INTRODUCTIONS TO 2 and 3 JOHN, JUDE
Introduction to 2 John
Introduction to 2 John
WRITER: The Apostle John.
DATE: Probably A.D. 90.
THEME: Second John gives the essentials of the personal walk of the believer in a day when "many deceivers are entered into the world" ( 2 John 1:7 ). The key phrase is "the truth," by which John means the body of revealed truth, the Scriptures. The Bible as the only authority for doctrine and life, is the believer's resource in a time of declension and apostasy.
The Epistle in three divisions:
- The pathway of truth and love, vs. 1-6
- The peril of unscriptural ways, vs. 7-11
- Superscription, vs. 12,13
Introduction to 3 John
WRITER: The Apostle John.
DATE: Probably about A.D. 90.
THEME: The aged Apostle had written to a church which allowed one Diotrephes to exercise an authority common enough in later ages, but wholly new in the primitive churches. Diotrephes had rejected the apostolic letters and authority. It appears also that he had refused the ministry of the visiting brethren ( 3 John 1:10 ), and cast out those that had received them. Historically, this letter marks the beginning of that clerical and priestly assumption over the churches in which the primitive church order disappeared. This Epistle reveals, as well, the believer's resource in such a day. No longer writing as an apostle, but as an elder, John addresses this letter, not to the church as such, but to a faithful man in the church for the comfort and encouragement of those who were standing fast in the primitive simplicity. Second John conditions the personal walk of the Christian in a day of apostasy; Third John the personal responsibility in such a day of the believer as a member of the local church. The key-phrase is "the truth" (see 2 John, Introduction).
There are three divisions:
- Personal greetings, vs. 1-4
- Instructions concerning ministering brethren, vs. 5-8
- The apostate leader and the good Demetrius, vs. 9-14
Introduction to Jude
WRITER: Jude, the brother of James ( Jude 1:1 )
DATE: Probably A.D. 66
THEME: It is not so much Jude who speaks, as the constraining Spirit ( Jude 1:3 ) and the theme is, "Contending for the faith" ( Luke 18:8 ), (See Scofield "Luke 18:8") . In this brief letter the apostasy (See Scofield " 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ") of the professing church is predicted, and the cause and course described. As in Second Timothy and Second Peter the apostasy is treated as having already set in.
The Epistle is in five divisions:
- Introduction vs. 1,2
- Occasion of the Epistle, vs. 3,4
- Apostasy is possible, vs. 5-7
- Apostate teachers described, vs. 8-19
- The saints assured and comforted, vs. 20-25
C. I. Scofield