2 John

About 2 John

Second John is a one-page letter to a church, addressed as 'the chosen lady and her children,' urging believers to keep loving one another and to hold fast to the truth about Christ. Its practical concern is hospitality: traveling teachers who denied that Jesus came in the flesh should not be welcomed or supported. It shows the early church learning to keep its doors open in love and closed to deception at the same time.

Written by

The writer calls himself simply 'the elder'; church tradition identifies him as the apostle John, though some scholars think he was a different early leader known as John the Elder.

When

Like the other letters of John, it is usually dated around AD 85-95, near the end of the first century.

Themes

• Walking in truth
• Love as obedience
• Discernment about teachers
• Remaining in Christ's teaching

Key verses

• 2 John 1:5-6And now I urge you, dear lady—not as a new commandment to you, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.
• 2 John 1:8-9Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be fully rewarded. Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching has both the Father and the Son.