There is much in the life of the local church to give John cause for rejoicing, but this does not mean that there is no more room for growth. These to whom he writes are Christians. Their lives meet the three tests: the moral test (which is righteousness or obedience to God’s commands), the social test (which is love), and the doctrinal test (which is the test of truth or sound doctrine). But this does not mean that their lives are as marked by righteousness as they might be, that they love each other fully, or that they have totally assimilated the whole of Christian doctrine. So John writes to encourage them in what they are already doing and particularly to encourage them in a life marked out by mutual love.
In the first three verses of the letter it was the word “truth” that tied the thoughts together. Here the word is “commandments” or “command,” which also (like truth) occurs four times, once each in verses 4 and 5 and twice in verse 6. In the first instance, John indicates that we are commanded to follow the truth. In the second and fourth instances the command is the command to love. In the third occurrence the word “commandments” is plural, thereby indicating all the commands which, if the Christian obeys them, will lead to righteousness.
And what is to be the Christian’s obligation in each of these areas? John says that he is obliged to “follow along” in them or “walk” in them. In other words, by a deliberate and disciplined choice he is to pursue that path upon which he has been set by the very God of grace who saved him. Moreover, it is explicitly said that this is to be true in each area. The Christian is to “walk in truth” (v. 4). He is to “walk after his commandments” (v. 6). He is to “follow love” (v. 6). It may be objected by some that this is not possible, that a person cannot be commanded to love, to follow truth, and to pursue righteousness. But that is precisely what we are commanded to do. Moreover, if we do not understand this or like it, the fact only reveals how little we know of these great qualities.
Belief in God’s truth is not optional, then. It is commanded. Besides, a failure to believe is therefore not an intellectual inability but a sin, as John has already indicated in the Gospel (3:18-21). Similarly, love is the expression of a self-sacrificing service to others which can be deliberately undertaken. And righteousness is that into which, by the grace of God but, nonetheless, by conscientious choice and deliberate action, a believer may grow.
John had laid some stress upon the need for growth within the life of the local congregation, but now he lays even greater stress upon the danger which he perceives to be arising from a widespread movement of heretical “Christian” propaganda. As one reads these verses the movement seems to be similar to if not identical with that Gnostic threat alluded to in the first letter. But, unlike the situation in 1 John, in this case the danger has not yet reached the congregation.
