TRUTH UNDER FIRE
By
Frank Lay
A STUDY OF 2 JOHN
In John 14:6, Jesus made a statement that has become His most controversial claim. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” In that declaration, Jesus claimed to be the personification of truth. He is, “The Truth” incarnate.
Yet “the Truth” is under fire in our day. One so called professor told his students, “There is no absolute truth.” A Christian student asked him, “Are you certain about that.” The professor answered, “Absolutely:”
One way truth is under fire is the return of ancient heresies such as “Gnosticism.” The Gnostics clamed to have special knowledge and sought to pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gnostic teachings were present in seed form in the latter part of the first Christian century. They rose to full bloom during the second and third centuries of the church. Some Gnostics claimed that Jesus was a mere man and that the “Christ spirit” came upon him at baptism and left him prior to the cross. Others taught that Jesus only seemed to be but that He really wasn’t real. In other words, these false teachers denied the deity of Christ. They were causing such problems by the end of the first century, that the beloved apostle John described them as having the spirit of antichrist (Read 1 John 2:18-24).
The current fad led by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code is nothing new. His false information comes from heretical cults that were rejected by the true church long ago. The same is true regarding the so-called Gospel of Judas. I learned about those false teachings when I entered seminary forty years ago. Those false gospels were written long after the fact and were quickly rejected by the church. Contrary to what Dan Brown wrote, the church overwhelmingly rejected the Gnostic teachings.
Many of the New Testament epistles were written to combat false teachings that threatened the church. The epistles of John are no exception. The letter of 2 John is the shortest letter in the New Testament. Yet, this little letter speaks powerfully to our generation, especially concerning our relationship to the truth as it is in Jesus.
The key word in 2 John is the word “truth.” John uses the word “truth” several times in the first few verses. When Jesus said, “I am…the Truth,” He was not speaking of merely ethical truth, but truth in all its fullness and scope, as embodied in Him. Jesus was and is the perfect expression of the truth. He is truth personified. Moreover, Jesus is absolute truth.
I. WE MUST POSSESS THE TRUTH (1-3)
John addresses this letter “to the elect (chosen) lady and her children.” Some Bible teachers believe this is a reference to a literal Christian lady and her believing children. Others believe this is a reference to a particular church and the children are members of that church. I will not go to jail over this interpretation, but I do tend to lean towards the belief that this is a reference to a church personified as a lady. The last verse also seems to testify to this. “The children of your elect (chosen) sister greet you.”
John goes on to say concerning this “chosen lady” as being one whom “I love in truth.” Then he adds, “And not only I, but also all those who have known the truth.” In these first two verses we learn three important facts about the truth.
A. First, truth is a person: Note that John uses the phrases “in truth” and “the truth” in verses one and two. “In truth” means in reality or genuinely. There is no definite article. Yet the phrase “the truth” in verses one and two have a definite article. By using a definite article, John is speaking of “the truth” as a person. He is speaking of “the truth” as it is in Jesus. To know “the truth” is to know Jesus Christ in a personal way. Such knowledge of the truth produces a special bond between all true believers. To know Christ is to love Him and to love Him is to love all who are united to Him by faith.
B. Second, truth is internal: In verse two John writes, “Because of the truth which abides in us….” The Amplified Bible puts it this way, “Because of the Truth which lives and stays on in our hearts….” Note that the Amplified Bible capitalizes the word “Truth” because it is a reference to the person of Jesus Christ. When a sinner turns from his sin and receives Jesus Christ into his life as Lord and Savior, “The Truth” indwells his very being. The truth as it is in Jesus is true whether we believe it or not. The truth becomes real in us when Christ comes into our lives.
C. Third, truth is eternal: Note the last part of verse two: “And will be with us forever.” Jesus is unchangeable. If Jesus was “the truth” way back then, He is still “the truth” today. The book of Hebrews declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
II. WE MUST PRACTICE THE TRUTH (4-6)
In these three verses we learn that truth is relational. Not only must we possess the truth by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we must live out the truth in our daily lives. Knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus determines how we live our lives. In these verses we are given two vital commandments regarding the lifestyle of true Christians.
A. True Believers Walk in Truth: After greeting the “elect lady” in verse three, John writes, “I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.” If “the truth lives in us forever” as verse two says, then it is the believer’s responsibility to “walk in the truth.” Our belief determines our practice.
John Stott writes, “The truth of God, revealed supremely in the living Word, and recorded unerringly in the written Word, provides the route by which the Christian is traveling from earth to heaven. This is the road we are to follow. If we want to make a journey we need to read the map and carry out its instructions; it is not a matter of choice. You cannot reach the north by traveling west.” Moreover, we are to walk in the truth because that is what our Father has commanded us to do.
As a pastor for over forty years, I have had the privilege of revisiting some churches where I have served. Once I returned to a church to preach a homecoming message. A lady who was then around thirty-five years of age, handed me a little book of poems she had written. She wrote a personal note reminding me of how I had led her to Jesus when she was eight years old. How I rejoiced that she was still walking with the Lord after all those years.
Yet there have also been times when I returned to a church and asked regarding certain individuals only to learn that they had departed from the church many years before and were no longer walking with the Lord. One of the saddest verses in the Bible is John 6:66 which says, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
Were those people really saved or not? Only God knows the answer to that question. Sadly over 80 % of our youth leave the church following their graduation from High School. Regretfully, only a very small percentage will ever return again.
B. True Believers Walk in Love: In a practical way, walking in the truth as it is in Jesus will result in a new life style. The believer has a desire to regulate his life by God’s commandments, especially the commandment to “love one another.” John was not writing a new commandment but one that had been from the beginning. In one sense the command to “love one another” is new in kind, and yet it is an old in time.
Notice that the word “commandment” is used four times in verses 4-6. The commandment to walk in truth comes from the Father. The commandment involves walking in truth and love. The believer’s manner of life is that of living in obedience to God’s commandments. We practice the truth by obeying our Lord’s commandment to walk in the truth and walk in love. We are to live out the truth in our daily lives.
III. WE MUST PROTECT THE TRUTH (7-11)
Believers are to possess the truth and practice the truth. Moreover we are to protect the truth. Verses 7-11 dealt with the basic Gnostic heresy that was beginning to put a negative influence on the early church. What is Gnosticism? The word “Gnostic” comes from the Greek, “Gnosis” meaning “to know.”
Gnosticism taught that spirit is entirely good and matter is entirely evil. From this non-biblical worldview, several significant errors emerged.
Gnosticism taught that man’s body, which is comprised of matter, is evil. God, who is spirit, is totally good. Salvation is attained not by faith in Christ but by special knowledge. If this were true, millions could never be saved.
Gnosticism denied Christ’s humanity in two ways. (1) Some said that Christ only seemed to have a body. This view was called “Docetism” from a Greek word “dokeo” (to seem). Others said that the divine Christ joined the human Jesus at baptism and left him before he died. This view is called “Cerinthinism” after the most prominent spokesman, Cerinthus. This view is the background of the first two letters of John. This led to licentiousness, since matter, rather than the breaking of God’s law was considered evil. Breaking His law had no moral consequences. This ancient heresy has returned with a vengeance. Someone wrote a book on this theme entitled, “The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back.”
In verse 7, John calls those who follow this movement “deceivers” and he identifies them with the antichrist. In verse 8, he warns true believers to remain firm in the faith so that they might “not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.”
Then in verse 9, John encourages his readers, and that includes us, to “abide in the doctrine of Christ.” Don’t be afraid of the word “doctrine.” That word simply means “the teachings of Christ.”
“Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God.” In other words, those who follow the teachings of the antichrist spirit that denies the person of Jesus Christ are separated from God. They are lost and destined for destruction in hell.
“He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” The word “abide,” means “to continue,” “to remain,” “to dwell” in the teaching of Christ. Listen to the words of Jesus. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing…. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:4-8).
Look at verses 10 and 11 for a moment. John writes, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.”
John is not saying that we are to refuse hospitality to lost people. In fact one of our best ways of witnessing is to invite lost people into our homes. John is saying that we are not to show hospitality to those false teachers who would deceive the church. During the first two centuries and beyond, the gospel was carried from place to place by traveling evangelists. Believers on the way were to show them hospitality and allow them to stay in their homes. The false teachers also had this practice. Often they would visit a believer’s him in pretense of being a Christian. The believers would unwittingly show them hospitality. Yet to willingly show hospitality to false teachers was to participate in their actions.
CONCLUSION: Christianity is about truth. It is about the truth as it is in Jesus who claimed “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” This is God’s truth and it is eternal truth.
We must possess the truth by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. We must practice the truth by exercising Christian love. We must protect the truth by abiding in the doctrine of Christ.
What about you? Have you made your commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of your life or are you following after the false teachings that are so prevalent today? As for me, I have made my choice.
