Your last 2 books before Revelation.  I pre-read them before bed last night because I was just so curious as to what would be the last recorded words from John.  He is an “elder.”  He has lived almost 30 longer than both Paul and Peter.  If you remember, the book of John was set apart from the other 3 Gospels.  It was written to all believers.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

• 2 John is about Loving Truth.  The word Truth is used 5 times.
• 3 John is the most personal book written in the NT.  The word Truth is used 6 times.  It is about protecting Truth.

Both Books are about the most important component of the Bible: TRUTH.

• 2nd John is about NOT letting people into your inner circle who may corrupt the teaching of Truth
• 3 John is the opposite.  Be hospital to anyone willing to teach Truth.

Now that we have read the Bible, we are filled with ALL that God has commanded us.  In the meantime, we have read warning after warning about false teachings.  Yesterday we read 1 John, the word LOVE  was read 44 times.  So how does all this fit together?  Well, in 2 John and 3 John, it brings it all home to you.

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2 John: a lady (could be literal or referring to the church).  I remember in Proverbs, Wisdom was also personified as a woman.  I am uncertain which the reference is made to, BUT I do know that John is speaking to the wise person who loves the Truth and opens their church or home to the teaching of the Word

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.

Does Love mean that we are tolerant of all beliefs?  God is Love.  However, through the ministry of Jesus, we saw an intolerance to anyone that proclaimed anything that was not Truth.  Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Paul continually rebuked the many false teaching that began after the resurrection.  John clarified teachings after the fall of the Temple.  This book is no different.

¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. ¹¹ Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

Protecting Truth is the ultimate act of Love.

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3 John. A personal letter to Gaius.  When I read 3 John, I read:

¹ The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, Patricia,  whom I love in the truth.

² Dear friend Patricia, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. ³ It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

⁵ Dear friend Patricia, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. ⁶ They have told the church about your Love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Now that I have read God’s Word, I love His Truth.  I will keep an eye open for the people like Diotrephes, who is “all about himself,” and protect what God has taught me in 2021.

What else could God write to us?   John wrote in his Gospel.

³⁴ “A new command I give you:

Love one another. 

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

³⁶ Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”

 

So John ends with a reminder that the Lord WILL see us face to face:

¹³ I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon (Patricia), and we will talk face to face.