One can hardly read the two short epistles of 2 John and 3 John without being struck by the number of times that the Apostle John uses the word “truth.” If I remember rightly, it occurs five times in the second epistle and six times in the third.
In the first chapter of his Gospel, he tells us that “the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:1717For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)). Of course, God had shown forbearance and grace in Old Testament times, for He ever was a gracious God. Many things that were true and real were made known to Israel through Moses, but when it comes to the absolute thing, we have to turn to Christ. In Him the grace of God was fully revealed and the truth of God fully manifested. Many true things were made known in the law, but reality itself shone forth in Christ. In Him the revelation of both grace and truth was complete.
False Teaching
We have all discovered that we are living in a world that is very unreal, where imitation often forces out the genuine article. Man is very clever and inventive and there is a great element of unreality. Pontius Pilate recognized this, for as a Roman judge he was continually concerned with the crookedness of human life. Having asked his famous question, “What is truth?” he turned his back on the One who was the truth and went out to the false and fickle world. Not many hours before the Lord Jesus had said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He is the way to God the Father; He is the truth concerning Him, and the life in which He can be truly known.
When the Apostle John wrote these two epistles, the adversary was coming in very strongly, in a twofold way. First of all, men had appeared actively propagating error as to Christ, and if teaching as to Him is falsified, everything is marred, since He is the truth. These first-century deceivers were known as “Gnostics,” a term derived from the Greek word for knowledge. They claimed to be the knowing ones. As to the things of the world, the apostles of our Lord were “unlearned and ignorant men,” so the Gnostics claimed to be able to lead on to improved and more intellectual teaching. They did not abide in that which was “from the beginning.” The word translated “transgresses” in 2 John 99Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9) really means “goes forward”; that is, they claimed to be making an advance on earlier ideas. In reality their fancied developments were destructive. So the Apostle wrote to a certain Christian woman and her children, warning them against these false teachers. They evidently went from house to house, just as they do today. They were to be definitely refused entrance and no fellowship to be accorded to them, even in a verbal way.
The Spirit Is Truth
Then again it can be said of true saints that the truth “dwells in us and shall be with us forever.” In his first epistle, John has told us that “the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:66This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. (1 John 5:6)). That being so, the truth dwells in us, since we are indwelt by the Spirit. But also Christ is the truth, and as we shall forever be in His presence, the truth will be with us forever. In Christ everything is adjusted in its true light. God is fully revealed; man has been fully exposed. God’s thoughts and purposes have been made manifest, and all things are set in right perspective. Hence grace and mercy reach us from the Father and the Son in truth and love.
Truth Objectively and Subjectively
One thing more remains, brought out in 3 John 44I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 4). The truth that is set before us objectively in Christ and that dwells in us subjectively by the Spirit is to govern our actions. All our activities, whether in thinking, speaking or doing, are to be governed by truth. If these children of the “elect lady” were so governed, a similar life is incumbent upon all of us. A saint young or old walking in truth is a lovely sight. No wonder John rejoiced greatly when he saw it, and it is equally lovely when it is seen today.
Diotrephes and Gaius
But there is a second thing which imperils the truth and that comes to light in 3 John—the rigid maintenance of official status and what is considered to be outward correctness. Of this Diotrephes was a sad example, whereas Gaius, to whom the epistle was addressed, was marked by walking in truth and being a fellow-helper to the truth. As we read this epistle, we see again that the truth is of the first importance and everything else is tested and measured by it. Gaius walked in truth because the truth was in him, and all this was the source of great joy to the Apostle.
In those days there were men of earnest zeal who went out preaching the Word. When they arrived at the place where Gaius lived, he received them hospitably and brought them forward on their journey, though he had not previously known them. Gaius did not receive and help these stranger-brethren because he had known them and liked them, but because they were devoted to the name of Christ, separate from the world, and because they were publishing the truth.
This latter point is made very plain at the end of 3 John 88We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth. (3 John 8). In helping these servants of God, Gaius was helping the truth, and all of us should do what he did.
The Importance of the Truth – Not the Man
And this emphasizes another thing: What is important is not the man but the truth that he brings. There was the tendency then, and there is certainly the tendency today, to make the man of all importance, so that if he is accredited as “spiritual,” what he says must be accepted. The man accredits the message he brings. What we see here is the reverse of this. The message of truth that is brought accredits the man who brings it, just as in the second epistle the error that is brought discredits the man who brings it.
The same thought underlies what is said of Demetrius in 3 John 1212Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true. (3 John 12), since he had not only a good report of all but also “of the truth itself.” Note, it is not that he bore witness to the truth, but that the truth bore witness to him. Demetrius was not the standard by which truth was tested. The truth was the standard by which Demetrius was tested, and having been so tested, he stood approved.
With poor Diotrephes it was far otherwise. Just why he took so strong a stand against these stranger-brethren and others who received them, and even against John himself, we are not told. It may have been the uprising of clericalism, excessive zeal for imagined points of teaching or procedure, and the like, but what we do know is what underlay his high-handed doings. He loved to have the preeminence among the saints. He was out to establish a dominating position for himself.
Domination of the People
Like the Apostle John, we condemn Diotrephes, but let us not forget the fact which confronts us in Jeremiah 5:3131The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jeremiah 5:31). In the midst of Israel there was much false teaching and by it the priests acquired a dominating place, but, said the Lord, “My people love to have it so.” The people wanted their sinful pleasures and were quite content to let the priests do their religious duties for them.
That has been reenacted in the history of the church, and a forceful, modern Diotrephes may be quite welcome, even to saints, if they wish to avoid personal exercise of heart and live easy-going, semi-worldly lives. History repeats itself, since human tendencies are always the same. If we follow Diotrephes, we deny the truth instead of helping it, but ultimately the truth will prevail.
We are living in days when the truth is being attacked on all sides. Let us remember that Christ is the truth, and as He Himself said to the Father, “Thy word is truth.” That truth has reached us in “the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 33Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 3)), and let us contend earnestly for it, since it is of priceless value. And may we all have grace to be so characterized by it that we walk in truth. The eye of the Lord is upon us, and that is what He looks for, as we wait for Him.
F. B. Hole (adapted)