2 John 1-13

2 John English Standard Version (ESV)

Greeting
1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that 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 Father's Son, in truth and love.

Walking in Truth and Love
4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one 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, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching 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 or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

Final Greetings
12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

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First a quick note that this is one of the books of the Bible that doesn't have any chapters.  What you see posted above is the entire book of 2 John (read "Second John").  It's John's second epistle (letter) to the Church that we have in the Bible.  IT will contain some more apocalyptic imagery that we haven't really seen up to this point, so I'll try to explain some of that as we go along.

First the word "elder" doesn't really mean that John is older (though he is), it is a position of leadership in the Church.  It is someone who has been given leadership authority over the Church and is responsible for their teaching and spiritual instructions--sometimes as a pastor, but other times in roles that assist the pastor.  They should not be confused with deacons who are "servants" (a word for a very low-level servant at that) who is responsible to take care of whatever "dirty work" needs to be done so that those with the responsibility of preaching and teaching can focus on that.   While John could have referred to himself as an "apostle" here, meaning one who has seen the risen Christ and been sent on mission by Him, he chose not to do so.  He instead chose to address this church, probably the church in Ephesus, as their pastor/teacher. 

We've already addressed the word "elect" several times, but I'm happy to talk about it more if you have questions.  The "lady" here is the Church who is the Bride of Christ.  The covenant God makes with His people is pictured as a betrothal and marriage covenant throughout the Old Testament and New Testament.  John commends this local congregation for knowing and loving the truth and living their lives in a way where it is obvious their faith is genuine (we just talked about this in the epistle of 1 John).  He then reminds them that the truth within them is a person who we abide in forever.

It seems like John may have recently visited the church in Ephesus and this is his letter back to them detailing his report of his visit.  He was happy to see that some of them and some of their children were being obedient to the instructions that he had written in his first letter, but it seems apparent in this wording that he found some that were already slipping away into apostasy as John once again exhorts the Church to watch out for deceivers--false teachers, false prophets and false Christs--who would want them to lose some or all of their eternal reward.  Personally, I think part of this reward for our faithfulness is getting to see the other lives that were affected as God used us to minister to others and share the gospel with them--no matter if they accepted or not.  Don't be the person that refuses to work with God and loses on the chance to experience this future blessing because the only person's eternal destiny you were concerned about was your own.

How do we know false teachers, false prophets and false Christs?  They will not teach you to rest in God and let Him do the heavy lifting.  It will almost always be some kind of works-based salvation for them where they have to prove themselves worthy and try to make God love them.  They will also refuse to acknowledge that Jesus was God in the flesh and that the Father and the Son are one.  If anyone doesn't obey the teachings of Jesus or teaches others not to obey the teachings of Jesus, then we know they are not a true Christian.  We are to have no fellowship with these people that try to espouse these doctrines.  That is not to say that cannot have unsaved friends, but do not invite anyone into your house or to have a meal with you, or to be in any kind of fellowship with you who makes it their mission to convert people to these false teachings.  This will only confuse you and others about what you think is true and whether you see it this way or not, you are being asked to partner with them in their mission against God, His Son, His commandments, and His people.

John then finishes by saying that much of what he needed to say to them needed to be said in person.  This may simply be that it would need to be something they would need to hear to understand his tone, or it could be that times were becoming dangerous as the Church was being persecuted and it might not have been safe to give instructions to specific people about specific things as naming them might have been a cause for the government to arrest them.  John then says the Christians from their "sister" churches greeted them as well.

As always, please feel free to ask questions if you have any, and I'll respond as quickly as I can.