A postcard from the elder — walk in truth, and guard the doctrine of Christ.
"And this is love, that we walk after his ______."
2 John is one of the shortest books in the Bible — thirteen verses, short enough to have fit on a single sheet of papyrus. A true first-century postcard.
It's addressed to 'the elect lady and her children' — a real woman, or a church described as one? Scholars have debated the mystery lady for centuries.
John writes that he has 'many things to write' but would rather come and speak 'face to face, that our joy may be full' — the apostle preferred visits to letters.
Short as it is, the letter draws a hard line: anyone denying Christ's coming in the flesh was not to be received. Truth and hospitality, in that order.