1 This letter is from John, the elder.
I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth— 2 because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.
3 Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.
4 How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded.
5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.
7 I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. 9 Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. 11 Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.
12 I have much more to say to you, but I don’t want to do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you face to face. Then our joy will be complete.
13 Greetings from the children of your sister, chosen by God.
2 John
Dear God, I had forgotten that this letter was addressed to an individual. I mean, it’s not without precedent that we have letters in the New Testament that were addressed to individuals (see Timothy and Titus). But somehow this seems a little more personal because it is to a woman and her children. Of course, I know the “lady” referenced here could be the church as a whole. I even looked at a couple of commentaries for clarification and they said it could be either. So, I’m just going to roll with the idea that this was written to an individual with her children because the personal nature of that interaction with the Apostle John appeals to me.
Heresy is such a scary thing because it can be so attractive to believe. I guess people wouldn’t teach it or believe it if it wasn’t attractive on some level. And one of my fears as I share you with others is that I will teach heresy. Of course, who’s to say there isn’t any of my personal theology that is heresy? I’ve been taught be imperfect teachers who were taught by imperfect teachers. There are times when we try to meld our theology to fit our own biases and preconceived ideas. We are all guilty of that to some extent, no matter how righteous we try to be.
So I like how John boils it down to a couple of things here. Jesus was real. The story of his life, death, and resurrection is real (verse 7). Reject the teaching of anyone who tries to say otherwise. And our command is to love him and love others (verse 5). He took his time to record these two things, and the church fathers decided that this is one of the important things from John’s writings that needed to be preserved for people like me thousands of years later: Jesus is real. Love him and love others.
Father, it doesn’t seem like it should be as hard to live this out as it is, but here we are, failing to do it every day. There are times when I ignore Jesus’s teaching while he was here on earth because it is too hard or inconvenient. There are times when I get selfish and don’t love others. And then only bad things flow from those moments. So I give you my heart in this moment. Right now. I will do my best in the next moment, but in this moment that interfaces with you I tell you that I believe in the life of Jesus that is recorded for us. I believe because so many people who were there and witnessed all of it went to their death proclaiming it even though it was the very story they were being killed for. And I will fill my heart with love for others. Help me to be willing to pay the price you are calling me to pay to exhibit the love you need me to exhibit.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 