Read & explore together
Walking in the Truth
These verses hold truth, love and obedience tightly together. The writer is glad to find some of the children walking in truth, then reminds the dear lady that love for one another is the command heard from the beginning.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
This part of the letter addresses the “dear lady” and speaks about “some of your children”. The writer reports joy at finding some of them walking in truth as commanded by the Father. He then urges love for one another and explains that love means walking according to God’s commandments.
2 John 1:4–6Main takeaway
In this passage, walking in truth means continuing in the Father’s command by loving one another and walking according to his commandments.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Joy over those walking in truthThe writer begins with strong joy because he has found some of the children “walking in truth”.
Explanation
The writer begins with strong joy because he has found some of the children “walking in truth”. The word “walking” points to an ongoing way of life. Their walk is tied to obedience, because it is done “as we have been commanded by the Father”. Truth and command belong together here.
02Love for one another is not a new commandThe writer turns to the “dear lady” with a personal appeal. He says he is not writing a new commandment.
Explanation
The writer turns to the “dear lady” with a personal appeal. He says he is not writing a new commandment. Instead, he points back to what “we had from the beginning”. The command he names is simple and direct: “that we love one another.”
03Love is shown by walking according to commandmentsVerse 6 explains what love looks like in practice. Love is not left undefined. The writer says, “This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments.”
Explanation
Verse 6 explains what love looks like in practice. Love is not left undefined. The writer says, “This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments.” In these verses, love is shown in a life that follows God’s commands, not merely in warm words.
04Walk in the command heard from the beginningThe final sentence repeats the commandment “as you heard from the beginning” and says that the dear lady and her children should “walk in it”.
Explanation
The final sentence repeats the commandment “as you heard from the beginning” and says that the dear lady and her children should “walk in it”. The repetition gives emphasis. The addressed people are being called to continue in the command they heard from the beginning.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What made the writer rejoice greatly in verse 4?
Look for what he found some of the children doing, and how that walk is linked to the Father’s command.
02What does the writer say about the command to love one another?
Answer from verse 5 by noting whether it is new and when it was already held.
03How does verse 6 describe love?
Use the wording of the verse, which connects love with a particular kind of walk.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
2 John 1:4–6
4I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father.
5Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
6This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.