1:4 I rejoiced greatly because I have found some 1 of your children living according to the truth, 2 just as the Father commanded us. 3
1:12 Though I have many other 4 things to write to you, I do not want to do so with 5 paper and ink, 6 but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, 7 so that our joy may be complete. 8
1 tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied because the prepositional phrase beginning with ἐκ (ek) has partitive force. The partitive force of the prepositional phrase here has been taken by some interpreters to mean that the author has found some of the elect lady’s children who are living according to the truth and some who are not. This is grammatically possible, but the author has merely stated that he knows of some Christians in the church addressed who are “walking in the truth.” He does not know for certain that all of them are, and concern over this is probably part of the motivation for writing the letter.
2 sn Living according to the truth (Grk “walking in [the] truth”). The use of the Greek verb περιπατέω (peripatew) to refer to conduct or lifestyle is common in the NT (see 1 John 1:6, 3 John 3-4, as well as numerous times in Paul. Here the phrase refers to conduct that results when a person has “truth” residing within, and possibly alludes to the indwelling Spirit of Truth (see 2 John 2). In the specific context of 2 John the phrase refers to true Christians who are holding fast to an apostolic Christology in the face of the secessionist opponents’ challenge to orthodoxy.
3 tn Grk “just as we received commandment from the Father.” The idiom “we received commandment from the Father” means the Father gave (a) commandment to them (the author plus the recipients).
4 tn “Other” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity in English.
5 tn Grk “by means of.”
6 sn Presumably the author means he would rather say the additional things he wants to say to the recipients in person rather than by letter (with paper and ink).
7 tn Grk “speak mouth to mouth,” an idiom for which the English equivalent is “speak face to face.”
8 tn Grk “be fulfilled.”