Q&A: 2 & 3 John

2 & 3 John Q&A

Here are some brief answers to our questions from our Sunday evening service.

1. Diotrephes seems to have an ego complex caused by his position of power. What is your journey of overcoming pride in your ministry path?

Leadership in ministry is a gift. But we must remain humble remembering that these positions come because God has given them. In humility, we must remember that although we are gifted, these gifts have come from God, not from "me". And God can take that away also. It can be helpful to surround yourself with people who will keep you humble in this - and remind you to remain humble - people who will speak to you in love and truth.

2. We do what we believe. How do we love people we find difficult to love and believe they have deliberately hurt us?

It's difficult because we are sinful people ourselves. The gospel, however, reminds us that we are all difficult in different ways. But the gospel also recognises that God loves the other person the same way he loves me. He died for us all. God says they are deserving of our love. However...

If a person is deliberately hurting us, the Bible does not say "You must love them and forget with they have done and put up with it!"

In fact the Bible says:

If someone is deliberately hurting you, God speaks these words to you: "Find safety!" Hopefully, if this is your situation, you may find brothers/sisters/pastors at church who can help you. Loving a person who has hurt us does not mean we need to stay around to be hurt more. Loving doesn't mean we forget what happened. And forgiving someone doesn't mean we are expected to trust them again. We cannot be commanded to trust a human being!

If you have faced intentional abuse, or know someone who has, you'll know that the answer to this question needs to be said again and again - God does not expect you to put yourself in a place of harm. Forgiveness does not require this. Love does not require this. Sometimes loving someone requires distance.

When it comes to matters such as domestic abuse and family violence and child abuse, I sincerely hope our church will always echo these words: God does not require you to stay in an abusive relationship. Seek help and seek safety. It is not the responsibility of a victim to make things right. And if you need to talk to someone, please chat with your pastor, or call 1800 RESPECT.

3. 2 John 10. Shouldn't we welcome everyone even if they don't have correct theology or beliefs?

Yes this is true - absolutely we should welcome everyone regardless of theology or belief systems. However, this specific context is about someone who comes into the church as a teacher. And we must be very discerning as to whom is placed in a position of teaching/ministry. The BIble is clear on this.

4. How to handle if someone's genuine attempt to love accidentally causes hurt?

First, see the answer for (2) above. But if this is "accidental" hurt, then it is a little different. Whilst we still do need to seek safety, we also need to recognise when someone has intended good but done harm. In this case, often with help, there may be that opportunity to speak the truth in love. If this is a "one off", it may be as simple as letting them know how they have hurt you. If it is repetitive, that is, they keep making the same "mistake", then more caution is needed. When someone says "I didn't mean to hurt you", but they keep doing the same thing, please refer to question 2. Intentional or not, there is a bigger problem here.

But you don't have to wait for someone to make the same mistake twice. Hurt is hurt. It only has to happen once for trust to be broken. And the road to repairing trust can be a very long one, best travelled with supportive brothers and sisters.

Big idea: don; go it alone. Get support when these things happen.

5. What does it mean by anyone who does good is from God? E.g. Muslims do good works to please Allah

I'd like to suggest that he is talking about "good" in the strictest Biblical sense. That is, good in terms of the kingdom of God, pointing people to Jesus, giving glory to God, etc. This comes off the back of talking about Diotrepehes, who loves to be first and spreads malicious nonsense. He is not good in any sense of the word.

Those not in the kingdom of God cannot do good for the kingdom. Onesimus was an example of this (the runaway slave from the letter to Philemon). Paul says that Onesimus was "useless" but is now "useful" because he is now a brother in the kingdom . He became useful for the kingdom. We cannot do "kingdom good" until we are in the kingdom. A Muslim might do "good works" but those works are designed in their faith to give glory to the god of Islam, which is no god at all, as there is only one true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If anyone is outside the kingdom of God, they cannot do good in giving glory to God, because they have not given themselves to God.

6. is loving people in truth and speaking the truth in love basically the same thing? - if not, what's the significance?

This is the same principle. But slightly different.

We can love people without speaking to people about difficult things. We can be generous, helpful, kind, etc. But speaking the truth in love is about saying true things, especially difficult things, to people in a loving way.

The danger is when we only speak the truth, and not "in love".

it is also reciprocal - to allow ourselves to hear difficult things about ourselves that are said to us in love.

7. How do we love and serve each other in a way that demonstrates our faith not just being a good person?

No one is "good" but God alone (Mark 10:18). We cannot be good even if we try. The bottom line is that we are sinful people. Faithfulness is realising that we are not "good" but that we need help.

And so I think my answer to this question is "we can only live by faith". We can only love and serve in a way that reflects our faith. That is,m we do our very best to love and serve people, knowing that our aim is to honour Jesus. So I demonstrate my life by caring for you, being kind, thoughtful, generous, and sometimes even speaking the truth in love. But I also know that I will fail in this many times, day after day. I only act in good faith. I only act in the best way I can to serve Jesus by serving you.

A "good" person will give to charity. A faithful person will give out of what God has given them, praying that God will use their gifs for his purposes.

A "good" person will bring you a meal when you're sick to care for you. A faithful person will bring you a meal to care for you, but in the hope also that you might give praise to God for your Christian brothers or sisters.

"Goodness" points people to ourselves - look at me! (Diotrephes)

Faith points people to Jesus - "Look at him!" (Gaius, Demetrius)

8. The translation misses the impact of the Greek phrases “the friends”, “lady”, “love in the truth”… what are good alternate versions help to flesh these out?

I'll do my best... but its not just the translation - it;s also the context and the writing style that John uses (compare these words to how he uses them in his other writings). But for straight translation...

2 John :1 - "the lady chosen by God, and to her children whom I love in the truth" = "The elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth"

3 John 1 - "my dear friend Gaius, whom I love" = "Gaius, the beloved whom I love"

The word for love in all of this is "agape" - a love that denotes a faith family. "God" style love.

9. Diotrephes seems to be deeply entrenched within and has great influence on the church. How do we spot a Diotrephes amongst us?

It's sometimes not very easy. But they generally point to themselves. They will put others down in order to lift themselves up. They will take the spotlight whenever they can. Sometimes they are more subtle, perhaps letting things fall apart when they are not as involved, in order to make it look like we can't do without them. Often they will spread rumours or let rumours spread, if it makes them look better. When in leadership, this arrogance can destroy a church or a ministry team.

It looks different in many ways, and to some extent, we all do "Diotrephes" sorts of things. But the thing to watch for are those whose character is Diotrepehes-like. Sometimes, I am selfish and take the spotlight. But is that me stumbling, or is it my character to always do that?

10. Are there any good reasons to think 2 John was written to a person?

of course. It is possible. But the style of writing of the times seems to indicate it was probably a general noun used to refer to "the church". Another example is at the end of 1 Peter 5, where "she" is most likely the church in Babylon.

It is difficult however. The noun in 2 John is singular in the Greek. But if it was a person, why use a generic term like "lady"? also, the refernce to her children probalby refers to the church.

My best guess? if it was an individual, he probably would have used her name and the children's names.

The reference to children in verse 4 also seems like he is talking about "adult converts", not literally "children".

11. "nobody is indispensable" sounds a bit unbiblical in some ways. Every part of the body is indispensable. (edited)

This is a good pickup. Thank you . Yes, it can sound like this is in the conviction of what 1 Corinthians teaches about every member of the body being necessary:

Indispensable means "necessary". We are all necessary in the body of Christ. But perhaps I can offer a clarification/correction to this:

We are all indispensable in the body of Christ. But when we change our place in ministry, when we step down from a position or move somewhere else to serve, the position we held is dispensable. Good can dispense that position that role, that gift, to someone else. YOU are not dispensable, but where or how you serve is. And a great example of this is in Esther which we have just studied:

Esther is reminded of where God may be calling her to act. But if she doesn't, God will raise up another to do that work. She is indispesable, but the role she plays may be dispensed to another.

When a Bible reader comes off the Bible reading roster, we find another. That PERSON is not indispensable,and they will find another place to serve, we hope. But God is able to raise up another Bible reader, or youth leader, or Scripture teacher, pastor, teacher, warden, parish councillor, etc. As was mentioned in an earlier answer, God gives us the gift. He dispenses the gifts. Each person is indispensable, but the gifts we have, and how we serve, are dispensed by God.

I hope that helps clarify. It is a very important distinction - thanks for asking this.