The four short letters of 1-3 John and Jude deliver powerful messages of correct living in a wrong world and are as relevant today as they were in the first century. Written near the end of the John’s life, 1 John was meant to revive the faith, love, and hope of his readers and encourage them to renew an authentic, contagious walk with Christ. Like two siblings, 2 and 3 John are letters with unique personalities but also some striking similarities, each taking a unique approach to a single, urgent message: balance unconditional love with discerning truth. Jude, the brother of Jesus, writes with a twofold purpose: expose the false teachers that had infiltrated the Christian community, and encourage the believers to stand firm in the faith and fight for it. The 15-volume Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary series draws on Gold Medallion Award–winner Chuck Swindoll’s 50 years of experience in studying and preaching God’s Word. His deep insight, signature easygoing style, and humor bring a warmth and practical accessibility not often found in commentaries. Each volume combines verse-by-verse commentary, charts, maps, photos, key terms, and background articles with practical application. The newly updated volumes now include parallel presentations of the NLT and NASB before each section. This series is a must-have for pastors, teachers, and anyone else who is seeking a deeply practical resource for exploring God’s Word. Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude By Charles R. Swindoll Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 2018 Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4143-9374-2 Contents Author's Preface, v, The Strong's Numbering System, vii, Introduction: 1, 2 & 3 John, 3, A Joyful Life (1 John 1:1-10), 18, A Clean Life (1 John 2:1-17), 37, A Discerning Life (1 John 2:18–4:6), 59, A Confident Life (1 John 4:7–5:21), 109, Balancing Love and Truth (2 John 1:1–13), 137, Balancing Truth and Love (3 John 1:1–15), 148, Introduction: Jude, 161, A Manual for Survival (Jude 1:1–25), 169, Endnotes, 195, List of Features and Images, CHAPTER 1 A JOYFUL LIFE (1 JOHN 1:1-10) When I was just a little boy, our family was vacationing at a bay cottage in South Texas near the Gulf of Mexico. One night my father told me, "I'm going to get you up early, Son. We're going out where we've never fished before, but be ready to get up." It felt like he woke me up just minutes after I had fallen asleep. It must have been two o'clock in the morning. He shook me awake in the pitch dark and said, "Come on, come on. Put your sneakers on, let's go." I staggered after him through a chilly night to the boathouse. We climbed into a little fishing boat not even sixteen feet long. The 35-horsepower Evinrude motor sounded like a thunderclap as it broke the stillness of the morning, and within moments we were cutting through the slick, moonlit water. There wasn't a ripple on the surface except the shallow wake tailing behind our boat. We eased across the glassy bay and moved out toward the reef. He shut her down, and we slid up over the deep reef. He slipped the anchor into the water and eased it down until it finally rested at the bottom. I peered across the shiny surface of the bay, which looked like a freshly tarred parking lot slicked with rain. I imagined I could walk on its surface or wade through it like a shallow pond. I dropped the line of my little cane pole into the water and, like the antsy boy that I was, I began to fidget. My father looked over at me and said, "Sit still, Son. There's big stuff down in there." I settled down for a minute or two. Maybe I'd catch something a little bigger than my hand. But a few minutes later I'd grown impatient bringing in my line and throwing it back out. As I scratched and shifted and spat in the water, my father just sat there, still as a statue. In the silence of the approaching dawn, he said to me again, "Sit still, Son. Be quiet. There's big stuff down in there. " All of a sudden, as if on cue, a huge Gulf tarpon jumped out of the water, flipped in the air, and splashed back down. It must have been bigger than me. I almost leaped out of the boat, but my dad never budged. Without turning, he muttered under his breath, "Told you there was big stuff down in there." And right he was! By the end of that little excursion we had caught sixty-four speckled trout. (I've never forgotten that number, because Dad made sure I cleaned all of them!) The apostle John's unassuming, five-chapter book is like that slick bay we fished on that cold, quiet morning. Judging by a glance across its surface, 1 John looks like it might only be as deep as it is wide — containing a few minnows of truth and a couple of pan-fish principles swimming in a pool of shallow theology. A leisurely boat ride, but not good fishing. But the surface conditions can be misjudged. Despite the simple language and short length of