Warnings from an elder

The elder to the elect lady. In form, this is exactly the way a letter was expected to begin: ‘From A to B, greetings.’ Indeed, unlike the First Letter of John, this and the Third Letter are more like the actual letters of their time than almost any other writing of the New Testament. They are both of the right length to fill one side of a sheet of papyrus, and they both have a beginning and an end typical of the conventions of letter-writing in the ancient world. Yet there is a difference between them. The Third Letter is evidently part of a personal correspondence between individuals; but the Second Letter, though it follows the same conventional form, puts it to a different use. It is not a private letter at all, but an open one. And the salutations and greetings (as in the letters of Paul) are adapted so as to carry a load of Christian meanings.

To this extent the writing has the form of a letter rather than the reality of one; and this may give the clue to the opening. The lady, if a real lady, would have a name. It is possible that there is a name concealed in the word elect: Eclecta (the Latin form of the Greek word) is a known first name.