...love...love...love...

“1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us for ever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Truth and Love

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5 But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning — you must walk in it.

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! 8 Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. 9 Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; 11 for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person” 2 John 1:1-11.

John opens his second letter referring to himself as the elder, and then he addresses this letter “to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth” (verse 1). “The lady elect and her children, whom I love in truth” is a reference to a local church and its members. In the OT, Israel is referred to as a wife, bride, mother, and daughter, indicating that there would have been some precedent for a Christian community to be addressed in similar terms. And it makes sense that John would be writing to the local church a public letter read to all, rather than just a private letter to an individual.

And then John repeats this “Lady” to whom he is addressing this letter:       “4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5 But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.” notice that he is repeating what we saw him write in his closing remarks in his first letter:

“…5  ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.” By making this request the elder is not seeking to lay upon members of the church any new obligation; instead, he is calling on them to obey the command they both received “from the beginning.” 

Dear friends, so much of the bible contains truths that are repeated or restated in very similar ways. The commandment to love is unquestionably the most important commandment and the best way to understand the specific nature of living as a Christian. So, John cannot escape repeating this central theme of Jesus Christ’s very own life, and the center of His miracles and teachings. In fact, there is no other way to fully understand Jesus and the creation of the Christian church except as LOVE!

So, if someone today asks you what you learned today from your reading of the bible, simply say that we are to be people who love all others. Tell everyone that you want to walk each day of your life in love, in love with Christ and in love with all the people God brings into your life. I have lived many years of my life with people who did not know Christ personally, and day after day I told them that Jesus loves them and Jesus calls us to love one another. That’s how we live the Christian life.

Today, then, in my prayer, I will sit quietly in God’s presence begging Him to help me love Him more than ever, and I will pray that He will help me love everybody. How about you? What will you hear God asking you to bring to His heart in your prayer?

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me sinner.