John tells the elect lady that he loves her and her children in truth, and not he alone, but all they who have known the truth love the ‘elect lady’ and her children (2John 1:1). John isn’t speaking of emotion; he isn’t saying he had fond feelings for the ‘elect lady’ and her children. Rather, he claimed he loved them in truth. But, what does this mean?
In John’s three epistles he mentions truth twenty-one times: ten in the first, five in the second and six in the third. Jesus told his disciples that he was the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). In other words, Jesus wasn’t claiming to be **a** way or **a** truth or **a** life. He claimed to be the unique article. He was THE One and Only Way, Truth and Life, and he demonstrated what he meant as he completed his sentence by saying “no one comes to the Father but through me” (1John 14:6), not through Peter, not through Augustine, not through anyone else one might admire and hold in high esteem. Jesus claimed to be the ONLY Way to the Father, the Only Truth that revealed the Father and the only Life that comes from the Father. All life comes to us through the One who became Jesus (John 1:4, 9, 14; cp. verse-1).
In the context of John’s epistles, he often used the article with the word truth, thus indicating he was speaking of Jesus. Of the five mentions of truth in Second John, two have the article. John claimed to love the ‘elect lady’ and her children in truth, but they were also loved (in truth) by all who know the Truth (2John 1:1). She and her children were loved (in truth) for the Truth’s sake (2John 1:2). Moreover, grace, mercy and peace from God have come to her and her children in truth and love (2John 1:3), and, finally, John told the ‘elect lady’ he rejoiced exceedingly when he found some of her children walking in truth, as they were given the commandment from God (2John 1:4).
All the mentions of in truth and the Truth may be a bit confusing at first, but, if one takes the time to consider the other mentions of truth, especially in John’s first epistle, a clear picture would arise from such an endeavor. John’s first mention of truth is in 1John 1:6, where he tells us, if one claims to have fellowship with Christ, while he walks in darkness, he is a liar, because it is impossible to reveal Jesus (the Light of the world), while one walks in darkness. One simply cannot manifest light and darkness at the same time. In this context, then, one couldn’t claim to know Jesus and disobey him at the same time (1John 2:4), and in such a case the Truth couldn’t be in that person. Therefore, obedience in truth means to obey both in word and deed (1John 3:18), and such is the evidence that we know the Truth, and obeying him provides the confidence we should have in his presence (1John 3:19).
Just after he had claimed to be the Truth (John 14:6), Jesus told his disciples that the Spirit of Truth… dwelt with them and would be in them (John 14:17)! Later, Paul claimed that Christ in us is our hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Moreover, John tells us that the Spirit of God in us (1John 4:2) is the means by which we understand we dwell in Christ and he in us (1John 4:13), because the Spirit bears witness (cp. 1Corinthians 2:9-11), and the Spirit is the Truth (1John 5:6). Therefore, John’s in truth and the Truth is like Paul’s mention of Christ and in Christ. Christ is the person who is God, but in Christ is a spiritual state in which believers dwell, as in the Body of Christ. To walk in truth (or in Christ) is to do and say the things Christ would say and do.
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