Five-minute study · Day 112 · 2 John 1
2 John 1:1
A word worth stopping on: elect ἐκλεκτή eklekte
Thirteen verses. That is the entire letter. Second John is the shortest book in the New Testament, shorter than a modern email, short enough to fit on a single sheet of papyrus. The elder writes to 'the elect lady and her children.' Nobody knows for certain who she is. The opening word, eklekte, chosen, carries legal and theological weight that the English translation flattens.
Word study: elect
- Greek
- ἐκλεκτή
- Pronounced
- eklekte
- Strong's
- G1588
- Definition
- Chosen, selected, picked out. From eklego, to select for oneself.
Eklekte is the feminine form of eklektos, chosen. The verb eklego means to pick out, to select from a group for a specific purpose. In secular Greek documents, papyri from Egypt show eklektos used for goods chosen by quality inspection, soldiers selected for a unit, and individuals legally designated for a role. A merchant's eklektos grain was the best in the lot, hand-picked.
The identity of 'the elect lady' has produced centuries of debate. Three readings persist. First: she is a specific woman named Eklekte, a proper name attested in Greek inscriptions. Second: she is an unnamed woman of prominence in the early church, perhaps a house-church host. Third: 'the elect lady' is a personification of a local congregation, with 'her children' being its members. Verse 13, 'the children of your elect sister greet you,' seems to tip toward the personification reading, since it implies a sister congregation sending greetings.
Raymond Brown argues that the ambiguity may be intentional. If the letter fell into hostile hands during a period of persecution, the personified language would protect a real community behind the fiction of private correspondence. A Roman official reading the letter would see a personal note between relatives. A Christian reading it would recognize a pastoral letter between churches.
Either way, eklekte carries the full weight of divine selection. This community, or this woman, has been hand-picked by God the way a merchant picks the finest grain from the threshing floor. The identity is rooted in God's choosing, not in achievement.
Historical context · Late first century AD
A Letter That Almost Did Not Survive
Second John was one of the last books accepted into the New Testament canon. Eusebius (Church History 3.25) listed it among the 'disputed' books as late as the early fourth century. Its brevity worked against it. In a world where copying was done by hand, short texts were easily lost, and their authorship was harder to verify than longer works with distinctive theological vocabulary.
The letter's format matches the conventions of Greco-Roman personal correspondence. A standard private letter in the first century occupied a single sheet of papyrus roughly 25 by 20 centimeters. Second John's 245 Greek words fit that constraint precisely. Verse 12 confirms the medium: 'Having many things to write to you, I did not wish to do so with paper and ink.' The word for 'paper' is chartes, the root of the English word 'chart,' referring to a papyrus sheet.
The 'elder' (presbyteros) identifies himself without giving his name, suggesting his identity was obvious to the recipient. Early tradition associates the letter with the apostle John in Ephesus. Papias, writing around AD 130, mentions a 'presbyter John' in Ephesus who may or may not be the apostle (Eusebius, Church History 3.39.4). The debate remains unresolved.
The false teachers mentioned in verse 7, 'those who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh,' match the docetic heresy that John combats in his first letter. Docetism taught that Christ only appeared to have a physical body. In the late first century, this teaching was spreading through the network of house churches in Asia Minor, and the elder's brief, urgent letter was a warning: do not welcome these teachers into your house. Do not even greet them.
For reflection
Eklekte means chosen, hand-picked, selected with intention. The elder opens his letter with that word before he says anything else. Before the warning about false teachers, before the instruction, before the theology: you are chosen. How does starting from that identity change the way you receive correction or warning?
In the papyri, eklektos described the best grain picked from the pile. The choosing happened because of the chooser's discernment. The grain did not campaign for selection.
Sources: BDAG Lexicon; Brown, 'Epistles of John' (AB); Eusebius, 'Church History' 3.25, 3.39.4