06/18/2026
The Truth that Abides"
2John 1:1-13
2 John is traditionally attributed to the apostle John, sometimes referred to as "the elder." The letter is addressed to "the elect lady and her children," a phrase that likely symbolizes a local church and its members rather than an individual woman alone. It was probably written between AD 85 and 95, around the same time as 1 John and the Gospel of John.
This introduction establishes the key theme of the letter: the inter-connectedness of love and truth. Truth here refers to the truth about who Jesus is and what he has done. “Truth” is thus a synonym for “gospel.” John’s love is in the truth, and everyone who knows the truth also loves this church because the truth abides in them. Thus, truth is the environment for Christian love, and love is the response of Christians to truth. The personal, intimate nature of this letter is seen in John’s closing. We see John as a faithful pastor. The strong words on false teaching come from one who loves them and longs to see them.
The apostle John identified himself in 3 John only as “the elder” (3 John 1:1), the same as he did in 2 John. At the writing of this, his final epistle, John was nearing the end of his life, a life that had changed dramatically some six decades before, when Jesus had called John and his brother James out from their fishing boat. The boys had left their livelihood and their father Zebedee to follow Jesus (Matthew 4:21–22). While James was the first of the twelve disciples to die for his faith, John outlived all the others. John referred to himself in his gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), a title that highlights one of the great themes of all John’s biblical contributions, including 3 John—the love of God working itself out in the lives of human beings.
