2 John

What 2 John is about

Second John is a single sheet — thirteen verses, about the length of a note — and it does two things.

First, it repeats the command that runs through all the Johannine writings, and takes care to say it is nothing new: love one another. The author, who calls himself simply the elder, says he was overjoyed to find some of his readers walking in the truth.

Second, it warns. Travelling teachers were a normal feature of early church life, and hospitality to them was a normal Christian duty; there were no hotels, and a visiting teacher stayed in someone’s house and taught from it. Some of these teachers were denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. The elder’s instruction is that such a person should not be received into the house or given a greeting, because to host them is to sponsor the message.

That instruction has sometimes been used to justify shunning anyone one disagrees with, which is a considerable stretch. The letter is narrowly aimed: it concerns a specific denial of the incarnation, and it concerns giving someone a platform, not ordinary courtesy toward a neighbour.

The letter ends the way personal letters often did — the elder has much to write but would rather come and speak face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

Where it sits in the story

Second and Third John are the two shortest books in the Bible, and they belong with 1 John and the Fourth Gospel in language and outlook. The recipient, the elect lady and her children, is most often understood as a local congregation rather than an individual.

Why it is worth reading

Because it shows the early church making a judgment call about whom to platform, and doing it on a specific doctrinal ground rather than on preference or personality. It takes five minutes, and it is worth reading immediately before 3 John, which pushes in the opposite direction.