Introduction: The shortest books in the New Testament are 2 and 3 John. Both epistles, in the original Greek language, within which they were written, contained less than 300 words, and each could have been written on a single sheet of papyrus, just as they can easily be printed in our Bibles today on a single page.
Whereas 1 John focuses on the prerequisites of church fellowship; namely, the truth about Christ, obedience to Christ, and love for Christ, 2 John focuses on protecting church fellowship, from those who deny the truth of Christ, disobey Christ, and who are disingenuous in their declared love for Christ. While the church—“the elect lady and her children”—are to open her doors and arms to all true followers of Christ, neither the door to the church house nor to the Christian’s home should ever be opened to false teachers teaching false doctrine.
Contrary to popular opinion, Christian hospitality is discriminating. We are neither to greet nor to welcome into our churches and homes anyone who is preaching a false gospel, lest we give credence to their heresy and become a partaker of their evil deed.
2 John 1:1 — The church, which John refers to here as “the elect lady and her children”; that is, the elect children of God who comprise the church of God—the bride of Christ—is loved by all who love and know the truth.
To not love Christ’s true church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth, as well as the steward of the truth in the world today, is to neither know the truth nor to love Christ. (1Timothy 3:15; 1 Corinthians 4:1)
2 John 1:2 — Not only does the church exists for the truth’s sake, but the Christian should live, and even be willing to die, for the sake of the truth, which both abides within us and will always be with us.
"In these days men have left off faith. The spirit of the martyrs is not in them. Opinions have taken the place of convictions. Opinions are our own, and should not be too firmly held. Truth is Divine, and is worth living for and dying for…The man who would force his opinions on others is a boor. He who would die for his opinions is a fool. But Christianity has not to do with opinions. It is founded on fact and Divine truth; and faith based thereon is the heritage of the Church…We do not think this or that: we know!" (Sir Robert Anderson)
2 John 1:3 — It is by living in the truth and love of God that we are guaranteed the grace, mercy, and peace of God.
If we step outside the parameters of God’s truth or the constraints of God’s love, we have no claim on His gracious promise of mercy and peace.
2 John 1:4-6 — To walk in truth is to walk in love, for only those who love God will truly live for God by obeying the laws of God.
It is not the law of God, but the love of God, which produces obedience to God among the children of God, for the children of God do not obey God because they have to, out of a sense of duty, but because they want to, out of sheer delight.
2 John 1:7 — Anyone who denies or distorts the doctrine of Christ is a deceiver and antichrist, someone who either renounces the truth about Christ as make-believe or replaces the true Christ with a false Christ of their own making.
All men are either Christians or antichrists, because they either repudiate the truth of Christ by rejecting or revising it, or validate the truth of Christ by receiving and reciting it. There is no middle road, you’re either a saint or an ain’t.
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2 John 2:8-9a — To depart at all from the truth of Christ is to not only prove that you have no current relationship with God, but that you also have no coming reward from God as a faithful worker of His and witness of Christ.
All who exit the fundamentals of the Christian Faith by an inch are proven to be excluded from the family of God by a mile.
1 John 1:9b — All who truly know God through Christ will tenaciously cling to the truth of Christ.
If you’re not uncompromising when it comes to the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, then, you’re unacquainted with Christ, as well as with God the Father. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no such thing as faith in the one and only true God apart from faith in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, which is the one and only true faith.
2 John 1:10-11 — Those who preach a false gospel and a false Christ are not to be greeted or welcomed into our church houses or homes, lest we give credence to their false gospel, encourage their propagation of it, and become both a partner in and partaker of their evil deed.
Instead of being respectful toward other religions, the Apostle Paul repudiated them. Far from being affable toward them, he anathematized them, understanding, as few do today, that they imperil men’s immortal souls by refuting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, mankind’s only hope of salvation. (Galatians 1:8-9)
2 John 1:12 — John’s inspired pen stopped writing when his divine inspiration ran out. Although he had much more to say, the Spirit didn’t, so the apostle put his pen down.
Many a preacher today preaches himself out from under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Although the Spirit stops speaking through him, the sermon goes on until the long-winded preacher has said all that he has to say.
2 John 1:13 — John closes his letter with the children (converts) of a sister church, sending their greetings to the children (converts) of “the elect lady,” the church to which John was writing.
Whereas it is inappropriate for us to welcome or greet the foes of our Christian faith, it is most appropriate for us to warmly welcome and greet our fellow Christians.
Make no mistake about it, the true measure of an elect church is her children; that is, how many converts she has won, as the following story illustrates. A tour guide once took a tour group through Westminster Abbey. After showing the tourists the splendor of its architecture, the masterpieces decorating its walls, and its invaluable relics, the guide asked if there were any questions. An elderly woman immediately asked, “When’s the last time somebody got saved in this place?”
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