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

Merry Christmas

I am debating separating what I write about these three books, or tying it all together.  I will probably tie it all together.  In the second of his three letters (I do not consider his Gospel a letter, and while the Book of Revelation is also technically a letter, it does not have the same personal feel that these three have), John repeats the themes which he writes in all of his writings.  First, he tells us to walk in truth and that doing so means loving others.  As part of that he writes that loving others means obeying God’s commands and that God commands us to love others.  That seems a little circular, but I believe he is telling us that all of God’s commands are about showing love to others.  Our actions following God’s commands should build others up and make them better people.  If our actions, or words, in following God’s commands cause hurt or harm to others which does not make them better we have interpreted God’s commands incorrectly.  In the third letter, John commends the recipient for showing hospitality in a way which holds it up as an example we should follow.  As I read it, he also tells us that giving hospitality to others shows our love for God by showing His love for them.

The other theme which John writes about in his letters is also touched on by Jude in his letter.  All three letters contain condemnation of false teachers who attempt to lead people away from the Gospel of Christ.  They deny, in one way or another, that Jesus is both God and man.  They discourage their followers from listening to those who disagree with their teachings.  I actually really struggled with explaining this one, since the writer speaks of refusing to listen to other believers, but these false teachers would claim that those they reject are not believers without giving their followers the chance to figure it out for themselves.  At various points in the New Testament the writers tell us to have nothing to do with those who hold to certain false doctrines, but in order to know if someone holds to a false doctrine you need to listen to what they proclaim.  So, the false teachers mentioned here must be telling their followers to just take it on their say so that someone holds to false doctrines, rather than encouraging them to find out for themselves.  Finally, Jude warns us that false teachers will try to convince us that sexual immorality is OK as part of the freedom we gain from following Christ.  They do so in order to exploit us for their own pleasure and gain.

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