All three of John’s epistles seem to be simply dealing with fellowship. First John, which doesn’t appear to be a letter at all but may have been a cover document sent with his Gospel narrative, is about fellowship with God and how to maintain it. Second and Third John are true letters written in the format of letters of the first century AD.[1] Second John is about wrong fellowship, fellowship that should be avoided and, in fact, stopped, if it is presently going on. Specifically, it is about the danger of fellowship with false teachers or antichrists, as John refers to them, because in one way or another they deny that Christ is truly able to save anyone. Third John is all about the fellowship with one’s brethren.
The writer of Second John describes himself as the elder (presbuteros – G4245; 2John 1:1),[2] and he refers to his recipient as: the elect lady, which are: eklektos (G1588) and Kuria (G2959), respectively, in the Greek. So, actually the name John doesn’t appear in this epistle or any of his other works, for that matter (except the Apocalypse, if indeed that author is the same as this epistle). So, whoever the author is, and tradition gives the name John,[3] he is recognized as a leader of the Church. Moreover, the fact that he calls himself the elder, one is led to believe his identity is known by everyone. He is a particular elder of the Church, and everyone, who is a believer, is aware of who this is.
The identity of the elect (G1588) lady (G2959), on the other hand, is much more controversial than the identity of the author of this epistle. She is understood by some to be a particular woman by the name of Eklecte, viz. elect (a view held by Clement of Alexandria) or Kyria (taken from the Greek Kuria – G2959), which is a woman’s name[4] (a view embraced by Athanasius), or she may be an anonymous woman, though well known by many in the first century AD. A second understanding is that the elect lady represents a particular local body of believers. I believe this is the more likely of the two.
The term elect (G1588) means picked out or chosen. It refers to Christ (1Peter 2:4, 6; cp. Luke 23:35), but it may also refer to those who are Christ’s disciples. They are the ones chosen (G1588) from the many who are called (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). Peter claimed believers were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God (1Peter 1:2). The verb form of the word is used by Paul to say believers had been chosen (G1586) before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). So, the elect are those who are especially God’s people, probably similar to how the Levites fitted into the plan of God during the days of the Mosaic Covenant. The elect are a kingdom of priests (1Peter 2:9) in the Kingdom of God, and John, the Elder is writing to such a group of people during the first century AD.
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[1] First and Second John are similar in length and happen to be the shortest ‘books’ in the Bible, Philemon coming in next, followed by Jude. It only appears that Third John is longer than Second John, because Third John has fourteen verses, opposed to only thirteen in Second John, but this is deceptive. Second John contains 298 words, while its sister epistle contains only 294.
[2] Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines presbuteros as: elder pertaining to age; a ruler of the people (the high council and local judges pertaining to the Jews, or magistrates and the like in gentile cities). As the word pertains to Christians, it referred to those who were trusted to preside over the assemblies whenever they were gathered together.
[3] According to how I understand the Bible, the author of Second John must have been a witness to the life, death and resurrection of the Lord. I don’t believe he could have been an anonymous member of a religious community led by John or another Apostle. All writers of the New Covenant works must, in my opinion, have been literal witnesses to the Lord’s life, death and resurrection. As for Second John, its author seems to be the same as that of Third John, and First John, although the latter is more controversial. Nevertheless, this epistle is more like that of First and Third John than any of the other books of the Bible.
[4] Some seem to be quite dogmatic about kuria (G2959) being a woman’s name, and this may be true, but calling her the elect Kyria / Cyria seems a bit odd. Moreover, the word is never used as a woman’s name in the Greek Old Covenant Scriptures. The Septuagint uses the term for Sarah (Genesis 16:4, 8-9), and it seems to have the same meaning as “your lady” or “my lady” in the account, and Sarah may have been addressed as “my lady” or “your ladyship.” The word seems to be the manner in which a woman of high standing or importance was addressed. In fact, it is the feminine of the Greek Kurios (G2962), meaning lord / Lord. See also 1Kings 17:17; 2Kings 5:3 and Proverbs 30:23 as other examples. Therefore, the Greek word, although it may, indeed be a woman’s name, it doesn’t have to be so, but the Biblical evidence seems to support the probability of a woman of prominence.
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