II John

“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands ...” (6). John wrote to the “lady” (metaphor for church) to correct the ideas of the “deceivers” (7) who were misleading people about a spiritualized, other-worldly Jesus. These false teachers implied that people could “believe” in Jesus without accepting His commands. But John said Jesus Christ was not ‘anything goes’; He came in the flesh and brought real “truth and love” (3), changing the way we see one another (4-6).

“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ ...” (3). Jesus is not a passive spiritual resource. His grace covers our sins so that we can die to our old ways and begin to “walk in love” (6).