Article from the Christian Basics Bible
“Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth. I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.” 3 John 1:2-4, NLT
False teachers had infiltrated the churches for which John had responsibility. Some were even denying that Jesus had truly come in a real body (2 John 1:7)—a denial of the heart of the Christian faith. But not everyone had been deceived, and John commends the chosen lady and her children (1:1) for “living according to the truth” (1:4).
Living according to the truth is about holding firm to the Jesus revealed in the four Gospels and in the teaching of the apostles, which is based upon his life, death, and resurrection. It was this apostolic teaching that the first Christians devoted themselves to (Acts 2:42) and that we too should seek out —by reading the Bible on our own, participating in small groups where it can be discussed and applied, and listening eagerly to sermons in worship services.
But living according to the truth isn’t just about what we know; it is also about how we act. We may know many Bible doctrines and be able to quote many Bible verses; but if we aren’t actively seeking to live it out, then we are like the man who built his house on sand rather than on rock (Matthew 7:24-27) or someone who looked in the mirror, only to forget what they looked like ( James 1:22-25). Living according to the truth means both knowing it and demonstrating it in our actions.
Christian Basics Bible