A Opening (love in truth, loving the truth) 1-3
B Walk this way (in the truth, in obedience, in love) 4-6
B` Don't walk away (those who run ahead, beware of deceivers) 7-11
A` Closing (this is the start, the goal is completing the joy) 12-13
What stands out is how each section has a controlling image:
The image in the opening is more straightforward and obvious, as it's the idea of truth, which will dominate the whole letter. It occurs in v1 (2x), v2 and v3 (as well as v4). There is also a nice little technique which we can observe here, where love precedes truth in v1 (whom I love in the truth), and then the order is swapped in the v3 in the section's concluding clause (with us in truth and love). This ties this section together as a unit.
The image in the second section is antiquity, a quality continually reinforced by the church fathers, in contrast to novelty.
- v4: just as the father commanded us
- v5: a command we have had from the beginning
- v6: as you have heard from the beginning
The instances in v5, 6 are much clearer because of the matching vocabulary, but in light of them, the first one stands out; the command we have had from the beginning and which you heard from the beginning is the command we have from the father.
Although the third section is negative, a warning against false teachers, the third image is actually what should be held onto, the core teaching of Christianity.
- v7: acknowledge Jesus Christ who came in the flesh
- v9: continue in the teaching of Christ
- v9: having both the Father and the Son
Those who have run ahead have moved on (in their opinion) or moved away from the truth about who Jesus is, the teaching about Christ, and, by their novel teaching, the possibility of having both the Father and the Son. As they say, if you add anything to the gospel, you lose the gospel.
The dominant image in the final section is that of reciprocity as those who share the same truth:
- I have much to write to you
- I hope to visit you
- I hope to talk face to face
- That would complete our joy
- Greetings from your sister church, likewise elect of God
This demonstrates a mutual love in Christ. It also explains how we are to understand the "lady" in v1, by this "lady" having having a sister in v13, who likewise has children. The Elder writes this letter while at one church, to a sister church. They have God as their father, their church as mother, and Jesus as brother. Of course, this is not saying there is one mother church ("the Church") but that each church functions as a mother, with the people who constitute each church as siblings of each other. They relate to other churches as sisters, sharing one Father.
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