
2 JOHN
Introduction
John’s second epistle warns against false teachers. Even though the main body of the letter is short (only 134 Greek words), and its primary warning concerns the humanity of Jesus, we nevertheless see testimony of Jesus's divinity.
1:3
Grace, mercy, and peace from God The Father and from Jesus Christ The Son of The Father.
New Testament epistles often begin with a supernatural blessing from The Father and The Son together. We never hear of supernatural peace being available via the Patriarch Abraham, the Prophet Moses, the Priest Aaron, the King David, or the Messiah Cyrus. Notably, we also rarely hear of these supernatural blessings coming from The Father alone. "Grace and peace" is the most common blessing; "grace, mercy, and peace" is here, and in Paul's letters to Timothy.
→ See Blessings
The phrase "The Son of The Father" is unique in the New Testament. The definite article is important here (it is "The Son," not "a son"). Others are called sons of God, like humans [John 1:12; Rom 8:14] and angels [Gen 6:2]. But the way John phrases this—"God The Father and Jesus Christ The Son of The Father"—makes it seem like he is alluding to "The Only Son," a concept he writes about in John and 1 John. These supernatural blessings invoked by biblical authors come from God, and Jesus is not carelessly put beside The Father in this regard.
→ See Sonship
→ See John for fuller testimony of Jesus’s oneness with The Father.
1:7
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus coming in flesh (ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί). Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist.
This proclamation separates those who deny the Incarnation from Christianity. It was directed at early Gnosticism.
1:9
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God.
The one who remains in the teaching: this one indeed has The Father and The Son.
Observe the parallelism in the basic elements:
The one who does not remain does not have God.
The one who remains has The Father and The Son.
If The Son were an afterthought, we might expect "God and The Son" in that second line, not "The Father and The Son." In addition, The Father and The Son are the object of "have," in exactly the opposite sense to "having God" above it. In other words, the term "God" in v.9a is replaced with "The Father and The Son" in v.9b. In 2 John 1:9, "God" is not referring to The Father, or to The Son, but to The Father and Son together.
→ See Conflations
2 John Summary
Supernatural blessings are available from The Father and The Son [2 John 1:3], who jointly constitute "God" [2 John 1:9], whom one "has" in a salvific sense by remaining in the Christian teaching.