2nd and 3rd John

The transcription discusses the two letters written by the Apostle John, 1st and 2nd John. 1st John was written to encourage and warn the churches against false teachers. 2nd John is addressed to a chosen lady and her children, possibly a church or a prominent woman. Both letters emphasize the importance of living in truth and love, and the need to abide by God's commands. John warns against false teachings and encourages hospitality towards orthodox missionaries. The letters serve as a guide for the churches' exercise of Christian hospitality. The transcription also mentions a church leader named Diotrephes who stopped living in truth and slandered John. I am Julie Callio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me, you can do that at dab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are looking at two small letters from the Apostle John. There is little debate that John wrote his gospel than these three general epistles or letters written by someone other than Paul, which are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and finally he wrote the prophetic book of Revelation. It is believed that he wrote these letters around A.D. 90 from Ephesus. Ralph P. Martin said, Eusebius reports the tradition that Asia, or modern day Turkey, was allotted to John when the church was scattered from its homeland at the outbreak of the Jewish rebellion in A.D. 66. Tradition said that John stayed in Jerusalem until Mary, Jesus' mother, died, and then he went to Ephesus. 1st John was written to encourage the churches, remind them what it looks like to be a Christian, and to warn them against false teachers. In 1st John he does not reference himself, but in 2nd and 3rd John he refers to himself as the elder. Keep in mind that most of the apostles are now dead, and John is one of the last to still be alive. 2nd John has many of the same repeating words as 1st John, love, truth, and abide. Letter 2 is addressed to the chosen lady and her children. There are varying views as to if this is a sister church, or a prominent woman of the church, and then if her children are her actual children or the church members. Since verse 10b says to not receive him into your house, I lean toward it being a specific woman where the church meets in her house, but I don't know for sure. What I do know is that she is unnamed, and I love that because the pages of the Bible are filled with amazing people who are unnamed to us, but the Lord knows their names. 2nd John, the elder to the elect lady, in Greek the word for lady is Kyria, so there is debate as to if it is a person's name, a lady, or if it is written to a church, and her children whom I love in truth, and not only I but also all who have come to know the truth, because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love. Ladies just in the introduction alone John used the word truth four times. One way biblical writers emphasize something was by repeating words, and here it is clear that truth is a big deal. Because we can never be made whole until we live in truth and until we face the truth. He loves in truth, believers know the truth, and the truth abides in us and will be with us forever, and as we have heard before it is the Holy Spirit that is within us that will be with us forever, John chapter 14 verses 16 through 30, and the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, then John said a blessing, grace, mercy, and peace will also be with us from God the Father and the Son of God Jesus Christ, and it is grounded in truth and in love. I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth in keeping with a command, the word command is used four times in four verses, a command we have received from the Father. So now I urge you lady, not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another, and this is love, that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning, you must walk in love. Ladies when the Bible speaks of walking it is referring to how we are living, we must live in truth about ourselves, our families, our job, our issues, our sins, and we can have the courage to do that because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, and because of God's love for us, we therefore can love others. First John mentioned that this is not a new command, but an old one, but what makes the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament, it is that before Jesus came we could not keep the command because of our sinful nature, but after Jesus died, arose and ascended, believers in Christ are forgiven, and his spirit is within us, and now because of God's spirit we can keep the command. The greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. John said we must, we must walk in love. This is the deceiver and the antichrist, watch yourself so that you don't lose what we have worked for, but you may receive a full reward. Anyone who does not remain in the teaching about Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home and don't say welcome to him, for the one who says welcome to him, shares in his evil works. Glenn W. Barker said Christianity stands or falls with its Christology, in other words how we view and see Christ. Here we see people who are not living in truth of who Christ is. John is making it clear that Jesus was the Son of God and yet he also came in the flesh, he was also completely human, just not sinful because he was not born of the seed of Adam but of God. He also declares that believers have both the Father and the Son in their lives, which affirms that Jesus was also God. Then John said if someone doesn't teach this truth or if they add to this truth, then we are to have nothing to do with them because then we would be sharing in their false teachings. Ladies, there are godly times to say no to people. Haley said in his Bible handbook, the practice of Christian love does not mean that we should give encouragement to enemies of the truth. It seems that as traveling preachers came to town, they would stay at people's homes and John warns them to make sure that those people are worthy before they stay with you. The letter closes with verses 12 and 13, though I have many things to write to you, I don't want to do so with paper and ink. Instead I hope to be with you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister send you greetings. Later John encourages them that he hopes to come and visit, which would be a joyous occasion. Then, just as with the introduction, is John speaking of her actual sister or a sister church in which they all say hi? Truth is no one knows for certain. Edward A. McDowell said, Second John was written to warn against hospitality to missionaries who were bearers of agnostic heresy or false teachings. The chief purpose of Third John was to encourage hospitality to missionaries who were orthodox in their views, in other words, who taught the truth about Jesus. The letters, therefore, balance each other and taken together would serve as a guide to all of the churches in their effort to follow their right course in the exercise of Christian hospitality. With Third John it starts, The Elder, to my beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Now there are a few Gaiuses mentioned in the New Testament. Gaius of Derbe in Acts chapter 20 verse 4, Gaius of Corinth found in Romans 16 verse 23 and 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 14, Gaius of Macedonia which is found in Acts chapter 19 verse 29, Gaius Bishop of Pergamos which is found in a non-biblical book called the Apostolic Constitutions chapter 7 verse 40 or it could be a totally different Gaius. What we do know is that John loved him in truth. This was the same kind of greeting as the elect lady in Second John. Verses 2 through 4 read, Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health just as your soul prospers. For I am very glad when some brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, how you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in truth. In the Greek it means to have a good and safe journey through life. John is not blessing him with health but he is expressing a wish that he is healthy. Again we see John's favorite word truth. John heard that Gaius was faithful to the Lord and this brought him great joy. I have been in ministry a long time but not as long as John has. But the number of people who have left the church or left the ministry is a very long list and each one breaks my heart. So when one gets news that people are still faithfully serving the Lord and not just any people but his children, there is no greater joy for someone who knows that Jesus is the only way to life. Verses 5 through 8, Beloved, you are showing your faith by whatever you do for the brothers and this you are doing for strangers. They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God since they set out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from pagans. Therefore we ought to support such men so that we can be co-workers with the truth. So it seems that John got word from missionary men who were treated well at Gaius's and they reported back to John at how well they were treated by him. These men refused to take money from non-believers but were supported by the local church with Gaius. John said we should support missionaries who teach the truth so that we can be co-workers with them in the truth. Sometimes ladies we are not able to go and be a missionary but our giving to support the ones who can go pleases the Lord. All believers are called to go and share, actually an axic could be translated, as you go about, as you go, but we are also called to send and support others who will go to places that we cannot go. In verses 9 and 10 we learn of a church leader that stopped living in the truth. His name was Diotrephes. He loved being in first place, being the head honcho. He also did not receive John's letter or his followers. Some people believe that may have been second John. Diotrephes slandered John with malicious words and then he even did worse. He did not receive the brothers and then those who did accept the brothers into their house, Diotrephes expelled them from the church. John said if he comes he will have a word with him. That's found in verses 9 and 10. In verses 11 and 12 read, Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God. The one who does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has a good testimony from everyone and from the truth itself and we also testify for him and you know that our testimony is true. Robert Yarbrough said, A key theme is the importance of ethics to legitimate Christian confession. Demetrius walks like he talks. It is possible that Demetrius was the one who brought this letter to Gaius. Third John ends with verses 13-15. I have many things to write you, but I don't want to write to you with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be with you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name. As with second John, he hopes to come soon. He desires to be with Gaius face to face. He sends God's peace as a blessing. Then instead of saying family words like children and sister, John uses the word friends. So it seems that he is not as close to the people in this area as he may have been with the elect lady of letter number two. In these two letters we find a faithful woman who is warned to not show hospitality to the unfaithful missionaries. It is okay to say no. We find a faithful man, Gaius, who is encouraged to show hospitality to faithful missionaries. We find a church leader named Diotrephes who does work of evil, and John plans on having a talk with him, and then we see a faithful missionary, Demetrius, who walks the talk and lives in truth, and Gaius can trust him. So ladies, do you walk the talk? Do you live a life of love? Do you live a life of truth? Do you live in such a way that you abide in the teaching of Christ? John, the apostle that claimed he was the disciple whom Jesus loved, called Gaius beloved. Do you know that you are loved with an everlasting love? If you have heard his voice speaking to you today, please don't harden your heart like Diotrephes. Instead, let's be faithful women, like the elect lady, Gaius and Demetrius, and let's be women who are grounded in the truth and on whom the peace of the Lord rests. Until next time, and thanks so much for listening.