2 John 1
1The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all they that know the truth; 2for the truth’s sake which abideth in us, and it shall be with us for ever: 3Grace, mercy, peace shall be with us, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4I rejoice greatly that I have foundcertainof thy children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father. 5And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it. 7For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which we have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward. 9Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. 10If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting: 11for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works. 12Having many things to write unto you, I would not write them with paper and ink: but I hope to come unto you, and to speak face to face, that your joy may be made full. 13The children of thine elect sister salute thee.
What is 2 John 1 about?
Written near the close of the first century, this brief letter comes from the aged apostle John, who names himself simply "the elder," to "the elect lady and her children" — a local congregation and its members — at a time when many deceivers had gone out into the churches denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. John opens with joy that some of her children are walking in the truth, then presses upon them the commandment they have had from the beginning, that they love one another and walk after His commandments. He warns that the deceivers and antichrists who reject the incarnation must be refused, so that the believers neither receive such teachers into their houses nor bid them Godspeed and become partakers of their evil deeds. Choosing to say the rest face to face rather than with paper and ink, John binds truth and love together as inseparable, guarding the flock from error while keeping it tender toward one another. His short word secures the apostolic gospel of the incarnate Son against every counterfeit, that the people of God might abide in the doctrine of Christ and so have both the Father and the Son.
Matthew Henry on 2 John 1