2 John 6

Memory Verse

This is the love, in order that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you heard from a beginning, in order that you should walk in it, 2 John 6.

After stating the importance of walking according to His commandments, the apostle John switches from a plural command to a singular command. This singular commandment is the one we received from the beginning of the Church; love one another as I have loved you (John 13:34). All of the commandments are based on this commandment, for without love we are nothing more than a sounding brass or clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1).

The commandments from Jesus came to the Church through Paul and the other apostles (1 Corinthians 14:37; 2 Peter 3:2). These commandments have nothing to do with the Ten Commandments of the Mosaic law, for Christ is an end to the law for all who believe (Romans 10:4). A Christian cannot live by any quality of law to dictate his righteousness because the sin nature residing within him will use the law to produce death (Romans 7:8–13). Since all of the commandments of the law are summed up in “You will love your neighbor as yourself,” and the commandment for the grace believer is to love other saints as Christ loved us, how much greater is the Church saint who keeps Jesus’ commandments? When we are abiding in Christ and producing fruit, this fruit has no law against it (Galatians 5:22–23).

His commandments for us are to believe in the Son of God, love one another—that is, other saints—and abide in Christ (1 John 3:23–24). The one who loves God will keep these commandments and reject the commandments of law and men (1 Timothy 6:14; Ephesians 2:15). For the one saying he knows Jesus and does not keep His commandments, this one is a liar (1 John 2:4).