AUTHOR New Testament scholar, Raymond Brown, once wrote the following about this letter… “This work, which was known already in the mid-second century, began to be treated as canonical Scripture toward the end of the second century when it was accepted as a writing of John, son of Zebedee.” However, 2 John does not claim to be written by John, the disciple of Jesus. Rather, the author simply calls himself “the Presbyter” which many English versions translate as “the elder”. As far as we know, this letter did not receive the title “The Second Letter of John” until the fourth century. The word “presbyter” could simply mean an old man. People in the first century thought of old age as beginning at about 40. “Presbyter” was also an official office in the early church. From this Greek word we get our more modern word “Presbyterian” which refers to a type of church ruled by elders. However, the author of this letter is not just “an elder” of a local church. He writes with authority