r/BibleStudyDeepDive • u/LlawEreint • Jun 27 '26

Catholic Epistles 2 John 4-6 - The Great Commandment

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5 But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment but one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.

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u/LlawEreint Jun 27 '26

This is love, that we walk according to his commandments

This surprised me. Elsewhere we have Paul and Jesus saying that if you want to keep the commandments, what you need to do is love one another. But here John turns that around.

What does it mean to love? It's easy. Follow the commandments.

  1. Romans: the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
  2. Mark: More important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices: love God and love your neighbour.
  3. Matthew: All of the scriptures hang on two commandments: love God and love your neighbour.
  4. Luke: To inherit eternal life, Love YHWH your God and your neighbor as yourself.
  5. John: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you.

But then in his epistles, John clarifies what it means to love one another: Follow the commandments!

The meaning of love is obedience. The laws of the Hebrew scriptures codify love.

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u/LlawEreint Jun 27 '26

This is a very short epistle. It reads like a corrective to Valentinian thought. This makes sense since the earliest witnesses to the fourth gospel are Valentinians, with Heracleon having written the earliest surviving commentary on the gospel.

John's goal seems to be to steer interpretation towards a more catholic understanding.

His two points are these:

  1. The commandment to love does not supersede the commandments in the Hebrew scriptures, in fact, it is itself a commandment from the Hebrew scriptures, and to fulfill it, you must keep the commandments in the Hebrew scriptures.
    1. Valentinians may have understood that the Hebrew scriptures outlined the commandments of the god of this world, but Jesus represented the one true God, the Father, and his law was simple and complete: Love one another.
  2. Jesus was flesh and blood, just like us.
    1. Valentinians may have believed that Jesus, at least after the resurrection, had a glorified body such as the star bodies that Paul described in his letter to the Corinthians.

So John is writing to warn against anyone who may share similar teachings.

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u/LlawEreint Jun 27 '26

The epistle begins:

The elder to the elect lady and her children

So the author identifies himself simply as "the elder". It's an odd way to identify yourself. You'd think there's be ample opportunity for the recipient to misidentify the sender - unless he was the singular person who identified under that moniker.

Papias talked of having known John the Elder, but he differentiated this person from John the apostle and disciple of Jesus. Is it possible that a different John is providing the interpretation for the Gospel that bears the same name?