New Testament · General Letters
Walk in love, but do not open the door to those who unmake Christ.
Thirteen verses, addressed to the elect lady and her children, which is probably a church rather than an individual. It is a note about hospitality, written when travelling teachers depended on being taken in and a household could unintentionally fund a movement it disagreed with. The instruction not to receive such a person or give them a greeting sounds harsh until you understand that greeting here means formal welcome and support. The letter also repeats the central point of 1 John in miniature, that love means walking in the commandments and that the test is whether someone confesses Jesus Christ come in the flesh. It ends by saying the writer would rather come and speak face to face than use paper and ink.
If you remember one thing
Thirteen verses balancing two things that are hard to hold at once: welcome everyone, and do not fund the destruction of the gospel.
“This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments.”
2 John 6
2 John 10
Do not receive him into your house or give him a greeting. Harsh until you know that greeting here means formal welcome and material support for a travelling teacher.
Named here rather than skipped. Where Christians read a passage differently, we say so instead of choosing for you.
Everyone here has a write-up, drawn from the same records that explain the names while you read the text.
A fisherman called with his brother James, part of the inner three, and traditionally the author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and Revelation. The Gospel calls him the disciple Jesus loved and places him at the cross, entrusted with Jesus' mother.
The whole book, with the people and places explained as you read. Available in WEB and KJV. Chapters marked ✦ carry a verse the New Testament takes up.
A quiz for 2 John is on the workbench. In the meantime, the games for the judges, the kings, and the prophets are open.
