General Letter, also called a “catholic epistle,” meaning a general letter. One of the apostle John’s five books, 24th book of the New Testament.
Author: The apostle John is the traditional author of this book, though the text does not specifically name him, except for calling him “the elder” (2 John 1:1).
Audience: Second John is one of five New Testament books written by the apostle John. The others are the Gospel of John, 1 John, 3 John, and Revelation. This letter is phrased as if addressed to a woman (2 John 1:1), though the content seems to be addressed to an entire church. The letter uses the terms “lady” and “children,” so this may be addressed to a literal woman and her family. More likely, based on the full context of the letter, John is writing to a church. This may be a church meeting in a particular woman’s home, a local church, or the church in general. The reference to the woman and her children is probably the church and those impacted by it, likely other local churches. Several themes are included in this short letter. John urges his readers to watch out for deceivers who taught that Jesus rose spiritually but not physically. Christians were to have nothing to do with such false teachers. John also focuses on the themes of truth, mentioned five times, and love, mentioned four times.
Date: Unknown, though it was likely written around the same time as John’s Gospel and the letters 1 and 3 John, AD 80–95.