Hello and welcome to Beauty - the no-frills, no-nonsense podcast about all things beauty. True Beauty. God’s Beauty. I am your host, Deanna, and today we are going to look at the rest of 2 John. It doesn’t seem possible that we can wrap this letter up in two days, but here we are!
After his greeting, John starts this portion of his letter with an acknowledgment of the lady’s children. How happy she must have been to read those words and know that she invested in her children well. That’s the goal of parenthood, right? It isn’t to get our kids into a great college or perfect career. It isn’t to see them live the American dream, which I would say is a deeply flawed dream (but that is a conversation for another time). No, the goal of parenting is to raise your kids to know truth so they remain near to God, walk in obedience, and love well. That is exactly what John goes on to describe in the next verses. He doesn’t come at her with the voice of authority. He writes with a gentle spirit and confirms with her what love truly is.
But why does he need to tell this lady about love? Surely she is already aware of what it means to love, as we saw in John’s greeting she was a woman defined by love and truth. Well, we get the answer starting in verse seven.
There are deceivers among us.
There were people going around trying to subvert the faith and John was warning the lady about them. Warning her is an act of love, too. It helps to protect her, to keep her alert and on guard against the false teachers so she isn’t led astray. But he doesn’t stop with a simple warning. He tells her how to respond when they come knocking at her door. He basically says,”Don’t even entertain them.” Don’t open your door. Don’t let them in. Don’t listen to their words. He even says not to greet them! That doesn’t sound very Christian-like. Aren’t we supposed to be kind to everyone and see people the way Jesus sees them? Why, yes, we are. But Jesus sees the false teachers as being antichrists. People who deny the faith have great ability to destroy the souls of those who don’t. John was warning the lady to protect her soul so she is not judged by God for sharing in their sin of unbelief.
Does that raise your eyebrow the way it did mine? Aren’t we used to ministering to people and meeting people where they are? Standing in the gap for them in their sin and praying for God to transform them? Again I say - yes! The difference here is that these people in 2 John were heretics. They were knowingly teaching false things about Jesus. This lady clearly had a solid foundation and great faith, and John still felt the need to warn her. This tells me they were good at swaying people to question what they know to be true.
I feel like this is a relevant warning to us today, as well - especially in a world filled with confusion. I feel like some people of influence have all the right words and if those words do not fall on discerning ears, they can be taken for truth, quickly leading people astray and stealing their soul. It is happening!! We must be on guard. We must not put ourselves in situations where we may fall. It becomes a great reminder to stay near to God and to be discerning and wise about who we let influence our lives.
John said in one short letter the same things he had said in his first longer one. Instead of addressing a whole church, he addressed one person. He made it personal. And we should too. What do you think John would say to you today? Where do you need to be careful and wise so that on the day of judgment you hear the words, “well done…?”
D 🙂
