Book 24 of 27 in the New Testament — Truth & love.
2 John is a brief letter urging its recipients — ‘the elect lady and her children,’ likely a local church — to continue walking in truth and love while warning against welcoming traveling teachers who denied that Jesus had come in the flesh. It condenses the themes of 1 John into a short, urgent note. The instruction not to offer hospitality to false teachers reflects the real influence itinerant teachers had in the early church's house-based gatherings. Despite its brevity, it reinforces truth and love as inseparable marks of genuine faith.
“And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.”King James Version
John urges the church to love one another as commanded from the beginning.
“And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”King James Version
Love is defined as walking in obedience to God's commands.
“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”King James Version
Believers are warned to watch out so they don't lose what they've worked for.
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”King James Version
Whoever continues in Christ's teaching has both the Father and the Son.
“If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”King James Version
Believers are warned not to welcome or support false teachers.