To Be One in Christ: We Have Treasure in the Jars of Clay -- the Series of Explanation and Analysis of Scripture (20)
The Explanation and Analysis of the Verses of 2 JOHN
It is edited and compiled under the guidance of Holy Spirit. All thanks, praises and glories be to God!
1. Greetings, blessings and prayers (1-3)
(1) Greetings and the love in the truth (1-2)
2 JOHN 1:1-2 The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth--and not I only, but also all who know the truth-- because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:
(NOTES)
“love in the truth”:
From these two verses, it is known that the love of the Christians is -- love in the truth.
“the truth”:
That is God; that is the life of Christ in us.
“because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever”:
We believers receive the life of Christ which lives in us; that is, God and the truth are with us forever. “God is love”; therefore, wherever is the life of God, there will be the truth; that is love.
“love”:
Love itself is the truth; love only likes the truth (1Co 13:6). To treat others with love in truth, is to teach others to understand the truth of love with detailed actions.
To practice love in the truth is not to live in accordance with the sinful nature, shield sins and evils, or practice favoritism and partiality; but is to come from the sincerity without falsehood, seek to benefit others practically, and make those who receive the love both feel the love and be built up in the truth.
“and not I only, but also all who know the truth”:
All the believers who love LORD wholeheartedly in one mind, and all the believers who know LORD -- know the truth, will love what LORD loves with the same mind.
In the times of ambiguous truth, many heresies, overwhelming material desires, and cold minds of people, the Christians should practice love in the truth. This is the truth that we can not ignore and must obey.
(2) Blessings and prayers (3)
2 JOHN 1:3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love.
(NOTES)
“Grace”: refer to all the grants from God. “mercy”: refer to the sympathy and help from the love and kindness of God. Although the Christians are saved from the sins, evils and eternal punishment because of the mercy of God, they still need the continuous mercy, grace and help all the time from God in the daily life (Heb 4:15-16). “peace” includes both the spirituality and physical health: the prosperousness in the outward and the rest of the spirit and mind.
Where do “grace, mercy and peace” come from?
They are “from God the Father and from Jesus Christ”.
How will them be with us?
“will be with us in truth and love”. Whoever lives in the truth and love of LORD and practices love in truth, will have the grace, mercy and peace from God to be with them. How do God give the grace, mercy and peace to us? In the truth and love.
2. The joy and commands of the apostles (4-6)
(1) The joy to love the truth (4)
2 JOHN 1:4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.
(NOTES)
The joy and comfort of the apostles is to see that the believers obey the commands and truth of LORD. However, this kind of joy can not be tasted by those who compromise with the heresy and the world. Only to those who do not compromise but encourage the believers to obey the truth such that they are opposed and misunderstood until the victory at last, when they see that the believers obey the truth, they can enjoy such a joy.
(2) The commands to love (5-6)
2 JOHN 1:5-6 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
(NOTES)
These two verses are similar to (1Jo 2:7-8): “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. ”
It is obvious that this is a very important truth that must be emphasized repeatedly.
It is because to love one another is the command of LORD (Joh 15:12), the summary of the Laws (Mat 22:37-40), the practical performance of loving God (1Jo 4:20-21), the display of the mature spiritual life of the believers, and the testimony and need of the life of church. Here, it considers the command of love given by LORD to the church especially important and sacred. The love of the church turns cold; that is the reason of the beginning of turning away from the truth and holding the heresy. Losing the first love will start to loosen the standard of the truth, and gradually lose the desires for the truth, such that it will be followed by the falling and corruption of the faith.
3. The warnings of the apostles (7-11)
This paragraph is one of the main theme of this book, which is to warn the believers to be alert to the heresy, and not to welcome those who wear the signboard of Christianity and preach the false truth. Therefore, the above verses pay special attention to both the love and truth. Our love must be put into practice in truth; and we must love one another because of loving the truth so that to avoid to be controlled by the emotions of the sinful nature. In fact, the above verses have already instructed the believers how to guard against the heresy (however, the meaning of the above verses is shown clearly in this paragraph); that is, we should make efforts to make progress eagerly in the truth -- obey the teachings of the apostles, let love not be controlled by the emotions, but be restrained by the truth. This paragraph further points out the main reason and the way to guard against the heresy.
(1) Many antichrists have gone out into the world (7)
2 JOHN 1:7 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.
(NOTES)
This verse can be compared with (1Jo 2:19-20): “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ” Some believers think that the antichrists will only show up in “the last days” and neglect to guard against those who are similar to the antichrist. This verse teaches the believers how to test them; that is, to see what is their faith regarding Christ.
According to the heresy at that time, they think that God is a Spirit and is holy, while the body is filthy; therefore, Christ will not come in flesh and they deny that Christ appears in the body. This is different from the reason of the Jews who deny that Christ is the promised Messiah; however, the facts are the same that they all deny that Christ’ s coming in the flesh. Just as those modern Unbelievism (or Modernism ). The reason that they deny that Christ is the One -- the Word became flesh, is because they think that it is not in accordance with the “science”. However, regarding their denying Christ’s coming in the flesh, they are the same as all the heresies that resist God in the past generations.
(2) Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for (8)
2 JOHN 1:8 Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.
(NOTES)
The faithful servants do not plant only without caring about the harvest. Not only they should sow the seeds faithfully and do not lose heart because of the environment, but also they should care about the achievements of their work. Just as sowing the seeds, one needs to water and take care of it cautiously. Otherwise, one won’t be counted as a faithful ministry. Such a care is absolutely not from the vanity of defending one’s own enterprise, but because of treasuring the price paid for the work and care about whether the work for God has the achievements already or not; whether it reaches the goal of glorifying God and benefiting people or not; whether one can receive the full rewards in front of God or not; whether one has the clear conscience in front of God and others or not. All these are the attitude that the faithful workers should have. Only with such attitudes, their spiritual life and the gifts will continue to grow.
“but that you may be rewarded fully”:
This is the will of God. Do not consider being rewarded is one kind of man’s covetousness; God wants His children to be rewarded. Therefore, if we have the mind of pleasing God to pursue, making efforts to “be rewarded fully” is a very noble attitude.
(3) The knack to recognize the heresy (9)
2 JOHN 1:9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
(NOTES)
“runs ahead”:
The false teachers at that time think themselves to know some profound things, and they “run ahead” of the truth of Gospel without authorization and turn away from the truth of the Gospel because of thinking themselves clever. They add man’s understanding to the teachings of Christ, and do not pay attention to taking hold of the teachings of LORD Jesus Christ.
Note that, to “run ahead” is not to reject completely, but is to add something deliberately. On the explanation of the faith, they run ahead of the original meaning and make others to misunderstand.
No matter the work of the heresy or the evil spirits, they might not completely be against the teachings of Christ directly, but they often run ahead, add, reduce, confuse or mislead. They run ahead of the teachings of LORD with their own understandings, but do not take hold of it carefully.
Therefore, to take hold of the teachings of Christ with reverence is to be with the life of Christ; that is to be in God the Father. While to run ahead of the teachings of LORD, without remaining in the teachings of Christ, is not to be with God and be away from and refuse God.
(4) Do not take those who preach heresy into the house or welcome them (10-11)
2 JOHN 1:10-11 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
(NOTES)
“does not bring this teaching” and “do not take him into your house” . This verse shows that all faithful servants of God will preach “the teachings of Christ”: that is, Jesus is the Son of the living God, is the Christ sent by God, and is the Savior -- the Word became flesh (Mat 16:16,21).
The way to prevent the harm of the heresy is to break off the relationship with them. Do not receive and welcome them; otherwise, one will share in their sins. To those who preach the heresy, not only one should not take them into the house, but also should not show any sympathy or support.
The difficulty of the church nowadays is that they can not distinguish the heresy. They often treat those who preach the heresy with the love of brothers mistakenly; sometimes, reversely, they treat the brothers with the way to treat the heresy! The believers nowadays should cite the teachings in these verses carefully and must not apply them to whoever one dislikes by oneself. Also one must not make the judgment according to one’s own prejudice, partiality and favoritism at one’s own will. One should examine and compare with the truth in the Bible completely, thinking carefully and distinguishing cautiously with an honest and humble heart to search the truth.
4. Concluding remarks -- the wish of the apostles: hoping to talk with them face to face; the concluding remarks and sending the greetings for others (12-13)
2 JOHN 1:12-13 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.
(NOTES)
“paper”: this word is used here only in the New Testament. Here, it refers to the Egyptian rough straw paper, but not the parchments.
“I do not want to use paper and ink”:
This is because of the sincerity of the old John to the believers, and like to talk with them “face to face” so that to be more intimate. It is obvious that the deep fellowship among them. The communion of the believers are in many aspects. In many times, it can not be recorded with pen and ink. Here, the rich love in LORD is overwhelming.
Reference:
1. Zhongdao Chen: “The Lectures on the Bible Studying of the Letters in New Testament”.
