These are, easily, the shortest books in the Bible, and they are the two I would most like to know some background about: But we don’t get any: only 2 John offers proper names, and even these don’t help much. So these two, seemingly the most occasional letters (I would rather not use paper and ink, instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face), force us, by our lack of “background info,” back into the text itself. In truth, the vast majority of the biblical books are like this: even if we have a general idea about the history, the author is not identified, or is (s)he inclined to give us any context for the book. We are left with only the text.
Which isn’t a bad thing, after all, it is the text that functions as scripture for us, not the “background.” While it is certainly important, for instance, that Christ actually died and rose again, our understanding of those events are to be shaped by the scriptural accounts.
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