Fathers

2 John 1

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only, but also all those who know the truth, for the truth’s sake, which remains in us, and it will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we have been commanded by the Father. Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ, doesn’t have God. He who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you, and doesn’t bring this teaching, don’t receive him into your house, and don’t welcome him, for he who welcomes him participates in his evil deeds. Having many things to write to you, I don’t want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you, and to speak face to face, that our joy may be made full. The children of your chosen sister greet you. Amen.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

2 John 1:1

Eastern Fathers

Theophylact of Ohrid

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; moreover, the beginning of this epistle is not the same as that of the first epistle. To this we shall say the following. …

Commentary on 2 John ↗

Oecumenius

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. Furthermore, he did not make a title according to the previous epistle: for he did not begin it in that way. …

Commentary on 2 John ↗

Clement of Alexandria

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. …

From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

Originally "presbyters" and "bishops" were the same. When later on one was chosen to preside over the rest, this was done to avoid schism. For apart from ordination, what function is there which belongs to a bishop which does not also belong to a presbyter?

Letters 146 ↗

Bede

And not I only, but also all, etc. Because he begins to write against heretics, as they have fallen from the truth of the faith, he rightly recalls that there is one love in the Holy Spirit among all who have known the truth, to frighten those who, being few, have separated themselves from the society of the many Catholics with their unanimity and multitude. …

Commentary on the Catholic Epistles ↗