains first who to watch for…

1. Anyone who comes with teaching that does not repeat Jesus’s teaching. You want to know how to know if a person is bringing Jesus’ teaching? Be a Berean. If it doesn’t sound right, put the light of Scripture on it. If it sounds different than the Word of Truth offer correction, if they refuse the Truth John gives us marching orders next.

John tells the lady how to handle these false teachers.

2. Do not receive them.

3. Do not greet them.

Finally, John lays out the reason to reject them.

4. To avoid taking part in their wicked works.

Here’s the point, anyone one who comes to you as a member of the body of Christ and denies the full deity, humanity, sinlessness of Christ should be firmly rejected. We cannot give them any affirmation that their doctrine of demons is acceptable. We do it in love, but we must let them know that their doctrine is false and be willing and ready to share with them the truth revealed in the Scriptures of who Christ is and the work He has accomplished by His life, death, and resurrection!

Here is a vital lesson for the church, PROTECT YOUR PULPIT! Do not let anyone preaching from your pulpit that you are absolutely positive will preach Sound doctrine and refute false teachings! Before you affirm a Pastor or a Preacher, make sure he has proven to you He will preach the truth and not deny the essentials of the faith! This goes the same for your SS teachers, VBS teachers, and whoever else may be teaching at some level in the church!

John has let the elect know how to walk in truth and love, he has warned them who to watch out for, and finally he lets us know….

III. What the elect should expect.

a. Faithful Sheperding

12 Though I have much to write to you,

It is obvious John is apart from the lady and her family and their local church. However, he doesn’t just leave them to the wolves while he is gone. John sends them Holy Spirit inspired writings to ensure they are not devoured by these deceivers.

He cares for the body of Christ even when he is separated from them. He has most likely heard that the false teachers are threatening the church. He knows it will be a while before he can get to them, therefore he breaks out his pen and paper. He then sends them this letter to guide them in the truth.

What can we learn from John’s short salutation?

Our elders today should shepherd us through written communication. I don’t mean elders have to write a letter, blog, or email every week. But like John elders are still to shepherd even when we are not together. This shepherding can be done by giving us the letters that have already been written. When the elect need counsel send them to John’s writings, or Paul’s writings, we have 66 books worth of written communication available to shepherd the flock with.

This instruction can also come from:

· The writings of faithful men from church history,

· The writings of faithful scholars, theologians, and pastors of today.

· And of course their own pen and paper.

Preferably, the elders and the elect should expect….

b. Face to face instruction.

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.

As happy as John was to shepherd the elect lady and her children with paper and ink, his desire was to be with them face to face. Or the actual reading of the phrase is “mouth to mouth.” How about that for closeness? In other words John says, as an elder I am willing to do all I can do through written communication, but my desire it to be with you personally. I desire to come to your home, spend time teaching, discipling, and shepherding your soul.

Here is what we can’t miss, it wasn’t just so John could be in their business, or fellowship over a meal, this personal soul care was, so that your joy may be complete. John’s desire was to be with this elect family for their benefit, not his own. This is the kind of elder the elect should expect.

One who….

· Loves them

· Knows them

· Knows the truth

· Defends the truth

· Desires to shepherd their soul.

The final thing the elect should expect is….

c. Faithful family.

13 The children of your elect sister greet you. [7]

We are not sure where the elect lady and her family were, we believe John was in Ephesus at the end of his life. But what we can glean from this last statement in this letter is that the elect lady had an elect sister with children who had a relationship with John and sent greetings to their family.

As the church, we are the elect of God. We ought to expect even when we are scattered that we never forget the elect we have been separated from. We ought to constantly remember our adopted family no matter where we go. We should send greetings to one another. We continue to love one another in the truth in order that we might be faithful witness of the truth and bring glory and honor to God wherever we may be!

I pray that this short letter from the elder to the elect lady has blessed you. I pray that we would all walk in truth and love. I also pray that we would be defenders of the truth of the gospel for the glory of God the Father and his Son!

[1] Akin, Daniel. (2001). The New American Commentary 1,2,3, John. B&H Publishing Group: Nashville, TN (pg. 220)

[2] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

[3] Norman Geisler, “Truth, Nature of” in Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: 1999), 741-2.

[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.