II & III JOHN---TALKS ON TRUTH

II JOHN

INTRODUCTION

1.    This epistle is the only one in the N.T. written exclusively to a lady.

A.   The lady is not fully identified.

B.   Some believe that her title as the “elect lady” refers to a high position in society.

C.   Tradition teaches that she is Mary of Bethany.

D.   Bengel says that the Greek “kyria” (lady) answers to the Hebrew “Martha”.

2.    Though the author of the epistle is not named, internal evidence suggests that it was the Apostle John.

A.   Eight of its thirteen verses may be found in the Epistle of I John either in sense or expression.

B.   John would have been a very old man when he wrote it, probably in his 90’s; hence he calls himself “elder”. (v. 1)

DATE: A.D. 85-90; there is probably no significant interval of time between the first and second epistles.

KEY PASSAGE: vs. 8-11

KEY WORDS

1.    Truth: 5 times - vs. 1, 2, 3, 4

With reference to Christ Himself

2.    Love: 4 times - vs. 1, 3, 5, 6

A.   Used in terms of an exhortation to walk therein

B.   Having the truth, we are to walk in love.

THEME: Truth

OCCASION OF WRITING

1.    To exhort to walk in love (vs. 4-6)

2.    To warn against false teachers who deny the deity of Christ (vs. 7-9)

3.    To instruct as to how we should react to false teachers and their teaching (vs. 10, 11)

       “There is a superficial sentimentalism today which recoils from John’s words as uncharitable. But do we castigate the doctor for being intolerant with disease? Ask any of his patients. Would any of us knowingly welcome deadly virus into our bodies? We all have to mix up with people of different views and beliefs. And as Christian believers we are truly to love their souls; but to fellowship cooperatively with them in Christ-dishonoring propaganda of any kind is a betrayal of our love to the Lord who bought us.” --J. S. Baxter

OUTLINE OF II JOHN

  I.    JOHN COMMENDS THE LADY (vs. 1-4)

 II.    JOHN COMMANDS THE LADY (vs. 5-6)

III.   JOHN CAUTIONS THE LADY (vs. 7-13)

III JOHN

INTRODUCTION

1.    John’s second epistle is addressed to a woman; the third to a man named Gaius.

A.   He was converted through John’s ministry. (v. 4)

B.   He was baptized by Paul and was a member of the church at Corinth. (I Cor. 1:14)

2.    The epistle centers around three men.

A.   Gaius - Known for his walk and hospitality (vs. 1-8)

B.   Diotrephes - A pompous elder who had assumed such power in the church that he could even repudiate the Apostle John by keeping from the saints a letter he had written to them, and refusing to receive other brethren into the church, forbidding them to minister (vs. 9-11)

C.   Demetrius - Known as a man of “good report” (v. 12)

DATE: A.D. 85-90

KEY WORD: Truth: 6 times - vs . 1, 3, 4, 8, 12

THEME: Hospitality and care of the servants of Christ

KEY THREAT

1.    This letter contains no important doctrinal teaching.

2.    It is a highly practical letter.

A.   Many of the early Christians were called to a life of itinerant evangelism, without fee or earthly reward (v. 7); consequently they were dependent upon the hospitality of the Christians through whose towns they passed, and unto whom they ministered.

B.   Diotrephes had secured almost absolute control over this church and, in a domineering and autocratic manner, refused to entertain or allow those evangelists to minister there. He excommunicated those church members who did receive them. (v. 10)

3.    The threat to the church in that day and this: the peril of domineering leadership

4.    Dr. G. Campbell Morgan says, “The whole truth about this man is seen in one of those illuminative sentences in which the character of a man is so often revealed in the Scriptures. ‘Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence.’ That is the essential violation of love, for ‘love...seeketh not her own’. This is an instance of heterodoxy of spirit or temper, rather than of intellect. There is no evidence that this man was teaching false doctrine, but he was not submissive to authority. As is always the case, the unsubmissive one becomes the greatest tyrant, and thus by disobedience he manifests his lack of love.”

OUTLINE OF III JOHN

  I.    THE PROSPERITY OF GAIUS (vs. 1-8)

A.   This prosperity is declared (vs. 1, 2) 

B.   This prosperity is demonstrated (vs. 3-8)

1.    In his character (v. 3)

2.    In his children (v. 4)

3.    In his charity (vs. 5-8)

 II.    THE PRIDE OF DIOTREPHES (vs. 9-11)

A.   How this pride was revealed (v. 9)

B.   How this pride was rebuked (vs. 10, 11)

III.   THE PRAISE OF DEMETRIUS (v. 12)

IV.   CONCLUSION (vs. 13-14)

                                                                                                                  --Exlporing the Scriptures;

                                                                                                                      John Phillips