I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Merry Christmas!

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 John, 3 John, and Jude

Reading these three short letters today I was struck by how well they fit together, despite Jude being written by a different writer and intended for a different audience.  In the first of them, John’s second letter, he connects loving one another with truth.  Right there is a point worth an entire post about.  We do not know the truth if we do not love one another and we cannot love one another if we do not know the truth.  We know that John is making this point because he says that he wrote to remind us to love one another and then a few sentences later he writes that this needs to be said because of those who were teaching that the truth was incorrect.

In John’s third letter he commends the one to whom he writes for providing loving support for traveling preachers, despite the opposition of a Church leader local to that person.  He clearly suggests that that person is both a false teacher and someone who does not love others.  Which neatly transitions us to Jude’s letter.  Jude writes of those who claim to be followers of Christ, but teach that God’s grace allows us to live immoral lives.  I do not think I would see it if I did not read Jude’s letter together with these two from John, but Jude tells us that those who teach that we can live immorally because of God’s grace do so out of a selfish failure to love others.  They teach that we must be accepting of immoral behavior because we loves and should even indulge in immoral behavior as an expression of love.  Many of them even claim that calling people to live moral lives is divisive.  Jude writes that the divisive ones are those promoting immorality. 

I want to add one comment about my title.  You cannot know the truth if you do not love others and you will not love others if you do not know the truth.  As you learn to know the truth you will come to love others and if you genuinely love others you will come to know the truth.  However, many people start out seeking the truth and fail to truly learn it because they are unwilling to love at least some other people and many other people seek to love others but stumble because they are unwilling to accept the truth.