2 John 1:1-3 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; 2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. 3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Who Are The Elect Lady And Her Children?

Who is “The Elect Lady” John is addressing? Some suggest that it is a woman that the Apostle John knew. I don’t think so. The Holman Concise Bible Commentary (pg 652) notes

“[eklektos kyria] is more likely a reference to some local church over which the elder had authority”.

This makes sense from several viewpoints. First, the Bible refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ:

Ephesians 5:25-30 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Word Study: The Church is the “Elect Lady”. The word “Elect” is the Greek (eklektos), which means “Chosen”. Jesus chose the Church. Jesus method in transforming the world – in saving the world – is the Church, the Elect Lady. God does not directly save anyone, but moves through the means of His Church. Jesus said:

John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Jesus CHOSE His Church.
Jesus CALLS His Church.
Jesus LOVES His Church.
Jesus GAVE HIMSELF for His Church.

Word Study: The Church is Christ’s Elect Lady. The word “Church” itself is the Greek ekklēsia which means “those who are CALLED OUT”. The Church and it’s children – the believers that comprise it – are NOT to be like the world. We are CALLED OUT to follow the One Who chose us. We are CALLED OUT to be Jesus’ Church. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:18 … upon this Rock (the truth that Jesus is THE Christ, the Son of the Living God) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Word Study: The Church is the “Elect Lady”. As John writes to the Church, calling himself “The Elder”, the Greek presbyteros which means “a senior, one higher in rank, a superior teacher or a Rabbi”. What should the “Elders” do with God’s Church. The Apostle Paul told the Elders at Ephesus:

Acts 20:28-29 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

It is the calling of the Elder, the Pastor, to “feed the Church”. What do we “feed the Church”? Human opinion? No!

2 John 1:1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth

The devil loves to attack the truth. The devil attacks the truth today, just as he did in John’s day, just as he has done from the beginning.

Jesus told those who rejected Him as Messiah,

John 8:42-45 … If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

The devil loves to attack the truth. He has attacked the truth from the beginning. The devil is attacking the truth in America today. The devil loves the philosophy called “Progressivisim”. The “Progressive” believes truth is fluid. They believe that each person can define truth their own way.

Love Dwells In The Truth

John is writing the “Elect Lady”, the Church. He is writing the Church as an Apostle, as a Pastor feeding the flock with the Word of God. He says of the Church that he “loves her IN THE TRUTH” (verse 1). It is not love to love someone apart from the truth. This is what is being pursued in America today. Everyone has “their own” truth. I have MY truth, you have YOUR truth. As long as YOUR truth does not hinder MY truth, then we get along.

What God has said in His Scripture is true. It is God Who defines good and evil, right and wrong. In the Garden of Eden Satan asked,

Genesis 3:1 (NIV) … “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Once Eve took the bait and began to question God, the devil did as he always does. He told an outright lie. He said:

Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV) … “You will not certainly die … 5 For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Illustrate: This is what the devil ALWAYS does. He did it years ago. He is doing it now. One of the cartoons my kids loved growing up was the “Transformers”. Recently the TV Show “Transformers: Earthspark” introduced a “non-binary character”, that is a person that identifies as neither male nor female, and demands to be addressed with the pronoun of “they/them”. The devil and the world is pushing this confusion to our children. It’s going to get worst, dear friends, as we move toward the end of days. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 14:33 … God is not a God of confusion but of peace

Where CONFUSION is, SATAN is. Where CONFUSION is, God’s Word is NOT. If we want to return to sanity and safety, we need to return to the Word of our Creator. The Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

Psalm 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

John tells the Church and her children to stand up for the truth. He says:

2 John 1:2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

The children of the Church – the Christians – are made the children of Christ’s Church by receiving the truth of God’s Word. When the Apostle spoke to the Church at Thessalonikki, he wrote:

1 Thessalonians 2:11-13 (ESV) For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

There are two ways you can receive the Bible. You can receive it as an ancient human book, a collection of writings from human authors that may be flawed like all human works. OR you can receive the Bible as the WORD OF GOD. You can “you accept it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers”. If you accept the Scripture as a debatable work, a human work, then it has no power. But if you RECEIVE IT as it is, then it changes you. When John speaks of TRUTH this way:

2 John 1:2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

He is speaking to people who RECEIVED God’s Word as God’s Word. What does God’s Word say? When our Lord Jesus came to this earth, the Bible says:

John 1:11-13 … {Jesus} He came unto His own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The TRUTH cannot work in you if you do not receive it, and you will not receive it if you believe it a fable.

When you RECEIVE God’s Word as God’s Word, then you RECEIVE Jesus as God’s Messiah, God the Savior. When you RECEIVE Jesus as He is, God the Holy Spirit comes to you. He is “The Spirit of Truth”. Jesus spoke of this Holy Spirit, saying:

John 14:17 (ESV) even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 15:26 (ESV) But when the {Comforter} comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 16:13 (ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

When you receive God’s Word as God’s Word, believing the Gospel, receiving the Scripture, God the Holy Spirit comes and dwells inside of you. He is the One who “DWELLETH IN US and SHALL BE WITH US FOREVER”. You ask me WHY I DO NOT FEAR DEATH. Because – dear Christian – if you are a Child of God, you are PART OF THE ELECT LADY. You have a DESTINY that is coming. As the Church is ELECT, YOU ARE ELECT. What does the Scripture say?

Romans 8:26-30 (ESV) Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Because you received the Word of God as it is, the Word of God, and believed and continue to believe that Word, God the Holy Spirit – the TRUTH of God – indwells you. God the Holy Spirit will STAY with you. We know that “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”. Why? Because we are of the Elect Lady. We are – dear Christians – “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”. We who are saved – a part of Christ’s Church – are not confused. We are children of God, children of Truth, children of the Light, living in the darkness of this fallen world.

What Are Your Pronouns? Who The Heck Are You?

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

I believe that humanism and progressivism is no more than confusion – and I think that any sane person would believe the same. The Bible tells us that we are all fallen creatures from our mother’s womb. We are broken from the hospital. We need another birth, for our first birth is flawed. The Bible tells us:

Romans 5:12 … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

We are all broken. We enter this life from a mother who – I pray – loved us, and bore us. But because of Adam’s sin, because of his failure in the Garden of Eden, we as the children of Adam are flawed. The Bible says “by one man’s offense death reigns”. Man is born into this world physically alive but spiritually dead. This is why our Lord Jesus told us:

John 3:5-7 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water {physical birth} and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. … 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘YOU must be born again.’”

When Jesus said “YOU must be born again”, that “YOU” is in the PLURAL. If Jesus were Southern, He would have said “Y’all MUST be BORN AGAIN”.

You must. You have to be. If you expect to be made whole, you cannot change your pronouns nor redefine yourself according to progressive confusion. What must you do? You MUST be born again. But this is nothing YOU can accomplish.

You must have GRACE. Again, John says to the Elect Lady:

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

GRACE is with you. GRACE is offered to you. God offers each and every person entrance into the Elect Lady. He offers each and every person salvation – not by works, but BY GRACE. What does the Scripture say?

Romans 5:15 … if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

Adam brought brokenness into the world. You were born broken into this world. You cannot help that. But you can come to Jesus, Who alone can help it. He offers healing to all. Jesus offers completeness to all. Jesus offers GRACE to all. Jesus Christ shed His Blood on Calvary, so that GRACE can be offered to whosoever will. Salvation is by Grace alone, by faith alone.

Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

There can be no peace with yourself – or with God – unless you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Do you know Him? Dear ones, the only way you can know Him is by receiving Him as He is. You are to REPENT of being your own god, of following your own path. How does Grace, Mercy, and Peace come? Once more:

2 John 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Who is your Lord? Is it YOU, or is it JESUS? What is your truth? Does it come from GOD, or from YOU? May God guide you into receiving Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. Amen and Amen!