2 John setting & dates

The Setting of 2 John

Second John, like the apostle’s other letters, names no location, but it belongs to the same world as 1 John and the Gospel of John: the churches of the Roman province of Asia (western Turkey), over which the aged John exercised his fatherly oversight, most likely from Ephesus, near the end of the first century. The letter is addressed to “the elect lady and her children” — most probably a local church and its members, pictured affectionately as a family, though possibly an individual Christian woman and her household. The closing greeting from “the children of your elect sister” fits the picture of one congregation sending greetings to another, both under John’s care.

The true setting, as with 1 John, is a crisis of false teaching. Traveling teachers moved between the churches of the region, depending on the hospitality of believers for lodging and support — a practice that made the churches vulnerable when the travelers carried error rather than truth. Deceivers denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh were making their rounds, and to welcome them was to strengthen their hand. John writes this short, urgent note into that situation, warning a church he loves to walk in truth and love, to abide in the teaching of Christ, and to shut its door to those who would spread a false gospel. The geography of 2 John is thus the network of house churches across Asia Minor, along whose roads both truth and error traveled, and into which John sends his brief but weighty word of encouragement and warning.

Timeline

• c. AD 85-95 - The aged John oversees the churches of Asia, likely from Ephesus.
• During this period - False teachers deny Christ come in the flesh and travel among the churches.
• c. AD 90 - John writes 2 John to warn a church against welcoming these deceivers.
• The letter’s hope - That John may come and speak “face to face,” so their joy may be complete.