Lesson 4

 

2 John 5-6

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. 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.

 

Related Scriptures

Matthew 5:43-45

Matthew 22:37-40

John 13:34-35

John 15:12-17

Romans 13:8-10

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Galatians 3:1-4

1 John 2:7-11

1 John 3:23

1 John 4:7-11

1 John 5:1-3

 

Background Information

The last sentence of our text seems to look ahead to the next verse, which warns against false teachers. It is likely that John was thinking about more than the commandment to love one another as he wrote the final line of verse 6.

  

Questions

1. According to John 13:34-35, who gave the commandment to love one another?
2. Was this commandment something new to the book of 2 John or something as old as the Christian faith?
3. Here in 2 John, we read that keeping God’s commandments is the same as loving. In the related Scriptures, we see that the one who loves keeps the commandments found in God’s law. In light of this: a) What does a law that leads to treating others with love say about the One Who gave that law? b) It is possible to obey God’s commandments grudgingly or out of fear. For such a person, is keeping the commandments still the same as having love?
4. What does walking in God’s commandments suggest about a) how faithfully we keep those commandments? b) how willingly we keep them? c) how much they have become part of our lives?