The Book of 2 John: Guard the flock
- 1. INTRODUCTION
Thank you to each of you who is joining us in this study of John’s writing which is labelled 2 John. For those on YouTube, if you haven’t yet read this little letter, which is the only chapter of this book, please pause your playback, read the chapter, and then re-join us. Thanks.
Welcome back.
Like always when we turn our attention to a new book of the Bible, we ask the basic questions, who wrote this, to whom, and what are the circumstances that caused the author to write this?
Who and to whom?
The language of the letter is Johanine, without question. The topics include love and truth, information given from the beginning, and false deceivers who are named as antichrist. It’s all there, and those who have been with us for a few weeks, who studied John’s first letter will recognize those topics and when you read the 2nd letter will agree that it seriously sounds like the apostle of love. You are in agreement with most of the commentators out there.
The question is asked, why is there any question about the authorship at all? Answer: the opening introduces the author as “the elder.” That’s a term never used elsewhere by John, who was already of a rank higher than that, but I’ll explain in a few minutes why I think John used that term as I unpack the topic of the government of the early believers.
OK, so John in the author of the book, and he’s the author of the Gospel of John as well as the Book of the Revelation and the other two letters, 1 John and 3 John which we will learn next week. That’s five of the 27 books of the Newer Testament. Almost 20 percent… that’s significant.
Now the question of ‘to whom’ did he write this?
The chosen lady is our translation, and so it sounds like a particular woman. The greeting is common in those days, like we see in Titus or Philemon, and thus makes sense that the word we translate ‘lady’ should actually be a person, and thus, many scholars use the name “Cyria”, the transliteration of the word, as her name. It was a somewhat common name in those days. And that works for me.
I used to teach and still very much allow for the interpretation that this is a metaphor for the church in a particular area, perhaps in Turkey where John longed to visit again from his probable location in Ephesus, and this is one of the two thoughts most have on this subject. Whichever view you take, the issue is not worrisome enough to supplant us from the study of the content and the purpose of the letter.
What is contained in this little letter?
John reiterates four topics we are used to reading from him, 1) faith itself being maintained (.1-2, 4, 9), 2) obedience to the command to love (.5-6), 3) rejecting worldly living (.7), and 4) renouncing sin (.10-11)
The reason for the writing is hinted at in verses 7 to 11 and seems that the congregation to whom John is writing is actually doing a great job in hospitality. They were hosting folks who were traveling and speaking, visiting congregations, and keeping the fellowship of the believers intact. If I read this correctly, the hospitality they extended is never criticised but also allowed for their being vulnerable to infection from wrong teachers. We’ll get to that in that section.
Let’s dig in.
Verse 1: The elder. John is well-enough known to leave his own name out. Sounds like his use of the phrase “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in the Gospel to self-describe. As I said, his rank was already known as ‘apostle’ by the time he is writing this, so why the use of the term ‘elder?’ The Greek word is ‘presbyter’ which we later use in church language to define a movement later a denomination as Presbyterian.
Let me unpack church government, not a usual consideration of our studies, but worthwhile, especially as John gave us this term today.
There are three terms used in the Newer Testament that might be confusing. They are elder, shepherd and overseer. Those Greek words are presbyter, poimen and episcopos. Sometimes the last is also translated as bishop.
Here are those words in context.
Matthew uses presbyter 12 times, Mark 7 times, Luke 5 times, John did not use the term in his Gospel. Each of those refers to the category alongside the members of the Sanhedrin, and other notables in the Jewish community in the First Century. In the book of Acts, presbyter is used first of the non-messianic folks who ruled, and then the term was used in the messianic community to denote leaders there as well.
John used the term 12 times in the Revelation and of course Paul and Peter used it often as well. Each time the term refers to a member of the community of faith who is given leadership function. It seems to me that the role of the Jewish elder now was transferred to the messianic elder very neatly.
Oh, of note, is that Peter identifies himself as a ‘fellow elder’ (1 Peter 5.1) and that helps me see John in this letter today using that term. We’ll see that again in a moment.
The second term is ‘shepherd’ and I see it most clearly used in the Newer Testament in Yeshua’s self-description in John 10. There we see the one who gives his life for his sheep. Peter used the term to address the leadership in 1 Peter 5, and we should read that here:
1Pet. 5:1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight (episcopos) not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
Here we see all three terms mixed easily in Peter’s vocabulary. Elders, shepherds and overseers, all applied to the same people. It’s an advisory and teaching based on John 10 and the words of Messiah to Peter, and now Peter is passing those on to the elders under his charge.
In 1 Timothy 3, the term ‘episkopos’ is used to refer to one who exercises oversight. Epi (over) skopos (to see) is the Greek. It’s also translated ‘bishop’ in the KJV. Paul then defines the role of the overseer and it’s the same as the role of the elder. And in fact, Paul in chapter 5 of 1 Timothy changes the noun to ‘elder’ and continues his teaching about the overseer.
There seem to be two offices in the local community of faith: elder and deacon. Deacon means ‘servant’ and they were first appointed to support the apostles in Acts 6. The other local office is one of the three terms, and later on the church might have made them layered, but biblically the elder is the shepherd is the bishop. One office, different functions, one Lord of all.
Back to our text, when John calls himself ‘The elder’, he’s saying I’m an authority, actually ‘the elder’ (definite article is attached) and probably the senior member of the leadership team that cares for and shepherds the community represented by the lady or Cyria. Remember Peter called himself ‘fellow elder’ and that’s likely what John is saying, but the other elders might have honoured him as senior as would be natural in human society to the eldest among them.
The use of ‘elect’ for Cyria and the use of ‘her children’ in verse one make me think that Cyria is a personification of the church and her children are the disciples she is making each day, each week, each decade. Even if someone sees Cyria as a person, ‘her children’ go well beyond any natural function and represent the church either in her house, or more likely the church in its locality there.
(Smalley says this: “The general character of 2 John suggests almost without question that the letter is addressed to a community and its problems, rather than to a person or family. Note also (a) the language of vv 1–3, 13, which is more appropriate for a church group than for an individual; (b) the interchange between singular and plural in vv 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 13, which points in the same direction; (c) the reference in v 5 to the “new command” given by Jesus to his disciples, which suggests that a congregation is in mind. cf further Brooke, 167–69.”
Verses 1 and 2, John pings his regular theme of ‘truth.’ John does not alone mention and teach truth, especially the use of the term by Yeshua in John’s Gospel. But these numbers matter. Matthew uses the term 1 time, Mark twice, Luke thrice, and John 17 times! Get it? John believes that truth matters and that Yeshua emphasized it in his hearing.
John uses it five times in four verses to start here. It’s as if he’s saying, “What I’m about to tell you is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God.”
Personal story. When I was raised as an Orthodox Jew, here in Kansas City, from where this broadcast today is being recorded, my family raised me to believe and practice the truth. My mother would catch me in a questionable statement and would ask me if I were lying by saying in English and Yiddish, “Honest emes?” Emes is the Yiddish word for the Hebrew ‘emet’ or ‘truth.’ It was as if she were giving me a 2nd chance to fess up to what was apparently obviously to her a misstatement. In modern vernacular we interject with ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ or “For real?” In modern Hebrew we answer with ‘b’emet’ (as if to seal the statement with the honesty label).
John is saying that of his letter. It’s wrapped in the truth of God, of Yeshua and of what he had been taught.
If John is known for any theology though, it’s the theology of love. Love is his definition of how we should treat each other. Love is how the world will know if we are his disciples.
John alone quotes this from Yeshua at the Passover seder
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13.34-35)
In Leviticus we were to love our neighbour as ourself. (19.18) But in the New agreement between man and God, and between man and man, after Yeshua died and rose again, we are to love our neighbour as he has loved us. That’s massively different. That’s all in!
John reminds us that truth is right yet without love we are a simple noisy gong of truth telling. (.4-5)
In verse 6, John reminds the lady Cyria and the believers in her city that they have learned this lesson of love ‘from the beginning.’ That’s both from John’s beginning and the church’s beginning. It all starts with God’s love. (John 3.16)
Then verse 6, ‘that you should walk in it.’ It’s not enough to have a belief in God or a belief in love; it’s right that our lives should characterize this. We should ‘walk it out.’ You’ve heard this so often that the cliché may make you not hear it any longer. “Don’t just talk the talk; you have to walk the walk.” In other words, words are ok, as long as they match how you live. The number one issue most unbelievers have with your faith is not that you believe one thing or another, but that you are a hypocrite. You fall short of your own standards.
John is saying “you’ve heard this from the beginning, from the first lesson I gave you, now keep it front and center today.’
The fable, the apocryphal story is told of the old apostle John being carried into a town to visit and the crowds came out to meet him who had walked with Jesus decades earlier. They cheered him as he was carried on a stretcher into the middle of the gathering. They said, “Oh great apostle John, please teach us.” He sat up and raised his hand skyward and said, “Love one another.” And he lay back down. The crowd marvelled and whispered to one another, “Great lesson.” John was taken away.
The next week at the gathering the same scene took place and again the crowd hushed to hear the declaration by John as he sat up, “Love one another.” Again the whispered to one another, “Great lesson.” Again John was taken away.
The third week, at the gathering, the same scene. Again John sat up and declared, “Love one another.” One brave young man shouted from the back, “Great apostle John, you told us that last week. Haven’t you got anything else to teach us?” The apostle sat back up and said, “Young man, when you practice love for one another, when you learn that lesson, we will go on to another.”
Dear friends, that’s what I hear in “from the beginning” in verses 5 and 6 today. Learn that lesson, then we will go on.
The warning
The second half of the letter is to be understood as a warning. Cyria’s folks, the disciples in that city, are wonderfully welcoming and charitable and practicing hospitality. As a result, some bad teachers, as John calls them deceivers. The Greek word is ‘planos’ and refers to their wandering, almost like a vagabond or tramp. Then by implication they ‘wander’ away from the truth. And worse yet, they deceive others. So ‘watch yourselves’ (verse 8) which is plural and thus a warning to the whole Body of messiah.
What is the warning? What is the red flag about which we should be aware? The same as we saw in 1 John over and over, the false teaching of the Gnostics who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and anointed from his birth through to his eternity. They did not believe Yeshua as Messiah was born in the flesh, but rather that Yeshua became the Messiah when he was baptised and thus Messiah was not born of flesh. They had a (mis)understanding of the dual nature of Yeshua being both human and divine.
What action does John recommend the believers there to take? Refuse to welcome these folks. Don’t let them take advantage of you. They do not know God, not really, and their intention is to harm you and your faith.
I was pondering this last week in Texas as I was continually harassed about Australia and the draconian and military horrors that apparently are abounding on the news media in their in boxes and televisions. On enquiry I discovered a video that was being shown over and over to highlight Australia’s lockdown and a crowd scene of police stopping a protest. Arrests took place etc. I thought about it over and over as so many in Texas mentioned it to me and I wondered if this kind of dramatic reporting and hostile conclusions might be in John’s mind today.
Don’t let false teachers, or as many use the term, ‘fake news’ infect your views.
Now please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying anything political or a video shown on a television network is to be equally compared to John’s warnings about the Gnostics and their theological infection of the minds of believers in Ephesus and around the known world in the First Century.
What I am saying is that the warning about not letting wrong information or ‘not truth’ into our ears is still valid. This is an application of this verse; it’s not what this biblical verse is teaching for its day.
When we ponder the equivalence from then to now, substantially, the warning is loud and clear. Don’t learn Gnostic teaching from New Age folks. Don’t give your mind to those who teach the ‘wrong Jesus’ or as Paul warned “another Gospel.”
Let me remind you of an old imagery that may help. Hang out with those with whom you disagree if you can help them. Or let’s use a very clear fire and ice image. You are on fire for the Lord. You may hang out with those who are icebergs as long as you are melting them. When they start to freeze you over, it’s time to get out.
John said in verse 11, “whoever greets him shares in his evil works.”
Finally, John ends as is typical of epistolary models in those days, with farewells, both from himself, wishing to visit her and the community of faith there, and from the believers where John is.
What do we learn today?
Yeshua is the one who represents truth and who shepherded the people of God in the Older Testament and into the current age of grace. He calls others to shepherd the people of God and as such John issues a warning to the folks across the region to keep love and truth as the focus of their faith. Stay away from false teachings. Stay connected to the Lord of life and to one another.
My friends, that’s how I want to live today. And I hope you do also.
INVITATION
Dear friends, if you’d like to have the forgiveness and the fellowship about which I spoke, you can do so today. Just now you can pray and find that the God of love extends his life to you in giving you pardon for all your sins. That forgiveness will usher you into the freedoms of knowing the God of love. Isn’t that a wonderful idea?
If you’d like that, please pray and ask God to forgive you your sins and to make you born again.
Then let us know you have done this, won’t you? Write to us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) and tell us you have prayed for the first time. We want to send you some literature and welcome you to the family.
And if you have any questions, use that same address, ok?
And join us next week as we look specifically at the 3rd letter of John. It has a Lot to say to us in the 21st Century, as Covid and all kinds of other topics stay in our conversation.
Until then, Shabbat shalom.
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Actual text
2John 1 The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
2John 4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. 5 Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
2John 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
2John 12 Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full.
2John 13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.
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