2 John 1:5 - Meaning and Application

We now come to the main purpose and substance of the letter. The apostle begins with a request: “Now I ask you, lady.” What he is asking for is not a favor for himself, but simple Christian duty and obedience to God’s command. He could have spoken more sharply, but strong words are often less helpful than gentle ones. The spirit of the apostles is marked by tenderness and warmth.

Whether he is showing respect to her as a lady, or using apostolic humility, or both, he chooses to ask rather than command. Another apostle uses the same kind of language to a believer he could have ordered. He says, in effect, that although he could be bold in Christ, and could command what is right, he prefers to appeal in love. Love often succeeds where authority does not. In fact, the more forcefully authority is pressed, the more it is sometimes resisted. A faithful minister will often lead friends into duty by love and appeal.

The thing he asks of the lady and her children is Christian love, that we love one another (2 John 1:5). Even those who are strong in Christian virtue still have room to grow. So, as Paul says, you do not need to be taught at length about brotherly love, because God has already taught you to love one another, yet you should keep growing in it more and more (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).

This love is encouraged, first, by the command itself. God’s command should shape both our minds and our hearts. It is also encouraged by its long-standing nature. John says, “Not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but the one we had from the beginning” (2 John 1:5). This command is new in one sense because Christ gave it fresh force and weight, but the love it calls for is as old as true religion itself, whether natural, Jewish, or Christian. Wherever Christianity goes, this command must go with it, that Christ’s disciples love one another.

John then shows the power of this love through its fruit. “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments” (2 John 1:5). This is how we know we truly love God, because we obey him. It is also love to our own souls, because walking in God’s ways brings great reward. And it is love toward one another, because we help each other live holy lives. Our sincere Christian love is proven when, in all other matters, we also walk according to God’s commands.

There may be a kind of mutual affection that is not truly Christian. But we know our love is real when it goes together with obedience in every other area too. Full obedience shows the honesty and goodness of Christian grace. Those who aim to obey Christ in all things will also care about Christian love. This is a basic rule in the gospel, the command to walk in love, just as they heard it from the beginning (2 John 1:6). Since this love would likely grow weak, along with other forms of turning away from the faith, the apostle presses it again and again.