Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 John 1:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The Elder speaks grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, and again joins truth with love.
Read It With
- 2 John 1:1–3
Read the whole greeting in verses 1–3. The enduring truth and shared love of verses 1–2 frame the Father-and-Son blessing in verse 3.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The blessing completes the opening and makes the Father-Son relationship, truth, and love the theological setting for the letter.
Read 2 John 1:1–3 together
Why these verses belong together: Sender, recipients, enduring ground, and blessing form the conventional and theological greeting.
Verse 1. 1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
Verse 2. 2 For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
Verse 3. 3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
What Remains True
Grace, mercy, and peace come within a truth-and-love relationship centered on the Father and his Son.
How It Can Shape Life
- Approach the letter's hard warning as people dependent on divine grace, mercy, and peace, not as self-appointed judges outside the same truth and love.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 John 1:1–3 — The Elder Greets a Beloved Lady and Her ChildrenSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? very strong
Where care is needed
The KJV includes 'Lord'; the shorter critical Greek omits the title here without changing the identification of Jesus Christ as the Father's Son.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 1:1–3.
Exact location: eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, 2JN.usfm, 2 John 1:1–3; 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 1:1–3.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/2John.txt, 2 John 1:1–3.
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 1–8 attached to 2 John 1:1–3.
Open source ↗