Originally posted: 11/22/2021
for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever, (2 John 1:2).
From our time in John’s first letter, we remember his great concern to defend the Truth against false teachers. And these next two brief letters bear the same heartbeat.
Notes below are taken from NIV Study Bible:
2 John was written to “the chosen lady and her children.” Scholars are uncertain as to the exact identity of this chosen lady. She was “either an unknown Christian woman in the province of Asia… and children of that local lady, or a figurative designation of a local church there… and members of that local church.”
In his second letter “John writes to urge discernment in supporting traveling teachers, since false teachers were also traveling and teaching heresy.”
3 John is “addressed to a certain Gaius (v.1), about whom nothing more is known. He must have been a leader in one of the churches in the Roman province of Asia.”
In his third letter, “John writes this letter to commend Gaius for supporting traveling teachers and to rebuke Diotrephes for refusing to welcome them.”
In both letters, John is writing to those he loves in the Truth and for the sake of the Truth Which Abides in those who have come to know Jesus Christ through faith. And as an elder and overseer of God’s church, John wants nothing more than to know his children in the faith are walking in His Truth Which Abides in Us.
I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father, (2 John 1:4).
For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth, (3 John 1:3-4).
But to walk in Truth, one must know Truth. And there were those who answered the call to bring the Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to surrounding areas. These missionaries would be taken into the homes of believers and cared for during their stay.
But there were false teachers seeking to undermine the Truth; and inviting a false teacher into one’s home would be participating in their evil deception.
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, (2 John 1:10-11).
But the faithful messengers who sacrificed for the sake of the gospel, were to be taken in and supported; and in so doing believers would be joining in their work of spreading the gospel.
For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth, (2 John 1:7-8).
John’s ultimate concern was always that the Truth be jealously guarded against the deceivers.
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, (2 John 2:7).
In order to jealously guard the Truth against the deceivers, one must know the Truth.
The Truth: Jesus Christ, Who although He was God, came in the flesh in the likeness of man.
…Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men, (Philippians 2:5-7).
The Truth: Jesus died on a cross to cancel the debt we owed that we could never pay; that through faith in His death, burial and resurrection, we would be forgiven our sins and made alive together with Him.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, (Colossians 2:13-14).
The Truth: Jesus Chris is the Truth and the only Way to the Father.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” (John 14:6).
The Truth: when we place our faith in His death, burial and resurrection, we are born again and the Father sends His Holy Spirit to Abide in Us and to be with us forever.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you,” (John 14:16-17).
The Truth: if we have placed our faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then Christ Abides in Us; and because of His righteousness our spirit is made alive.
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness, (Colossians 1:27).
The Truth: when our spirit is made alive, we know His Truth Which Abides in Us.
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent,” (John 17:3).
Consider His Truth Which Abides in Us
- His Truth Which Abides in Us becomes the bedrock of our love.
- 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 John 1:1).
- The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth, (3 John 1:1).
- His Truth Which Abides in Us is eternal.
- for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever, (2 John 1:2).
- His Truth Which Abides in Us bestows grace, mercy, peace, and love from the Father and the Son.
- 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, (2 John 1:3).
- His Truth Which Abides in Us nurtures the health of our souls.
- Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers, (3 John 1:2).
How do we respond to His Truth Which Abides in Us?
Let us pray that we would grow in our commitment to live fully for the sake of His Truth Which Abides in Us
for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever, (2 John 1:2).
If we have been born again, His Truth Abides in us forever; and because it is His work, our inheritance is sealed in His Holy Spirit for all eternity.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory, (Ephesians 1:13-14).
But we are called to nurture the health of our souls, that we would be empowered to walk in love and obedience through His Truth Which Abides in Us.
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 should walk in it, (2 John 1:6).
But as we know all too well, the flesh wrestles hard against His Truth. If we are going to walk in His Truth Which Abides in Us, we must know His Truth; and to know His Truth we must continue in His Word.
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,” (John 8:31-32).
Oh, let us continue in His Word that we would be set free to walk in obedience and love as the Father answers the prayer of our blessed Savior, that we would be strengthened in our faith and sanctified in His Truth Which Abides in Us.
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” (John 17:17).