Walking in the truth and love
I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. So now I ask you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love. 2 John 1:4-6 CSB
Moving from the introduction, John is encouraged by the fact that some of the believers in the church he is writing to are “walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father.” It is a joyous feeling to have when we see people we mentor make good decisions. This expression conveys the idea of a believer who confesses the truth of God’s Word and who lives in harmony with that Word. Everything he says or does portrays a life that is governed by the truth found in God’s Word. John writes that the Father has commanded us to walk in the truth (see 1 John 1:6–7; 2:6; 3:23). By his use of the word Father, John indirectly reminds his readers that “truth came through Jesus Christ … the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side” (John 1:17-18). Yet, there is an implication from John’s words that if some are walking in the truth, that would mean that others are not. To address this issue, John reminds the church that this command of truth stems from a command “we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.” We see this sentiment in 1 John 2:7, “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the word you have heard.” That word comes from Jesus in John 13:34-35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” So what does this love look like? It is through obedience and action that it is displayed, “this is love, that we walk according to His commands.” The essence of love is that we keep God’s commands. We can be a staunch defender of truth and yet fail in loving others. Through the love of God, believers respond through obedience, and God’s ways will keep the believer from evil.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
