2 John
1 The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth which remains in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received a commandment to do from the Father. 5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have 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, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you are to walk in it.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made complete.
13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.
The above reading is the entirety of 2 John. It is not long compared to most other books in the Bible. The reason it is included as a separate book and not as a chapter within 1 or 3 John is because it is a stand-alone letter. Quite a few commentaries on 2 John believe that John is not writing to a specific ‘lady’ as the text states, but rather he is writing to a church and is calling that church a lady in order to keep the church secret because of persecution. If that is true, then the ‘children’ he mentions would be the people in the congregation. This might be the case or it might be a letter to a specific person the way that 3rd John is written to a man named Gaius.
Either way, this letter seems to be a response to a letter he received. The reason I think this is because he mentions in verse 4, “I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth”.
John starts off his letter emphasizing truth and love. Multiple times, he mentions these words. This is consistent with the other letter he wrote, which we know as 1 John. Remember from last week, when we read about the importance of testing the spirits to know if someone is speaking truth and loving our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
He says, starting in verse 1, “The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth which remains in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received a commandment to do from the Father.”
Much in this letter is a repeat of what John said in 1 John. This tells me, not only is John consistent in his message, but so is the Word of God. Truth will be with us forever. That means truth will endure. When I considered that concept, a couple of different verses came to mind. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” God’s word is the truth and the truth will last. It won’t fade away or be disproven. Truth cannot be changed. That is why scripture also says that the Bible won’t change.
Remember the story in Acts, when Peter and some other Apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin because they had disobeyed orders to stop preaching about Jesus. The Sanhedrin wanted to execute the Apostles. Acts 5:34-39 tells what happened: “But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful as to what you are about to do with these men. For, some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee appeared in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he also perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, for if the source of this plan or movement is men, it will be overthrown; but if the source is God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”
Gamaliel was wise. He knew that if what the apostles were preaching was not of God, it would fade away, but if it was of God, it would last. He must have known the things of God do not fade away. The things of God last forever. As John says, “truth will be with us forever.”
This should be a comfort to us. In a world that is chock full of misinformation, deception, and outright lies, we can be thankful that the Word of God will be with us forever. The devil has always tried to control information, for he knows that once people hear the truth, they won’t be so easy to deceive anymore. Whether it was 2000 years ago, 500 years ago or today, I think one of the devil’s favorite tactics in his efforts to control people is to keep people from hearing truth. He used to keep people from reading the Bible by keeping people illiterate. That way, the only Scripture a common person could hear was whatever was spoken to them by a priest. Did you know priests used to preach in Latin, but most people didn’t understand Latin and couldn’t even understand what they were saying? We have Martin Luther to thank for translating the Bible into German so people could finally read it for themselves.
I wanted to be sure my memory wasn’t incorrect about the practice of preaching in Latin, so I did a search on the internet about Latin Mass and on a website called catholic.com I found an article that was attempting to justify the Latin Mass and, not only did that confirm that fact, but the Catholics are not bothered by this. In fact, in their attempt to dispel myths about Latin spoken services, I found this information. They said, “for those who were literate, Bible reading without proper guidance was discouraged, out of concern they might misinterpret Scripture and go astray from Christ and his Church. But there was a never categorical ban on reading by the lay faithful, contrary to some myths.”(https://www.catholic.com/qa/why-mass-in-latin-before-reformation)
That means that the Catholics intentionally wanted to keep people from reading the Bible. Though there wasn’t an outright “ban” on reading scripture, they are admitting they wanted to keep people from reading it for themselves. I think the mindset that thinks people need help to understand God’s word is the height of arrogance. God’s word is alive and active. Everything in it is useful for instruction. It is how we learn about God. Any attempt to limit people’s ability to read it sounds like a strategy of the devil and is not God’s intention for His Word.
All that to say, if the devil can keep people ignorant, then he is winning. Our greatest tool against the devil is when we become equipped with God’s word. We are told in Scripture to put on the full armor of God, so we can stand against the devil’s lies. If we don’t know God’s word, how will we combat the lies? Ephesians 6:10-17 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
We are instructed to wrap truth around us, like a belt. This truth does not change. As much as society, culture, fads, habits or customs change over the years or centuries, truth does not change. Truth will be with us forever.
Then John says in his letter, “5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have 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, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you are to walk in it.”
The way that we love one another is by walking according to God’s commandments. Just as truth does not change, God’s commandments have not changed. He says, it is “just as you have heard from the beginning,” and it has not changed. It is not as if now things are different. No, we are still to obey the commandments. When we obey these commandments of God, then, by default, we will end up loving one another. Like John in his other letter, this is something that I, too, have talked about many times before in these sermons. Also, like John, I will mention it again, for it is that important. When we follow God’s commandments and love Him with all our hearts, not placing any idols before Him, and when we love each other the way we love ourselves, then we are going to be kind to each other. We won’t harm anybody. We won’t steal or dishonor our parents or our spouse. We will be true to our word and help one another. That is how we show love. God’s instructions on how we are to live in such a way that we please Him have not changed.
John emphasizes this point again, because as he says beginning in verse 7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”
This is very similar to what John said in 1 John, isn’t it? It is a warning that those “who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” are deceivers and antichrists. Using the same language John uses, he is telling this Christian woman to watch herself so she does not stray away from the proper teaching about Jesus. If she “goes too far” and starts believing false doctrines, she could stray so far from the truth that she “does not have God.”
That sounds an awful lot like John is warning her to not lose her salvation. If she adopts new beliefs and no longer believes Jesus came to earth, died on the cross and rose again, and rejects Jesus as being the Son of God, then it stands to reason that she no longer has salvation. Whether this warning is to one woman or to a church, the warning is for all believers. For as Jesus said, about Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” That is why anyone who believes in this teaching of Jesus “has both the Father and the Son.” The only way to the Father is through believing in Jesus.
This is why John is spending so much time writing about this. It is not a matter of doctrinal differences among Christians. This is the foundational teaching of Christianity. This is what makes someone a Christian. And yet, obviously, at the time of John’s letter, there were people who were saying they were followers of God but were denying that the Son of God, the Messiah, had come. This was the same issue that plagued Jesus while He was on earth, of course. This is what led to His arrest and His crucifixion. The religious leaders wanted Him killed for blasphemy. They did not believe His claims that He was the Son of God. These people must have still been denying that Jesus was who He said He was. They also must not have believed that He rose from the dead.
What is interesting to me is that today the issue isn’t one of denying that Jesus Christ came to earth in the flesh. It is a documented historical fact that Jesus existed as a man on the earth. The false doctrine today is that deceivers and antichrists are saying that He was only a man. They don’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, fully God and fully man. But like the false beliefs of John’s day, if someone today believes that Jesus is just a man, and denies that He is the living Son of God, eternal and co-equal to God and the Holy Spirit as a member of the trinity, then they do not believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And if they do not believe as Jesus said we must, then they do not have God.
It was a clear line in the sand then, and it is the same now. Remember, truth does not change. It is eternal. It is still the test for whether someone is of God or is not of God. Sadly, all the time I see people trying to scuff this line out of the sand. They want to make exceptions. Mormons, for example, want to be included as a branch of Christianity and it seems a lot of Christians want to include them. They partner with them on projects and watch their tv shows. Yet Mormons do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They think He was a prophet. Muslims do not want to be included in Christianity, but the current Pope seems to want to include them by partnering with them and calling them followers of the true God, yet Muslims also consider Jesus to be just a prophet. Is this okay? Am I just being exclusive when I should be accepting and inclusive of people’s different beliefs? Are we all just supposed to set aside our differences and hold hands around the common beliefs we do have? Maybe this was a question this woman or this church had asked John. Maybe he saw this happening. Or maybe others were giving weight and validity to these deceptive ideas. Either way, John addresses exactly what believers are to do about those who claim to follow God and yet deny that Jesus is the Son of God.
He says, starting in verse 10, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
He is saying, if anyone comes to you and claims to be part of God’s family, but does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then do not receive him into your house. Do not even give him a greeting. Can that be right? Aren’t we supposed to love everybody and welcome everybody and anybody? Is John really telling this woman or this congregation to not even give someone who comes to their house a greeting? Yes, because as he continues, “for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” If we give a greeting or welcome them into the house, then we are okaying their false beliefs. We are giving their ideas a stamp of approval. Actually, it’s more than that. John says, by doing that, we “participate” in their evil deeds. It is evil because this deception is not of God, it is of the devil.
Now I want to point out that John uses the word “house” and not marketplace or town or some other location. It is a house we are not to welcome them into. I think that means we are not to welcome them or their false doctrines into our lives. That means we should not fellowship with them. When we let people into our homes and lives, we become influenced by them. We become at risk of trying to scuff out these clearly drawn lines. That’s why John warns that we need to watch out and be careful to not lose the truth. That’s why John says, do not even give a greeting. If we shouldn’t even greet them, then for sure we shouldn’t drop our guard and fellowship with them. If we do, then we are giving approval to their false doctrines and participating in the deception.
If this letter is to a church, then it stands to reason that if someone claims to be a Christian but denies the truth about Jesus, then that person should not be welcomed into fellowship at church. Perhaps by being denied fellowship, they will repent and come to true faith. We should not turn a blind eye to their deception.
Then John concludes the letter with this: 12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made complete. 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.
Like most important topics of discussion, it is far better to talk to someone in person than by letter. Just as in today’s modern life, in person is usually better than text or emails for personal matters, so we don’t misinterpret the motivation behind the words. For just as he began the letter speaking multiple times about the importance of truth and love, and here he mentions joy being made complete, we must remember that this letter is not written to condemn anyone. It is written as a guide to keep believers from falling away from the truth. All of it, like all of the Bible, is written so we might know God and not be lost to false teachings. And all of it, again, like all of Scripture, is ultimately an expression of God’s great love and care for us. So too, as we communicate truth to all people, we must do so in a spirit of truth and love.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for loving us. Please help us, by Your Holy Spirit, to hold fast to truth and love. Help us to be wise and discerning, but help us too, to love people like You do. Please help us follow all of Your commands. Help us to not skip over the ones that are more difficult than others. Thank You for Your grace and mercy as we seek to follow You. We ask all this in Jesus’ name, amen.
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