Texts in Conversation
The Testament of Judah promises that those who receive the spirit will be sons of God in truth and walk in his commandments. 2 John echoes this language, rejoicing that the children are walking in truth.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Testament of Judah 24:2
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Pseudepigrapha
1 After this a star will rise to you from Jacob in peace, and a man will arise from my descendants like the sun of righteousness, walking with the children of men in gentleness and righteousness, and no sin will be found in him. 2 The heavens will be opened to him to pour out the spirit, the blessing of the Holy Father, and he will pour out the spirit of grace on you. You will be true sons to him, and you will walk in his commandments from first to last. 3 This is the Branch of God Most High, the Fountain that gives life to all. Then the scepter of my kingdom will shine out, and from your root a stem will arise, and from it a rod of righteousness will grow for the Gentiles, to judge and to save all who call on the Lord.
2 John 1:4
New Testament
3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly because I have found some of your children living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5 But now I ask you, lady (not as if I were writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning), that we love one another.
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Notes and References
“... The verb ‘walk’ (peripatein), describing an ethical behavior, is widely used in the New Testament: compare Mark 7:5: ‘walking according to the tradition of the elders’; Acts 21:21: ‘walking according to the customs [of the Jews]’; Romans 14:15 and Ephesians 5:2: ‘Walking according to [or in] love’; Colossians 4:5: ‘Walk in wisdom’; and Ephesians 5:8: ‘Walk as children of the light.’ However, the idiom is quite Johannine; in the Epistles we find ‘to walk in truth’ 3 times (Second John 4; Third John 3, 4); ‘to walk in/according to commandments’ 2 times (Second John 6); and ‘to walk as Jesus walked’ once (First John 2:6). ... In the Qumran writings the life pattern is described as ‘the ways of truth’ (1QS 4:17) with a warning against behaving treacherously ‘in departing from the truth’ (1QS 7:18). Synonymous expressions include: ‘to live one’s life in truth’ (Letter of Aristeas 260); and ‘You shall be God’s sons in truth and go in His commandments first and last’ (Testament of Judah 24:3). ...
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