Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Back in 2016, we did a study on the Apostle John’s first letter

Today I want us to begin a look at his second and third letter

Both letters appear after the first one toward the end of the NT

2 John has 13 verses and 3 John has 15

Both letters are written to individuals in the church rather than an entire church

We have other letters in the NT that are written to individuals like Timothy, Titus and Philemon

I would like to begin our study by reading the entire letter

Like I said, it only has 13 verses, so it’s not very long

Read 2 John

As we read there were several words that stood out to us

The first one was the word “truth”

It occurred 5 times in the first four verses

The second word was “love” which was used 2 times in verses 5-6

The rest of the book was a warning against those who “do not acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh” (v.7) or “does not abide in the teaching of Christ” (v.9)

The Bible has a lot to say about “truth”

God is the God of truth - Deuteronomy 32:4, says, God is “The Rock!

His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of truth and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” (NKJV)

Christ said He is the truth (John 14:6)

The apostle John said Jesus was “full of truth” (John 1:14)

When He spoke, He spoke the truth

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth in John 14:17.

Ephesians 5:9, “(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)”

The Bible is called, in Daniel 10:21, the writing of truth

Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

Everything the Bible says about God is truth

We are saved by the truth

We are sanctified by the truth

We love the truth

We are judged by the truth

We are set free by the truth

We worship in the truth

We serve God in the truth

We rejoice in the truth

We speak the truth

We think on the truth

We desire the truth

We manifest the truth

We hear the truth

We obey the truth

We walk in the truth - that means we conduct our lives in the realm of the truth

The truth determines how we think, how we speak, and how we act

We live in a world that doesn’t want to recognize the truth

They follow lies from the father of lies, Satan

2 John is also a letter about the truth

It is also a letter of warning against those who deny the truth

This letter, like 1 John, was written “concerning those who are trying to deceive you” (1 John 2:26)

John refers to them as “deceivers” who have “gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.

This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7)

They do not “abide in the teaching of Christ” (2 John 1:9) nor do they “have God”

This is the group known as the gnostics

That word comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means, “to know” and was a group of people who believed they had a superior, private knowledge over and above that of the Bible” (Wuest)

There were two groups of gnostics: the Docetic gnostics and the Cerinthian gnostics

The Docetic gnostics denied the humanity of Christ while the Cerinthian gnostics made a distinction between the man Jesus and the aeon Christ that came on Him at His baptism and left Him when He was on the cross.

All three letters address a problem with either the gnostics or with an individual (Diotrephes)

2nd and 3rd John also addresses’ hospitality, that is, providing lodging and support for itinerate preachers and evangelists

We will see that as we get deeper into the two letters

John says that everyone who has the truth loves

He loves God and all those who are walking in truth and he loves his enemies

John’s letter begins and follows the structure of letters of that time period

It has a salutation in verses 1-3, a charge in verses 4-6, a warning in verses 7-11, and it closes with his desire to come and see them (vv.12-13)

John begins with the salutation, which includes the writer, readers, and greeting

Notice first...

LESSON

I.

The Writer (v.1a)

“The elder”

The writer is identified as “the elder”

This is the same identification as in 3 John 1:1.

This is the Greek word presbyteros which here refers to both age and an official position in the church

John was the last of the living apostles

He was also “the elder” (definite article is used) of the church

We saw in our study of 1 Peter 5 that the word “elder” is used interchangeably with “overseer” and “pastor” and is used to refer to the leadership in the church

The same is true here

John has never given himself any attention as the author of his letters

He never gave his name in the Gospel of John, or in 1, 2, 3, John.

Revelation is the only book where he gives his name but he is...

The Apostle John is traditionally identified as the author of the Gospel of John and all three epistles

He is the one who confessed to be “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn.20:2; 13:23; 19:26; 21:7, 20) 5 times in the Gospel of John

From the first century until...the end of the eighteenth century, the church consistently identified the apostle John as the author of 1 John (MacArthur)

Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp (Polycarp was a disciple of John) lived from 130 - 202 A.D., was the first writer to quote directly from 1 John and name the apostle John as its author (MacArthur)

He also alluded to 2 John and assumed apostolic authorship (Wallace)

The Muratorian Fragment, which is an ancient list of NT books—the oldest such list we have found (gotquestions.org/Muratorian-Canon), mentions two letters by John, the second of which could have either been 2 John or 2-3 John (the two forming one letter) (Wallace)

Clement of Alexandria who lived from 150 - 215 A.D. recognized more than one letter by John (Wallace)

Origen, who was a student of Clement of Alexandria and lived from 185 - 253 A.D., recognized both 2 and 3 John (Wallace)

Dionysius of Alexandria, who was a student of Origen and lived from 200 - 265 A.D., mentions John’s second and third letter (Wallace)

So the early church fathers recognized the apostle John as the author of all three epistles

All three epistles were written around the same time, 90-95 A.D., from Ephesus

John gives next...

II.

The Readers (vv.1b-2)

“to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever”

He identifies his audience by three terms:

They are the “Chosen” (v.1b)

This is the Greek word eklektos, adj

This word occurs 22 times in the NT

It means to be “chosen out” or “selected” and “describes those selected by God for eternal glory” whether Christ (Lk.23:35), the holy angels (1 Tim.5:21), or the redeemed (Mat.22:14)

The only other time it is used outside this epistle for an individual is in Romans 16:13 where Paul described Rufus as a “choice man in the Lord”

John’s description reflects the biblical truth that God sovereignly chooses believers for salvation (MacArthur)

So when it is used in the NT, it refers to a recipient of special privilege (Mounce)