1:1
“The elder” is the term that John uses to refer to himself. He was quite old at this stage, and it is interesting that he does not refer to himself as an apostle. “The lady and her children” is taken as John referring to the church he is writing to (we don’t know which church). He reminds the church that they were chosen by God, and that is indeed the status of us all. He then says that he loves the church “in truth”, and goes on to add that all who know the truth love the church. He says this because he is going to be warning them against travelling false teachers.
1:2
John lays a great emphasis on the truth, as he did in his gospel and in his first letter. The truth lives in us and will be with us forever. This is a very different approach to life than that taken by many today, even, indeed especially, in the church. Jesus is the truth, the gospel is truth and is true. Yet so often people in the church seek to subvert the truth, or talk about “your truth” and “my truth”. God’s truth is the only truth that matters, the only truth that there is.
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