2 John
Bible TextNotes and Thoughts
1 ¶ The Elder, Unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all those who have known the truth;
2 for the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us for ever:
3 Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
5 ¶ And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning: that we love one another.
6 And this is love: that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
7 ¶ For many deceivers have entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antiChrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we may receive a full reward.
9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath both the Father and the Son.
10 ¶ If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed;
11 for he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds.
12 ¶ Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink; but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
  This letter was written to a mother and her children as a warning of false teachers and doctrine which were appearing in the churches, John wants to prevent this doctrine entering the home of this lady v10. There is some suggestion that the letter was addressed to a group connected with the lady, John occasionally uses the plural in the text, verses 6,8,10,12, though it may have just been her family.
v1-3 Knowing the truth. The word "truth" appears four times in these verses. What is the truth? See examples:- John 14:6; John 15:6; John 16:6-8; John 16:13-15; John 17:17.
The truth is not just the revelations which have come from the Father but the believer has to be involved, just knowing the truth is not sufficient we must also be controlled by these truths, in love.
Because of the spread of false teachings John puts great importance on Knowing the Truth. John calls these "deceivers" and "antichrist", v7.
v3 "Grace, mercy and peace," When we receive grace and mercy from the Father through Jesus we also receive the peace of God. Rom 5:1-11 v3 A further statement of truth is when John links God the Father and Jesus Christ together, so confirming the deity of Jesus and to confirm the equality John makes a special reference to "Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father." See 1 John 2:22-24.
Many false teaching has taken this idea and added to it the idea that all believers are son’s of God, therefore Jesus was just a man and not claiming to be God. However, Jesus did claim "I and the Father are one," John 10:27-38. This claim is very important because if Jesus is just a man then His death on the cross has no meaning, only a pure and sinless God, coming as a human, can pay the price for the sin of Man.
v4-6 Living a life in the Truth.
"Walk in the TRUTH." It is very easy to know the truth and understand it but to live the Truth is much harder. John said that living the truth was a command from the Father, it starts with loving one another. John tells the lady that he is very pleased that she and her children are obeying this command.
In the first letter of John, he had told the reader just how important were these commandments of God, 1 John 5:3, it shows our love of God by our obedience. The false teachers were taking these commandments to show that God appears difficult and was offering their own ‘freedom’ 2 Peter 2:19-21.
v5,6 John now repeats the instruction for the lady and her family, "that we love one another." John 13:34,35. Though not a new command but now has much more importance due to act of Jesus in love for us. "The fruit of the Spirit is love," Gal 5:22, also consider Rom 5:5.
How do we walk with love? This may mean having love for those you do not like, simply we should treat all the same way God has treated you in love. We can only do this if we commit and submit all as obedience to the Father into the hand of the Holy Spirit.
Consider the following:- Truth in Love Eph 4:15. Knowing the Truth John 7:17.
v7-11 John warns that there are many with false teaching, they are saying that Jesus Christ is not God in the flesh. Some actually taught that Jesus was a normal human who God came into sometime after the birth.
v8 Examine yourself that you know what is the truth because many of the false teachers were coming out of the church, they were learning of the truth then turning away from it, 1 John 2:19; Acts 20:30; 2 Peter 2:1ff. These false teachers will do all they can to take you away from the truth.
v9 The word transgress indicates ‘to pass the limits,’ going beyond the Word of God, turning away from the message brought by Jesus. These people, John tells us do not have God, it is impossible to give honour to the Father and ignore His Son.
v10,11 Do not encourage anyone who comes to you with these false teachings, have no fellowship with them. Anyone who offers help and assistance to these false teachers is actually helping in their evil work. John considered that even saying "God bless" would be encouraging them.
v12,13 John obviously planned to visit the lady and family to deal personally with many other things. He was looking forward to their meeting with joy.
We must not forget the main message of this letter - LOOKOUT False teachers are around.

Easy English Translation





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