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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - 2 John 1:3 - 1:3
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Grace be with you, mercy and peace (ἔσται μεθ ἡμῶν χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη)
The verb is in the future tense: shall be. In the Pauline Epistles the salutations contain no verb. In 1 and 2 Peter and Jude, πληθυνθείη be multiplied, is used. Grace (χάρις) is of rare occurrence in John's writings (Joh 1:14, Joh 1:16, Joh 1:17; Rev 1:4; Rev 22:21); and the kindred χαρίζομαι to favor, be kind, forgive, and χάρισμα gift, are not found at all. See on Luk 1:30. Mercy (ἔλεος), only here in John. See on Luk 1:50. The pre-Christian definitions of the word include the element of grief experienced on account of the unworthy suffering of another. So Aristotle. The Latin misericordia (miser “wretched,” cor “the heart”) carries the same idea. So Cicero defines it, the sorrow arising from the wretchedness of another suffering wrongfully. Strictly speaking, the word as applied to God, cannot include either of these elements, since grief cannot be ascribed to Him, and suffering is the legitimate result of sin. The sentiment in God assumes the character of pitying love. Mercy is kindness and goodwill toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to relieve them. Trench observes: “In the Divine mind, and in the order of our salvation as conceived therein, the mercy precedes the grace. God so loved the world with a pitying love (herein was the mercy), that He gave His only-begotten Son (herein the grace), that the world through Him might be saved. But in the order of the manifestation of God's purposes of salvation, the grace must go before the mercy and make way for it. It is true that the same persons are the subjects of both, being at once the guilty and the miserable; yet the righteousness of God, which it is quite as necessary should be maintained as His love, demands that the guilt should be done away before the misery can be assuaged; only the forgiven may be blessed. He must pardon before He can heal.... From this it follows that in each of the apostolic salutations where these words occur, grace precedes mercy” (“Synonyms of the New Testament”).
With you
The best texts read with us.
From God - from Jesus Christ (παρὰ Θεοῦ - παρὰ Ἱησοῦ Χριστοῦ)
Note the repeated preposition, bringing out the twofold relation to the Father and Son. In the Pauline salutations ἀπό from, is invariably used with God, and never repeated with Jesus Christ. On the use of παρά from, see on Joh 6:46; see on 1Jo 1:5.
God the Father
The more common expression is “God our Father.”
The Son of the Father
The phrase occurs nowhere else. Compare Joh 1:18; 1Jo 2:22, 1Jo 2:23; 1Jo 1:3.
In truth and in love
The combination is not found elsewhere. The words indicate the contents of the whole Epistle.