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Thoughts of a saint and slave
by Sam Isaacson
So, one letter down, two to go. Here we have the opening lines from John’s second letter.
‘The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 1:1-3)
Who is the elect lady?
Let’s begin by asking who the mysterious lady is! Well, she’s a church. The letter’s written in the plural so it would be grammatically incorrect if John were writing to an individual, and his instructions that she ‘love one another’ and reference to her ‘elect sister’ means that this letter is addressed to one local congregation. Insert your church’s name here.
Truth, truth, truth
John says three things in reference to ‘truth’ in these verses, and each is important.
Firstly he says that he loves this church ‘in truth’. It’s important to note that the John who wrote this is the same one who recorded Jesus’ own reference to himself as ‘the truth’ in John 14:6. When we see that in light of John’s first letter it becomes clear what John is saying here. John’s love for this church is not based on whether or not he likes them, it’s based on Jesus. We tend to like and dislike churches in our neighbourhood and around the world based on our opinions, their doctrine and leadership, and our taste in music. But John’s message here is clear and simple. We are to love Jesus’ church for his sake.
He moves on to point out that ‘all who know the truth’ love this church – that would be all Christians. Listen very carefully: John is giving us a definition here of a Christian, and it’s those who love the local church. If you don’t love Jesus’ church, you’re not a Christian. But that sounds a bit harsh? Perhaps, but John’s not the only one who thinks that – Jesus got there first. His words in John 13:35 make it clear that the way people will be able to tell the difference between a Christian and an unbeliever will be their ‘love for one another’. We must love the church.
Finally John says that the reason why those who know the truth love the church in truth is ‘because of the truth that abides in us’. To turn this around, it would be natural to conclude that if the truth did not abide in us, it would be impossible to love the church in truth. In other words, our love for the church is not built on our own abilities, or else we would be able to love the church without that abiding truth. Our love for the church is caused by Jesus living in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. The moment we take our eyes away from that truth is the moment our love for the church fails.
Conclusion
So, love the church. Love your local church, love the other churches in your neighbourhood, love other churches around the world, love the global church. But don’t think you can do that at all without first acknowledging that it’s all about Jesus. If I invited you to my house for a meal and you said: ‘Yes I’ll come, so long as your awful wife isn’t there,’ I would most likely take back the invitation. Jesus’ bride is the church, and it’s important we love her as he loves her.
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