Dual PanelTruth and love
1THE Elder to the Lady chosen by God and to her children whom I love in the truth, and not I alone but all who know the truth.
2We love you for the sake of the truth that dwells among us and will be with us for ever.
3Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4I was very glad to find that some of your children are living by the truth, in accordance with the command we have received from the Father.
5And now, Lady, I have a request to make of you. Do not think I am sending a new command; I am recalling the one we have had from the beginning: I ask that we love one another.
6What love means is to live according to the commands of God. This is the command that was given you from the beginning, to be your rule of life.
7Many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and antichrist.
8See to it that you do not lose what we have worked for, but receive your reward in full.
9Anyone who does not stand by the teaching about Christ, but goes beyond it, does not possess God; he who stands by it possesses both the Father and the Son.
10If anyone comes to you who does not bring this teaching, do not admit him to your house or give him any greeting;
11for he who greets him becomes an accomplice in his evil deeds.
12I have much to write to you, but I do not care to put it down on paper. Rather, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13The children of your Sister, chosen by God, send you greetings.