OVERVIEW
The aged Apostle John describes for his readers the crucial connection between love, truth and obedience as we guard against apostate false teachers that try to deceive and infiltrate the church. Walking in Christian love requires obeying God’s truth. Exhortations to keep separate from the false teachers and not even extend them any hospitality may seem harsh but are necessary to preserve the integrity of the church fellowship because it is truth that binds the church together in unity.
BIG IDEA
RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTALISM AND ECUMENISM MASQUERADE AS LOVE BUT
MUST BE EXPOSED AS APOSTASY IF THEY DENY GOD’S TRUTH —
WALKING IN CHRISTIAN LOVE REQUIRES OBEYING GOD’S TRUTH
2 John 1: “whom I love in truth”
2 John 6 “And this is love, that walk according to His commandments.“
BASIC OUTLINE
(:1-4) PROLOGUE
A. (:1-3) GREETING IN THE CONTEXT OF CHRISTIAN LOVE AND TRUTH
1. (:1a) The Respected Author – the Remaining Apostle = John
2. (:1b) The Recipients – Specific Church Audience
3. (:1c) The Relationship between Love and Truth – Introducing the Theme of the Epistle
4. (:2) The Priority of the Truth
5. (:3) The Blessed Resources of the Christian Life
B. (:4) THANKSGIVING / COMMENDATION FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE TRUTH
I. (:5-9) TWO PILLARS OF ANY GENUINE CHRISTIAN CHURCH = LOVE AND TRUTH
A. (:5-6) BE CAREFUL TO WALK IN CHRISTIAN LOVE
1. (:5) The Reminder to Continue to Walk in Christian Love
2. (:6) The Definition of Christian Love
B. (:7-9) BE CAREFUL TO WALK IN CHRISTIAN TRUTH
1. (:7) The Deception (Danger)
2. (:8) The Warning to Persevere in Christian Truth and Guard Against Apostasy
3. (:9) The Definition of Apostasy
II. (:10-11) PRACTICAL APPLICATION RELATED TO INTERACTION WITH FALSE TEACHERS
A. (:10) The Command – Separation Seems Harsh but Necessary
B. (:11) The Reason – The Issue Involves Fellowship and Condoning Evil
(:12-13) CLOSING WITH A VIEW TOWARDS FURTHER EDIFICATION AND JOY
A. (:12) Desire for Face to Face Visit
B. (:13) Closing Greeting
WHY STUDY THIS BOOK?
· To gain discernment regarding the dangers of false teachers and how we should relate to them
• To define what apostasy and deception may look like as such false teachers try to infiltrate the church
• To appreciate the essential connection of love, truth and obedience in the life of the church
• To increase our joy as we witness those we love walking in the truth
• To raise awareness of the necessary bounds of separation in specific contexts
• To knit our hearts together in Christian love as we desire face to face fellowship with Christian leaders that have impacted our lives in the past
NOTABLE QUOTES
David Mook: Care for the Truth
To appreciate the Apostle John’s emphasis on the truth; recall the night before the Lord Jesus was crucified; He spoke to the disciples in what seemed to them cryptic terms about what would transpire shortly; they still did not understand the scope of His mission in the world; cf. John 14:6; Lord declared that He is the Truth; “everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice” – spoken before Pontius Pilate who responded “What is truth?” Not mere philosophical speculation; Lord in Himself is the full embodiment of the truth; every believer has responsibility to safeguard the truth; much more than an abstract concept; intense spiritual war – key issue revolves around the person of Christ; the devil hates the truth; shortest book in the NT in number of verses; we must not be complacent or passive in the face of attacks against the truth; don’t make compromising arrangements; those who do not hold to the truth are to be treated as such; their ideas are not equivalent to the truth and have nothing to commend them; value what has been revealed concerning Christ; you are either with Christ or an adherent of antichrist.
Phil Johnson: John on Christian Fellowship
Do an overview of life and character of Apostle John; balanced individual; love and truth kept in equilibrium; only Apostle that lived to old age; very influential figure in early church; outlived Paul and Peter by many years; Irenaus knew personally people who had sat under ministry of John; bridge to the church fathers and to the apologists of the second century; rare for Christian ministries to stay true for over a century; wrote a good portion of the NT; 3 epistles written late in his life as a patriarch; well into his 90’s when he died; finished well; matured well; his areas of weakness developed into strengths; an amazing example of growing in Christ; makes himself anonymous; keeps himself out of the center of attention; refers to himself as disciple whom Jesus loved; Apostle of Love; outgrew some of the unloving tendencies of his younger life; vs nickname Jesus gave him = “Sons of thunder;” started out with zeal for truth but little compassion for people; very ambitious; intolerance; sins of imbalance in his youth; our worst faults often are connected to our strengths which are pushed out of balance to the extreme; dangerous to push any truth to the extreme and become unbalanced; behave as an extremist; selfishly committed to your own selfish orientation to truth;
3 Areas where John learned importance of Balance:
1) He learned the balance of Love and Truth (2 John)
He was always committed to truth; John 1 – early follower of Jesus; not merely following personality cult of John the Baptist; Luke 9:49 Jesus teaching about childlike humility; receiving other believers in the name of Jesus; childlike quality to our faith; classic example of bigoted sectarianism; bad time to raise this issue; vs. 54 – sense of eagerness in this suggestion; situation different here – unbelievers who openly oppose Christ and are rude to Him; would be cool to call down fire from heaven to sweep away enemies of the truth; but those are fleshly thoughts; Elijah was a prophet under the law system to bring condemnation; but gospel message comes from Christ = message of salvation; God in the future will execute fiery wrath; but our message today is to preach the gospel = completely different objective; seeking their salvation, not their destruction; love your enemies; God shows lovingkindness to the ungodly and commands us to do the same; truth without love has no power – just brutality; love without truth has no character = hypocrisy; need to have balance.
Look at 2 John – repeatedly couples the concepts of love and truth; the supreme lesson of all truth; the sum and substance of God’s commands = loving one another; balances that by urging woman not to compromise the truth; doctrine of Christ = apostolic understanding of the gospel; don’t give him a place to stay and not even a ceremonial greeting that shows him honor; not saying be rude to him; don’t embrace him as a brother or show him any public honor; don’t encourage him; you don’t want to become a partaker of his evil deeds; not calling down fire from heaven but not going to the opposite extreme; watch out for people who make their living twisting and perverting the truth; bless those who oppose us; but that must stop short of assisting those who are false teachers
2) He learned to balance ambition and humility
3) He learned to balance glory and suffering
Dr. James Boyer: John is author of 5 NT books; word speaking of age became associated with office in church; position of respect and authority because of age and experience; 1 Pet. 3:1 Peter calls himself an elder as well; only place in Scripture where this word occurs in singular with the article; “The old man” writes to you …; this short letter just about the size of one sheet of papyrus; word lady feminine form of word lord; not a proper name or elect lady and elect sister not likely to be in same family; not talking about romantic emotion of love and marriage; key word is “truth” in this epistle; sense of truth opposite to a lie = the reality; the body of truth = the gospel; the faith.
Gil Rugh: Series on 2 John
Second smallest book in NT; standard size letter of NT times; longer letters like 1 Cor are exceptional; 8 X 10 is standard sheet of papyrus – some things have stayed pretty much the same; summary of material that is in 1 John; maybe he wrote this first and elaborated on it in 1 John; difficulty developing in the churches; written from 90-95 AD; 60 years after Christ; all the other apostles have passed from the scene; some teachers have broken away and are no longer submitting to the truth of God as administered by apostolic doctrine; they are trying to lure others to follow them; 2 key words: truth and love; John sees no separation between truth and love; God’s truth always produces God’s love in lives; love can only function in the context of God’s truth;
(:1-3) Introduction: Author and Recipients; identifies himself in a more personal way that connects himself to his audience; elder refers to an older person (Titus 2:2); also for the governing leaders in Israel – usually older, mature men (Ex. 3 – Moses to speak to the elders of the people; Num. 11:16; Luke 20:1); also leaders in the local church (Acts 14:23); transitioning away from apostolic leadership of the churches; 1 Pet. 5:1 – Peter identifies with the elders; content of the letter is the same whether addressed to a specific woman or a local church and its members; “elect” – profound truth brought out in almost incidental fashion; Bible talks about those who have been chosen; Ephes. 1:3-5; reference to names written in the Book of Life in Rev. 13 and 17 before the foundation of the world; 2 Thess. 2:13 – sovereignty resides with God – including our salvation; Paul does not shy away from talking about this subject to new believers; ordained both the ends and the means; work of the Spirit in setting us apart and bringing us to faith in Jesus Christ; John 15:16; self sacrificing love; undefeatable; always seeks their highest good; 1 Cor. 13 describes this love in some detail; unique in its enduring quality; “Sanctify them in Truth; your Word is Truth.” The truth that we share in common; that has gripped our hearts and transformed us and made us new; I love you in the realm of the truth and it is God’s truth that has produced this love; Holy Spirit is Spirit of Truth – has taken up residence in us
StudyandObey.com: Similar in many ways to 1 John, 2 John focuses on the importance of the fundamentals of the faith- truth, love, and obedience. It makes a point, however, of noting how those should be exercised with discernment within the church. Love does not blindly offer hospitality to anyone claiming to be a Christian, but filters each teacher through the truth and only helps those who are handling the Word accurately. If Christians are not careful, they could inadvertently help the very ones desiring to tear down their faith.
John MacArthur: Outline
I. The Basis of Christian Hospitality (1-3)
II. The Behavior of Christian Hospitality (4-6)
III. The Bounds of Christian Hospitality (7-11)
IV. The Blessings of Christian Hospitality (12, 13)