Live by His Commandments

Background and Overview of 2 John

The brief letter of 2 John, addressed to “the elect lady” (2 John 1), praises the apostle's recipients for walking in both the truth and love. In it, John also cautions readers about false teachers. These themes of truth, love, and false teachers repeat throughout 1, 2, and 3 John. The author concludes 2 John with a warm greeting.

Although the brevity of the letter causes many to overlook this short epistle, the content carries important directives. One repeating truth John emphasizes is that Christians should demonstrate love through obedience to God’s commands.

Walk in Obedience

“Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another.” 2 John 6 (NLT)

A 2019 Pew Research Center survey found Christians correctly answered only an average of 4.2 out of seven questions about the Bible. This low level of biblical literacy with 60 percent correct reveals a poor understanding of the Bible that contains God’s loving commandments. Understanding the Bible and actively loving God leads us to love others as God instructs. A lack of understanding of God’s commands can lead to a lack of walking in love.

How can we walk in love if we remain ignorant of the commands of God, the source of all love? Knowing and obeying God’s commandments shows we love God and we love others (1 John 5:2; 2 John 6). By loving others, we fulfill God’s law (Rom 13:8; 1 John 5:3). Doing so may sound like a grueling task. But love and God’s law go hand in hand: All the law falls within the commands to love God and others (Matt 22:36–40). We walk in love (2 John 6) when we walk obediently to His commands.

God reveals His commands throughout the Bible. The apostle Paul wrote one succinct description of what it looks like to love others (1 Cor 13:4–7). To master this shortlist would take a lifetime. The list includes demonstrating love through patience without retaliation and showing kindness by way of usefulness. Additional actions listed include denying selfish desires by humbly considering others more significant than ourselves and speaking the truth while valuing the other person.

Practice For Today

Ask the Spirit to help you as you focus on obeying one commandment to love others, such as practicing patience. You may choose to first take a deep breath and count before speaking when provoked toward anger. Or consider encouraging peace in a difficult conversation to strengthen your brother or sister in Christ.

Reference:

Pew Research Center, July 23, 2019, “What Americans Know About Religion”

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash