Bible Commentaries
2 John

INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND LETTER OF JOHN

There is no doubt that the Second and Third Letters of John are from the same writer. Also they show strong evidence in thought and language which link them to the First Letter of John. Compare 1 John 2:7 with 2 John 1:5; 1 John 2:18; 1 John 4:1-3 with 2 John 1:7; 1 John 2:23 with 2 John 1:9; 1 John 3:6; 1 John 3:9 with 3 John 1:11.

The false teachers mentioned in 1 John 2:18-29 were imitating the evangelists (see note on Ephesians 4:11) whom John was sending out (see note on 3 John 1:5-8). These false evangelists were going from place to place and victimizing the churches of Christ. John warns the Lady not to show hospitality to these false teachers (which she can identify because they will not declare The Christ came as a human being). John makes it plain that Christian love is not intended to encourage or help those who are motivated by the spirit of the Enemy of Christ!!!

John must have written many such letters, as he supervised the messianic community (congregations) in a way that only an apostle had the authority to do. Such short letters as Second and Third John might have been ignored, if it were not for the fact that they came from John, the loved apostle. John probably wrote from Ephesus to churches in the area, and the time is probably the last decade of the first century.