This is a very short, one chapter, letter written to a certain family, “the elect lady and her children.” Most of the other letters were written to churches or meant to be passed from church to church. It seems that John called himself the “elder” because he was, almost certainly, very old and had outlived his fellow apostles. Luke and Acts were written to person called Theophilus, Philemon to Philemon but with this letter Paul respects the role of ladies and families in the church.
THE TRUTH-JESUS THE WAY TO GOD
The letter strikes you by how many times the word “truth” is used, in fact, five times in the first 4 verses. So what is this truth? We know that Jesus said about himself “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14v6).
You might say, what is the point of calling Jesus the truth? If He wasn’t the truth then we certainly would not be believing in Him now. I think the correct emphasis can be found in John’s gospel, John 14v6, where it says “No one comes to the Father except through me”. Then if we look back to 1 John 2v21 where John says “I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but you know it, and you know that no lie comes from the truth” and in verse 22 “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son”. You cannot just believe in the Father for Father and Son will always be together and there is no true faith without believing in the heaven-sent Son. See also 1 John 4v3.
It is clear that the gospel according to John was all to do with what Jesus has done for us. Jesus is the only way to the Father and that is the truth and if you do not believe that you are a liar and against Christ and his work. I think what must have happened was this; the early church focused clearly on Jesus but as time went on, perhaps, people in their minds began to question whether Jesus was, truly, God. Then a group of teachers latched onto this doubt and began leading people astray. Haven’t we seen this in our own day with people denying the virgin birth, denying the resurrection and making their Jesus just a good man. The antichrist spirit will always take away the crucial importance of Jesus Christ to the gospel. With Him we have the true gospel; without Him we have no gospel and if we teach anything else we are liars.
Let us come back to verse 1 where the truth is all important. Notice John loves this lady, in the truth, but so do all who know the truth. If we have the truth about Jesus in our hearts and if we believe Jesus is the only way to God the Father, then we have love for each other. The truth abides in us (v2) and will be with us for ever. Jesus abides in us through his Holy Spirit.
IT IS ALL ABOUT GRACE
In verse 3 we read “grace, mercy and peace” from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, an introduction very similar to Paul’s letters. John, in keeping with this letter, goes on to emphasise that Jesus is the Christ, “the Father’s Son, in truth and love”. He reminds us, even in his greeting, that it is nothing to do with us, it is all given to us in God’s “grace” and “mercy”. We now have “peace” with our God. Perhaps peace, itself, is an inward sign that we have received the grace of God in our lives.
OUR CHILDREN
Look at verse 4. It is a wonderful thing when we have children walking in the truth. There are so many reasons why our children do not to follow the Lord because the world will try everything it can to draw them away. Notice John is “overjoyed” to hear the news. I would lose anything else in the world as long as my children follow God’s way. When I have gone from this earth God’s kingdom will carry on if my children carry on in the way they have started and know Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.
LOVING OBEDIENCE
In the Bible’s short letters, as I have said before, the writer uses only a limited number of words and if something is there it could well be really important. So if we look at verse 5, it is no surprise that we are encouraged to love one another. This is the message of 1 John; if we have the love we know we have the life and elsewhere, 2 Peter 1 talks about growing in God until we reach the place of love. God’s perfect way is one of loving obedience (v6).
HOSPITALITY-BE CAREFUL
Then we have the main reason for John writing this letter (v7) which is to make this lady aware of dangerous leaders who were around. It is no surprise to find that they were those deceivers who did not confess that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. Again he calls them the antichrist. John was worried that these people would lead people away from the faith. It is important to abide in the true teaching about Christ and not go beyond it (v9).
It seems that this lady had the gift of hospitality, a very essential gift to the kingdom of God.
In her situation, if these false teachers stayed with her she would be vulnerable to their influence. In verse 10 John tells her not to even receive or welcome them into her house. It was not her responsibility to sort out false teachers, just to avoid them. If you welcome someone who is evil then you are participating in what they do (v11).
John concludes by saying, I would rather talk to you face to face (v12). In our own days the internet, facebook communication and other social media can be very good but it is not quite the same as talking to someone face to face. There is another nice human touch, right at the end, where John passes on greetings from the children of another Christian lady. Good relationships are essential to the body of Christ.