August 24, 2025 - 2 John 1:1,2 - "Truth in Love"

2 John 1:1,2

"The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever."

Notice how quickly the apostle John points his readers to Christ. The “truth” that dwells in us and abides with us forever is not an abstract idea—it is Christ Himself, Who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Truth is not merely a set of propositions, but the living Savior Who has made Himself known to His children. Because Christ dwells in His people by His Spirit, John writes with confidence that this Truth will be with us forever.

Right from the beginning, John ties together two things that must never be pulled apart: truth and love. Our world often sets them at odds. Some think that love means avoiding hard truth, while others hold fast to truth in a way that grows cold and loveless. Yet in Christ, the two are always joined. Paul reminds us that love “rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).

John writes to “the elect lady and her children.” Whether this speaks of a particular woman in the church and her household, or whether it is a picture of the church and her members, the meaning remains the same: they are chosen of God. Election is not a cold doctrine but a warm encouragement. As Paul wrote, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). God’s sovereign grace reminds us that His love for His people is eternal, unchanging, and secure.

John rejoices to hear that her children are “walking in truth” (2 John 4). What greater joy can there be? The Apostle says elsewhere, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 4). To walk in the Truth means not only to believe sound Doctrine, but to live daily in fellowship with Christ, Who is Truth incarnate. The truth is that by His substitutionary death on the cross, God’s elect were justified once and for all, declared righteous before the Father by the finished work of the Son. Any message that shifts the ground of a sinner’s acceptance with God from Christ’s cross to human will, works, or worthiness is no longer the gospel but a perversion of it. To love in the Truth is to love in the light of God's sovereign grace revealed in Christ crucified, in Whom alone salvation rests secure.

John sounds a note of warning. Many deceivers had gone out into the world, denying that Jesus Christ came in the flesh (2 John 7). Such teaching strikes at the very heart of the Gospel. If Christ did not truly take on flesh, then He could not truly bear our sins. If He did not share in our humanity, He could not be our Substitute. This is why the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same” (Hebrews 2:14). To deny this is to deny the very foundation of salvation.

We are exhorted to not support such deceivers. “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed” (2 John 10). Grace does not make us careless about the Truth; it makes us careful. As Paul charged Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16).

And so John brings us back to a simple, yet profound command: “And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another” (2 John 5). This is not a new word, but the old one, made new in Christ Who fulfilled it. "We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19)." And the only way we can walk in truth and love is because Christ dwells in us by His Spirit. As John assures us, “the truth… dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever” (2 John 2).

The message of this little letter is simple, but rich. The Christian life is Christ Himself. To walk in Truth is to walk in Him. And the sovereign grace of God—the grace that chose us, redeemed us, and keeps us—will never fail. As Jude reminds us, He is “able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).

So may we, like the elect lady and her children, be found walking in Truth and abiding in Love, to the glory of the One Who is both Truth and Love—our LORD Jesus Christ.