The elder addresses 'the elect lady and her children.' It's brief, only thirteen verses, but packed. He says he loves them in truth, and all who know the truth love them. The truth abides in them.
I'm struck by how John yokes truth and love together. They're not opponents. You can't have truth without love, or love without truth. The combination protects both. Truth without love becomes rigid and cruel. Love without truth becomes compromised.
John prays grace, mercy, and peace will be with them from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love. That phrase 'in truth and love' modifies all three: grace, mercy, peace. They come packaged together. You can't separate them.
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