2 John

• A church, with its members as her children. Held by Hilary of Arles in his Introductory Commentary on 2 John, on 1:1, and by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 1:1.
• A woman named Kyria. Held by John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on 1:1.
• A woman named Electa. Held by Clement of Alexandria in his Adumbrations on 2 John, which survive in the Latin of Cassiodorus, on 1:1.
• A Christian mother and her household. Held by Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible, on 1:5, and by John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746 to 1748), on 1:13.

What the evidence does not settle: The address and 2 John 1:5 speak to one lady and the verses after them speak to many, and each reading gives an account of both.

• John the apostle, old in years. Held by Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on 1:1, and by Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 1, who quotes 1:11 as the word of John, the disciple of the Lord.
• John the elder of Ephesus, another man. Held by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History, book 3, chapter 39, where he reads Papias as naming a second John, the elder, and by Jerome in his Lives of Illustrious Men, chapter 9.
• A leader in the circle around John. Held by Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John, Anchor Bible (1982).

What the evidence does not settle: The letter's one word on its writer is the title the elder, and the same title opens 3 John.

• The home and the greeting given to a teacher. Held by Albert Barnes in his Notes on the New Testament, on 1:10, and by Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible, on 1:11.
• Separation from the teacher, at home and in the church. Held by Hilary of Arles in his Introductory Commentary on 2 John, on 1:10, and by Didymus the Blind in his Commentary on 2 John, on 1:11.
• The greeting and prayer together both withheld. Held by Clement of Alexandria in his Adumbrations on 2 John, on 1:10.

What the evidence does not settle: The verse names the one who comes bringing a teaching other than the teaching of Christ of 1:7 to 9; how far the rule reaches past a teacher at the door is a judgment of reading.

• The incarnation. Held by Clarke in his Commentary on the Bible, on 1:7, and by John Wesley in his Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 1:7.
• Both comings, the first and the second. Held by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown in their Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 1:7, and by Theophylact of Ohrid in his Commentary on 2 John, on 1:8.

What the evidence does not settle: The verse uses a present participle where 1 John 4:2 uses a perfect, and both readings rest on that tense.

• Its writer was questioned. Held by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History, book 3, chapter 25.
• Some held it genuine and some doubted it. Held by Origen in his Commentary on John, book 5, as Eusebius quotes it.
• It was read as John's from early on. Held by Irenaeus in Against Heresies, book 1; by Clement of Alexandria in his Adumbrations; and by the Seventh Council of Carthage under Cyprian, which cites 1:10 to 11 as the word of John the apostle.

What the evidence does not settle: The record holds both early use and later doubt, and the doubt it names is the question of the writer.

• 1 John first, and 2 John looks back to it. Held by Theophylact of Ohrid in his Commentary on 2 John, on 1:5, and by Oecumenius in his Commentary on 2 John, on the same verse.
• 2 John and 3 John written together. Held by Theophylact of Ohrid in his Commentary on 2 John, on 1:12.
• The letter of 3 John 1:9 is a lost letter. Held by Albert Barnes in his Notes on the New Testament, on that verse of 3 John.

What the evidence does not settle: The order is argued from what the letters say: 2 John 1:5 calls the commandment one the readers have had from the beginning, and 3 John 1:9 speaks of a letter the elder wrote to the church.