INTRODUCTION In recent years, I have come to love John’s three letters. These 40 daily readings are designed to help us better understand what God is saying through His servant John and that by so doing we might grow and persevere in our knowledge and love of God. The first Letter of John was probably written towards the end of the first century AD by the Apostle John, the author of the fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation. It was written to scattered Christians, hard hit and shaken by the behaviour and teaching of the false teachers who had left their churches. The heresy of Gnosticism appeared to be rife and was harming the growing church. The purpose of the letter seems to be two-fold: to expose false teachers and to correct their heresies. It was also written to encourage true Christians, to assure them of the grounds of their salvation and how to live in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. It’s different in style to most of the New Testament and reads more like a tract than a letter. It is not addressed to any individual nor does it mention any. Some commentators suggest that the letter seems to expound three tests of whether a person is genuinely a Christian: the tests of belief, love, and obedience. A little mystery surrounds the identity of the recipients of John’s second letter. Three possibilities have been put forward. Firstly, it may have been written to a particular lady and her children. Secondly, the letter may have been written to a particular lady’s ‘house-church’. I personally opt for the third option whereby the letter may have been written to a local church in Asia, but in some sense secretly. Whoever the letter was written to, they were much loved by the writer. In fact he says that everyone who knows God’s revealed truth loves them! John’s third letter was addressed to Gaius whom John loved in the truth (3 John 1). It is probable that John and Gaius were co-workers for the Lord.
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