Second John 1:1-13

II John 1:1-3:

^1:1The elder – to (the) selected Kyria and her children whom I love¹ in truth, and not I only but also all the (people) having known² the truth, ^.2because-of the truth, the (truth) remaining in us and will be with us into the age; ^.3grace, mercy, peace will be with us from God (the) Father, and from Jesus Christ the son of the Father, in truth and love¹.

John begins this personal letter (epistle) by identifying himself as “the elder” – a man who has more knowledge, wisdom, dignity, etc, relative to God and the things of God, an elder in service to/for God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

John addressed this letter to…

• the selected Kyria (“Kyria” is a translation of the Greek word kuria which is the feminine form of the word translated “lord” – this word was used to describe a woman who had charge-of and authority-over the affairs of a household; this lady is elect, chosen-out by God from other people because she voluntarily accepted what God makes available to mankind, she believed what He says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and became a holy-person, a Christian woman)
  • and her children (literally: those to whom she gave birth, born by her – also in the figurative usage this phrase may include or refer to the church of holy-people that met in her house)
• whom emphatically I love¹ in truth (in Greek there is a definite word for “I” plus the verb meaning “I love” giving emphasis – I myself love all of you with God’s kind of love within the sphere of action of God’s essential reality, His inherent verity, the state of being true),

…and not I only (not alone is it myself who loves you), but on the contrary, also all the people who knew and continue personally knowing the truth (those having a truly active and relative knowing of God’s truth, being personally knowledgeable of it)…

• on account of the truth
• emphatically and specifically the truth remaining in us (referring to the spirit of truth, the anointed-thing, the spirit of Christ that stays, abides, continues being within all of us who are holy-people; refer to I John 2:27)
  • and will be in company and association with us into the age (for the duration of life, lifetime, for/throughout the age, referring to the specific age that began when we received the gift of holy spirit and that will not end because we will receive our spiritual bodies in the future as Christ received from God when He raised him up alive from being dead);
• grace
  • [Grace is what is freely bestowed without any merit on the recipient's part; it includes reference to the attitude and quality of the one giving something favorable to another. Grace is not bestowed because somebody deserves a wage that is owed for something they said or did, nor because they begged so hard, nor because they forced the giver to give! Grace is bestowed because the giver wants to give by his own freedom of will to the recipient – it is completely unmerited favor from the giver to the recipient],
• mercy
  • [Mercy is giving active-relief because of withholding merited judgment; it is not bestowing punishment on one who deserves to be punished.],
• peace
  • [Peace is tranquil harmony, tranquility, peaceful wholeness, without any strife or disagreement. We may think of peace as the opposite of war, the opposite of conflict, the opposite of being at odds with the other party. All of God's children are at peace with God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ because it is given to us from God and the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore all Christians should behave peaceably with one-another too.]
• will be with us (not only do we have grace, mercy, and peace now via the holy spirit-life within us, but the emphasis here is that we will also have them in company and association with us in the future being fully evidenced)
  • from God the Father (these will be given to us from God Who is our Father in the spirit category, He will be the source from Whom grace, mercy and peace will proceed to/for us),
  • and from Jesus Christ the son of the Father (these will also be given to us from Jesus Christ who is the Father’s son – God’s son, the son of God),
• within the sphere of action of truth and love¹.

The word "love¹" or the verb "to love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.

[Reference: John 10:38, 14:16; Acts 11:30, 14:23; Romans 10:8-10, 16:1 and 5; I Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 1:27, 3:4, 4:15; I Timothy 1:2, 5:17-20; II Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4 and 5; I Peter 5:1; I John 1:3 and 7, 2:22-24 and 27, 3:1, 2, 8 and 18-23, 4:6 and 9-15, 5:5-13 and 20. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

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