Walking in Truth
2 John 1–6
The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only, but also all those who know the truth, for the truth’s sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father. Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
World English Bible
Second John is so short it would fit on a postcard: thirteen verses, one sheet of papyrus. Yet in this tiny letter to "the chosen lady and her children," likely a house church and the believers in her care, one word appears five times in the first four verses: truth. Loved in truth. Known the truth. The truth that remains in us. Walking in truth. For John, truth is not a debating position. It is a place to live and a road to walk.
Listen to the old apostle's joy: "I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth." Not reciting truth. Not defending truth on the internet. Walking in it: ordering their steps, their money, their relationships, their Tuesdays by what is actually real about God. Walking is an unglamorous word, and that's the point. Nobody walks dramatically. You just take the next step, and the next, in the same direction, until one day you've traveled somewhere. Spiritual formation is rarely a leap; it is almost always a walk.
Then John names the road's direction: "that we love one another." And he's quick to say this is nothing new: "not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning." We are chronically tempted to look for some advanced spirituality beyond the basics, a curriculum past loving people. There isn't one. The oldest commandment is still the deepest. And notice how John fuses the two themes circling each other in this letter: "This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments." Truth without love calcifies into harshness: correct, cold, and Christless. Love without truth dissolves into sentimentality: warm, agreeable, and useless against deception. John refuses to choose, because grace and truth came together in one Person.
His greeting holds the balance perfectly: grace, mercy, and peace "in truth and love." That is the atmosphere of a healthy soul and a healthy church. Not truth or love. Truth and love, walked out one ordinary step at a time.
Reflect
- If someone examined my actual steps this week (calendar, money, words), what truth would they conclude I'm walking in?
- Which way do I naturally fall off the road: truth without love (correct but cold) or love without truth (warm but unanchored)?
- Am I still looking for some advanced spiritual program beyond the old commandment to love one another, and what "next step" of love am I avoiding?
Pray
Thank God for the people who first taught you to walk in truth, and ask Him to give you the joy John felt: joy in others' faithfulness rather than envy of their progress. Ask Him to show you which ditch you drift toward, truth without love or love without truth, and to correct your balance. Then ask for one concrete step of obedient love to take before the day ends.