07.4. A study of 2 John 1:1-3 in Greek
7.4. A study of 2 John 1:1-3 in Greek. In the previous section, we read the text of 2 John in English and Greek. In this section we will study the text in detail, paying attention to the grammar and the words. You will also remember that we identified a few verses that need more study to establish the correct translation of the text. What should we do now? The first step is to have the Greek and English texts open. They are our point of departure. But, we will also open Robertson and Vincent.
·Greetings 1:1-3 oThe Writer (1:1a) oThe Recipients (1:1b-2) oChristian Greeting (1:3) 7.4.1. The Writer (1:1a) οG3588 THE πρεσβυτεροςG4245 ELDER.
Vincent starts verse 1 with a discussion of the words ‘the elder’. He studied the word diachronically, starting with the original use of the word, followed by its meaning. This kind of word study is helpful. However, you should always bear in mind that the meaning of the word in its context is the one that should be used. It would be wrong, for example, to say that ‘the elder’ in 2 John 1:1, refers to one of the twenty-four elders in the book of Revelation (see Rev. 4:4). Vincent said as a conclusion of his study that ὁ πρεσβύτερος (ho presbuteros) in 2 John 1:1 refers to an official position, coupled, presumably, with age. This explanation needs some more elaboration. Who then is this elder? The Greek may give us one more indication, not discussed by Vincent. He is identified in ES and TW as ‘ο G3588 THE’ elder’. The definite article here serves to identify. It means that ‘the’ elder was the well-known one. So who is this well-known elder? This question takes us beyond grammar and word studies. The study note in the NET answered this question as follows: The author’s self-designation, the elder, is in keeping with the reticence of the author of the Gospel of John to identify himself. This is the same self-designation used by the author of 3 John. This explanation seems to be reasonable. John was a leader in the church, and at the time of writing he was an old man; he was in his nineties. As such, he could speak with authority.
Questions to think about:
· Is there still room for old people in ministry today?
· Did you know that Paul’s active ministry in the church started when he was almost fifty?
7.4.2. The Recipients (1:1b-2)
εκλεκτη G1588 TO ‘THE’ELECTκυρια G2959 LADY και G2532ANDτοις G3588τεκνοις G5043 αυτης G846 HER CHILDREN
We have to turn to Vincent and Robertson again. Robertson makes a comment about the ‘children’. This time, Vincent’s comment is not a Greek word study. He explained the different ways in which we can understand the phrase ‘(the/an) elect lady’. The Greek text literally reads ‘elect lady’. Greek does not have the indefinite article ‘a/an’. Translators should add it if the context demands it. How should we interpret the ‘elect lady’ without the definite article? It may indicate that she was not named, and we may add the indefinite article ‘an’ to the phrase: ‘an (unidentified) elect lady’. However, the absence of the definite article does not always mean we should add the indefinite article in English. A good example can be found in John 1:1. The final phrase in Greek reads:και θεος ην ο λογος. This is usually translated as ‘and the Word was God’. The Jehovah Witness bible, however, translated this verse as: ‘and the word wasagod’. Your NET notes and Robertson on this verse explain to you why this verse should not be translated as the JW’s bible did. A good way to express the absence of the definite article in John 1:1 according to the NET is: ‘what God was the Word was’.
Some take the phrase ‘elect lady’ to mean a local church, while others take it to mean an individual. If John is referring to an individual, he may have had a lady in mind. We should then translate:
· ‘to the lady Electa’
·‘to the elect Kyria’, or ·‘to Electa Kyria’.
Vincent gave some sound advice: ‘It is impossible to settle the question satisfactorily’. The same is true for ‘her children’. Robertson said the following about this: As with eklektēkuria, so here tekna may be understood either literally as in 1 Timothy 3:4, or spiritually, as in Galatians 4:19, Galatians 4:25; 1 Timothy 1:2. For the spiritual sense in teknia see 1 John 2:1, 1 John 2:12.
Grammar and word study does not help us to settle this question satisfactorily. The use of the indefinite article may indicate that John was referring to a local church. However, it is not conclusive. The passage also allows for the interpretation that he was speaking to a particular Christian lady. You may want to do further reading, to come up with an interpretation that you can support.
ουςWHOM εγωI αγαπωLOVE ενIN αληθειαTRUTH, καιAND ουκNOT εγωI μονοςONLY, αλλαBUT καιALSO παντεςALL οιTHOSE WHO εγνωκοτεςHAVE KNOWN τηνTHE αληθειανTRUTH, 2 διαFOR SAKE OF τηνTHE αληθειανTRUTH τηνWHICH μενουσανABIDES ενIN ημινUS, καιAND μεθWITH ημωνUS εσταιSHALL BE ειςτοναιωνα FOREVER After reading these verses, it might be better to study them phrase by phrase. The first phrase is: ους εγω αγαπω εν αληθεια. It is translated as: ‘whom I love in the truth (KJV)’ and ‘whom I love in truth’ (NET).
Before trying to explain the difference between the KJV and the NET, we should answer the following question. To whom does ους (whom) refer? In Greek this is normally easy to find out. You will see that there is agreement between the endings of words that belong together. They have the same case ending. Let me illustrate this by giving some examples from verse 1.
· Ο πρεσβυτερος, ‘the elder’. Except for the part of speech, they both have the following code: NSM (Nominative, Singular and Masculine). They go together.
· Εκλεκτη κυρια ‘elect lady’. They are both DSF (Dative, Singular and Feminine).
·Τοις τεκνοις ‘The children’. They are both DPN (Dative, Plural and Neuter). In this case, you can identify it easily, because they have the same ending ‘οις’. In the three examples it is easy to recognise what goes together. That is not the case with ους. Here we should consult the Greek scholars to help us. Robertson says the following:
Hους masculine accusative plural, though teknois is neuter plural (dative), construction according to sense, not according to grammatical gender, ‘embracing the mother and the children of both sexes’ (Vincent). The elder then is referring to both the elect lady and her children.
Εγω αγαπω ‘I love’. It is easy to see that these two words go together. They have the same ending ‘ω’. However, it was not necessary for the elder to add the personal pronoun εγω ‘I’, because αγαπω means ‘I love’. That is the case with all Greek verbs. The personal ending is attached to the verb. When the personal pronoun is added, it is for emphasis. The elder is saying: ‘I myself love’ or ‘I love’ (emphasis on ‘I’). However, do not draw that conclusion on your own. You must always consult the scholars on this issue.
Εν αληθεια ‘in truth’. Why did the KJV include ‘the’ before ‘truth’? As you can see, it is not in the Greek text. Vincent recommends that we omit ‘the’.
Here is an interpretation question. Why did the elder add this phrase to the text, anyway? Was it not enough to say ‘whom I love’? I will leave you with that question.
Και παντες οι εγνωκοτες την αληθειαν. The rest of verse 1, is treated as a parenthesis by the NET. Οι εγνωκοτες ‘all they that have known’, is a perfect participle. These are people who, according to Robertson, still know the truth. The NET brought this out clearly when it translated: ‘all those who know’. Apparently there were people in this community who no longer knew the truth. All those who knew the truth and still know the truth, love their fellow believers. It is an important truth in Christianity. This truth according to John in verse 2 John 1:2, abides in us forever. The elder emphasised two things about the truth in this verse:
Μενουσαν εν ημιν ‘resides in us’ (present participle).
Μεθ ημων εσται ‘will be with us’ (future).
Robertson draws attention to the word order of the second phrase. Literally, it reads as follows in Greek: ‘With us it shall be’. John emphasises ‘with us’ and refers to himself and his readers. True Christianity, then, is known by the truth.
7.4.3. Christian Greeting (1:3)
Εσται μεθ ημων ‘will be with us’. Verse 3 starts with the phrase that we found in verse 2, but in a different order. The elder is not praying for his readers, nor wishing them the grace of God (see KJV). The future tense here seems to indicate something that is certain (see NET). The things mentioned will certainly be with us, all those who know the truth. It was not for ‘you’ (KJV) but for ‘us’. ημων is identified as ‘1st person plural’. But, the translators of the KJV did not come up with this on their own. The manuscript that they translated from had the words ‘with you’. Vincent commented on this as follows: ‘The best texts read with us’. Differences in translations are sometimes due to variances in the manuscripts. This is discussed in more detail in chapter 11. The elder used an extended Christian greeting, which consisted of three elements: χαρις, ελεος and ειρηνη ‘grace, mercy and peace’. These are keywords in the Christian community, which deserve serious study. I will not elaborate on them here. Robertson quoted David Smith as follows: ‘Charis, the wellspring in the heart of God; eleos, its outpourings; eirēnē, its blessed effect’. Westcott shared a similar view when he said: The succession ‘grace, mercy, peace’ marks the order from the first motion of God to the final satisfaction of man. ‘Mercy’ defines as it were the manifestation of the divine ‘grace’ and prepares for the restoration of ‘peace’ to man’s disordered life (Westcott 1886:225).
Now according to the text these blessings will certainly be with us, those of us who hold on to the truth. The source of these blessings is: παρα θεου πατρος και παρα κυριου ιησου χριστου του υιου του πατρος ‘from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father’. Robertson brings the repetition of παρα ‘from’ before the Father and the Son to our attention. It was not necessary to repeat this word. He quoted Westcott, who said: ‘It serves to bring out distinctly the twofold personal relation of man to the Father and to the Son’. The blessings come from both the Father and the Son. Robertson also quoted Brooke who said: The Fatherhood of God, as revealed by one who being His Son can reveal the Father, and who as man (Iēsou) can make him known to men.
Εν αληθεια και αγαπη ‘in truth and love’. The relation between these final words in the verse and the rest of it is not clear. It probably refers to a life in truth and love. This is how some translations understand this phrase:
‘In our life of truth and love’ (New Jerusalem Bible).
‘Who live in truth and love’ (New Living Translation).