WE’VE COME NOW to the end of our study of the letters of John. I’ve called it “Light and Love” because these are the apostle’s most memorable declarations about God in 1 John. “God is light,” John says; “in him there is no darkness at all” (1:5, NIV). Later, he adds, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (4:8).

But if I had to choose one theme to unite all three letters, it would be truth. The Greek word translated as “truth” is used 109 times in the New Testament, and 20 of these are in John’s letters. Indeed, the word is used six times in 3 John alone, the shortest book in the Bible. Moreover, in John’s letters, both light and love are indissolubly linked with truth. When John says that “God is light,” for example, he immediately follows that statement with this one: “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth” (1 John 1:6). And when he says that “God is love,” he turns immediately to the gospel: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).

As we’ve seen throughout the study, the truth of the gospel, the truth about Jesus, is the reason for John’s letters in the first place. People who used to be members of his community were out and about spreading false teaching. Their views of Jesus may have fit well with the surrounding culture, but they betrayed the essence of the gospel as taught by the apostles. The secessionists, whatever they believed, were putting their own supposed insights above the testimony of eyewitnesses.

What counts as “truth” has always been contested, and it probably always will be. Today, we live in a global, multicultural, postmodern age in which we are increasingly aware of the dizzying variety of beliefs, opinions, and values that surround any topic. It’s getting harder and harder to declare that something is True with a capital “T” without sounding narrow-minded, parochial, or ignorant. All truth is with a lower case “t” — my truth, your truth, our truth, their truth — but not The Truth, independent of what anyone might think.

For example, a common word of advice these days is to “speak your truth.” The underlying idea is that many of us are afraid to say what we really think, feel, or believe, for fear of the consequences. And there can, of course, be good reasons for holding back, especially when there are differences of power that make it risky for a person to speak honestly.

But the advice is a reminder that there are also good reasons for speaking up. Speaking your truth doesn’t mean being reckless. It takes both courage and wisdom to know when and how to take a stand. And when it’s done well, the experience can be liberating.

Notice, though, that the phrase isn’t “Speak the truth.” After all, as human beings, we are deeply fallible. We can be wholly or partly wrong even when we think we’re completely right. In any interpersonal conflict, we may easily be misreading the situation or missing some crucial bit of information or perspective. Yet we jump to conclusions and cling to them with utter conviction. The advice to speak our truth, therefore, can be a good reminder of the need for humility, the need to take responsibility for how we see and understand things while remaining open to what others have to say.

But here’s the question: in a roomful of people who are speaking their truth, is it possible to speak of the truth, to speak not only about how they see things but how things really are? From a strictly postmodern perspective, the answer is typically no (though that, ironically, is their truth). From John’s perspective, however, the answer has to be yes.

It’s a safe bet that the people who broke off from John’s community weren’t spreading falsehood just for fun; they saw themselves as possessing the truth about Jesus. But their ideas threatened to undermine the gospel and weaken the very heart of the church. I imagine that John lovingly tried to reason with them, but to no avail. The secessionists left, looking for someone else to proselytize.

In that conflict, John wasn’t merely speaking “his” truth. This was a man who had physically walked with Jesus. He had seen the miracles first-hand. He had been there when Jesus declared himself to be “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He had stood by Jesus at the cross, entered the empty tomb, and enjoyed breakfast on the beach with his resurrected Lord.

Nobody alive was a more reliable witness to Jesus than John. But apparently, none of that mattered to the secessionists. Would it matter to anyone else? It certainly mattered to his own community, at least to those who remained. The apostle tried to make sure of that in 1 John, as he reiterated the gospel truth about Jesus over against the false teaching of the secessionists. If John then wrote a letter to warn other communities and to remind them of the truth, would they listen? That’s the letter we know as 2 John.

Third John, I think, helps to put all of this in perspective. There, the emphasis is not on what we believe but on how we live, or to use John’s metaphor, how we walk. In 1 John, the call was to walk in the light instead of in darkness. But in 2 and 3 John, he speaks of walking in the truth. In 2 John, walking in the truth also means walking in obedience to Jesus’ commandment to love one another. And in 3 John, walking in the truth takes the concrete form of extending loving hospitality to believers engaged in the work of the gospel, even if they are strangers to you.

As I’ve suggested, “truth” is contested, even within the church. As Christians we can, with a clear conscience and full respect for the authority of Scripture, take markedly different stands on social issues or biblical interpretation. We can argue passionately for the truth, sometimes perplexed or suspicious about why others don’t agree. And these arguments can deteriorate into hardened positions that split congregations, divide denominations, and make others outside the church roll their eyes.

Thus, one of the central challenges posed by John’s letters to the church today would be this: can we believe that there is such a thing as the truth — not just your truth or my truth — and simultaneously walk in it in a loving way that doesn’t vilify our brothers and sisters?

For John, walking in the truth is inseparable from walking in the light and walking in love. Some arguments will probably never be settled; there will never be a time in which all Christians read the Bible the same way and believe exactly the same thing. But what the world needs to see is less about a complete unity of belief and more about a loving unity of spirit.

In the Upper Room, having just washed his disciples’ feet, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).

These are among Jesus’ last words to his disciples. Three times in two verses, he emphasizes that they are to love one another. And that’s the commandment John has emphasized repeatedly in his letters.

So if we believe John’s testimony, how should we walk? How will we walk?