In part one, I wrote about Paul’s epistle to Philemon, which was addressed to a person and not to a particular church like his other epistles. The apostle John wrote three epistles and two of them are also personally addressed to a person.
2 John is the first of John's two epistles directed to a person as opposed to the church in general, as in 1 John. In modern times, we write (or type) the names and addresses of the person or people we are writing to, and put our signatures at the end of the letter, but in Biblical times, it appears that the writer puts his name first, and then addresses the recipient.
In verse 1, John calls himself The Elder. Everyone must have known that John was the Elder and he didn't need to put his name before the title. John then addresses the recipient of the letter, who is “To the elect lady and her children.” To be “elect” is to be a person who has repented of their sins and receives Jesus Christ as his or her Savior. John does not mention the name of the elect lady. The commentaries I reviewed did not know who the elect lady was either. Was the elect lady someone that John knew very personally and that is why he didn’t address her by name? In the book of Revelation, the Church is referred to as the Bride of Christ. Could the elect lady be the Church? Her children, then, would be all the believers in Christ. So this letter may have a double meaning.
John then states that he loves the elect lady in truth and those who know the truth love her as well. So this is not a romantic relationship - this is agape love. John then states that the truth abides in him, in her, and the truth will live in them forever. If we know the truth of Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as our Savior, the truth will live in us forever as well.
In verse 3, John gives the elect lady a blessing. John states that grace, mercy, and peace will be with her from God and from Jesus. John refers to Jesus as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father.
In verse 4(a), John writes that he is rejoicing that some of the elect lady's children are walking in truth, which is the truth of the Gospel. Wait a minute - "some" of her children? That means that not all of her children are walking in the truth. This also has a meaning for today's church. Not all of the people attending worship services or who are church members are born-again Christians. For some people, church is a social club where they meet up with their friends or they join a certain church to advance in certain clubs or occupations.
Then in verses 4(b) and 5, John ends the personal greetings and writes about the first topic, which is love. John covers the topic of love in great depth in 1 John 4. Here, John states the most important commandment, which is to love one another by walking in God's commandments. This also applies to us in the modern church. We are to walk in love both towards God and towards others by following God's commandments.
The next topic in John's epistle are deceivers, who are antichrists. John defines an antichrist (small "a" antichrist, not to be confused with the Antichrist, who will come forward after the Rapture) as those who deny that Jesus Christ came to Earth in the flesh. John notes that the elect lady, and we as well, should not fall into this false doctrine so that we will obtain our full reward in Heaven. John states that those who don't abide in Christ's doctrine do not have God, and those who do abide in Christ's doctrine have both Christ and God. We should abide in Christ's doctrine so we will have both God and Christ. John writes to the elect lady that if any of these deceivers show up at her door that she should not greet them nor receive them into her house, so as not to take part in their evil deeds. We in the modern church need to keep an eye out for those who come into the church with unbiblical ideas and doctrines. We want to walk in Biblical ways and not in ways that are not pleasing to God.
John writes a personal greeting to the elect lady in the last two verses. He states that he has more to say, but he would rather do so in person so that their joy may be full. He then states that the children of her elect sister greet her. So who is the elect sister? Another church? And why are the children greeting the elect lady and not their mother? The commentaries I reviewed had no idea about who the elect sister was. There are some things that we won't know until we get to Heaven.
Thanks for reading! See you next time!
Diane
