“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, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 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. 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.”

Walking in Truth

1. The Truth Repeats

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

Through this opening, John essentially reaffirms most everything he taught in the message of 1 John. This doesn’t make 2 John redundant, any more than 1 John, repeating and clarifying so many principles that were conveyed in John’s gospel, was redundant. Scripture repeats itself, it reaffirms itself, it strives consistently again and again, from an infinite number of slightly varied angles to arrive at the same point – God the Father made us and loved us so, that even in our sin He sent God the Son to die in our stead and rise again so that we may know eternal life in God the Spirit. The Word of God, the idea of salvation itself, it’s all amazingly simple, yet so complex and nuanced that you could spend a lifetime analyzing and contemplating these things and still find new revelation – because the Word is living, not that it is changing, for as Hebrews 13:8 tells us,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Be we, in the error of our sin and the weakness of our flesh do not know this kind of constancy. We confuse, forget, and muddle the wisdom and Truth of God, and so Scriptures repetition of the same points and principles is never redundant, it’s merciful. God is God… He’s God. The amount that He owes me, or you, or anyone else is literally nothing – actually, all that we deserve from Him is judgment, certainly not a living, breathing explanation. All of Scripture could consist of half of Exodus 3:14,

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’…”

And we would have been given more explanation than we deserved. But instead, through the manifestation of His Word, through the Son, through the Spirit, and through Scripture, we’re given an open invitation to know the unknowable God.

So if you’ve ever looked at 2 or 3 John, or Jude and thought, “They’re so short, and they’re kind of reiterating what’s already been told. I wonder why they’re even here?” Understand that, this is why – every line of Scripture is a gift, is an act of mercy. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 doesn’t say “some Scripture,” or “most Scripture,” but rather,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

 And so as we see teachings presented again and again, turned over, and offered from new angles, let us never grow tired, or bored, or complacent, but let us recognize the gift we’ve been given through the miracle of repeating Scripture. In the past when I’ve read today’s passage, I just assumed that John was writing to a particular woman of good standing within the early church. However as I read through 2 John again in preparation to begin our time in this book, John’s closing struck me differently than it had previously. 2 John 13,

“The children of your elect sister greet you.”

The “elect lady” to whom John writes, as well as the “elect sister” who sends greetings aren’t specific women, they’re churches. Given the geographical region that John operated in, it’s entirely possible that the church he addresses here is actually one of the seven churches that Jesus would go on to send word to at the opening of Revelation. As with 1 John, we see John again write from a more authoritative position and tone than he brought in his gospel account. Not that the gospel was not written with authority – but here we see John write, not just as eyewitness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but as a pastor, minister, leader – as the last remaining Apostolic elder of the church. What John does through his opening is briefly and systematically go back through core principles that he addressed in 1 John, and highlight how this makes his addressee a legitimate church. Because the qualifiers that allow one to examine themselves and their standing in Christ apply on a larger scale to determining the legitimacy of a gathering of believers as the bride of Christ, or a revealing a blasphemous imitation. And so what we can understand from the start of this letter is that the Truth mercifully and gloriously repeats – its echoes and reverberates through the fabric of reality itself, and it grounds and legitimizes the children of God. 1 John 3:16–17 tells us, without doubt or compromise,

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

John sends his love to the church, and those who make up the church, but then he redirects us to the fact that he is not alone in his affection – all who know Truth, all who abide in God love them. Something that’s stuck with me is that when Jesus teaches how to pray in Matthew 6:9, He tells the people to begin the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father…” We know a personal relationship with God, He made and understands us as individuals, not just a generalized mass. But in approaching Him in prayer, we begin by acknowledging our brothers and sisters in Him – not “my Father,” but “our Father,” which draws our attention to the eternal family that we share through Christ. If we know God, then we are grounded and anchored in this Truth – we love our brothers and sisters. Whether we’ve met them, whether we’ve even seen them, we love them, because they are joined to us eternally in Truth. This functions reciprocally – you are loved by those you’ve never met, those who will share in eternal joy and worship with you in the kingdom of God. This merits repeating ceaselessly. God says in Deuteronomy 6:6–9,

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

In Matthew 22:37–38 Jesus says,

“… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”

But He adds in verses 39 and 40,

“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The Law of God, the commandment of Love that He has given the church is not something that we look upon and then move away from – it’s something that we live and breathe. James 1:22–25 tells us,

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

This is the message that repeats, it’s what guides and determines our thoughts and actions, it’s what sits as a sign upon our hands, and rests between our eyes, it determines who we are as individuals, and to one another, it is all highlighted in John’s opening address as he speaks to the elect lady of the church.

2. The Truth Rejoices

“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 Corinthians 1:3–5 tells us,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

This is what the foundation of Christ, the focusing upon the will of God with the entirety of our being develops into – grace, mercy, and peace lavished upon we who have been made new through Salvation.

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

If we ourselves know Truth, then what greater joy can we know than to see others glorifying God by walking in Truth as well? The world is killing you – and I don’t mean that in an overly poetic, or metaphorical way – the world is literally killing you. Satan, the enemy is the prevailing spirit, guiding and influencing the culture of the world. Sin may taste sweet, but it is a corrosive poison within us. Proverbs 14:12 tells us,

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Despite its tempting nature, sin is an uncarriable burden, and while there is peace in knowing that sin is justly rewarded through death, we must be like our Father, as described in 2 Peter 3:9,

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

We rejoice when we see people who were lost to the world, set aside their slavery under sin, and become our brother or sister in Truth. 1 John 5:3 says,

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

And Jesus says in Matthew 11:28–30,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

There is great joy in seeing those who were lost to darkness, who were crushed beneath the weight of the world, take up the yoke of Christ, and enter into the Light of the world. In Luke 15:10 Jesus says,

“Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

John gives us an excellent example in this as he writes to the church and rejoices as those who have repented and in their sanctification are walking out the commandments of God. As Christians we walk in Truth, and we rejoice in seeing others do so, for God is worthy of all praise and glory, and to see others receive what we have already known is a beautiful thing.  

3. The Truth Repeats

If this made you do a double take, then good on you for paying attention – this is the same point addressed again. This principle is so thoroughly addressed through this passage, and is so important that it merits repeating. This is the founding principle of the church – and we must understand that simply calling yourself a church does not make you a church. If you don’t have Christ who is Love, and Truth, who is the Cornerstone, and the Lamb of God, the One whose blood takes away the sin of the world – if His commandments are not rooted in you as an individual, then understand that you are not a Christian, and if they’re not rooted in your church, understand that you are not a church. I don’t care if you’ve got a steeple and pews, if you’ve got stained glass and hymnals in every row, I don’t care if people show up every Sunday to hear what you’ve got to say, and the offering plate is flush with cash – if you have deviated from the commandments of God, if you have altered the foundational teaching of His Word, if you have lied and thereby blasphemed in His holy name, then you are not the elect lady – in no way are you the bride of Christ, made spotless by His blood. John wrote in 1 John 2:7–8,

“Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.”

The same because we are anchored in the immovable, eternal God, and new as we grow and develop, ever more sanctified as the Light destroys the darkness. And in today’s passage, we see John return to this, that what we are seeing is not new, but is the very root of our faith. There are two very clear ways to view this section with blinders on, and ignore Truth rather than repeat its timeless message. One is to see, “love one another,” and, ignoring everything else that we’ve read, to apply a worldly distortion to love, and run with this. Suddenly all behavior, all sin is permissible, because we are tolerant of every blasphemy. All is acceptable, even celebrated under the banner of worldly love, and a misguided sense of spiritual freedom. This ties into what Paul cautioned the Corinthians against in 1 Corinthians 6:12,

“‘All things are lawful for me,’” but not all things are helpful. “‘All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.’”

We can’t hear the word “love” and throw up blinders to everything else, forcing our own idea of love onto things. The other side of error would be to read,

“And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments…”

And stop at the works-based idea of sanctification through strict adherence to commandments. This path leads to a sort of Pharisaic legalism, that neglects the peace, mercy, and grace that are integral parts of the Love of God. This repeated idea of John communicating, “no new commandment,” also stands very practically against the gnostic teaching of his day. The gospel does not change. Period. We absolutely grow in the Spirit, being purified and refined, but the Word of God is the Word of God, and what He has commanded is unchanging and immovable. It was relevant then, and remains relevant now that there is no “new and secret knowledge,” that usurps and distorts the gospel. There is no new age, blasphemous blending of pagan practice with what God has said. This is another reason to repeat the Truth again, and again, and again, so that it might shine through every facet of who we are, and build us up against the complacent and atrophying nature of our flesh, against any idea that to tolerate sin, to alter the Way that has been set before us is somehow good or acceptable. As Christians, we are changed in Love, we stand in Truth, and we repeat this Truth, in word and deed, seeking to honor and obey our Father in every conceivable aspect of our lives. This is revolutionary, but in no way is it new – this is the commandment that we have heard from the very beginning, and it thrives in the lives of those who walk in Truth, those who have been made children of the Living God.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8F2MsR4sto