Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 9 - Conclusion

Read 2 John 12-13.

Focus on 2 John 12-13.

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

v. 12 What does John have to write?

How does he not wish to communicate?

What does he hope to do instead? (2 actions)

With what purpose/result?

v. 13 Who greets the letter’s recipient?

Understanding & Knowledge

Today we wrap up John’s tiny second epistle. We’ve studied his greeting and the intersection of truth, love, grace, mercy, and peace. We’ve examined the old command to love one another. We’ve grappled with how to handle deceivers.

This brings us to the final two verse of the letter, which contains John’s closing notes.

Final Salutations

Like the opening greeting, it is easy to skim past the final salutations of a letter. Yet this too has been included for our instruction. So what can we learn from these final two verses in 2 John?

1. We don’t have to address everything at once. John makes it clear that what he has written in his letter is not all he has to say. It isn’t even the majority of what he wants to say. But instead of cramming everything into one space (as I would be tempted to do), John exercises restraint. He recognizes that while it all might be important—and if must have been important if it was worth a physical trip to say it—he also knew not all the matters were urgent. So instead of requesting more parchment, he chooses to delay whatever else he had to say, merely letting the reader know that there was more to come.

Question to ponder: How do we delineate between the important which is urgent and the simply important?  

2. In-person communication is preferable. Texting is convenient. Emails are nice. Handwritten letters carry a personal touch to be treasured. Telephone calls can delight, while Zoom often permits us to connect in ways that would otherwise be impossible. But in the end, there is something special about inhabiting the same place at the same time with another person. To be able to hear the voice, see the face, and give a hug or touch a hand. To be surrounded by the same environment, sharing the same sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. To be with another in a way that technology, with all its benefits, cannot duplicate.

So John expresses his strong desire to come to the chosen lady and her family, to spend time with them, and talk face to face. Indeed, in an era of growing layers of technology, with screens and touch-ups and filters that can create a false reality, it may be that such in-person meetings are more vital than ever.

Questions to ponder: What are some of the unique advantages in-person visits can provide? How, both as individuals and as churches, can we cultivate this more/better?

3. Christian fellowship, at its best, produces full joy. This joy was one reason John wanted to visit the chosen lady and her family. He knew such a visit would bring joy—that is, delight, happiness, well-being, gladness—and that this joy would be complete and full, as the anticipated became reality and the far away drew near.

Questions to ponder: What hampers our Christian fellowship so it lacks this fullness and joy?

4. We all want to be remembered. John finishes his letter with greeting from the children of the lady’s chosen sister. This was fairly typical, as a quick survey of the other New Testament letters will show. However, this ordinariness doesn’t make such a greeting insignificant. Rather, it reminds us of the common human desired to be known. It doesn’t matter whether this refers to nieces and nephews greeting an aunt or one church greeting a sister church. Both collectively and individually, we want to be remembered by others—and collectively and individually, we need to take the time to remember others.

Questions to ponder: Who are some of the people we should especially take time to remember? What are some of the ways we can remember others?

Wrap-up Thoughts

Thus ends our study of 2 John. But as we close this book, I would like to invite you to pause and look back over the whole of the book one last time:

• What has surprised you about 2 John? 
• What did you learn from 2 John? 
• What will you take away from 2 John?

Make it personal

One truth learned:

One area of conviction:

One way to correct:

Written prayer:

 

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 8 - Avoid

Read 2 John 7-11.

Focus on 2 John 10-11.

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

v. 10 What should we see if a person brings with him or her?

If someone doesn’t bring it, what is the first thing we ought not to do?

What is the second thing we ought not to do?

v.11 What kind of deeds does this person have?

What happens if we do greet such a person?

Understanding & Wisdom

John has been providing us instructions throughout this tiny letter how we are to love one another—and how we are not to.

So he explained in verse 6 that loving one another means conducting ourselves according to the commandments of God. Agape love simply cannot be divorced from God’s truth, otherwise it ceases to be agape love.

This is important to remember because, according to verse 7, many deceivers have gone into the world. Such people will prevent true love, because they bring lies and untruths and false teaching with them. Lies and truth cannot coexist, and where there is no truth, there is no real love.

Therefore, John’s first instruction for dealing with such deceivers is to watch ourselves. We need to stay aware and observant, lest we lose the good.

John’s second instruction for dealing with deceivers is to abide in the teaching of Christ. We need to continue remain within the boundaries of the teaching about Christ as well as the teaching from Christ.

Which brings us to John’s third instruction for dealing with deceivers: avoid them.

Context

Because this last instruct from John has been misapplied and abused, let me make it clear again who is—and is not—being spoken of.

1. This is not referring to non-Christians in general. John is not advocating that we shut ourselves away from the world and associate exclusively with Christians.

2. This is not referring to Christians with whom we disagree. There are many disputable matters, as Paul refers to them, gray areas where there is no clear right and wrong. Indeed, there are areas where what is right for you may be wrong for me and vice versa. Moreover, we are not going to see eye to eye with every Christian on every matter. So these disputes are not what John is addressing here, otherwise we couldn’t fellowship with other believers.

3. This is not referring just to Christians with an erroneous belief. Again, if it did, we wouldn’t be able to associate with ourselves, much less with any other Christian. For we all carry areas of wrong beliefs, no matter how hard we might try to understand rightly. It is simply part of being a fallen human and a growing Christian.

Rather, the person in view here is the deceiver who advocates false teaching. He or she claims to be Christian, when in reality they oppose the real Christ, and the teaching they are advocating is not the teaching of Christ. Rather, they have slipped outside those boundaries to promote false teaching and heresy.

Moreover, the phrases in verse 10, “comes to you” and “receive into your house” points to the letter’s historical context of traveling teachers and preachers. At the end of the first century, before the New Testament was compiled and canonized, the churches relied heavily upon traveling teachers and prophets to provide additional instructions, much as Paul provided on his missionary journeys. Because their traveling prevented them from earning money through a normal job, church members would house, feed, and provide for the needs of these itinerate preachers. Of course, both Christians and non-Christians soon figured this out and decided this was an easy and comfortable way to live. Thus many charlatans arose.

This all reveals that John is specifically referencing deceivers who not only claim to be Christians but also are or claim to be leaders and teachers in the church. Like false prophets of the Old Testament, these people claimed to speak for God or at least speak with a certain amount of authority from God. Yet their teaching directly opposed the clear, fundamental truths of God.

So as we deal with this final instruction, please keep in mind John’s advice is for handling leaders within the body of Christ who claim to be Christian but whose teaching is false and shows them to be opposed to Christ.   

Question to ponder: In view of this, what kinds of people could potentially fall into this group? That is, who qualifies as a Christian leader?

Method #3: Avoid

This brings us back to verse 10, where John provides our third instruction for dealing with these people. There it says that if this type of false-teaching leader comes to us, we aren’t to receive them into our house.

Again, the historical practice of receiving someone into a house is a little more complex than we tend to think of it today. To receive someone into a house, especially in Middle Eastern culture, was more than simply offering a room to stay. You were taking responsibility for that person to the point of treating that person as a family member during their stay, giving financial support, providing for their needs, and offering protection against outsiders if necessary.

In addition to this cultural context, the verb receive, according to Bauer’s Lexicon, can include the recognition of another’s authority (page 584). To receive them could also be an acknowledgement of their position and power, and therefore their right to a certain amount of control.

Now in 21^st-century United States, our circumstances are different from 1^st-century Roman Empire. We generally don’t deal with itinerate preachers these days. Housing of pastors, teachers, and even missionaries on leave is handled much differently. Nonetheless, there are plenty ways we can “receive into our home” these leader-deceivers and their false teachings, such as using various media materials they produce.

Question to ponder: What are some of the other ways we can receive into our home these leader-deceivers?

The second half of the command in verse 10 is to not “even speak a greeting to him.” This greeting is rooted in the concept of happiness and well-being. So even though this is a formalized welcome, much like wishing someone a “good day,” it is still the speaking of a wish that the other is well and will be well, and it indicates you’re on good terms with that person (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 1074-1075).

So in short, we’re to shun these leader-deceivers. We’re not to support them financially. We’re not to affirm them verbally. We’re not to protect or provide for them. We’re not to associate with them. We’re not even to engage in friendly conversation or wish them well. We’re to sever all contact, if possible, with them. All this from the apostle who instructed us just a few verses earlier to love one another.

Question to ponder: Why is this shunning not a violation of the command to love one another?

Evil Deeds

All this leads to verse 11, and the reason we’re to avoid and shun such people: Even simply offering a greeting makes us a participant in their evil deeds. That is, we have in common, share in, declare a mutual interest in, and indicate a close association with such a person. We create, as the verb says here, koinonia (fellowship) with them. This makes us equally responsible for those deeds.

What kinds of deeds are we becoming responsible for? Here they are called “evil,” a characteristic which is emphasized in the Greek by how the adjective is set apart: we participate in his deeds—his evil ones. This makes it very clear that partial support of such a person is not possible. We can’t claim to be supporting just the “good” part of the person’s ministry. Supporting any part of a false teacher’s ministry or any association with a deceiver is a participation in the evil. Period.

And what kind of evil is being spoken of here? This evil is that which “causes labor, pain, sorrow, malignant evil.” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary, page 212) It can refer to an unhealthy physical condition, the qualitatively worthless, and the morally destructive (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 851-852). In short, the deceiver’s deeds are unhealthy, worthless, and destructive, only leading to trouble, pain, and sorrow.

Question to ponder: How does giving a greeting, much less receiving into our homes, such a person cause us to participate in his or her evil deeds? 

Therefore, as much as our culture and even some churches might say otherwise, we must love within the bounds of Truth, which means there is a time and place for shunning certain people. To do otherwise is to foster evil, which is neither love nor truth.

Make it personal

One truth learned:

One area of conviction:

One way to correct:

Written prayer:

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 7 - Watch & Abide

Read 2 John 7-11.

Focus on 2 John 8-9.

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

v. 8 What are we commanded to do?

In order that what might not be lost?

But in order that we might receive what?

v.9 Who does not have God? (2 attributes)

Which teaching are we to abide in?

If we abide in that teaching, what do we have? (2 answers)

Understanding & Wisdom

In verse 7, John warns us that many deceivers have infiltrated the world. While they might sound good and look good, their teaching is cracked at the very foundation and leads those who listen astray. Indeed, though these deceivers may claim to be Christ followers, they are actually opposed to Christ—antichrists.

Having clarified the danger, John now provides additional instructions for how to best deal with this.

Watch Yourselves

John’s first instruction for dealing with this danger is simply for us to watch ourselves. What does this mean?

First, watch is a command. This is not an optional action, but something imperative that we do, something we are obligated to follow. Watch is also in a form that usually indicates a repeated or continuous action. It isn’t something we do once and are done, but it is an action in which we must regularly engage. As for the word watch itself, it first refers to physical sight (as opposed to blindness). Then it is applied figuratively for intellectual and spiritual perception. (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 179; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged, pages 706-707). So it is a word of observation coupled with insight.

Then this is coupled to the plural reflexive pronoun, yourselves. So I have an obligation to keep an eye on myself, just as you have an obligation to watch yourself. But it is likely we are to keep an eye on each other as well.

So watching ourselves implies being aware and observant. We see and notice those things which are visible—how I am acting and reacting, how you are acting and reacting. More than that, though, it also entails perception—noticing what might not be obvious and explicit, piecing together things to glimpse that which is beneath the surface. And upon noticing such things, like a watchman over a city, we sound warnings, strengthen fortifications, address vulnerabilities, and seek to protect.

And what is the purpose of this watching? John provides a twofold reason, one negative and one positive.

First, we are to watch ourselves in order that we might not lose what was accomplished. What are these things which John says “we have accomplished”? The terms used are pretty generic, making it hard to say. Accomplish is the common term for work and engaging in an activity that involves effort (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 389).

Even the we is ambiguous in this context, so it’s not clear if John is including the lady’s family as co-laborers, or whether he is referring to others he has worked with, such as the other apostles. So John could be referring to the spreading of the Gospel, the training of people in the Truth, the establishment of a church, or something completely different.

Whatever John exactly refers to, we can know that it took effort, it took time, and it took multiple people to accomplish, making the result valuable and worth guarding. Thus John warns us to watch ourselves in order that we might not lose what was accomplished. To lose isn’t merely the idea of misplacement. Rather, it refers to destruction and to something being ruined (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 115-116; Vine’s Expository Dictionary, page 164).

This emphasizes again that deceivers and their false teachings aren’t inconsequential or harmless. They wreak destruction. They destroy what is good. They ruin the work of Christians. Thus we need to watch ourselves.

Question to ponder: How can failing to watch ourselves, especially in matters pertaining to verse 7’s deceivers, ruin or even destroy our work?

Now avoiding this destruction is a good reason to watch ourselves, but John doesn’t stop there. He not only provides us the push of the negative, but also the pull of the positive: Watching ourselves will enable us to receive a full reward.

Reward is the word for payment of work done, what we might in this context call wages today (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 652). So when we work as Christians, we aren’t doing it for free, as it often seems. We are accumulating heavenly wages which God will someday pay out to us.

These wages are then described as full, that is, the wages will be complete and lacking nothing (Bauer’s Lexicon, pages 826-827). Not one penny that we are owed will God withhold. All we’re due, He will pay.

Question to ponder: How does watching ourselves guarantee we’ll receive these complete wages?

Abide in the Teaching

Our first instruction from John on dealing with the danger of deceivers is to watch ourselves. In verse 9, he now provides a second guardrail: abide in the teaching of Christ.

Now John doesn’t tell us this through a command, as in the previous verse. Rather, he explains it through a comparison, a contrast.

First, he speaks of a person “who does not have God,” that is, he lacks a relationship with God (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 420). Why does this person lack God? Because he has gone too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ.

Gone ahead (or too far) literally means to “go before” and refers to someone who “leads from one position to another by taking charge.” (Bauer’s Lexicon, 864) The idea seems to be of a person usurping power and taking charge of a situation that he has no right to, in order to lead in the direction he wants to go. And according to this verb’s form, this person does not do this once or twice, but repeatedly does this, over and over again.

Now by leading when he should be following, this person ends up no longer abiding in the teaching of Christ. This could refer either to the teaching about Christ, such as verse seven’s reference to the Incarnation, or the teachings received from Christ, such as verse five’s command to love one another. Or perhaps John has both in mind. Whichever one is in view, this person has abandoned those teachings. He believes he knows more than God and that his progressive thinking is better than the ageless teaching of Scripture. Such a person, John declares, has no relationship with God.

Question to ponder: How does going too far and failing to abide in the teaching of Christ destroy our relationship with God? 

This person is then contrasted with the one who abides within the teaching of Christ. This one knows both the teachings about Christ and the teachings from Christ, and he or she abides in them. They acknowledge there are boundaries set by those teachings, and they choose to remain within the parameters of those teachings. Such a person, says John, has a relationship with both the Father and with Jesus.

For if we are abiding in the teaching of Christ, we are abiding in Christ. Through Christ, and only through Him, can we come to the Father (John 14:6) and know the Father (John 14:7) because Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:11). So by abiding in the teaching of Christ, we gain a relationship with Jesus, and through Jesus, we gain a relationship with the Father.

Question to ponder: How, practically speaking, do we watch ourselves and abide in the teaching of Christ so that deceivers and their false teaching don’t lead us astray?

Make it personal

One truth learned:

One area of conviction:

One way to correct:

Written prayer:

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 6 - The Deceivers

Read 2 John 7-11.

Focus on 2 John 7.

 

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

What word connects verses 6 and 7?

Who has gone out into the world?

Whom do these not acknowledge?

What do they not acknowledge about that one?

Those who do not acknowledge this—what are they called? (Two answers)

Understanding & Wisdom

In verses 4-6, John has affirmed to the readers of the need to love one another by walking in the truth of God’s commandments. He ends the sixth verse specifically emphasizing that his reader should continually conduct their lives according to this command. Today we see why the apostle felt it so necessary to reiterate that basic truth: There were false teachers roaming the streets.

Many deceivers

Now there is a paragraph break placed between verses six and seven in many translations. While that makes it easier for our modern eyes to read, paragraph breaks did not exist in the original manuscripts, and there is no break in John’s train of thought between verses six and seven. If anything, it is quite the opposite: The first word in verse seven, for, shows that these two verses are connected. Verse seven doesn’t mark a change of subject but continues John’s train of thought from verse six.

And what does this little conjunction tell us? The word seems to be used in a causative sense here. That is, the word for says that which follows explains the why of what went before. So here it is telling us why it’s important to conduct ourselves according to the commandment: We face the problem of many deceivers having gone out into the world.

Or to put it in the reverse, because there are many deceivers roaming the world, we ought to behave according to that which John outlined for us in verses five and six. Indeed, the implication seems to be that our first—or perhaps even our primary—defense against deceivers lays in obeying those instructions.

Question to ponder: How does loving each other by walking according to God’s commands protect us against spiritual deceivers?

Now who are these people John says we’re to guard against?

First, he calls them “deceivers.” This word is rooted in the physical concept of wandering and leading astray. It was even used in secular Greek for the labyrinth and for how it confused and led people astray geographically. The concept then came to be applied figuratively to seduction and causing someone to be mistaken. (Bauer’s Lexicon, page 821-822; Vine’s Expository Dictionary, page 151; The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged, pages 857-860) This reveals three common attributes of deceivers:

1) These people are intentional. They know exactly what they are doing. It is not a mistake or a coincidence or an accident. They act with the purpose to mislead.

2) These people are attractive. They sound inviting. Their teaching seems right. Their words entice. They make a great first impression and initially appear quite likeable. Attracting a following is not difficult for them.

3) Most importantly, these people are untrustworthy. Like the sirens of Greek mythology, they lure you off course to your destruction. They might sound good, but they teach error. Their ways may be attractive, but they draw you away from walking according to God’s commands. Their ideas may seem reasonable, but they lead you into error. They confuse and obfuscate, fogging the mind so that you walk without a clear sense of direction, which allows them to lead you wherever they want.

Next, John describes these deceivers as having gone out into the world. This is the image of spreading and infiltration, like a cloud of smoke or a contagious virus. These deceivers are not confined to a specific locale. They are not constrained to specific environments. They are not restricted to a set route or precise path. Like spores borne upon the wind, they go wherever and everywhere in search of the perfect conditions to sprout. No one is immune or protected against their visitation. All we can do is to make conditions unfavorable for their taking root. Therefore, we all must be on our guard against them.

Question to ponder: How do we make conditions unfavorable for these deceivers and their teachings, both within our homes and our churches?

John now zeroes in on a specific error being propagated in the first century, mainly that Christ did not come bodily and was not fully human. This idea, part of the Gnostic heresy, came from a secular Greek idea that the spirit was good but matter was evil. However, Jesus was supposed to be sinless. Therefore, they concluded that Jesus couldn’t have truly come in the flesh, since that would taint him with evil. Jesus only appeared to be human. (Swindoll’s Living Insights: 2 John, page 143)

For me, this then provides two sets of applications. First, indirectly, it provides us a basic pattern for false teaching. Second, the passage then directly provides us a core belief about the nature of Christ.

A Pattern of False Teaching

Though I’m no expert in this topic, the development of this particular heresy provides a basic template that many false teaching follows. Therefore, while it is not directly found in this verse, I believe it is a worthwhile excursion to take so that we don’t follow the same path. I see three basic elements here:

1) False teaching is syncretistic. That is, it blends together the beliefs of Christianity with secular or cultural beliefs. In this case, the belief that Jesus is the sinless One, completely untainted by anything evil is biblically accurate. However, the belief that matter is evil was a completely secular idea, not rooted in Scripture. Gnosticism joined these two beliefs into one system of theology. So heresy arises when we mix our secular and cultural beliefs with our Christian faith, and this is one reason why false teaching can be so difficult to combat—it is a mixture of truth and lie.

2) False teaching appears logical. The conclusion the Gnostics arrived at is perfectly logical. If it is true that Christ is sinless, and if it is true that matter is evil, then it must be that Christ could not have a material body. The problem with false teaching often doesn’t lie with how they arrive at their conclusion, but with the foundation with which they start. Yet another reason why false teaching can be hard to detect and counter—you must return to the origins. Which leads us to:

3) False teaching has a cracked foundation. This is probably what most significantly sets apart true false teaching from the simple mistakes and the erroneous beliefs that we all have, pastors and Bible teachers included. For we all at time misapply a passage, lack the knowledge or maturity to correctly interpret, and fail to carry something through to a logical conclusion. But these erroneous beliefs don’t deal with foundational assumptions or core beliefs, but generally deal with matters of how should we live, such as keeping the Sabbath or the matter of eternal security.

Now some errors will have more problematic impact on our lives than others. Crooked wallpaper has less impact on a house than a crooked wall. Likewise, for example, your views of rapture probably won’t as impact your life as much as your views on sexuality. But a wrong view doesn’t necessarily equal the false teaching or heresy we’re talking about here.

False teaching, however, messes with the integrity of core beliefs—that is, those beliefs which primarily (though not exclusively) pertain to matters of salvation. This would include things like how we obtain salvation and the death and resurrection of Christ. You mess with these beliefs and everything else we believe is destabilized. In short, the foundation under false teaching is cracked, undermining the entire structure.

Questions to ponder: What are some of the non-negotiable, core beliefs we have as Christians? In light of all this, how do we prevent ourselves from falling into false teaching?

Doctrine of Incarnation

This leads us back to the false teaching being specifically countered here. Although incarnation is not the term John uses here, that is the basic belief being disputed: Did Jesus Christ truly come to earth as a human, not merely as an apparition that appeared human? John says those who deny the Incarnation are deceivers, so John is testifying that Jesus did absolutely take on human flesh, not merely human appearance. He had skin and blood and bones. He had muscles and organs. He had tendons and sinews and vessels. Just like the rest of us.

Why is this so important?

There are many reasons. If He did not have flesh, Scripture lied, and if it lied about this important subject, how could we trust anything else it says? And if He did not have flesh, then He couldn’t have experienced everything we experience as humans and would be unable to sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). And if He did not have flesh, then He would not be able to accurately represent us as our mediator before God (1 Timothy 2:5).

But perhaps most of all, if Jesus did not have flesh, then He could not have died on the cross. If He did not die on the cross, He did not shed real blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). If there is no forgiveness, then we are still dead in our trespasses and doomed for destruction. Therefore, to deny Christ is come in the flesh is to deny our very means of salvation. But Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

Antichrist

Finally, John concludes the seventh verse by reiterating that the one who denies this truth is the deceiver—the one who leads astray. Then he adds this person is also “the antichrist.”

Now because of how we use that term, this statement could be a bit confusing, so allow me to clarify some. In modern Christianity, we often associate the term antichrist with a specific person, a ruler at the end of time who will set up himself as the ultimate opposite—the anti—of Christ.

That is not how the term is being used here. In fact, the term antichrist is only used four times in Scripture: here, in 1 John 2:18, 1 John 2:22, and 1 John 4:3. Interestingly, in none of those passages is the Antichrist of the End the main focus.

Adding to the confusion, Greek and English use the article “the” in different ways. Here, it is easy to read the English the before antichrist as referring to a specific person. However, the Greek the was more likely used categorically. That is, it was pointing out a specific type of person—a category of people—not a specific person. This is why some translations choose to use “an antichrist” instead of “the antichrist.”

All this to say, this false teacher is not merely misleading people. He or she is actually opposing Christ—that is, anti (against) Christ. If they are opposing Christ, they are not of Christ. So though they may claim to be Christians, though they may claim to follow Jesus, the reality is that they are actually His enemy and working against Him. It is this active opposition that frames John’s tough words of verse 8-11, which we will look at in the next lesson.

Question to ponder: Why is important to establish that the group John speaks of as antichrists? 

Make it personal

One truth learned:

One area of conviction:

One way to correct:

Written prayer:

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 5 - Love One Another

Read 2 John 1:4-6.

Focus on 2 John 1:5-6.

 

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

v. 5 Of whom does John make a request?

What does he ask of her?

What is this request not?

Rather, how long have we had this?

v. 6 What is love?

Therefore, what is the commandment? (Combine info from v. 5-6)

When was the command heard?  

Why was the command given?

 

Understanding & Wisdom

In verse four, John expresses his joy that some of the lady’s children are walking in truth. Such behavior is in accordance with the Father’s commandment, and therefore gladdens the old apostle’s heart. But not all of the lady’s children are living in this way, and perhaps that concern is what prompts John’s request in verse 5.

John’s Request

First, John says he is making a request of the lady. There are many words John could have used here, but the one he chose implies familiarity and equality, that he does not see the lady as either superior or inferior to himself, as he easily could have.

Second, John insists that what he is writing is nothing new. This doesn’t refer primarily to time (there’s another Greek word for that), but more significantly, this newness is different in nature or quality from the “old.” This is important because during this period, a group of false teachers (possibly the Gnostics) were justifying their teaching in part by claiming that it was “new and improved,” and therefore superior to previous teaching.

Rather, John insists what he is asking for is the same as has been properly taught from the beginning. Many see this as a reference to Jesus’ words in John 13:34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” While this teaching may have been circulated verbally, the gospel of John, according to many scholars, would not have been written by this time, and so it may or may not have been known to the readers. 

So the Upper Room discourse may have been in John’s mind, but I wonder if his mind didn’t go even further back. After all, he was Jewish, schooled in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). He would have known that the command for God’s people to love each other had existed from the very beginning of God setting aside a people for Himself, and that the very first commands God gave the new nation of Israel included “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)

For God has not changed His expectations for His people. He expected them to love each other when He first set Israel apart at Mt. Sinai, and that did not change with the advent of Jesus or the rise of the church. Indeed, what made Jesus’ command new in John 13 was not the command itself, but the depth of our understanding of the command’s meaning because we have Jesus’ example to follow.

Therefore, John says his request is rooted in a command that existed from the beginning, rebutting a common element of false teachers, that they claim their teaching isn’t false; it’s merely new, progressive, more enlightened.

This problem didn’t end with the first century but carried on through to us in the 21^st century. The most obvious manifestation of this is the “new revelation” that creates cults. But even in our regular churches this attitude can infiltrate in other, more insidious ways, so we must always be on the guard against this.

Question to ponder: What are some of the ways that our churches end up ditching the old for the new, theologically speaking?

Finally, we reach the commandment and John’s request: That we love one another.

The love commanded here is the agape love that we discussed earlier. This love is specifically said to be expressed for “one another.” Again, love for each other has always been God’s intention for His people, in both the Old and the New Testament. It was always one of the major ways His people were to be distinguished from all other people. As Jesus noted, this love for God’s people was one of the dominate ways people will know we are His disciples (John 13:35). So while we are to love the non-Christian, it is not our love for the outsider that sets us apart. It is how we love other Christians that sets us apart, that marks us as Christ’s followers.   

Question to Ponder: Why is it our love for other Christians, not non-Christian, that sets us apart?

Love & Commands

John must have also known that some—perhaps even those children who were not walking in truth—would claim that they were loving each other as commanded. The problem, however, was that they were apparently loving as they wanted to love.

So how are we to love each other? This is often a point of great contention, and this command to love each other has been used as justification for many actions—and the argument against many others.

In the midst of these debates, we often forget it’s not up to us to define love. We don’t get to choose how to apply this command. That’s God’s job, and He hasn’t left us in the dark about His expectations. He doesn’t leave it to us determine what it means. Rather, He has clearly made known exactly what He means when He commanded, “Love one another.” Which brings us to verse 6, where John wastes no time clearly and precisely defining love: It is walking—that is, conducting our lives—according to God’s commands. No more. No less.

So true love cannot exist apart from obedience to God’s commandments. A life characterized by disobedience cannot be loving. Agape love cannot coexist with a lifestyle of sin.

Positively, this means we have been given precise instructions on how to love one another. For yes, the two greatest commandments sum up the Law and the Prophets. What we forget is that Jesus’ statement about the greatest commands goes two ways.

For the two greatest commandments don’t eradicate the other commandments found in the Law and the Prophets, leaving us to define how we do/express those two things. The greatest commandments summarize all the others. Everything in the Law and the Prophets exist as an explanation of how we’re to love God with our whole self and how we love our neighbor as ourselves. For every command in Scripture explains either 1) how to love God or 2) how to love people. Which means all commands are important, and to ignore them is to fail to love.

Question to ponder: What are some of the commands which are expressions of loving one another? 

This means obedience is not one expression of love among many. It is not merely one aspect or attribute of love. We’re told here that obedience is love. You cannot separate love and obedience. Therefore, our ability to love is directly tied to our willingness to obey. This is why God can command us to love, since obedience is an act of the will.

This applies equally to us as a collective church as it does to us individually. A church conducting itself in defiance of God’s commandments cannot love each other as we have been commanded. And if it is not loving in this way, it will lose its distinctiveness as God’s people.

This connection between love and obedience is also why we saw with verse one that agape love cannot exist apart from Truth. Love is to obey God’s command. God’s commandments are found in Truth alone.

So are you unsure how we are to love one another? Many people must be, for I once received a catalogue, whose cover advertised a book entitled, Loving People Who Are Hard To Love. I don’t know what answers the book provides to that question, but John provides the basic answer here. We don’t have to drum up feelings of compassion or warmth, pity or affection. We don’t have to like how a person is living or even the person himself. We don’t have to please them or make them like us or cause them to feel good about themselves. Rather, God has left us a complete instruction manual explaining exactly how to we are to love each other. All we have to do is obey what God has already written. And at least for me, that is immensely relieving when dealing with difficult people.

So sometimes people ask if we must love everyone. Let me ask this in return: Are we obligated to obey God’s commands? Are we obligated to obey those commands no matter with whom we’re dealing? Then yes, we must love everybody in this way.

Questions to ponder: In view of all this, what is loving one another not? If we are truly loving our fellow-Christian according to God’s commands on a consistent basis, and this is what makes us distinct, what should characterize our fellowship?

Finally, John ends verse six by reiterating again what he has already said:

• It is a command, not a suggestion or a recommendation or something God merely desires of us. It something we are obligated to obey.
• This command is not new, but what we’ve had from the beginning—God has not changed His rules mid-stream.
• The purpose of the command is not that we might analyze it or consider its benefits, but that we might live in it—that is, this command forms the boundaries within which we are to live, work and dwell, day in and day out.

So to summarize John’s point in verses 5-6, the commandment is we are to love one another by living according to God’s commands. This is what was taught by Moses at Mt. Sinai to the people of Israel. This is what Jesus taught His disciples while He walked the earth. This is what the apostles taught the early church. Therefore, this should define all our behavior, how we conduct ourselves on a consistent basis.

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 4 - Walking in Truth

Read: Second John 1:4-6

Focus: Second John 1:4

 

Knowledge

Answer the following questions from the text:

Whom was John glad over?

Why was John glad?

What have we received?

From whom?

Understanding & Wisdom

With the salutation of verse 1-3 complete, John now moves into the body of his letter, where the core of his instruction is contained. Here is the heart of his message and why he felt compelled to write. Starting with verse 4-6, John affirms what is right and encourages the lady and her children to continue along that path.

A Spiritual Divide

So in verse 4 John expresses his great delight to discover that some of the lady’s children were walking in truth, a statement that reveals four important truths.

1. Godly environments don’t guarantee godly offspring.

Here we read that John is glad to hear some of the lady’s children are walking in truth. So what does it mean some were “walking in truth”? 

Walking is a word that is defined more specifically as “to wander about to and fro.” Therefore, this word came to mean figuratively one’s conduct—the overall comportment, activity, and behavior of one’s life. Some of the lady’s children were conducting themselves, overall, “in truth”—that is, their behavior belonged to the realm of truth. So their conduct was done with open integrity, one which is rooted in the Truth of God, as the reference to the commandment of God in the following phrase indicates.

Therefore, John is glad because some of the lady’s children were conducting themselves with the integrity that springs from God’s Truth. However, implicit in that statement is that some of the lady’s children weren’t walking in truth.

This tells us that environment is not wholly responsible for the spiritual outcome of a child. Whether this refers to a family or a church, the principle is the same. Multiple kids can be raised in a godly home, and some may walk in truth while others don’t. A church can do everything “right” to foster spiritual growth, yet some members will rebel and refuse to do what is right. While a godly environment increases the odds of children walking in truth, it by no means guarantees it. 

Question to ponder: What are some of the erroneous assumptions we make about the connection between godliness and environment?

Reputation Known

2. Our conduct will become known.

John most likely lived miles away from his readers, for otherwise he would have simply visited the lady and spoken directly to her about his concerns. John also lived in a world where travel and communication tended to be slow and unreliable. It wasn’t like he could hop onto Facebook and see the posts of the lady’s children. He couldn’t do a Google search and discover an article in an obscure newspaper about their behavior. He wouldn’t get a telephone call or text update from a friend who bumped into the lady’s children.

Yet despite the distance and unreliability, John still heard about what was going on. He heard about the good that the lady’s children were doing. He heard about the bad. The conduct of both became known, so much so that John, as far away as he was, heard of their doings.

This shows that how we conduct ourselves will become known to those around us. Our consistent pattern of behavior can’t be hidden long-term. Our lives will bear visible fruit, and that fruit will reveal to others what kind of tree we are, just as Jesus warned. (Matthew 7:16-20)      

Rejoice in Good

3. We ought to rejoice over those who are doing right.

When John heard about how the lady’s children were doing, he doesn’t jump in and chide those who did wrong. Nor does he lament their failure to walk in truth; he doesn’t let that override his joy nor does he overlook the good.  Rather, he deliberately focuses on those who are doing right and declares his joy over the ones who are walking in the truth.

Sometimes, when we see the divide between those walking in truth and those who are not, the latter consumes our attention. We weep over their disobedience. We grieve their distance from God. We continually pray for their return. We ponder how we ought to confront them (or if we should), and we vacillate over what we should or shouldn’t say to them.

While these are normal and even good responses, John’s response shows us that we shouldn’t neglect affirming and rejoicing over the good in the midst of that.

Question to ponder: How can we remember those who are walking in the truth—especially when we’re also dealing with those who aren’t?

Mandatory Truth

4. Walking in truth is not optional.

While our behavior or conduct does not determine our eternal destiny, this does not make our obedience and integrity optional. We don’t get to pick and choose how we want to live. We aren’t free to determine our lifestyle. Look at how John puts it at the end of verse 4: These children were walking in truth according to the Father’s command.

A command implies a standard, an expectation, a requirement, an obligation. It is something we are to do, something we are obey and follow, regardless, whether we want to or not, whether we like it or not. There is no choice involved, just as a soldier, given a command, are to follow any order given to them—even if it should cost them their lives. So a command tells us what we are to do, no ifs, ands, or buts. And since this command comes from God the Father, it comes with the highest authority which will not be and can never be revoked, reversed, rescinded, or overridden.

So walking in truth isn’t a nice bonus or a good suggestion or a strong recommendation. It is not just something God desires us to follow because it will benefit us or even glorify Him. It is a command. God expects, requires, demands us to do this. Yes, we’re saved by grace, but that doesn’t nullify God’s commands. Having Christ’s imputed righteousness doesn’t change the requirement for me to live righteously.

Rather, we remain obligated by the Father Himself to walk in truth and in the Truth, to conduct ourselves with integrity and behave according to God’s Truth. Now, failing to do so will not lose us our salvation. But it will come with negative consequences, painful reprimands, and potentially devastating punishment.   

Question to ponder: What do we do that reveals we’re treating walking in truth as optional rather than as the absolute command it is?

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 3 - The Truth & Beyond

Read: Second John 1:1-3

Focus: Second John 1:2-3

 

Knowledge (What does the text say?)

Answer the following questions from the text:

v. 2 Why does the Elder and those who know the truth love the readers?

Where is the truth found?

How long will the truth be with us?

v. 3 What else will be with us? (Three answers)

Where do these come from? (Two answers)

How is Jesus described?

Where is that triplet gift found?

Understanding & Wisdom (What does the text mean and how does it apply?)

In the previous lesson we looked at John’s first presentation of love in truth, which is such a dominant theme in this letter.

First, we recognized John’s love as agape love, the divine, unconditional love with which God first loved us. This is important because agape love is not based on any external circumstances, but pours forth out of its own fullness, regardless of the worthiness of its recipient. We, being finite and cracked vessels, have no such boundless flow. Therefore, God continually pours His love from His limitless spring into us, which then allows us to pour that out to Him and others.

But John did not merely love his readers. He loved them in truth. Truth, generically, refers to that awareness that sees beyond the surface to the unchanging reality and thus produces transparent and reliable integrity. So when John says he loves in truth, he is assuring his readers (among other things) that he is not only acting for their best interest, but he is doing so in a way that is clear-eyed, open, and trustworthy.

Then John informs his readers that he was not alone in his love. The readers are also loved by all who know the Truth. That is, those people who have a growing comprehension of the Truth by which all true things are measured, the truth of Christ and His word. This showed us that truth, and specifically God’s Truth, are the waters in which agape love flourishes and binds us together as Christians, whether we know each other or not. Remove agape love from the pool of God’s Truth, and it will die like a fish removed from water.

Because of the Truth

All this brings us to verse 2, which provides us further insight into the Truth which provokes agape love.

First, we learn that our motive to love is the Truth. Love does not merely flow from the Truth. Truth is the cause to love’s effect. Like a fire requires a spark to be ignited, as a waterwheel requires flowing water to turn it, or yeast requires warm water and sugar to grow, so agape love requires Truth. You can’t choose one over the other.

Moreover, God’s Truth is the reason we bother loving at all. For the possible reasons for loving one another are plentiful:

We can love others because of our relationship to them, because they are family or friends or coworkers or fellow Christians. We can love others on the basis of the benefits they bring, because they can help us or provide us something or make us feel a certain way. We can love others because of their abilities or position, because they are powerful or rich or talented or famous. We can love others because of their character, because they are kind or gracious or generous or compassionate. We can love them because of their needs, because they are poor or needy or sick or broken or lost or hurting.  

While some of these motives may be more selfless than others, at least on the surface, Second John makes it clear we have a motive that should rise above all that: We, who know the Truth, love because of that Truth.

Question to ponder: What is it about the Truth that should compel us to love?                

Next John provides us some additional insight into the Truth, of why Truth is such a powerful motivator.

First, the Truth abides in us. Abides is a common Greek word for staying where one is placed. This is then coupled with a tense that tells us the abiding is a continuous state. So the Truth has been placed in us and will continually stay there. There is stability in that statement. The Truth won’t be in us one day and gone the next. We won’t misplace it or accidentally lose the Truth. It can’t be stolen. For the Truth has been planted in us (James 1:21), and it will remain with us because we’ve been given the Spirit of Truth (John 16:33). Therefore, the motive and the means to love each other are always available, never fluctuating, never changing, ever dependable.

Second, the Truth will be with us forever. Not only is the Truth in us, where no one can touch it or steal it away, but John also declares it will be with us. That is, Truth will accompany us wherever we go, for all time. No matter what we encounter, what predicaments we find ourselves, what places we travel to, what situations we face, the Truth will be right there alongside us, guiding us, helping us, enabling us to love with God’s love. Not just today. Not just tomorrow. Not just next week, next month, or next year, but throughout the age into eternity.

These two realities tell me that once we know the Truth, we can’t un-know it. Memory may fail, the mind may grow dim. But we need not worry about losing the Truth. The Truth—and the Spirit of truth—abides in a place that cannot be touched by disease or dementia or Alzheimer’s. Its presence cannot be amputated or surgically removed. Therefore, this makes the Truth a treasure worth pursuing as well as a spiritual essential necessary to fulfilling the greatest commands to love.

Question to ponder: In view of this, what questions can we ask ourselves to see if we’re handling the Truth—both Scripture and the Person—rightly?

Grace-Mercy-Peace

Next, in verse three, John proceeds to give a slightly unusual salutation.

The first thing that sets apart his salutation is its form; it is a statement of fact. In most of the other epistles, you’ll read, “Grace and peace to you,” or “May the grace of God be with you.” These are expressions of wishes—the articulation of an author’s desire for his readers. But there is no wishing here in John’s words. He states his salutation as an established fact. Grace, mercy and peace will be ours. There is no question, there is no doubt. We can expect to receive grace, mercy, and peace from God, to have them with us, to accompany us on our way.

The second oddity isn’t obvious in most English translations. First, in the Greek, no and separates mercy from peace. It simply reads, “grace, mercy, peace will be.” Second, the verb will be is singular, even though it has three subjects. Three subjects should have a plural verb, not a singular one. This tells me that John sees grace, mercy, and peace, not as three separate things, but as one complete package: The grace-mercy-peace gift will be with us. Each one will be found with the other two.

This is emphasized when we realize that the order of these three words is also intentional. When appearing in salutations in the New Testament, they always appear in the same order. Grace always is listed before mercy or peace. Mercy always follows grace and proceeds peace. Peace always follows grace or mercy or both. This order shows that each part of this gift enables the one that follows it.

So we start with grace, God’s generous, no-strings-attached favor which He pours out on us. Without this favor, God would have no reason to show us mercy, which is His pity and kindness expressed in His noticing and meeting our needs out of His abundant resources. And only once God has met our needs due to His mercy can we experience the wholeness, harmony, and well-being of peace.

Now the reason we can know that these gifts belong to us is because they flow directly from the presence of the Father and from the presence of His Son, Jesus Christ. There is no post office to lose them. There is no distributor to misplace them. There is no deliverer to break them or steal them. We can know with complete certainty that these will be ours.

Finally, John circles back around to his theme of truth and love. He concludes the third verse by telling us this grace-mercy-peace gift comes in a special wrapping—it’s packaged inside of truth and love. As if to emphasize his point of verse one, John places truth first, in the place of greatest importance and dominance.

So we see these five things come in concentric circles. Truth is in the outermost ring. Love resides in truth. Grace, mercy, and peace are found in truth and love. Grace must precede mercy. Mercy must precede grace.

 What does all this mean for us?

First, truth is foundational. You remove truth, and everything crumples.

Second, these five things—truth, love, grace, mercy, and peace—are a gift. We don’t earn them. We don’t acquire them. We can’t buy them. They are a gift that God chooses of His own free will to bestow upon us, and apart from Him we have no way to gain them. And because God does choose to give them to us, they’re always available to us.

Third, God provides everything we need. He knows we can’t experience peace apart from His mercy. He knows we can’t receive His mercy until He gives us His grace. And He won’t show us the favor of grace unless He loves us, and agape love cannot exist apart from the Truth. So in Jesus, God gives us it all.

Question to ponder: In light of all this, how then should we live?    

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 2 - Love In Truth

Read: Second John 1:1-3

Focus: Second John 1:1

Knowledge (What does the text say?)

Answer the following questions from the text:

Who is this letter from?

Who is the letter to?

How does the elder love the recipients?

Who also loves them?

 

Understanding & Wisdom (What does the text mean and how does it apply?)

This week we dive into the first part of Second John, the greeting. Since this is basically John saying “hello” to the reader, it might be easy to think we can just cruise through these first three verses. After all, how much can we really learn from someone saying, “Hi, it’s me; I hope you’re doing well”?

But the thing of the short books is that there is no wasted space. To write short means to write precise and make the most of every single word. So though these first three verses might be “only” the greeting of this letter, John is already setting the foundation for what he will be talking about in the core of this letter.

An Affirmation of Love

So after identifying himself and his recipient, John first affirms his love for the recipients of this letter.

This love is the agape love (sometimes called unconditional love) which we frequently associate with God elsewhere in the New Testament. And contrary to how it is sometimes described, agape love is not a love devoid of warmth, affection, or emotions. It may in fact be the warmest of all love because it is the love which pours forth from its fullness and is therefore in no way dependent on the worthiness of the object. Such love can only be known through the actions it prompts and must then go beyond the realm of emotion into the realm of will and deed.

Such love is beyond us, of course. Left to ourselves, we would never be able to love in this way. We simply lack the fullness required for it. Our love is insufficient, no matter how much we might strive to love this way.

Thankfully, though God commands us to love one another, He doesn’t ask us to love one another with our love. As John notes in his first letter (1 John 4:19), God loved us first, and therefore we now have the capacity for such love; our love can—must—draw from the fullness of God’s love in order to love Him and others rightly.

So John declares his God-rooted love for the recipient, and because he does, they can know that whatever John writes will flow from a desire for their highest good. If John speaks praise, they can know it is not flattery or an attempt to earn favor, but that it is genuine affirmation and encouragement. If John speaks criticism, they will know it comes from an earnest wish to help them avoid danger, not from an attitude of superiority or from trying to make self look good.

Thus John first affirms his love for them.

Truth-Rooted Love

Second, John establishes that his love is rooted in truth. “In” is a general preposition denoting the sphere within which something is found. So John’s love could be literally said to be confined or restrained by truth.

Truth comes from a Greek root that means “to escape notice, to forget,” which then has the prefix added on that means “the opposite of.” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, pg. 645) This leads to the meanings of “nonconcealment,” “hiding nothing,” and then “what is seen, indicated, expressed, or disclosed.” (Bauer’s Lexicon, pg. 42; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged, pg. 37). Thus, truth is “the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter.” (Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, pg. 645) The corresponding Hebrew word adds the dimension of “a reality that is firm, solid, binding, and hence true.” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged, pg. 37-39).

Therefore, truth is more than a sticking to the facts. It is an awareness that sees beyond the surface, a revealing of an unchanging reality, a reliable integrity that doesn’t hide. 

So when John says he loves in truth, he is announcing that his love is founded on an unchanging reality, so that the love itself will never change. John is assuring his readers that his love will operate with openness, integrity, and transparency. It will not conceal, hide or deceive.

Moreover, because John loves in truth, his love is not blind, but quite the opposite. It is aware, seeing past pretense and appearances to what really is. And because this truth-love sees, it eradicates the fear of what will happen if someone should find out “the truth,” because the truth is already known, yet the love remains.

Questions to ponder: What is “love in truth” not? What are some of the traits of “love in truth”?

Now this is all interesting because, John describes himself as “the Elder.” This likely indicates he is well advanced in age, older than his recipient, a position in that culture that demanded high respect. This description as “the Elder” also likely meant John held a special place in authority and position, probably due to being one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus. So John could have easily pulled rank and insisted that the lady and her children heed his instructions due to that position. Instead he reminds them that his love rooted in truth.

Question to ponder: What can we learn from John’s example in this?

Knowing the Truth

Now John does more than affirm his love for the chosen lady and her children. He also adds that they are also loved by “all who know the truth.”

First, knowing here is not a reference to head knowledge. It isn’t being familiar with the order of the books of the Bible. It isn’t the ability to list the facts. It isn’t the recitation of a creed or doctrine. Rather, this knowledge is comprehension and understanding.

Moreover, this knowledge isn’t passive, something we learn and shelve. It isn’t something gained by osmosis. Rather, this knowledge is active. It indicates a growing understanding and a pursuit of the thing that we desire to know.

Finally, this isn’t regurgitated or borrowed knowledge. That kind of knowledge is second-hand, with no real connection between the person spouting the information and the information itself. Rather, the knowing here indicates a relationship between the knower and the thing known, because the knower values or considers important the thing known. So there is a treasuring here.

Which brings us to what is known: The Truth.

Now sometimes we think of truth as something cold, hard, harsh, even divisive and angry. John’s words reveal that God’s Truth ought to have the opposite effect on His people: it is because of their knowledge of the truth that these other believers love the lady and her children.

So we see that truth should spark love. For it is God’s Truth that makes us aware of His love so that we can love others. It is God’s Truth that binds us together, despite our differences and diversity. It is God’s Truth that stirs our love for other believers, even those we don’t know and have never met.

Which emphasizes again that agape love is not blind nor does it love indiscriminately. Indeed, it has little resemblance to our culture’s version of tolerance, which is sometimes rewrapped by churches as love. Rather, agape love that binds us together is the love derived from the Truth.

This means that agape love flourishes in the presence of God’s Truth. The more we truly understand and embrace the Truth, the deeper our love should grow.

This also means, conversely, no Truth equals no agape love. An organization, a church, a family, any group of believers may claim to love, but if they lack God’s Truth, their love will be superficial at best and destructive at worst. Hardly the agape love we are told to show, and indeed, a lack of this love may be symptomatic of a loss of truth. For while God’s Truth might exist apart from love (see the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7), agape love cannot exist apart from Truth any more than a fish can live apart from water. 

So a solid foundation of God’s Truth is essential to agape love within the church and among individual believers, and it is what allows us to love others as commanded.

Question to ponder: How do we learn to love in the truth?

Tiny But Mighty Second John: Lesson 1 - Introduction

This week we are beginning a study I’m calling the “Tiny But Mighty,” an in-depth look at the books of the Bible with no more than three chapters. Because of their briefness, these books are sometimes treated as inconsequential or insignificant compared to their weightier counterparts. As a result, we often skim through them, use them as filler material, or skip them altogether.

Yet these books, while brief, often carry an extra punch due to their direct approach and singular focus, books that go straight for the jugular, if you will. Their precise treatment of one basic topic leaves no room for tangents to muddy the waters, and they provide us simple, undiluted truth. That makes the study of these books necessary to our spiritual lives and helpful in developing clear thinking as Christians.

Questions to ponder:

Why do we often equate short or small with insignificant?

How can we treat these short books of the Bible with the same high regard as the longer ones?

 

Ground Rules

Before we begin, I would like to make some recommendations concerning your use of this study:

• Use a literal/word-by-word translation Bible—for we will be studying the Bible. This will be easier to do if you have the text in front of you. And because we are studying the Bible, sometimes word by word, I ask that you use a word-by-word translation (sometimes also called literal) so that we might be generally on the same page. ESV, NASB, KJV/NKJ, and Amplified are all examples of literals. I personally use NASB for my English Bible, cross-referencing through others.

• Engage brain & participate—We learn best by doing. So my hope and goal is to encourage you to engage with the text. However, there’s only so much I can do. You also need to be willing to participate and to think, not merely read. So engage your brain and participate through pondering the questions and even finding someone to discuss them with you.

• Willingness to linger. While I tried to maintain a reasonable pace in this study and not get bogged down, I also sought to take the necessary time to grapple with every set of verses encountered and not shortchange any of them, even when difficult.

• Check pre-conceived notions. We will come to these books with some pre-conceived notions about them. While it is impossible to set everything aside, I ask that you set aside as much as possible. For I desire to focus on what the text says, not what others have said about the text.

• Pray. Handling the Word of God accurately and teaching it clearly is no small task. So I encourage you to take a few minutes to pray before reading these lessons, that your heart may be ready to hear, understand, and act upon God’s truth.

Likewise, there are a few things you should know about me, as it affects how I have written this study. I am…

• A Literalist—I take Scripture at face value and try to err on that side, even if hard to swallow or understand.

• A Spiritual Mutt—My beliefs tend to wander across established denominational lines.  My foundation is the Word of God and sound logic.

• Fallible—I studied hard for these lessons, but I am human. I will err, so grant me grace, and if something seems off, please question me before making assumptions. Many church—and denominational—arguments come from misunderstandings or using identical terms in different ways. So ask for clarification. And remember I’m still learning too.

• A Preparer. Accordingly, I did my best to prepare thoroughly for each lesson, using a wide variety of resources in my study. For this study, my resources included a Greek New Testament, the BibleWorks software, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon, Wallace’s Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics, the abridged Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, and commentaries by Charles Swindoll and William Barclay.

Now let us begin our study of Second John!

Intro to 2 John

Read Second John.

Before we dig into the specific details of this book, let’s set the stage for its teaching by laying the contextual foundation:

Book style (how): The type and style of book will often directly impact how we interpret a book—that is, we don’t interpret poetry the same way as a historical account. The book of Second John is classified as an epistle. That means it was a letter written by a person of authority to instruct a person or a group of people concerning a specific topic or concern that was too important to leave unaddressed until the author could visit in person. Therefore, the style will be didactic, with the purpose to teach, and the language will be specific, informative, and practical for the most part.

Author: The opening of this letter identifies the sender as “the Elder.” The church has always ascribed this book to the Apostle John, a claim that has never been seriously contested and is indeed upheld for a variety of textual reasons, including literary style and similarity of topic to the other books bearing his name.

The Apostle John was a fisherman by trade, the son of Zebedee, who spent time with John the Baptist and was first introduced to Jesus through the Baptizer, when he pointed out “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” He was later called by Jesus to be part of the original twelve disciple, along with his older brother James, to spend time with Jesus and learn from Him during the three and a half years of public ministry. Some believe him to be the youngest of the Twelve, and he was so known for a fiery temper that he and James were nicknamed by Jesus as the “Sons of Thunder.” In addition to being part of the Twelve, John was also part of the inner circle of three, along with his brother James and with Peter, so that he witnessed additional miracles and events such as the Transfiguration.

In the gospel bearing his name, John refers to himself the disciple whom Jesus loved, sat beside Jesus at the Last Supper, and was entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother Mary at the Crucifixion. According to tradition, John was the last of the Twelve to die and the only one of the Twelve to die a natural death. Five books of the New Testament are credited to John: the Gospel of John, the three general epistles bearing his name, and the book of Revelation.

Recipient:  The exact recipient of Second John is unclear and unknown due to the rather unspecific address of “to a chosen lady and her children.” Some believe this refers to an unidentified woman and her family known personally by John. Others say that “the chosen lady” is a church (since the church is referred to as the bride of Christ) and that “her children” were the believers of that church. In the end, it makes little difference, as the instructions in this letter apply equally to the individual and the corporate.

When and Where: Again, the precise location is unknown, but due to John’s leadership in Ephesus, somewhere in Asia Minor (or what is modern-day Turkey) seems likely. As for when, the precise date is unknown, but most scholars place this near the end of John’s life and during the latter part of the reign of the Roman Caesar, Domitian, placing this book between 85-95 AD.

Themes and Purpose: Love is a common theme in both John’s gospel and his letters, and all three of his letters deal with the intersection of truth, love, and obedience.

This second letter specifically addresses the issue of keeping love within the riverbanks of truth. As a result, what is teaches us about God (its theological theme) is that He is a God of both truth and love. Its practical application for us as people (the anthropological theme) is how to walk in love according to the truth.

Outline of 2 John

In keeping with its brief nature, the book of Second John has a simple and straightforward structure:

·         Greeting, v. 1-3

·         Instruction on love, v. 4-6

·         Warning against aiding false teachers—or loving without truth, v. 7-11

·         Closing remarks, v. 12-13 

So that’s the foundation for Second John. I hope you’ll consider joining me for the study of this small but mighty book!

 

Questions to ponder:

What do you hope to get out of this study?

What might you do to prepare yourself for this study?