2 and 3 John - Introduction

Introduction

2 and 3 John are the two shortest books in the New Testament, both having the form of letters. The language and teaching bears a lot of similarities to that found in 1 John, and common authorship is a reasonable assumption. Despite their shortness, there is attestation or allusion to the letters from very early on in church history. Ireneus links 2 John with 1 John, and Clement of Alexandria knows of more than one Johannine letter. No one ever attributed the letters to anyone other than John the son of Zebedee.

The date of the letters is tied up with whether one takes them as being written before John’s gospel, or being written after the gospel. Most take the latter view, and that gives them a date of roughty 80-85 AD.

The letters do not state their specific destination, though 3 John does state the recipient, who is probably not one of the various Gaius’s mentioned in the New Testament. The region of Ephesus is taken as the most likely destination. 2 John seems to have the purpose of warning the church against travelling preachers who were not preaching the gospel. This is also timely today, when people have access to so much in the way of YouTube and podcasts. Some is good, but not all of it, and some is dangerous nonsense. 3 John was warning against a specific individual who seemed to be accruing power for himself. That is also very timely for our day as there are numerous instances of this sort of thing happening.