2 John 1:5

Warning Against False Teachers

1:5 But now ¹  I ask you, lady (not as if I were ²  writing a new commandment ³  to you, but the one ⁴  we have had from the beginning), ⁵  that ⁶  we love one another.

2 John 1:12

Conclusion

1:12 Though I have many other ⁷  things to write to you, I do not want to do so with ⁸  paper and ink, ⁹  but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, ¹⁰  so that our joy may be complete. ¹¹ 

[1:5]  ¹ tn The introductory καὶ νῦν (kai nun) has some adversative (contrastive) force: The addressees are already “living according to the truth” (v. 4) but in the face of the threat posed by the opponents, the author has to stress obedience all the more.

[1:5]  ² tn The words “if I were” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied for clarity in English.

[1:5]  ³ sn An allusion to John 13:34-35, 1 John 2:7-8.

[1:5]  ⁴ tn “The one” is not in the Greek text. It is supplied for clarity in English.

[1:5]  ⁵ sn See 1 John 2:7.

[1:5]  ⁶ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause indicates content.

[1:12]  ⁷ tn “Other” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity in English.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn Grk “by means of.”

[1:12]  ⁹ 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).

[1:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “speak mouth to mouth,” an idiom for which the English equivalent is “speak face to face.”

[1:12]  ¹¹ tn Grk “be fulfilled.”