This coming Lord’s Day we will be taking a third and final look at 2 John 1:4-6, with particular emphasis upon verse 6, where the Apostle John says,

“And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”

You will remember that the subject immediately under consideration is the way the believers in the local Church to whom John wrote were “walking” (v. 4). And, of course, by that word “walking” John is referring to how they, as Christian people, were living their lives every day in the real world. The word “walk,” which we encounter a number of times in this brief letter, is a common New Testament symbol for the believer’s conduct, his or her lifestyle, the manner in which the Christian carries out his or her life, in all of its complexities and details, each day. And up to this point, John has depicted the believer’s “walk” as most distinct in two wonderful ways. The believer’s life is distinguished by “truth” (v. 4), and by “love” (v. 5).

As we consider both the implications and contemporary applications of this passage, we need to see the beautiful link between these two blessed graces, “truth” and “love.” These are blessings that we often find coupled together in the Scriptures. You might at once think of Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesian believers to speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), or even the Old Testament’s admonition from Proverbs 3:3–“Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.”

What is the significance of this linkage? Why does “truth” need “love,” and “love” depend upon “truth”? And what happens when they are disjointed? And what does it mean for a believer to “walk” in “the truth” and in “love”? Let’s pray that our Lord will answer these questions and speak powerfully to us as we gather before Him in worship on Sunday.