Sermon Tone Analysis

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.