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2 John 1:12–13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 John 1:12–13
The Elder Hopes to Speak Face to Face
Paper has done its work; the relationship still wants a face
The Elder has many things to write, but he does not want to use paper and ink for all of them. He hopes to come to them and speak face to face, so that their joy may be complete. The letter is real, short, and necessary. He has already used writing for a serious warning. He still will not pretend that ink can carry the whole relationship. Face to face here is direct conversation, presence, unfinished counsel, the kind of joy that does not travel well in a note.
The visit is a hope, not a reported event. The letter does not say that he arrived, and it does not make writing unspiritual. Some things belong in a room with the people you love. That preference does not cancel the page he just sent.
The children of the elect sister greet you
The letter ends as it began: with people who belong to one another across households. The children of your elect sister greet you. If the elect lady is a woman, this is kin and church-kin speaking. If she is a household or a church, another congregation is sending love. The text allows those readings. It does not require you to flatten the names into a code, and it does not finally identify either woman or place.
The warning about deceivers does not cancel this ordinary greeting. Truth and love are still not rivals at the close. The same community that will not resource a denial of Jesus in the flesh still knows how to send peace through real people with children, sisters, and a visit still hoped for.
How this should shape us
Write what must be written, then finish the rest in person where you can do so safely. Do not hide a needed boundary in silence, and do not hide a needed conversation in a thread. Name the hope as hope: you may want to sit at the table without pretending you control the outcome. Keep the wider household in view — another sister’s children, another church, another family that still greets you. Live the closing as a human circle that tells the truth about Jesus and still wants complete joy together, not as a movement that only knows how to refuse.
Teach it back
Explain 2 John 1:12–13 in your own words. Trace the movement, name one uncertainty, and state one limit on application.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Who is the elect sister?
Why it fits:
Difficulty:
Why it fits:
Difficulty:
Why it fits:
Difficulty:
Best judgment: The mirror with verse 1 makes the corporate reading attractive, while the explicit family grammar leaves a personal or layered reading viable. The letter gives no proper names or location.
How certain? plausibleResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: The pinned KJV wording, paragraph boundaries, and supplied-word markup for 2 John 1:12–13.
eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, 2JN.usfm, 2 John 1:12–13; archive and normalized-corpus SHA-256 values are recorded in the shared library policy.
Supports: The critically edited Greek wording and sentence relationships for 2 John 1:12–13.
Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/2John.txt, 2 John 1:12–13.
Supports: Translation choices, textual variants, grammatical relationships, and identified interpretive alternatives used in this unit.
NET Bible, 2 John 1, translator, study, and textual notes 34–38 attached to 2 John 1:12–13.
Supports: A recent whole-letter reading used to test the unit boundary, main movement, and bounded pastoral implications.
Ray Van Neste, 2 John, sections Purpose, Outline, and Closing (12–13).
Supports: Method cautions and the actual-woman/family or woman-with-community alternatives to automatic church personification.
Judith M. Lieu, The Audience of the Johannine Epistles, printed pp. 127–130, especially the lady, family, and closing-sister language.
Supports: The range of live scholarly reconstructions and the limits of confident historical claims.
R. Alan Culpepper, Setting the Stage, printed pp. 3–8, especially authorship, chronology, relationship-to-Gospel, and elect-lady alternatives.
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: The pinned KJV wording, paragraph boundaries, and supplied-word markup for 2 John 1:12–13.
Exact location: eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, 2JN.usfm, 2 John 1:12–13; archive and normalized-corpus SHA-256 values are recorded in the shared library policy.
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: The critically edited Greek wording and sentence relationships for 2 John 1:12–13.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/2John.txt, 2 John 1:12–13.
Open the 2 John Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible: 2 John 1 — translator, study, and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press / Bible.org, NET Second Edition web notes
Supports: Translation choices, textual variants, grammatical relationships, and identified interpretive alternatives used in this unit.
Exact location: NET Bible, 2 John 1, translator, study, and textual notes 34–38 attached to 2 John 1:12–13.
Open source ↗open whole letter commentary
2 John
Ray Van Neste
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: A recent whole-letter reading used to test the unit boundary, main movement, and bounded pastoral implications.
Exact location: Ray Van Neste, 2 John, sections Purpose, Outline, and Closing (12–13).
Open source ↗scholarly essay in academic collection
The Audience of the Johannine Epistles
Judith M. Lieu
SBL Press, in Communities in Dispute: Current Scholarship on the Johannine Epistles, 2014
Supports: Method cautions and the actual-woman/family or woman-with-community alternatives to automatic church personification.
Exact location: Judith M. Lieu, The Audience of the Johannine Epistles, printed pp. 127–130, especially the lady, family, and closing-sister language.
Open source ↗scholarly collection introduction
Setting the Stage: The Context for the Conversation
R. Alan Culpepper
SBL Press, in Communities in Dispute: Current Scholarship on the Johannine Epistles, 2014
Supports: The range of live scholarly reconstructions and the limits of confident historical claims.
Exact location: R. Alan Culpepper, Setting the Stage, printed pp. 3–8, especially authorship, chronology, relationship-to-Gospel, and elect-lady alternatives.
Open source ↗