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Second John
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The Second Epistle of John is thought to have been written at Ephesus, following the writing of the First Epistle (eight of its thirteen verses are to be found in the First Epistle also) and to have been addressed to a sister in Christ otherwise unknown to history. It is this question of the Epistle's purpose that has given rise to the most disputed point in its short length of only thirteen verses. "The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth" is how he opens the epistle. Some commentators and scholars, reluctant perhaps to give the honour of an entire New Testament epistle to a woman, however saintly, especially to one who is not identified in any other extant writing, have suggested that under that pseudonym John intended the church at Ephesus, or perhaps the entire church on earth, to be understood. It is not a convincing suggestion; the fact that the elect lady has children who are associated with her in the greeting, and moreover has a sister who in turn also has children (verse 13) makes the supposition practically impossible of serious consideration. It seems virtually certain that John was writing to an actual person of his acquaintance, one whom he esteemed very highly "in the Lord" and the only question is, who was she? There is not much likelihood of that question being answered, this side of the Veil. Some have hazarded the view that Mary the mother of Jesus is the one to whom the Epistle was written. That is hardly likely; Mary must almost certainly have died many years before this date. Mary's children - James, Joses, Jude, Simeon, Salome, would have been well advanced in years themselves, almost John's own age. It has to be concluded that we have no clue to this sister's identity. The word "lady" in verses 1 and 5 is Kyria which was a Greek woman's name, the equivalent of the Hebrew "Martha" and also a Greek term of respect roughly equivalent to our English word 'madam'. John would be no more likely to use 'madam' in preference to the more intimate term 'sister' than would we toward one who is well known to us and highly esteemed as a sister in Christ. The most reasonable conclusion then is that the sister's name was in fact Kyria, and that the Apostle knew her sufficiently well to address her habitually by her "Christian" name. She was evidently a convert, perhaps Jewess, more likely Greek, probably middle‑aged and with a family of children, teenagers as we would say, living in one of the Greek towns of Asia where there were brethren, perhaps Colosse or Laodicea or Smyrna, within reach of the Apostle's travelling abilities. She had a sister, whose children at least apparently lived in Ephesus itself so that when the Apostle wrote this letter to his friend Kyria he would quite naturally add the words of greeting from those children with which the Epistle is ended. The entire letter therefore is just a little personal word, a gem of Christian correspondence, somewhat akin to Paul's similar letter to his friend Philemon of Colosse, preserved in the New Testament as an example to us of how the believers in that day felt towards each other. John's solicitude for the spiritual welfare of his friend and sister in Christ comes out very prominently in these few words. His reference in verse 1, to himself as "the elder" may be equally well a reference to his age or his office. The word "presbyter" may be understood either way and is normally interpreted in harmony with the context. John must certainly have been one of the oldest brothers in the Faith at the time - probably not far short of a century of years had passed over his head. It is true, moreover, that all the other Apostles had long since gone to their rest, and it may well be that John in humility had ceased calling himself by the name of Apostle since he was now the only Apostle living, and contented himself with the title of "elder" in its sense of a pastor in the church, perhaps referring to himself as "the Elder" as indicative of his realisation that the office of leader or chief shepherd of the flock on earth had now devolved upon him as the sole survivor of those who once walked and talked with Jesus, having known him in the flesh. John was the only one left on earth to have heard the memorable words "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation". There is a world of meaning in verse 2 which we can well take to ourselves in these latter difficult days. "For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever." So many have become apathetic and indifferent, having lost their first zeal and left their first love, often because of disappointment with someone or other aspect of the faith in which they had placed great trust and which did not turn out as they expected. Some have built their faith on chronology, and when the arrival of the set date and non‑fulfilment of the expected event has proved their hopes ill‑founded, have given up the Faith in despair and disappointment. We need always to remember that if we do properly and completely appreciate the Truth and allow it to take root in us, giving ourselves in complete and unreserved consecration to God, not to a date nor to work nor on a the basis of a doctrine, then the Truth that is in us will remain with us for ever, and neither the failure of the date or the work or the doctrine will make any difference to that. Even though the work and labour of a life‑time disintegrate in ruins about us, all that we have constructed and supported and administered come to an end like the things in the Epistle to the Hebrews that, having decayed and waxed old, are ready to banish away, we can stand up freed from all the obligations and responsibilities that those things have laid upon us and say "Lord, what wilt thou have me do next?" God will never have us idle, neither will disappointment have any place in our lives, whilst we can so profit by our experiences that the Truth remains in us for ever. Verse 3 is a wonderful greeting. "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." Here in this text we have the ideal expression of the relationship subsisting between the Father and the Son. Spoken of separately, the two are one in the bestowal of these wondrous blessings of favour, mercy and peace. We cannot say these things come from the Father more than the Son, nor yet from the Son more than the Father. John has no use here for the later "Dark Ages" idea that the Son in his mercy stands between a wrathful Father and a condemned world to save that world from the Father's vengeance. Here we have the Father and Son in perfect unison and perfect oneness extending heavenly blessings upon those in this world who are in the right attitude of heart to receive those blessings. Here we have assurance that in the Age to come the Shepherd who goes out to seek and save the lost sheep and the Father who goes out to meet the returning prodigal are working together in the closest harmony, so that, as Jesus himself said. "I and my Father are one". To these blessings sent from heaven there are conjoined the twin earthly blessings of truth and love. Neither is very much use to us without the other. Together, they yield us all that we need to make our calling and election sure. Truth regulates our intellectual faculties and love regulates our emotional faculties. Neglect either, and we become unbalanced Christians, either all heart and no head, or all head and no heart. In either case we shall not be of those who will need both heart and head for the onerous work of the next Age. This does not mean that we have to excel in the accomplishments both of heart and head before we can be acceptable to God, as though in one ordinary, everyday person are combined all the attributes of Francis of Assisi and Augustine. It is not given to many to reach up to the stature of great men. What is really needed is a due balance, so that the heart does not run away with the head nor the head stifle the impulses of the heart. Each of us needs to pay attention to both attributes, to truth and to love, in our lives. It is in verses 4 to 6 that John impresses this point with a practical and personal application. "I rejoiced greatly," he says to the unknown sister Kyria, "that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, Kyria, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 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". Here are truth and love again associated, and this time brought into contact with the commandment and so with our Christian walk, which is a practical application indeed. He finds Kyria's children walking in truth, and he rejoices greatly on that account. That is the Father's commandment and he is glad to find them so. Now he beseeches that they walk in Love, which is also God's commandment. He makes haste to affirm that he knows this is not a new commandment - even though Jesus himself had called it such. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another". To John and his disciples it was no longer a new commandment; they had heard it expounded and commended to them every day of their Christian lives. But it was still necessary to re‑affirm that commandment more constantly and more fervently than the other. Even in those early days it was easier to follow the law of intellectual knowledge than the law of brotherly love. So it is with us today. Too often is love despised as a weak
emotional thing of no real value in the Christian conflict, and knowledge
extolled as the be‑all and end‑all of Christian endeavours. Too easily we
forget St. Paul's immortal dictum. "Though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge… and have not love, I am
nothing" (1 Cor. 13.2). Here in this Second Epistle John remains
resolutely set upon the theme which appears so prominently in his First,
that the Truth of God can only be effectually manifested against a
background built up of intellectual appreciation based on absolute
sincerity in the quest for Divine Truth, and a heartfelt love for the
brethren and for all mankind that is an accurate reflection of the love
that God himself bears toward all his creatures. Kyria had evidently
brought her children up "in the nurture and fear of the Lord" to
understand well these things, and John, knowing that thus they had been
taught "from the beginning" has no fonder desire than that they might
continue so to walk to the end of their days, living witnesses to the
truth that dwelt in them and should remain with them for ever. |
