Chapter 330 of 379

2 John

See

Authorship

Both 2 John and 3 John are attested later than 1 John because they were too brief to be cited often by early church fathers. Usually letters of this length are too brief for stylistic comparison. Nevertheless, the style (as well as the theology) is close to that of 1 John, and this points to common authorship of the three letters.

Genre

Both 2 John and 3 John are letters. Unlike most NT letters, 2 and 3 John are both the length of most surviving ancient letters. The average ancient letter required only a single sheet of papyrus.

Background

Second John addresses the same central error that 1 John addressed (see

). The false teachers may respect Jesus as a great prophet like John the Baptist, but they do not recognize him as the supreme Lord in the flesh (cf. ; , ). Some scholars think that they may have been affiliated with, or been forerunners of, Cerinthus (who distinguished the divine Christ and the human Jesus) or the Docetists (who claimed that Jesus only appeared to be human). Such beliefs would have made them more acceptable to their culture, but contradicted the eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus personally (; ). ◆

Quick Glance

The apostle John

Audience:

The “lady chosen by God,” probably a local church in western Asia Minor

Date:

Between AD 85 and 95

Theme:

John writes to urge discernment in supporting traveling teachers, since false teachers were also traveling and teaching heresy.

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