WE COME NOW to 2 John, a very brief letter that even on a quick reading has an obvious connection to 1 John. Second John, however, starts quite differently. As we’ve seen, at the beginning of 1 John, the apostle dispenses with the usual letter-writing formalities. Again, contrast this with the letters of Paul. His epistle to the Ephesians, for example, begins with these words: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:1, NIV). Paul names himself as the sender and the church in Ephesus as the recipient, then greets his readers. It’s straightforward, to the point, and mostly follows the customs of the time, with a spiritual twist or two.

It’s not just Paul who does this. First Peter, for example, opens this way: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Pet 1:1-2). It’s a bit more elaborate, especially in the middle, because Peter wants to emphasize who his readers are in God’s sight. But the same form is there: sender, recipient, greeting.

First John has none of this. The opening verses there read less like the beginning of a letter and more like the beginning of John’s gospel. That’s no accident; he may have chosen to begin that way because the controversy that split the community stemmed in part from people willfully misreading that gospel.

Second John, however, does follow the customary pattern. Both the sender and recipient of the letter are named, and this is followed by a greeting. But despite such conventionality, the opening words are a bit cryptic, reading almost like an anonymous love letter:

The elder, to the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth—Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love. (2 John 1-3, NIV)

It’s not anonymous, of course; the recipients would have known full well who “The Elder” was. The moniker probably had less to do with John’s physical age than his role and status, the way we might refer to someone respectfully as an “elder statesman” today. Indeed, the word is used throughout the New Testament to refer to respected religious leaders, both in the synagogue and in the church. The office of elder still exists in the church, and one doesn’t have to be a senior citizen to qualify.

But who is “the lady chosen by God”? That’s the New International Version’s translation. Note that in the Greek, the word for “chosen” is the adjective eklekte (pronounced ek-lek-TAY); the words “by God” have been inserted by the translators for clarity but are not actually there. Thus, some have proposed instead that John was writing to a woman named “Eklekte,” and politely honored her by addressing her as a “lady.”

The problem with this reading, though, is that to be consistent, we’d have to read the last verse of the letter similarly. Verse 13 reads:

The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings. (vs. 13)

In other words, if the first verse means that John is writing to a lady who was actually named Eklekte, then the last verse means that she has a sister who is also named Eklekte — and all the nieces and nephews are saying hi.

That seems…rather unlikely.

What’s more likely is that at both the beginning and the end of the letter, John is speaking metaphorically of the church. For example, think back to the opening of 1 Peter we read earlier: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect…” The word translated as “elect” is the masculine plural form of the adjective eklekte, which is feminine and singular because it modifies “lady.” But the Greek word typically translated as “church” is also feminine and singular, just as we might use the words “she” and “her” in English when referring to the church.

If that’s John’s meaning, then he may be writing as The Elder to a particular congregation — and may even be anticipating that the letter will be read by more than one congregation. Indeed, some have suggested that after John wrote the first letter for the people in his community, it may have been circulated to other churches, with 2 John functioning as a cover letter. The last verse, then, which refers to the children of the Chosen Lady’s sister, would be a way of saying to any church that read the letter, “We are your sister church, and everyone here sends greetings.”

Thematically, though, what’s important in these opening verses is the way John emphasizes truth and pairs it with love. The Elder says that he loves the Chosen Lady — the church! — “in the truth.” This doesn’t mean “true love” in the romantic sense of the term. In 1 John, the word “truth” signified the truth about Jesus, the true gospel that the secessionists denied and undermined with their lies. To love someone “in the truth,” therefore, means to love them because of the gospel. Moreover, it’s not just John who sends his love to the church that received his letter. All who know the truth, he suggests, will love God’s church.

To John, it’s all extended family. There is one Father in heaven, and he has one Son. But as he insisted in 1 John, those who have the true gospel of Jesus the Son are born of God, and are therefore God’s children. Here in 2 John, the apostle seems to regard Christian congregations as chosen by God and sisters to one another.

But the secessionists, it seems, are still trying to rile up the family. That’s why John must also write to sister congregations, to help ensure they continue to stand for the truth — and as we’ll see, to do so in love.