Whoever this elect woman was to whom John is writing, John loved her and her children as a father loves his daughter and his grandchildren. And what he loved most about this woman, so it seems, had to do with her grasp of the truth. But John also wrote to make sure that her love for others didn’t result in a compromise of the truth. In other words, John’s concern was that this Christian lady might be susceptible to compromise truth in the name of hospitality—meaning, she might be willing to offer a spare bedroom to, and provide care for, a travelling false teacher. And John—the very man who fled the bathhouse when Cerinthus, a known heretic, entered—would not stand for this lady to behave any differently than him in the face of heresy.
19 - Walking In Vigilance
2 John 5-13
November 20, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 2 John 5–13
More from
1-3 John
01 - Introduction: Walking In Truth & Love
May 29, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann
The three small letters written by the apostle John—1-3 JOHN—were written to the third-generation church in around Asia minor who had lost the conviction of the first-generation church (and even struggled to maintain the beliefs of the second-generation church). John saw flagrant deceptions accepted as gospel truth and a lazy church that was slow to correct and quick to capitulate. Out of his remarkably retentive memory—no doubt quickened, inspired, and energized by the Holy Spirit—John wrote 1-3 JOHN to remind his readers about what it means to walk worthily in the manner of Christ.
02 - The Word Of Life
June 5, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 John 1:1–4
In the person of Jesus Christ there appears to be a living dichotomy, where two contrasting things exist in one man at the same time. That is, Jesus has both a divine nature and human nature. As such, he is the God-man who, as the 'word of life', brings life everlasting to those who believe in him as the Word of God made flesh. But how, exactly, does this wonderful truth affect and effect believers? In 1 John 1:1-4, the apostle John reminds us that the 'word of life' allows us to be in fellowship and communion with God whereby the life and likeness of Christ in us becomes more evident to those around us.
03 - Walking In The Light
June 19, 2022 • Pastor Ronald H. Gann • 1 John 1:5–10
To have genuine fellowship with a holy God, we must walk in the light, as God Himself is in the light. It’s easy to claim to have fellowship with God—as so many self-deceived people do—but it’s another thing altogether for it to be true. And so, in 1 John 1:5-10, the apostle John provides a litmus test that, to his inspired way of thinking, was sure to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the straw from the chaff, and the authentic from the inauthentic. Let he who has ear to hear, let him hear!