¹ tn The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
²tn Or “presbyter.” The author’s self-designation, the “elder,” is in keeping with the reticence of the author of the Gospel of John to identify himself. This is the same self-designation used by the author of 3 John.
³tn This phrase may refer to an individual or to a church (or the church at large). Some have suggested that the addressee is a Christian lady named “Electa,” but the same word in v. 13 is clearly an adjective, not a proper name. Others see the letter addressed to a Christian lady named “Kyria” (first proposed by Athanasius) or to an unnamed Christian lady. The internal evidence of 2 John clearly supports a collective reference, however. In v. 6 the addressee is mentioned using second person plural, and this is repeated in vv. 8, 10, and 12. Only in v. 13 does the singular reappear. The uses in vv. 1 and 13 are most likely collective. Some have seen a reference to the church at large, but v. 13, referring to “the children of your elect sister” is hard to understand if the universal church is in view. Thus the most probable explanation is that the “elect lady” is a particular local church at some distance from where the author is located.
sn 2 John is being written to warn a “sister” church some distance away, referred to as an elect lady, of the missionary efforts of the secessionist false teachers (discussed in 1 John) and the dangers of welcoming them whenever they arrive.
⁴tn The prepositional phrase ejn ajlhqeiva/ (en alhqeia) in 2 John 1 is similar to 3 John 1, although it is not qualified there as it is here (see 3 John 1). This is not merely the equivalent of an adverb (“truly”), but is a theological statement affirming the orthodoxy of Gaius, to whom the letter is addressed. “Truth” is the author’s way of alluding to theological orthodoxy in the face of the challenge by the opponents (see 1 John 3:19).
⁵sn All those who know the truth refers to true Christians who are holding fast to the apostolic Christology in the face of the secessionist opponents described in 1 John.
⁶tc The prepositional phrase diaV thVn alhvqeian (dia thn alhqeian, “because of the truth”) is missing in a number of significant manuscripts, among them Y 614 1241 1739 et alii. However, it looks to be a simple case of homoioteleuton, for v. 1 ends with thVn alhvqeian. For some of these manuscripts it could be an intentional omission, for the sense of the passage is largely the same without the prepositional phrase (the following adjectival participle, in this case, would simply attach itself to the previous thVn alhvqeian).
sn While truth certainly has a doctrinal aspect in this context, the following phrase that resides in us and will be with us forever suggests more than doctrine is involved. A close parallel is John 14:16-17 where Jesus promised his disciples that the Spirit (Paraclete) would be with them forever: “He remains with you and will be in you.” The “truth” the author speaks of here is a manifestation of the Spirit of Truth who is permanently with the believer.
⁷tn “And” is not in the Greek text. It is supplied for smoothness in English.
⁸tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied because the prepositional phrase beginning with ejk (ek) has partitive force. The partitive force of the prepositional phrase here has been taken by some interpreters to mean that the author has found some of the elect lady’s children who are living according to the truth and some who are not. This is grammatically possible, but the author has merely stated that he knows of some Christians in the church addressed who are “walking in the truth.” He does not know for certain that all of them are, and concern over this is probably part of the motivation for writing the letter.
⁹sn Living according to the truth (Grk “walking in [the] truth”). The use of the Greek verb peripatevw (peripatew) to refer to conduct or lifestyle is common in the NT (see 1 John 1:6, 3 John 3-4, as well as numerous times in Paul. Here the phrase refers to conduct that results when a person has “truth” residing within, and possibly alludes to the indwelling Spirit of Truth (see 2 John 2). In the specific context of 2 John the phrase refers to true Christians who are holding fast to an apostolic Christology in the face of the secessionist opponents’ challenge to orthodoxy.
¹⁰tn Grk “just as we received commandment from the Father.” The idiom “we received commandment from the Father” means the Father gave (a) commandment to them (the author plus the recipients).
¹¹tn The introductory kaiV nu'n (kai nun) has some adversative (contrastive) force: The addressees are already “living according to the truth” (v. 4) but in the face of the threat posed by the opponents, the author has to stress obedience all the more.
¹²tn The words “if I were” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied for clarity in English.
¹³sn An allusion to John 13:34-35, 1 John 2:7-8.
¹⁴tc For kainhVn grafw'n soi' (kainhn grafwn soi), codices B P and the Byzantine cursives have soi' grafw'n kainhvn (soi grafwn kainhn). The word order is thus a bit unusual (especially with kainhvn being now separated from the noun it modifies, ejntolhvn [entolhn]), though not out of sync with other anarthrous noun-adjective constructions in the NT (viz., on a rare occasion intervening words, even verb forms, can come between the noun and attributive adjective). This thus has the earmarks of authenticity, except that this stylized word order seems to be characteristic of P Byz in this epistle (cf. also v.ll. ejstiVn hJ ejntolhv [estin Jh entolh] in v. 6, hJmw'n hJ peplhrwmevnh [Jhmwn Jh peplhrwmenh] in v. 12). Thus, these witnesses seem to have a predilection of going against the grain in representing the word order of the elder. In light of the fact that NT grammarians are still wrestling with the significance of word order (not to mention the establishing of a ‘normal’ word order!), we must at the present time fall back on external evidence. The reading kainhVn grafw'n soi' is so well supported that it should be judged to be original. Translation is not affected either way by this problem.
¹⁵tn “The one” is not in the Greek text. It is supplied for clarity in English.
¹⁶sn See 1 John 2:7.
¹⁷tn The i{na (ina) clause indicates content.
¹⁸tn The i{na (ina) clause indicates result, parallel to John 13:34 where the final i{na clause also indicates result.
¹⁹tn Technically this o{ti (oti) clause is subordinate to the verb peripath'te (peripathte) at the end of v. 6, giving the reason why the readers should walk in the commandment to love one another. But BDF §456.1 notes that subordination “is often very loose” in such cases and can be translated “for.” Thus the o{ti assumes something of an inferential sense, drawing an inference based on what has preceded.
²⁰tn “As” is not in the Greek text. It is supplied for clarity in English, since (like in the same confession in 1 John 4:2) *Ihsou'n (Ihsoun) should be understood as object and Cristovn (Criston) as complement of an object-complement double accusative construction.
²¹tn Or “Messiah.”
²²tn This is the same confession as in 1 John 4:2 except the perfect participle used there is replaced by a present participle (ejrcovmenon, ercomenon) here. It is not clear why the author changed from a perfect participle in 1 John 4:2 to a present participle here. The perfect participle suggests a reference to the incarnation (past). The present participle could suggest a reference to the (future) second advent, but based on the similarity to 1 John 4:2 is it probably best to take it as referring to the incarnation.
²³sn The statement This person is the Deceiver and the Antichrist! is a metaphor (metonymy). The author does not mean that each individual is to be identified as the Antichrist. The opponents are compared to the Deceiver (Satan) and the Antichrist since they are accomplishing Satan’s work and preparing the way for the Antichrist.
²⁴sn The things we have worked for probably refers to the pastoral and missionary efforts undertaken by the recipients of the letter in their own community and surrounding communities. This work would be “lost” if the opponents with their false teaching are allowed to proselytize unopposed.
²⁵sn The idea of a reward for Christians who serve faithfully is not common in the Johannine writings, but can be found in Rev 11:18 and 22:12.
²⁶tn The construction pa'" oJ (pas Jo) + participle occur frequently in 1 John (13 times) where it is used by the author to divide people into categories: “everyone who does this” as opposed to “everyone who does the opposite.”
²⁷tn Here mevnw (menw) is translated “remain” rather than “reside” since a change in status or position is present in the context: the opponents did not “remain” but “ran on ahead.” The verb mevnw is used only here (twice in this verse) in the Johannine letters in connection with “teaching” but in the Gospel of John it is used three times with reference to the teaching of Jesus himself (7:16, 7:17, 18:19).
²⁸sn The idiom translated have God means to have a relationship to God as a genuine believer. The phrase has both the Father and the Son later in this verse should be understood the same way.
²⁹sn Do not give him any greeting does not mean to insult the person. It means “do not greet the person as a fellow Christian” (which is impossible anyway since the opponents are not genuine believers in the author’s opinion).
³⁰sn Shares in his evil deeds. Giving a public greeting could be understood by an onlooker to suggest agreement with the (false) teaching of the opponents and is thus prohibited by John.
³¹tn “Other” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity in English.
³²tn Grk “by means of.”
³³sn Presumably the author means he would rather say the additional things he wants to say to the recipients in person rather than by letter (with paper and ink).
³⁴tn Grk “speak mouth to mouth,” an idiom for which the English equivalent is “speak face to face.”
³⁵tn Grk “be fulfilled.”