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Exhortation to walk in truth and love:
v. 4. I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
v. 5. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
v. 6. And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
The letter proper opens with a word of appreciation: I was exceedingly glad because I found some of thy children walking in truth, as we received the command from the Father. There seems to lie in the words of the apostle a confession that he may often have been disappointed in children whom he had seen grow up in Christian homes. But in this case there was occasion for joy only; for the children of this Christian mother had profited by the nurture of their godly home, making use of their Christian training in the battle of life. He does not imply that some of the children had gone wrong, but is referring to the ones whom he has met, probably in Ephesus. These young men were conducting themselves in accordance with the truth which they had learned in their childhood and youth, they were ordering their lives according to the precepts of the Gospel, they were observing the command, the holy will, of the heavenly Father. What a splendid bit of testimony, a report which all young people may well strive for!
But the achievements of the past should serve as a spur for the future: And now I beg thee, lady, not writing thee this as a new commandment, but which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. This admonition is a summary of the larger epistle, which was probably written about the same time, and whose principal theme was brotherly love. In love, the bond of perfection, all Christians should stand shoulder to shoulder, in affectionate sympathy toward one another, in mutual help against their enemies from without. The apostle's plea is at the same time a commandment of the Lord, not one that has just been revealed to him for the first time, but one of which the converts were told, which they were taught, from the very beginning of their Christian life. This commandment has been unchanged, and will he unchanged as long as the Gospel-truth remains.
For the sake of emphasis the apostle explains: And this is love, that we conduct ourselves according to His commandments; this is the commandment, that, as you have heard from the beginning, you live your lives in this. The apostle is here reasoning in a circle, but that fact gives his argument a peculiar force. Christians will show their love toward their' heavenly Father by living and conducting themselves so as to be in agreement with His holy will at all times. That is the attitude of love at all times, to please those whom we love in every way that we know of. And the entire will of God with reference to our conduct may be summed up in the one precept that we live in agreement with the doctrine which we heard from the beginning. That is the essence and summary of brotherly love, that we walk according to the precepts of God, that we conduct ourselves in deed and in truth as it pleases our heavenly Father.