The Truth about Jesus
An EasyEnglish Bible Version with Notes (1200 word vocabulary) on the second Letter of John
Shirley Chapman and Cynthia Green
This translated Bible text has been through our Advanced Checking process.
Words in boxes are comments on the text.
A word list at the end explains words with a *star by them.
Most students believe that John wrote this letter. He was the *apostle John, who also wrote the *Gospel of John.
John calls himself a ‘Church leader’. He has authority over churches. He was an old man, and he called the Christians ‘his *dear little *children’. He wrote his letters for people to read out in church meetings. He called the churches that he was writing to, ‘the *lady and her children’. He is *warning these churches against false teachers. Teachers like this do not teach the words of Jesus.
v1 I, the Church leader, am writing this letter to you, *dear *lady. God has chosen you and your children. I really love all of you. I am not the only person who really loves you. Everyone else who knows the true message about God also really loves you. v2 I love all of you because we know this true message. We will always know it. It remains with us for ever. v3 As we know this *truth and love each other, God will do good things for us. God our Father and his Son Jesus Christ will give us *grace. God will be kind to us and he will help us to live in *peace.
v4 I was very happy to hear about some of your children. They are doing what God wants us to do. They really are doing what God our Father told us to do. v5 And now, *dear *lady, I will ask you to do something. It is that we should love one another. This is not a new rule. This is a rule that we had from the beginning. v6 We show our love for God when we obey his rules. So, love each other, as he told us from the beginning.
v7 I say this because many false teachers are travelling about. They say many wrong things. They say that Jesus Christ did not come to this world as a human baby. If a person says that, he is a *liar and an *enemy of Christ. v8 So, watch and be careful. Then you will not believe what they teach. If you do, you will lose what you have worked for. Instead, make sure that you receive all that God has promised you. v9 Remember this. Perhaps a person is not happy with what Christ taught. And if he includes his own ideas, he does not have God. Other people continue to believe what Christ taught. Those people are *united to both God the Father and his Son. v10 Someone may come to your house who does not teach the same things. Do not receive that person into your house. Do not receive him as a Christian. v11 If you receive a person like that as a Christian, you are helping him to do wrong. You also are doing wrong.
v12 I would like to tell you many more things, but I do not want to write them in a letter. Instead, I hope to come and visit you. I want us to be together so that we can talk. Then we will be completely happy. v13 The children of your *dear *sister whom God has chosen send their love.
Some people think that the words ‘lady’ & ‘sister’ in verse 1 and verse 13 mean the churches in two places.
apostle ~ a man that God chose to lead other Christians and to teach about Jesus.
children ~ John was an old man. He wrote to his readers as if they were his children.
dear ~ what we call someone that we love.
dear children ~ John was an old man. He wrote to his readers as if they were his children.
Devil ~ God’s enemy. He is also called Satan.
enemy of Christ ~ false Christ; someone who is completely against Christ.
Gospel ~ a book about the good news; the message that Jesus came to save us from the results of *sin.
grace ~ God’s love for us.
lady ~ John might mean a woman. Or, he might mean a church.
liar ~ person who says something that is false.
peace ~ when we have no troubles in our mind or *spirit.
Satan ~ God’s enemy. He is also called the devil.
sin ~ not to obey God’s rules.
sister ~ John may have meant a lady who was a Christian.
spirit ~ the part of a person that will always be alive, even after their body is dead; someone that is always alive, even without a body. There are good spirits, like God’s Spirit and God’s servants. And there are bad spirits, like *Satan and his servants.
truth ~ what is true.
unite ~ be joined to; be of one mind with another person.
warn ~ tell someone about the danger of something; say that something (usually bad) will happen.
Andrew Persson ~ Translator’s helps on 1, 2 & 3 John
English and Greek Interlinear text, Paumari New Testament, A.V., T.E.V. & N.I.V.
© 1997-2005, Wycliffe Associates (UK)
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).
March 2005
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