When John wrote the three epistles in the New Testament that bear his name, he was a very old man, (many think he was past 90), and he was also the last surviving apostle. His generation of Christians were then nearly all "asleep in Jesus," and the brethren to whom he wrote were a generation or two behind him. Being much younger than he, they were to John "my children," or even sometimes "my little children." He m eant for these expressions to show affection as much as, if not more than, superiority to them in experience of age and apostolic authority. He often also addressed them as "beloved," employing the word agapêtoi, which is derived from the better known word agapê. The significance of using these terms is that they indicate love growing out of the supreme love that the Father has for us rather than the tenuous love common to natural human relationships. In other words, he loved them sincerely because they had devoted their lives to Christ and were committing themselves daily to the Lord's service.
In John's day the Gentile philosophers spent a great deal of time trying to identify what truth is and then to delineate its boundaries. But there was little agreement among them. Jewish scholars interpreted truth in one way, and Greek sophists in quite another. Even within each of these schools of thought there was considerable debate as to what truth is. Pilate referred to all this confusion when he contemp-tuously answered Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). But to John, and to all Christians as well, there is no question or doubt or confusion about what ultimate truth is. As He addressed His Father in prayer, Jesus declared, "Your word is truth," (John 17:17). The word of God, therefore, is the truth for which inquiring, thoughtful men have searched throughout the ages. It alone reveals to us where we came from, what we are, and where we are going. It also tells us why we are here, imposes upon us our duty in life, and proclaims our accountability in appropriately responding thereunto.
To the scholar and philosopher, and often to the theologian, the end of the search for truth is to embrace it mentally. That is, simply to store it in one's mind and be satisfied with having at last found it is its ultimate reward. But to John, and the other inspired New Testament writers, that is by no means the object of the search for truth or the good to be derived from it. The truth from God is not only to be learned and esteemed; it is moreover to be used as the guide for living the kind of life that God will approve and then reward eternally.
John had spent some 60 years as an apostle in the arduous task of teaching the truth to men and persuading them to obey it. Those who did accept and obey it were the people whom he addrssed as his "children." And those who maintained allegiance to the truth and used it to direct their way through life each day were those of whom he said, "They walked in the truth."
John said he had "no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." The world counts success by the scale of making a fortune, wielding power, displaying rare talent, or becoming famous and the idol of many. People rejoice when their friends or kindred achieve such worldly goals, and up to a point that is justifiable, proper, and acceptable. But the greatest achievement, the most brilliant success, and the most glorious triumph, is to find the truth revealed to us from God, accept it in faith, and to see others do likewise. This is the only joy that is permanent and unfading.
