And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 2 John 1:6
2ndJohn is the shortest book in the Bible, but not short on truth. In fact, 2ndJohn is all about truth. In the first three verses, John tells the church that he loves them in the truth, the truth that abides in uswill be with us forever, and that grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God and Jesus – in truth and love. What an opening for a tiny book of the Bible! He addresses the letter to the elect lady and her children, which many believe to represent a single house church in the community. He identifies himself as “The Elder”, which just means exactly that – older man. John was the only living disciple and also, interestingly the only one to die of natural causes – the rest were martyred. The book of Second John leaves us with three responsibilities to the truth:
Know the Truth– Lots of us base truth on feelings, and then make decisions based on that truth – that was based on a feeling. Many people believe truth is always relative to a person’s situation. To make decisions based on a truth we have, based on our feelings, is a very unstable decision. We cannot believe that truth is relative to our situation. We have to see the truth above the situation or we won’t have the hope and faith we need to survive. The heaviness of our situation is momentary, but the truth is lasting and as John said in verse 2, the truth of Jesus is in us and will be with us forever. This is the truth we have to hold onto. This is the truth we have to remember when the false teachers come. We must know what we believe to be the truth so that when our feelings, our situations, or false teachers come we don’t waiver from what we know to be true. The Bible is our source of Truth, our lifeline. It is a measuring stick for us to know what real truth is.
Walk in the Truth - And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments v 6a It is not enough to know the truth only, we need to walkin the truth. We need to walk the walk. We walk in the truth by walking in obedience to God…according to His commandments. Walking according to His commandments will also mean walking in love. Love and truth actually go hand in hand. Try loving someone without truth or bringing the truth without love. An example would be to seem to be showing love to someone but instead you are only allowing hurtful behavior to go on unchallenged – because you may be afraid to confront them in truth. On the other hand, it won’t go too well for you if you try to confront someone with the truth, without love.
Protect the Truth- For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. v 7a The deceivers are there. We must protect the truth of God and we also must protect ourselves from the deceivers. If we know the truth and walk in the truth we are building protection against the deceivers. The protection of the truth is not against the lie because the lie stands out when compared with the truth. The protection of the truth is against half-truths and deceivers who lead us away. But in order to do this, we have to know what the truth is.
So we know that we need to know the truth, walk in the truth, and protect the truth. How can we do this? If we are in the word, we will know the truth. His word is truth. Immersing ourselves in His truth, reading the Bible every day, learning all we can, and praying will help us to know the truth, walk in the truth, and protect the truth.
Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 2 John 1:8-9
