I found myself wondering who the “chosen lady” was that John was writing to, then this occurred to me…
Later in the letter John refers to the recipients as “dear friends” and later mentions their “meeting” as if he is talking about a church. He concludes his letter with greetings from “the children of your sister”…what are the chances that this is just one family bumping into each other in different parts of the country? I think it’s more likely that John is referring to the church in one town as his “sister” and the converts there as the “children” of that church. Paul referred to all of his converts as his “children”, so I don’t think it’s that far fetched.
Either way, the two major themes of this letter are: Truth and Love. John implies that once you learn and accept the truth about who God is and what He did for us you will behave differently. The most notable change will be in the way you interact with (relate to) others. Especially other Christians. Since we have enjoyed grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Son, we are compelled to express the same to others. Knowing the truth changes us. The change is what people see and the truth is what others desire. John understood that our love for Christ would be attractive to others…not to see more people in church, but to help more people enter into heaven.
You cannot separate living in truth from living in love because the two are intertwined. Our relationship with God is based on both, and our relationship with others must be based on the same.
I think this might be why John shifts from talking about loving each other to discuss false teachers. A false teacher will attempt to erode the validity of Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man. No doubt motivated by evil desires, they attack the truth, hoping to steer the believers to focusing on them, rather than on Jesus. Let the believer beware! To lose the truth is to eventually lose the entirety of the message, because truth is the framework on which it is constructed. You cannot believe in Jesus correctly if you don’t accept who He is in reality. Believing in a worldly idea of who Christ is will not produce the same results as belief in the genuine article. It will not produce love for the body of Christ, or love for others. Maybe that’s what Paul was talking about when he said that they (people, not necessarily teachers) had a “form of godliness, but denied it’s power. 2 Timothy 3:2-5
The power of the Gospel is truth and love. God is truth, and God is love.
In love,
PR