The Circular Argument of Love and Truth

2 John 4–6 (NIV),

            ⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, 

just as the Father commanded us. 

            ⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the                   beginning.

 I ask that we love one another. 

                ⁶ And this is love:

               that we walk in obedience to his commands. 

As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

The NASB translates verse 4: "I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth . . .." [1] Noting the italicized word "some" we recognize that it is not in the Greek phrase.  Does the some mean that only a group were walking in the Truth; or does it mean that John had only met some. We are not sure.  But the some did bring him joy.  Some translations do not add the article "the" to truth indicating a walk that is truthful or authentic.  But the NIV, correctly adds "the" to Truth indicating a specific body of truth.  This is emphasized by the words which follow as he writes of the Father's command.

So what is this commandment of the Father that we should "walk" in?  It is the commandment to love one another.  So we ask John, "What is love?"  His answer is that love is obeying God's commands.  "Four times in vv. 4-6 the author uses the noun "command" (entole). This is his way of making clear that what he is saying is a direct expression of God's will. And how does one know that he fulfills the will of God? The test of love is obedience to God's commands, and the test of obedience is whether one "walks in love." [2]

If you sense a circular argument here you are right.  Christian living is never departmentalized or lived in an isolated vacuum.  There is an overlap and interrelationship with all we do.  This means that when we discuss the centrality of the Christian message, i.e. love for God and one another, this begs the definition of walking in truth and obedience. Negatively, if I am living a disobedient life then I cannot assume that I am truly loving God and/or others; or vice versa. There is a word that describes this.  It is the word "congruity."

The word congruity is from the Old French congruité  for "relevance and appropriateness." Congruity is a quality of agreement and appropriateness. When there's congruity, things fit together in a way that makes sense. If a team has congruity, the players work together well.  If a Christian Church has congruency, it means that what they believe, what they say they believe,  how they act -- on the outside and the inside -- public and private all send the same message.  

This is the ultimate description of a healthy congregation.  It is a joy to the Pastor.  It brings glory to God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Father this is the ultimate battle of Christendom.  This is my ultimate battle.  I can't imagine what the Day will be like, when “. . . we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2, NIV). The most congruent Man in the cosmos is Jesus Christ.  What you see is what you get.  No deceit. No hypocrisy. Oh to be like Him!  I long for the Day when what I believe is who I really am.  I long for the Day when what I am on the inside is the same as the outside.  I long for the Day when all that I am is encapsulated in love for God, obedience to God, and love for others.  That Day is coming. Because of the essence of the Gospel -- because of Christ, that Day is coming.  Today, Father, I thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is keeping my eyes of the glory of Christ in the Gospel -- and thereby being changed a little bit at a time, each day.  But today Father, I long for That Day when I shall know Him and be like Him, in all His glory.   Maranatha, Lord Jesus.

 

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1. New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. 1995 (2 Jn 4). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

2. Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:2 John/Exposition of 2 John/II. A Formal Word of Instruction (4-11)/A. An Exhortation (4-6), Book Version: 4.0.2

Sinai, the City and Slavery

Galatians 4:24–27 (NIV),

²⁴ These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. ²⁵ Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written: “Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”

We believe that Paul wrote these things under the direct inspiration of the Spirit. Because of the infallible leading of the Spirit, Paul had permission to do something we do not, that is, make figurative or allegorical conclusions from real biblical events. See my blog HERE that describes an example of that.  In this case we are told that Hagar and Sarah, previously mentioned, also produce a figurative lesson for us. "Abraham is a figure of God, which hath two sons, that is to say, two sorts of people who are represented by Ishmael and Isaac. These two are born unto him by Agar and Sarah, the which signifieth the two Testaments, the Old and the New." [1]

The giving of the Law and the constituting of a people (Israel) is likened to Hagar's son.  They are people born of the flesh; carnal and not sons of promise. Sinai, constitutionally brought a great people into existence, but a people born not of promise.  Israel as a nation, according to the flesh, are not heirs of God, but servants.   "Ishmael then is not the heir, although he be the natural son of Abraham, but remaineth a bondman. What is here lacking? The promise and the blessing of the Word." [1] (see previous blog HERE for explanation.)

Then Paul continues the allegory and says that as as Hagar represents Sinai, so too does it prefigure the earthly Jerusalem. "That earthly Jerusalem (saith he) which is beneath, having the policy and ordinances of the law, is Agar, and is in bondage with her children; that is to say, she is not delivered from the law, sin and death. But Jerusalem which is above, that is to say, the spiritual Jerusalem, is Sarah." [1]  So what is this heavenly Jerusalem?  "Now this heavenly Jerusalem which is above, is the Church, that is to say, the faithful dispersed throughout the whole world, which have one and the same Gospel, one and the same faith in Christ, the same Holy Ghost, and the same Sacraments." [1]  This is supported by the writer to the Hebrews and the Apostle John:

“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:22–24, NIV) 

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2, NIV)  

"The heavenly Jerusalem is a free mother with free children." [2]  (This is an important segue into Chapter 5).  And then Paul quotes Isaiah 54:1.  There was a sense where the Church was hidden for many years.  The Church, even as Sarah, birthed no children.  Paul called this “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.” (Colossians 1:26, NIV).  But she who was thought to be barren will bear many, many children.  "As Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 54:1), the exile did not spell the end for the people of God. God will again work supernaturally to bring about the (new) birth of children where there are none, even among the Gentiles." [3]

God never intended the nation of Israel, ethnic Israel, Israel born from and under the Law, to bring spiritual fruit.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh (John 3:6).  No there is a spiritual Israel, the true people of God, born of the Spirit who are the spiritual offspring and promise of God.  We as New Covenant people know that this productive people are called the Church.   

Father, how sad it is that millions of people, including Christians are seeking to find hope within the ethnic nation of Israel.  They are looking for Your Presence among the lands of Palestine and in the ancient city of Jerusalem.  Yet Father Your Word is plain and clear that hope is found in the true Church, the Body of Christ; and it is there where You are loved, adored and worshiped that we can know Your Presence. Israel according to the flesh will never bring forth spiritual children; but the Israel of God, the Church is "appointed to bear fruit. Fruit that remains."  For that we sing. For that we rejoice.  At the same time we pray for the many zealous Jews and the many deluded Christians who are looking to Palestine for freedom. What bondage they are in.  Freedom is Your gift to us who look to You within the Spirit-wrought New Covenant. Praise God, Jehovah has sent His Messiah; and His Messiah reigns!  May all see Christ and sing for joy.  Glory to God in the highest. Peace on earth, on men to whom God is well pleased.  Amen.

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1.  Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians (Ga 4:24-26). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

2. KJV Bible Commentary. 1994 (E. E. Hindson & W. M. Kroll, Ed.) (2394). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 

3, Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (2253). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Treatment of Children - the measure of a society

In Joel Chapter 3, the Prophet takes us to very near the end of time when God Himself calls the nations before Him in judgment.  One of the charges is that they “and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.” (Joel 3:3, ESV).  In the Commentary on theMinor Prophets, edited by Thomas McComsky, the contributor to Joel, Dr. Raymond Dillard quotes Carl Keller who wrote this profound thought:

"There is a sense in which any society can be measured by the treatment accorded its children.  In ancient Israel children, largely because they were defenseless, were the particular object of the care of God and the protection of the law. The treatment accorded Judean children by Gentile nations showed the depths of their crimes."