INTRODUCTION
There is very little to add by way of introduction because Second and Third John are more or less a continuation of the First Epistle. F.F. Bruce points out that 'the second two Epistles are written more in the line of a personal letter in the Greco-Roman tradition, rather than a general Epistle.' Whether the second epistle is addressed to a Lady of distinction or whether John is referring to a Church in a ladies house is not agreed upon by all the commentators that I have read, so I will leave it alone, and just say that I am convinced that all three epistles were written by John. The third epistle is addressed to Gaius. I have added my literal translation in italics after the KJV taken from the United Bible Society Greek New Testament, with the letters LGT preceding it. I have checked the literalness and correctness of my translation with A.T. Robertson, Marvin Vincent D.D., F.F. Bruce, J.Vernon McGee, and others.
SALUTATION
Verse 1, "The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth."
LGT "The elder to (the) especially beloved lady and to her children, whom I love in (the) truth, and not I alone (or only) but also all the ones who have known the truth (and are still knowing the truth)."
"The elder unto the elect lady and her children."
The elder unto the elect lady are distinct forms not used in the first epistle. John referred to the recipients of his first epistle as his little children. Many believe that these last two epistles were written from Ephesus after John's exile on Patmos, while he was doing itinerary preaching in Asia Minor.
"Eusebius ('Ecclesiastical History,' iii.25) relates that John, after the death of Domitian, returned from his exile in Patmos to Ephesus, and went on missionary tours into the heathen regions around, and also made visitations of the neighboring churches, and ordained bishops and clergy. Such journeys are mentioned, 2 John 12; 3 John 10, 14. If Eusebius be right, both epistles must have been written after the Apocalypse, in his old age, which harmonizes with their tone, and in or near Ephesus. It was on one of his visitation tours that he designed to rebuke Diotrephes" [3 John 9, 10]. (J.F. B. Commentary on the Epistles of John, page Iviii)
'Elect lady' In the Greek N.T. does not have an article, and so it could be the 'church' referred to, and not a specific lady in the church. Also 'elder' does have the article, so I think it is safe to conclude that John is referring to his apostleship rather than an office in the church. Usually when a subject has the article it refers to specificity, and when the article is absent it has to do with quality or character or essence. I also think it is possible that John is using the term 'elder' making reference to the fact, not only of his age, but also that he is the last of the apostles, and as an apostle he had the authority that was far superior to any 'bishop.
"Whom I love in the truth;"
Vincent says that 'whom' is comprehensive and takes in children of both sexes. In truth, does not have the article, so it is referring to all truth, and that can only be found in the Word of God.
"And not I only, but also they that have known the truth."
This phrase seems to indicate that John is referring to a local assembly of believers, as the 'elect lady,' that all the other believers also love them. The verb 'have known,' (Gr. egnokotes) is a perfect participle and means that they knew the truth in the past and they continue to know the truth.
"Christian love can only be expressed in the bounds of the family of God, those who have the truth. 'The truth' here is the Word of God and also the One who is revealed in the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 'Whom I love in truth' is the correct literal translation. John is saying here: (1) That the object of his love must be another believer in Christ, a genuine believer; and also (2) that he is genuine in asserting this, that expressing his love is not just a pious platitude he is uttering here" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 2, "For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever."
LGT "Because of the truth that which is remaining in us and with us it will be forever."
"For the truth's sake,"
The construction of this phrase in the Greek is 'because it is truth,' it is eternal, that is, that which is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
"Repetition of the word 'truth,' one of which John is very fond (I John 1:6, 'the truth, as revealed by the Christ, and gradually unfolded by the Spirit, Who is truth' (WPNT A.T. Robertson).
"Which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever."
The word dwelleth in the Greek is a present participle 'menousan,' and has a very interesting definition in the Analytical lexicon, which is, 'to remain unchanged.' John is saying that the truth that we have is immutable and eternal.
"For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever." Thank God, we will have the truth forever. In this day when you can't believe politicians, you can't believe college professors, you can't believe the scientists, and you can't believe the military leadership, it's nice to have someone in whom you can believe - the Lord Jesus Christ. 'For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us'- the indwelling Spirit of God makes these things real to us. 'And shall be with us forever'- the truth will not change; 'What is true is not new, and what is new is not true.' Like a great many generalizations, that has some exceptions to it, of course, but usually it is true" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 3, "Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love."
LGT "Grace mercy peace will be with us from God (the) Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love."
"Grace be with you, mercy and peace,"
There are two things that should be noticed by the literal Greek translation (1) 'be with you' is 'with us' in the better Mss., and (2) it is in the future tense, 'will be with us.' John has the habit as you notice from his first epistle to include himself with those he is writing, especially in his use of the 'inclusive we' he so often employs. A good example is in first John 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." John is speaking as an elder or older brother, to members of his family. He had no need to prove his apostleship, and I think he makes his point very clear in speaking to his younger family as equals, as far as position in Christ, as Joint heirs is concerned. By using the term 'will be with us' he is making this point exactly.
Now we come to define the terms 'Grace, Mercy, and Peace. A.T. Robertson quotes David Smith. "charis, (Grace) the wellspring in the heart of God; elios, (Mercy) its outpouring; eirene, Peace) its blessed effect." The order of this salutation is not without signification. Many expositors, including Dr. Louis Sperry Chafer, say, That the order is, Mercy, that is that God had pity on the world as lost sinners, and then Grace, that is that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to provide for the sinners salvation, by atoning for their sins on the Cross, and lastly Peace, that saved sinners can have Peace with God through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and His substitutionary death on the Cross. I believe in John's mind as well as the Apostle Paul, they put Grace first for a good reason, and I believe all the believers that read their epistles understood perfectly well how they meant it. Grace is always first, back in eternity past Grace had to be in the mind of God as He planned salvation, making mercy possible. The plan of salvation was a plan of God's infinite Grace. So we are saved by Grace; we are sealed, and provided for, for eternity, through His mercy; and we are healed now and forever by His Peace. The plan of salvation was provided by God's grace before man was placed on this planet. Another way it might be worded is, God in His grace provide a plan, and by His mercy Christ went to the Cross and paid the price for all sin, and then by God's mercy we can rest assured we are saved by His wonderful Grace. You see, Grace is at the root of Mercy and Peace, and of necessity, must come first.
"And from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love."
In the Greek New Testament it is written 'From God (the) Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father.' I bring up this difference in the translation, because I think John is still very aware of the heresies that were plaguing the church in the first century and so he is stating the deity of Christ here as he did in the First Epistle.
'In truth and love' is a phrase very common to John, for John said 'God is love', and he is stating that the only way to the Father is through the Son, Who is a gift of God's love to us. Christ can only be known through the Word of God.
TRUTH AND LOVE
Verse 4, "I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father."
LGT "I rejoice exceedingly because I have found (certain) of your children walking around in (the) truth, just as we received a commandment from the Father."
"I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth."
It is very encouraging for John to have found, and the Revised Version supplies the word 'certain', of the young men walking around in the truth. The verb 'have found' is in the perfect tense, which as A.T. Robertson points out, "it is a continual discovery, and not just a one shot deal." It is such an encouragement that John says that he is rejoicing exceedingly. It is always encouraging when a father sees his children being obedient. John is making a reference back to what he had taught about walking in the light, in First John 1:6 & 7, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk around in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."
"As we have received a commandment from the Father."
John gave them this commandment in his First Epistle chapter two, verse ten, 'He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." So what John is saying in this fourth verse is, 'I am rejoicing exceedingly to see how your children are loving one another, and are walking around in the light, because the light is the truth, and they are walking in the fellowship of God's Word, which is light.'
Verse 5, "And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another."
LGT "And now I beg, pray, beseech you, lady, not as I am writing a new commandment to you but that which we were having from (the) beginning, in order that we are loving one another."
"And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning,"
John's wording is the same as he gave in the first epistle. I would like to also note that John is using the inclusive 'we' here. John doesn't come off as a person who was ready to pass on his apostolic scepter. He knew that he was the last of the apostolic succession. John is writing as a tender father would write to his family, wanting nothing but the best for them.
In the phrase 'from the beginning,' John is making reference to the incarnation of Christ. Christ came and demonstrated to His disciples what it is to love God and to love one another.
"That we love one another."
Remember how often John spoke about this love for one another in his first epistle. Too many Christians think they love one another because they shake their hand or say some trite spiritual sounding cliché, calling them brother or sister, or making some comment on how well they look, or what nice clothes they have on, and carry on with this high sounding gobbledygook. John is talking about a divine 'agape' love that cannot be manufactured, or learned out of a book, except the one and only Book, the Word of God. To love one another it takes spiritual maturity to be able to see one another as joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Love is not going out and practicing how to win friends and influence people, nor is it seeing if you can make a person feel good about themselves; love is recognizing who and what your brother or sister is, that they are brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they belong to the same family in Christ you belong to. Remember, how we treat one another is how we are treating Jesus Christ Himself.
In his first epistle, John taught us that we are to walk in the light as He is in the light in order to have fellowship with God, and with our fellow believer. You cannot separate truth from love, for 'God is love.' It is also impossible to separate God from His Word. God is light, and His Word is light, and when we walk in the light of God's Word. We are having fellowship with God, because we are walking in God. God is indwelling every believer today, and the only way to appreciate his indwelling is to walk in the light of His Holy Word; this is having fellowship with God. When we study the Word of God we are fellowshipping with God, and when we studying the Word of God together with other believers, we are having fellowship with God and fellowship with one another.
Verse 6, "And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it."
LGT "And this is the love, in order that we may keep on walking around according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, in order that in it we may keep on walking around."
"And this is love,"
This is the love mentioned in verse five. Notice in the LGT love has an article, so John is saying this is a distinct kind of love, not love in a general sense. This is 'agape' love or divine love.
"That we walk after His commandments."
I hope by now we all know what the commandments John is talking about. I believe it is safe for me to say that John is saying we should be walking around in Fatherly love and brotherly love. John refers back to the beginning of Christ's incarnation, and then he looks into the future, as you notice in the LGT John says, 'keep on walking' in love.
"This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it."
The end of this verse is that you walk around, not in the commandment, but that you walk around in love, the object of the commandment. John knows that there can be no joy among the Christian family without true love. John makes reference to the past and says; just as you walked in the past, continue walking around in this love in the future.
Verse 7, "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist."
LGT "Because many deceivers are gone out into the world, the ones not confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; this is the deceiver and the antichrist."
"For many deceivers are entered into the world."
John is naturally referring to the Docetic and Cerinthian sects of Gnosticism. They denied Jesus Christ's humanity and deity respectively. These Gnostics entered the church teaching these damnable lies, and John is once again warning the believers not to listen to their lies.
"Who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh."
I don't know how John could have stated it more clearly; he is saying, if you don't believe in the deity of Christ, you are a deceiver and you are not saved. If these deceivers didn't believe in the deity of Christ, and John calls them antichrists, there certainly isn't any hope for anyone that denies Christ's deity. For if you deny the deity of the Son, you are also denying the deity of the Father. Christ said, "If you believe in the Father, you believe in the Son, and if you believe in the Son, you believe in the Father also."
"This is a deceiver and an antichrist."
It should read 'the antichrist.' John uses the article with each word, 'this is the deceiver and the antichrist,' referring to the same person. If you make a study of the false cults you will see that they deny either the fact that Jesus came in the flesh, or that He was eternal with the Father, that is, they deny His deity. All the false cults deny that Christ was truly human and truly divine, God of very God. In His incarnation, Christ was different from God in that He was man, and He was different from man in that He was God.
"For many deceivers are entered into the world." Gnosticism was running riot in John's day. Everywhere the gospel has gone, the (false) cults have always followed. The 'isms' always follow the preaching of the gospel - they never go before. There were coming along at that time quite a few of what was known as the Gnostic sect, which was actually divided into many groups. There were the Cerithian Gnostics who followed a teacher in Ephesus whose name was Cerinthus. There is a tradition that John, who was the pastor of the Ephesian church, went down to the public bath and saw Cerinthus taking a bath also. So John got out of the pool, grabbed up his clothes, and didn't put them on until he got outside, because he wouldn't have anything to with that heretic. Well, that is a tradition and may or may not be true, but it certainly expresses the viewpoint of John in his letter here. The Cerinthian Gnostics correspond to several of the cults today that they taught that Jesus Christ were two different entities altogether and that the divine came upon Jesus at His baptism and left Him at the cross. There were also the Docetic Gnostics who denied the reality of the physical body of Christ. They said that the apostles thought they saw Jesus, but He actually was not a real person; He was just an appearance. We have a few cults, which have picked up that heresy also. This is the reason John said in his first epistle, 'We have seen Him. We have heard Him. We've gazed upon Him. We've handled Him. We know what we are talking about, and He was a real man" (T.T.B. J. Vernon McGee).
Verse 8, "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward."
LGT "Look to yourselves, in order that you may not lose the things we have labored for, but that you receive a full, complete, perfect reward."
"Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought,"
In the KJV you notice that the inclusive 'we' is used three different times. This is incorrect according to most of the reliable Mss. John is teaching now as an apostle; he is teaching believers as one with authority given to Him By God. All of What we read in John's epistles is inspired by God, but in this verse, as you can see from the LGT he does not say 'we', but he says, 'you.' John knew he wasn't going to lose his rewards, for he knew the Gnostic heretics would not deceive him. John is saying examine yourselves.
Those who think it is not imperative to work for rewards need to spend some time in this passage. John is saying to believers, 'look out,' that you don't listen to the wrong crowd. Eve spent time listening to the Devil, and look what happened to all of us, because of her sin.
"But that we receive a full reward."
John is anxious that believers take what he is saying to them, to heart, and persevere in walking in the light of truth. We are all given the privilege of walking in fellowship of His inspired Word, or listening to false teachers. Everyone knows when they are listening to lies; John is saying don't even start listening to the false teachers. There is no warning here of fear of losing salvation, only losing our full reward.
Verse 9, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."
LGT "Everyone who is leading, and is not remaining in the teaching (doctrine) of the Christ, is not having God; the one who is remaining in the teaching (doctrine), he is having both the Father and the Son."
"Whosoever transgresseth,"
The literal Greek, on the word transgress, is 'proago', which means to go forward or to lead. So the meaning is the one who is taking the lead.
"And abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God."
So the meaning of the two phrases together is that anyone who takes the lead as a teacher of the church, the body of Christ, and teaches anything that is not the true doctrines of Christ, is not from God, and they were not to listen to them. I am sure that John has the Gnostic heretics in mind.
"Not the teaching about Christ, but that of Christ which is the standard of Christian teaching as the walk of Christ is the standard for the Christian's walk (I John 2:6). See John 7:16; 18:19. These Gnostics claimed to be progressives, the advanced thinkers, and were anxious to relegate Christ to the past in their onward march. This struggle goes on always among those who approach the study of Christ. Is He a 'landmark' merely or is He our goal and pattern? Progress we all desire, but progress toward Christ, not away from Him. Reactionary obscurantists wish no progress toward Christ, but desire to stop and camp where they are. 'True progress includes the past' (Westcott). Jesus Christ is still ahead of us all calling us to come on to Him" (WPNT A.T. Robertson)
"He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."
There is an old 'Negro Spiritual' that says, 'Give me that old time religion, it's good enough for me. It was good for my daddy, and it was good for my momma, it was good for my sister, and it was good for my brother, and it's good enough for me.' The liberal progressive seem to say that if we don't come up with something new, we're ignorant people. When I was in college I can remember keeping quiet on a lot of issues that I should have spoken up about, because I didn't want to seem stupid; well in reality, these twentieth century progressives were really the ignorant ones, because they all denied that the Bible is the Word of God, "And the fool has said in his heart, there is no God." The Gnostics were going out ahead of Christ's teaching and making up doctrine that wasn't in the Bible. John is telling believers, if it's not in The Word of God, it's a lie. Remember that the Greek word for abide is to remain. John is saying that everyone that is remaining true to the Word of God is walking in the light, and truly that one is fellowshipping with the Father and the Son.
"He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath the Father and the Son." If you are abiding in the doctrine of Christ, you have God the Father, and you have God the Son, and you have access to the Father through the Son. We have access to God through Christ, by His marvelous, infinite grace, if we abide in the doctrine of Christ" (T.T. B. J. Vernon McGee).
"The Docetic teacher 'goes on' beyond the apostolic teaching; his 'advanced teaching' is condemned because it is 'advanced' in this sense. The apostolic teaching could be called 'the teaching of Christ' either because it is the teaching, which derives from Christ and is vested with His authority, or because it is the authoritative and true teaching about Christ. Either interpretation would be appropriate; whether we accept the former or the latter depends on our understanding the genitive 'of Christ' as subjective or objective genitive respectively. There is a strong balance of probability in favor of the former construction (so Westcott). Anyone, then, who has advanced beyond this teaching in a Docetic direction 'has not God', since 'no one who denies the Son has the Father' (I John 2:23a); everyone who 'abides' in it 'has both the Father and the Son', since 'he who confesses the Son has the Father also (I John 2:23b). The injunction not to receive any one who does not bring 'the teaching of Christ' means that no such person must be accepted as a Christian teacher or as one entitled to the fellowship of the church" (The Gospel and Epistles of John, F.F. Bruce).
Verse 10, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed."
LGT "If anyone is coming to you and is not bringing this teaching, receive him not into (your) house, and do not say to him farewell."
"This doctrine."
It is obvious by the context that John is referring to the damnable heresy of the Gnostics that attempted to teach against Christ's deity, that is, that Christ is not God.
"Receive him not into your house."
John is saying that the believers were not to welcome these false teachers into their homes, nor were they to bid them 'God's speed' when they departed. The apostles traveled around from group to group teaching the scriptures, so they would be welcomed into the homes of the believers, and John was saying, if they deviate from the teachings of the true apostles, do not bid them 'hail' or 'farewell.'
Verse 11, "For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."
LGT "For the one saying to him hail or farewell is a partner in his evil work."
John is not speaking of mere hospitality to strangers; he is saying to them that the false apostles, the Gnostics, were spreading deceit with their evil lies about Christ's deity.
"It is to be borne in mind that the churches often met in private homes (Rom. 16:5; Col. 4:15), and if these traveling deceivers were allowed to spread their doctrines in these homes and then sent on with endorsement as Apollos was from Ephesus to Corinth (Acts 18:27), there was no way of escaping responsibility for the harm wrought by these propagandists of evil" (WPNT A.T. Robertson).
"For a church, or its responsible leaders, knowingly to admit its bounds the propagation of teaching subversive of the gospel is to participate in what John describes as 'evil works'. To give one who brings such teaching a greeting is to say 'chaire' (grace to you) to him, to bid him hail when he arrives or farewell when he leaves - here the former is more probably in view. It is plain from the early Christian manual called the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (a work compiled not much, if at all, later than the Epistles of John) that traveling prophets and apostles were well known figures in church life at this period, and it was necessary to distinguish the right kind from the wrong kind. The Didache gives priority to the doctrinal criterion. After summarizing the 'way of life' and the 'way of death' and the proper procedure for baptism, fasting and the Eucharist, it goes on: 'Whosoever then comes and teaches you all these things aforesaid, receive him. If, however, the teacher himself is perverted and teaches another doctrine to destroy these things, do not listen to him; but if his teaching promotes righteousness and the knowledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord'. It also lays down some practical and pedestrian rules of thumb ('if he stays three days, he is a false prophet if he asks for money, he is a false prophet'). The crucial test has already been laid down in I John 4:1-3, and this is the test which is recommended to 'the elect lady' (The Gospel and Epistles of John, F.F. Bruce).
Verse 12, "Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full."
LGT "I have many things to write to you not willing with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and mouth to mouth to speak, in order that our joy may be filled full."
All John is saying is that he prefers to speak to them directly rather to write anything more.
"Unfortunately we do not know for sure what the other things were which the Elder wanted to say to these friends; perhaps he wished to deal in greater detail, in reference to specific persons, with those questions which are treated briefly and in principle in the letter. The 'paper', which he mentions, is papyrus (Gr. chartes); a short letter like II John would be accommodated on one papyrus sheet of normal size. To 'speak face to face' is literally 'to speak mouth to mouth' (Gr. stoma pros stoma) - a biblical phrase; God uses it of His converse with Moses in Num. 12:8. The clause 'that your joy may be fulfilled' is repeated from I John 1:4; in both places there is textual variation between 'your' and 'our' ('our' is read here by AV, RSV and NEB and is probably to be preferred, as in I John 1:4)" (The Gospel and Epistles of John, F.F. Bruce).
Verse 13, "The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen."
LGT "The children of your elect sister greet you."
From all I have read at this time, it seems to me that John is saying the children of the church where he is the elder send their greeting. If the 'elect lady' were a local church, so are the children of 'thy elect sister' a local church.
"The status of the lady's 'elect sister' will be comparable to her own status; if she is a local church, so is her sister (the church in the place where the Elder, [John] happens to be at the time of writing). The greetings are sent to the lady by 'the children' of her 'elect sister'; if the sisters are two churches and the 'children' their respective members, then the singular and plural are practically interchangeable. It is useless to speculate why the greetings are sent by the sister's 'children' rather than by herself; The Elder can scarcely be referring to sympathetic members of a church whose official leadership is unsympathetic, for in that case he would hardly describe the church as 'elect'. One miniscule of the eleventh century (Codex 465) identifies the 'elect sister' as the church of Ephesus [it is believed by some, that John was the leader of the Church at Ephesus after his exile on the Isle of Patmos]; this is a piece of traditional interpretation with no textual authority. But both 'sisters' were probably churches in that neighborhood" (The Gospel and Epistles of John, F.F. Bruce).
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