2 & 3 John
Holy Writer
The writer of both these letters identifies himself as “the elder” (2 John 1; 3 John 1). Of itself that is not enough information for us to know who the holy writer was. But there is no doubt that the recipients of these two letters knew who “the elder” was who was writing to them. The writer shows that he knew his readers personally (cf. 2 John 4,13; 3 John 1), and that he hopes to come and see them in the near future (2 John 12; 3 John 14).
As we read and study these two short letters, the fact that the writer describes himself as “the elder”in both letters is just the beginning of many similarities:
• In the opening verses of both letters the holy writer writes, “to the elect lady and her children (or, the beloved Gaius), whom I love in truth.”
• In the first few verses of both letters the holy writer uses the word “truth” regularly (five times in the first four verses of 2 John, and four times in the first four verses of 3 John). In those same verses, the writer also speaks of his joy in hearing about the “children walking in truth” (1 John 4; 2 John 4).
• At the end of the letters he writes about how he has “many things to write,” but that he doesn’t want to do so “with paper (or pen) and ink,” but hopes to come and see them shortly when they will “speak face to face” (2 John 12; 3 John 13-14).
From these similarities we can be sure that the same person wrote both letters, and most likely they were written at the same time.
But still the question remains: “Who wrote these two letters?” Again the early church held that these two letters were written by the apostle John. Irenaeus, who was the disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John himself, says that John was the author, as do several others. This is also supported by the letters themselves. While there are similarities between 2 and 3 John, there are also many similarities between these letters and John’s other known writings (the Gospel of John, 1 John and Revelation).
• The phrases “the beginning” and “new commandment” are found in 2 John - phrases which are very common in John’s writings (see our study on 1 John for more on these and other phrases often found in John’s writings).
In addition to those mentioned previously:
• The word “truth” is found regularly in John’s writings (27 times in the Gospel, 9 times in 1 John, 5 times in 2 John, and 6 times in 3 John - totaling almost half of the times used in the NT).
• The word “abide” (and its derivatives) is found often in John’s writings (43 times in John’s Gospel, 24 times in 1 John, 3 times in 2 John, and once in Revelation).
• John is the only New Testament writer to use the phrase “in the flesh” to describe the humanity of Jesus (cf. 1 John 4:2-3 and 2 John 7).
• In his Gospel John referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and here he refers to himself as “the elder” - certainly appropriate since John was most likely an old man at the time when this was written (only in Revelation does he mention his name as the writer).
As we can see, there are a large number of similarities between these two letters and John’s other writings, which again confirms the witness of the early church that the apostle John wrote these letters as well.
Purpose
The early church was run and organized much differently than it is today. As we see from Paul’s pastoral letters, there was a system of regional supervisors (called bishops), who oversaw a congregation or group of congregations. These bishops would travel from congregation to congregation, as would some traveling teachers, but much of the ongoing leadership came from individual lay-members within each church.
The traveling teachers played an important role for these congregations. They would provide strong Biblical teaching, and also brought information about what was going on in other congregations. These traveling teachers were welcomed, invited to stay, and then sent on to the next congregation (think of the examples in Jesus ministry, the ministry of the apostle Paul, and what the New Testament has to say about showing hospitality toward others - cf. Hebrews 13:2). But at the same time this system was also abused by many. There were some who came pretending to be a teacher, to take advantage of the hospitality of the believers. It was in connection with this, and for this reason that John wrote these two short letters.
In his second letter John encourages his readers to show love toward others: “And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another” (2 John 5). But he continues by telling them to watch out for those who do not teach the truth: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward” (2 John 7-8). And if they found that a person was not a true teacher, what does John tell them to do? “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (2 John 10-11).
We can see that in his second letter John was encouraging Christian love, but also warns about those who would come and who would not bring the truth.
In his third letter, John covers a related subject. “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name's sake” (3 John 5-7). He continues, “We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth” (1:8). These “strangers” were coming and bringing them the truth, and it was important that they receive them and send them on again - this was helping in the spread of the Gospel.
But there were some who were not doing this: “Diotrephes ... does not receive us. ...he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church” (3 John 9-10). He continues, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11). John says that he will deal with Diotrephes individually regarding this problem.
In these two letters John deals with two different problems related to the same issue. He praises them for their witness of the truth and walking in the will of God, and encourages them to continue in that by showing love and hospitality toward true teachers, but also by not receiving false teachers.
Recipients
Second John is addressed to “the elect lady and her children” and Third John to “the beloved Gaius.”
Who is the “elect lady” that John was writing to? Some translations offer a more literal rendering “The Elder to the choice Kyria, and to her children” (Young). This has been understood in two different ways: Either this refers to a woman who was an important person in the church, and who may have had a church meeting in her own home, or it simply is a figure of speech referring to a congregation and the members of it. The latter seems to be supported by what John writes in the third letter, “I wrote to the church...” (3 John 9), since the subject matter in both letters is so similar. The idea of describing the church in the feminine certainly fits with the theology of the rest of the New Testament as well (cf. Ephesians 5:25-27). If this were the case, Gaius was probably one of the leaders of the church to whom John had written the previous letter.
Note: This study was prepared for the Bible Class at Zion Lutheran Church, Lawrenceville, GA by Pastor Nathanael Mayhew.
If you would like more information about this study,
please contact Pastor Mayhew