Having many things to write to you, I would not with paper and ink; but hope to come to you, and to speak mouth to mouth, that our joy may be full.
Second John closes with the writer setting down his pen: he has much more to say, but he would rather say it in person. A stern letter about deceivers ends as a warm family note, and it raises a question: why does joy become full when believers meet?
The letter is short on purpose.
John had much more that he wanted to write, but other things could wait until he came to speak face to face. The matter he wrote about, however, could not wait: it was vitally important. Certainly today we must be no less watchful in refusing the many deceivers who go from door to door. But fullness of joy in true fellowship remains the blessed property of the children of God, as the end of verse 12 shows.
Choosing a visit over a letter shows what kind of love the writer had.
Here I find another thing — the kind of affection that should reign among the saints. It was not just an abstract love; there was gladness in seeing them, real comfort in it, and rejoicing to see them doing well. The Holy Spirit always encourages this activity of love, however strong He may be for the truth.
There is also a plain practical reason why talking together beats writing.
The apostle John saw the value of speaking together. He wrote, "I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete" (2 John 12)… Isolation tends to breed distrust, which speaking together soon dispels.
The closing line is not detached from the warning before it. Hoping for shared joy tells us how far the apostle trusted these readers.
His hope of coming and his greeting show the same thing. The apostle fully counted on his readers to take to heart and carry out without fail his order to shut out the man who was false to Christ. That man was trying to trap others into his wicked works. He made no threat of consequences. He only warned that compromise here means fellowship with the evil-doer. He made no attempt to force obedience by appealing to his own position, or to their long friendship. It all depends on what grace has made us feel is due to Christ. It is really a question between the Son and Satan… He looked for faithfulness to Christ. He shows it plainly: when he comes to them, he speaks of their joy being made full. This he could not have hoped for if he had any doubt about their faithfulness.
The same love that longs for a visit also refuses to overlook evil. Note whose joy is in view too — the apostle wanted to be with them for his own joy.
The apostle had great joy in his children and he longed to be with them so that his joy might be full. His love came out in this way. He would be with them for his own joy. Love seeks the company of the loved ones. Yet this was not the love that allows a person to go on with evil… It is not the false love that accepts what is not of the truth just to keep Christians pleased. In both these little letters we see those who have to be resisted. It is love founded on the truth; love which must love, and cannot help loving, yet must act according to truth.
This letter ends with the hope of meeting in person. One writer looks past the apostle's travel plans to a greater meeting.
Both letters end with a coming face-to-face meeting. Let us remember that some blessed day there will be a "face to face" meeting. The saints of God will meet together for eternal fellowship. Above all, we shall be face to face with Him. How soon it may be! But while we wait, may we walk in the light. May we enjoy our fellowship with the Father and with His Son to the full.
- Urgency: The letter is brief. Only the warning about the deceiver could not wait; the rest waited for the visit.
- Presence: He put paper and ink aside for a person. This love is not abstract; it is glad to see people and comforted when they do well.
- Isolation: Being apart tends to breed distrust; speaking together soon clears it away.
- Faithfulness: He expected full joy only because he trusted them to shut the deceiver out. Compromise would have destroyed that joy.
- Fullness: Love seeks the company of those it loves, yet acts according to truth. It ends where the letter ends — face to face, and one day face to face with Him.
The children of thine elect sister greet thee.
The letter ends the way a family note ends — with a greeting passed from one household to another. Two questions sit behind those few words. Who was this "elect sister"? And why does John send a warm greeting here, after refusing one to certain visitors earlier in the letter?
Some have read the "elect lady" of verse 1 as a picture of a church rather than a person. Verse 13 makes that reading hard to hold. In the New Testament, "elect" is a word for people, not churches:
This last possibility is out of the question. Nowhere in the New Testament is a local church called "elect" or even "lady." God chooses only individual believers (Eph. 1:4; 1 Thess. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:2), and this in one Lord only, in Jesus Christ. The expression "the children of your elect sister" in verse 13 raises even more difficulties. It is therefore much easier to relate these greetings to a believing lady, her sister and her children. Peter also calls his wife "she that is elected" in 1 Peter 5:13 (Darby translation).
So these are real relatives. And notice who sends the greeting: the children, not the sister herself.
Verse 13 also shows the greeting of true fellowship. "Your elect sister" was clearly not there with her children. If she had been, John would surely have included her in the greeting he sends for them. It seems likely that these children were the actual nephews or nieces of "the elect lady."
Warm greetings close the letter. Kelly marks what that love was tied to:
There was hearty love, but it was only in the truth, of which Christ alone is the test and obedience the effect.
The elect lady had a sister. Her sister's household seems to have been near the apostle, and his love for them rested on one thing:
She also had a sister with children, who seems to have been in the same place where the apostle was, probably in Ephesus. The last verse of the letter points to this... every child of God — man, woman or child — is best loved for the sake of the truth. It is the blessed truth poured out so richly in the First Letter, the truth which is Christ Himself. And that truth "abides in us and will be with us forever." So the truth known binds together in closest fellowship all who know Him.
Earlier in the letter John had told this household to shut the door on anyone who denied Christ. He now ends without a threat, and without leaning on his own standing:
His hope of coming and his greeting both show something. The apostle fully counted on his readers to take to heart and carry out his order without fail. They were to shut out the man who was false to Christ and was trying to trap others into his wicked works. He threatens no consequences. He only warns that compromise in such a case means sharing fellowship with the evil-doer. He makes no effort to force obedience by appealing to his own position, or to their close friendship up to now. It all depends on what grace has made us feel is due to Christ.
That freedom also marks a boundary. The strictness of this letter belongs to one subject, and Kelly warns against stretching it further:
Strictness is an absolute duty where the question is the true Christ or a false one. But nothing can be less of the Spirit of God than to apply that same strictness to minor differences over discipline. The great enemy uses such a mistake to scatter those whom Christ died to gather into one.
The letter closes without telling us a single name. That silence looks deliberate:
He had put the elect lady on her guard "against everything doubtful about the person of Christ." With that, he had delivered the message entrusted to him. So he closes his letter with the words, "The children of your elect sister greet you." We are not told who these were, or who the elect lady was (verses 1 and 13). Our attention goes to the truth communicated, rather than to the persons.
- Truth loved. John's affection for this household runs "only in the truth, of which Christ alone is the test and obedience the effect."
- Truth shared. John calls two related families "elect." That word marks out chosen people, not congregations. What binds them in closest fellowship is the truth they both know.
- Truth guarded. This letter refuses a greeting to those who deny Christ, yet sends one warmly here. That strictness guards the person of Christ alone. Stretch it to smaller differences and it scatters those Christ died to gather.
- Truth trusted. No threat, no pulling rank, no appeal to old friendship. The closing greeting simply assumes they will obey, out of what grace has taught them is due to Christ.
- Truth first, names last. The letter names neither woman. Our attention goes to the message, not to the people who received it.