<p>1:3 <em>For I rejoiced greatly, when brothers came and testified to the truth which is in you, even as you walk in truth</em>- The brothers appear to be a group of itinerant mission workers who went forth from John's home church, and visited converts like Gaius, bringing back reports to John as to how his converts were progressing. We see the huge importance attached to the spiritual growth of converts, rather than simply baptizing people and bragging about numbers. What was &quot;within&quot; believers and what they walked in was &quot;the spirit&quot;, here called &quot;the truth&quot;. The reference is to the Lord Jesus, &quot;the truth&quot;, and more exactly to &quot;the spirit of truth&quot;, the spirit of Christ, His living, thinking and breathing, which is given to all believers. The 'holding firm in the truth' which was in view is therefore not a retaining of some set of theologies; but rather continuing to allow &quot;the spirit of truth&quot;, of the Lord, to abide within them, and having this as the guide of daily 'walking' and thinking.</p><p>Daniel speaks of repentance and obeying God's voice as being a result of 'having discernment in thy truth' (Dan. 9:13,14 RV). To grasp the endless depth and height of the fact we are in touch with ultimate truth inevitably affects our lives. 3 Jn. 3 in the AV speaks of &quot;the truth that is in thee&quot;; but the Greek can also mean, as in the RV, &quot;thy truth&quot;. There is to be a close personal identification between us and the &quot;spirit of truth&quot;, of the Lord Jesus personally. His spirit becomes our spirit, His truth is our truth. The outcome elicited by this is repentance, and our being truthful at the very least. Our contact with God's truth results in our being truthful not only to others but to ourselves, and this, as Daniel observed, gives rise to true repentance.</p><p>Paul can speak of &ldquo;the word of the truth of the gospel&rdquo; (Col. 1:5) and again of &ldquo;the truth of the gospel&rdquo; (Gal. 2:5). He refers to &ldquo;the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation&rdquo; (Eph. 1:13). It&rsquo;s quite Biblical that we refer to our faith as &ldquo;the truth&rdquo;. But truth is clearly a way of describing or summing up the leading of the indwelling Spirit in a way of life which the doctrines of the truth should elicit in us. Thus &ldquo;the new man... is created in righteousness and holiness of truth&rdquo; (Eph. 4:24). We obey the truth in unfeigned love of our brethren (1 Pet. 1:22), not just by intellectual assent at a baptismal interview; we &lsquo;do the truth&rsquo; in loving our brother (1 Jn. 1:6); if the spirit of truth is in us then we walk in it (3 Jn. 3).</p>