DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
The elder. 2 John begins "The elder to the elect lady and her children," and 3 John "The elder to the beloved Gaius." Neither letter gives any other name. Elder was a title many leaders of the early Jesus movement used.
Why it’s interesting
Papias, a church leader writing early in the second century, treated the elder and the writer of the Gospel of John as two different people. Most scholars today accept that, though some also question whether one person wrote all three letters.
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
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