2 John 1:1

Verse 1. The elder unto the elect lady.

The first thing that attracts attention is the designation the writer applies to himself. Peter and Paul both call themselves apostles. John nowhere calls himself an apostle. The Vulgate has the word "ancient" in the place of elder. I can not think, as some do, that John would have us understand that he occupied the position of an official by his use of the term elder; but that he simply alludes to his age, and it may be, that thereby he desired to leave the impression on the mind that he was the only one of the chosen twelve who then survived, if, in fact, he did not mean that he was the only surviving personal disciple of the Lord.

Elect lady.

The person addressed was a member of the church and one whose Christian deportment met with the commendation of the aged writer. So much is certain. Some have thought that the words here used, "elect lady," were intended as the proper name of a person, while some hold that it meant a church. The better and safer thought, I think, is simply to regard it as a proper name, that view of the case being more in keeping with the scope of the letter. This idea is further enforced from the deduction necessarily to be drawn from the last verse, "The children of thy elect sister greet thee." This view is taken even by the annotator of the Vulgate. His words are "Some conjecture that Electa might be the name of a family, or of a particular church, but the general opinion is, that it is the proper name of a lady, so eminent for her piety and great charity as to merit this epistle from St. John."

Whom I love in the truth.

Both the lady addressed and her children are objects of that affection of the apostle which is enjoined by the truth that is, the teaching of the gospel. This affection for the lady and family is not confined to the writer, as he informs us, but extends to and embraces all that are of like faith.