2 John

Introduction and Thanksgiving

1:1 From the elder, to an elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth (and not I alone, but also all those who know the truth),

The elder is John. He is in his nineties at this time. If taken literally, then the elect lady and her children is a woman in one of the local churches. Some other commentators teach that it might possibly be a metaphor for the church. God loves the woman in truth, because they are brothers and sisters in Christ. John also loves all of the brothers and sisters who know the truth. The truth is the Lord Jesus Christ, or at least knowledge of him. John did not address himself as an apostle, because apparently, the elect lady knew him very well.

1:2 because of the truth that resides in us and will be with us forever.

All believers possess the truth in their souls. The Holy Spirit confirms the truth. As for the unbelievers, they have no truth in their souls. They may believe politicians, college professors, scientists, military leaders, or cultic personalities, but they cannot and will not believe the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth". Truth was standing right in front of him, but Pilate could not recognize it. Neither can the unbeliever.

1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

These three words are the chronological order of salvation. Man is totally depraved and evil. He does not understand God. He does not seek God. He is headed to the Lake of Fire, but he is too blind to see it. He thinks that he is on the narrow road, but he is actually on the broad road. Therefore, God decided to be nice to this lost man, so He gave him grace. He showed mercy to this man, so He opened his blind eyes and revealed Himself to the man. The man believed, resulting in peace with God.

God was angry at man and his sin. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ brings peace to those who are shown grace and mercy. It begins with God, not man. 

What is love? Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote, “Love is that in God which existed before He would care to exercise mercy or grace.”

Pilate asked Jesus "what is truth". Truth was standing right in front of him. Truth is found in Scriptures, which reveal the mind of Christ. A believer should be very dogmatic in his belief system. It should come directly from the Word of God. The winds of the satanic world system should not be able to blow the believer in dizzy circles.

Love is basically part of the divine nature, or one of the attributes of God. God is love, but the love of God never saved a sinner. However, the love of God did cause God to move in the direction of mercy and grace.

1:4 I rejoiced greatly because I have found some of your children living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded us.

 John has found that some of this woman's children have been living according to Bible doctrine. God the Father commanded all men to keep His commandments, which are Bible doctrine. Those who love Christ will know and keep His commandments. Most believers say that they love Christ, but they do not know Him, because they have never studied the entire counsel of the Word of God. They actually love a Jesus of their own making. If they do not know Bible doctrine, then they do not know the real Christ Jesus.

Warning Against False Teachers

1:5 But now I ask you, lady (not as if I were writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning), that we love one another.

 The "beginning" was the beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." These commandments are not the Ten Commandments or the 613 commandments of the Old Testament. These commandments are the law of Christ mentioned in the New Testament, such as "pray without ceasing, do not hinder the Holy Spirit, Rejoice in the Lord". These commandments are the Bible doctrines of the New Testament. They were not to keep these commandments for salvation, because they already possessed eternal salvation. They were to keep these commandments, because they love Christ.

John commanded this woman, and he continually commanded other believers, to love each other. The Greek word for love is agape. The world and even most Christians do not understand agape love. Agape love is knowing Bible doctrine at the deepest level and applying it. It has nothing to do with the attitude or presentation style of the believer. Some people will say, "you do not have agape love, because you present the message in such a negative way". So did the prophets, the disciples, and Jesus Himself. Does this mean that they did not have agape love?

Sometimes a positive message needs to be given to encourage Christians who are under persecution. Sometimes a negative message needs to be given to believers who are living in sin because of their ignorance or negative volition to the Word of God. For example, if a believer is in a church that is teaching weak or heretical Bible doctrine, then the mature believer should expose this error in the way that the Holy Spirit leads him. When the electorate is electing Biblically ignorant men into office who oppose divine viewpoint, then the electorate needs to be warned by mature believers. The prophets were not loved for their message, but they had divine truth inside of them which urged them to often give a negative message that was not well received. Sarcasm, tough warnings, and even name calling was used to get the message across to a spiritually stubborn audience. 

The believer is to love one another. This means to master Bible doctrine and apply it. It has nothing to do with negative presentation style to Biblically ignorant believers or a Biblically ignorant electorate. When an immature Christian brings up a comment about the negative presentation of a more mature believer, then it is good to refer him to the major and minor prophets, as well as some of the debates that Jesus had with His opponents. Jesus called His opponents "broods of snakes, sons of the devil, and white-washed tombs". This does not sound like the gentle Jesus. However, Jesus purposely used these words, because it was the only way that He could get the attention of His opponents. Paul called immature believers "foolish, bewitched by the devil, and baby infants". These tough words may have been the only way to get the attention of this spiritually immature audience. No matter what the reason, these are divine Words chosen by the triune godhead. Therefore, immature believers need to be careful about correcting mature believers on this matter. It would not hurt the immature believer to at least study the entire counsel of the Word of God before tackling this issue with a mature believer. Most immature believers are not familiar with the teaching style of the prophets, apostles, and Jesus, because they are not grounded in the entire counsel of the Word of God. They are used to soft preachers who tickle their ears with cute little topical sermonettes, so they are offended when they hear a message meant for soldiers in Christ.

1:6 (Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus you should walk in it.

John gives a definition of agape love. It is walking according to the commandments of Jesus. The lady was commanded to walk in agape love, which means studying and applying the Scriptures. This is a frequent theme of John's letters. The New Testament was just about complete at this time.  So the emphasis was to follow the written commandments of the New Testament. Again, this was not for salvation, but to demonstrate a love for Christ. 

1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

John told this lady that there were many deceivers in the world at that time. The main deceivers during the end of the first century were the gnostics, a heretical group who proclaimed to have a super knowledge outside of the written Scriptures. John gave a definition of a deceiver. A deceiver is one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah who will return in human flesh. The gnostics taught that deity entered Jesus at His baptism and left Him at His crucifixion. This is a denial of the virgin birth, the humanity of Christ, the deity of Christ, and the expectation of His Second Return to purge out sinners and establish a literal 1000 year Millennial Kingdom.

Notice the Greek article, meaning that this verse is predicting a future and specific antichrist. There are many antichrists in the world, but there is also a specific Antichrist who will come upon the world during the Great Tribulation.

1:8 Watch out, so that you do not lose the things we have worked for, but receive a full reward.

 John warned the lady to watch out that she not lose the things which she had worked for. The lady cannot lose her salvation, because it is eternal. However, she can lose rewards. If she does not perform what God has called her to do, then God will choose another to accomplish her task and give her reward to someone else. She was to continue in her work and receive her full reward. Believers who perform the will of God will earn crowns and other eternal rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son.

The Greek word for "goes on ahead" is προάγω (proagow), a present passive participle, meaning to continually go far ahead. The gnostics were taking the gospel too far, meaning that they were adding their own human viewpoint to Scripture. They boasted that they contained super-knowledge beyond the Scriptures. This is the same mistake that the charismatics make today. They claim that they have super-knowledge outside the revelation of Scripture. The written Word of God is not enough for the charismatics. They claim to receive outside information, such as prophecies, tongues, and words of knowledge. John reminded this lady that she was not to go beyond the Scriptures to seek the mind of God. She was to continually remain in the teaching of Christ, which is found in the written Word of God. 

1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him any greeting,

There were few hotels in that day of the Roman Empire. Traveling evangelists would often stay at the homes of believers. This lady could have possibly entertained a false teacher and written to Paul about her hospitality. 

John's reply was that if anyone does not teach sound Bible doctrine, then they are not to be welcomed into one's house. This means that Jehovah Witnesses and other cults are not to be allowed into the house of a believer. They are to be turned away. They are not to be greeted. They are not to be entertained.

1:11 because the person who gives him a greeting shares in his evil deeds.

 Anyone who greets a cult member at his door is sharing in his evil deeds. He is feeding, caring, giving shelter, and providing rest and energy for an agent of Satan who is attempting to lead others astray. It is evil for a cult member to come to another house and teach a different gospel. It is evil for a person to give them hospitality so that they can spread satanic information to those who are not grounded in the Word of God. Heresy is evil and it should not be tolerated. It should be exposed.

There are many believers who are supporting false teachers with donations by mail. Many believers support pastors in local churches who are teaching heretical doctrine. If there is error in a doctrinal statement, this local church should not be supported with finances, service, or attendance. Most immature believers think that they are in the correct church, but because their Bible doctrine is incomplete, they are in the wrong church, supporting heretical teaching.

Conclusion

1:12 Though I have many other things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

John is telling the lady that he can tell her more easily face to face than he can write it. This is why the spoken word from a gifted pastor-teacher is stronger that the written commentaries of pastor-teachers. According to Ephesians 4, believers are to mature by learning the word of God face-to-face orally from gifted pastor-teachers.

1:13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

It is possible that the sister and the nieces of this elect lady informed John of these circumstances, so John wrote this individual letter to her. John most likely did not know that this letter to an individual would be inspired by the Word of God and placed into Scripture.