II John 1 · The Lantern

A Greeting from the Elder

The elder, to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth — and not I only, but also all those who have known the truth —

The second Epistle of John, which is written to Virgins, is very simple. It was written to a Babylonian lady, by name Electa, and indicates the election of the holy Church. He establishes in this Epistle that the following out of the faith is not without charity, and so that no one divide Jesus Christ; but only to believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

Some have thought that this Epistle and the one that follows are not from John the Beloved, but from another who had the same name: because in these he writes of himself as an elder, and to a lady, and to another Gaius, and he writes of one just as he does of the lady; which does not happen in a Catholic Epistle.

Some thought that the present epistle, as well as the one following it, belonged not to John — the beloved disciple of the Lord, but to another person of the same name; because in both epistles the writer calls himself a presbyter, and one epistle is written to a certain woman, and the other to Gaius, again to a single person, which does not befit an epistle called catholic; mo…

because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us to the age:

Grace, mercy, peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Again, after these things, he adds: "Grace and mercy will be with us:" designating the goods that arise from perfect love. Speaking of God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, John adds, "the Son of the Father:" for only here is He properly the Father. Therefore, Paul also says, "From whom," he says, "every family in heaven and on earth is named."(Eph.

May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father be with you, etc. Since the heretics of that time, namely Marcian and Cerinthus, denied that our Lord Jesus Christ was truly the Son of God and attributed his beginning to human birth, John rightly recalls him as the Son of God the Father to refute these blasphemers.

To the words: "from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ," he added also: "the Son of the Father." For God alone is Father of the Son in the proper sense. Therefore Paul also says: "from Whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph. 3:15). In truth and love.

Walking in the Truth

I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, just as we received commandment from the Father.

And now I ask you, lady — not as writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning — that we love one another.

John said: "not as writing a new commandment to you," and this he firmly states to those who are mentioned in the preceding epistle, simultaneously demonstrating that it shows what they themselves had experienced by acting according to it, and not from difficult and foreign matters, affecting them with sorrow by approaching the unfamiliar.

And now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing a new commandment to you, etc. By this word, he reproaches the heretics, who were attempting to introduce new doctrines, leaving behind what they had heard from the apostles, and thereby disrupting the bonds of brotherly charity.

"Not as a new commandment." And this is in agreement with what is said in the first epistle (1 John 2:7). He also adds the requirement of the commandment: "that we love one another." And he explains concerning love that its essence consists in walking according to it, and the commandment concerning it is a commandment from the beginning, and was given for nothing other than tha…

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 walk in it.

Beware of Deceivers

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those not confessing Jesus Christ coming in flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward.

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into the house, and do not tell him to rejoice;

But as many as separate from the Church, and give heed to such old wives' fables as these, are truly self-condemned; and these men Paul commands us, "after a first and second admonition, to avoid." And John, the disciple of the Lord, has intensified their condemnation, when he desires us not even to address to them the salutation of "good-speed;" for, says he, "He that bids the…

Since it is written that we should avoid such people, how can we not assume that someone who associates with Arians is also an exponent of their heresy?

The apostle warns those to whom he writes the epistle that they should not only not receive under their roof anyone who comes to them without confessing the teaching of Christ, but should not even greet him, because a greeting from us should be given only to those who are of the same character and the same faith as us.

for the one telling him to rejoice partakes in his evil works.

It is obvious that those who make friends of people who speak falsely aboutout God and who even eat with them do not love the Lord who made them and who feeds them. Instead of being content with that food they are led away into blasphemy against the one who feeds them.

Anyone who dwells in the doctrine of the gospel and who acts according to its teaching will separate himself from those who think and act differently.

Conclusion

Having many things to write to you, I did not want to with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and to speak mouth to mouth, so that our joy may be complete.