The Promise of Blessing.

2 John 3 (NIV),

³ Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

John is intentionally setting the tone to this letter.   The salutation "grace and peace" to the recipients is certainly a normally apostolic greeting.  And even this blessing invoked by the name of God and from His Son, Jesus Christ, is part of the standard greeting.   But here he gives it as a promise.  He promises that God's mercy and grace will be ours in the context of truth and love (his theme).

This is more than a sequoia into the next paragraph.  John is drawing a clear boundary around which the Church exists.  He is drawing a clear distinction as to where the blessings of God in Christ are to be found.  This area of distinction is the place called truth and love.  "The source of this blessed “grace, mercy, and peace” is none other than God Himself, who is truth (John 14:6; 1 John 5:6) and love (1 John 4:8)." [1]

Grace, χάρις [khar·ece].  This is a free and holy expression of God's gift to the believer that also empowers and strengthens.  Mercy, ἔλεος [el·eh·os] is God's expression of kindness, doing for us what we don't deserve.  Peace, εἰρήνη [i·ray·nay] is the blessing of God bringing tranquility and assurance to the believer.

John assures the Church of all of that as it exists within the framework of truth and love.  One might well argue that these characteristics truly represent Christianity and the Gospel. In these words we note that mercy deals with our sin; grace brings us to God and empowers us to live for Him.  Peace makes our troubled soul find rest. All this is found in the context of Truth and Love.  These characteristics are truly only met in one Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Psalmist foretells this when he writes, “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10, NIV). Truth, mercy, grace, peace and love all meet at the Cross. 

The organization or institution that professes to be a Church and fails to live close to the Cross, is neither Christian, nor the object of Divine blessing.   

Jesus keep me near the cross

There a precious fountain
Free to all a healing stream
Flows from Calv'ry's mountain

Near the cross a trembling soul

Love and mercy found me
There the Bright and Morning Star
Sheds its beams around me

Near the cross O Lamb of God

Bring its scenes before me
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadows o'er me. [2]

Amen and amen!

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1. Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). The Reformation study Bible: Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture: New King James Version (2 Jn 3). Nashville: T. Nelson.

2. Fanny Jane Crosby | William Howard Doane,  © Words: Public Domain, Music: Public Domain