2 John 1:4

Ἐχάρην λίαν ὅτι εὕρηκα ἐκ τῶν τέκνων σου περιπατοῦντας ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καθὼς ἐντολὴν ἐλάβομεν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός.

Translation:

⁴ I rejoiced greatly that I found children from you walking in truth, just as we received commandment from the Father.

Commentary:

To walk in the truth [i.e. talking the talk as well as walking the walk] is a command for those who claim the name of Christ. What is truth? How do we find it? While we all have varying opinions, which tend to change on a whim, God’s Word is the only source for objective truth. Why? The answer is because He alone has the ultimate authority to define reality. Basically, it does not matter what we think. He is the Boss, so what He says goes!

Ἐχάρην is 1^st person singular aorist passive indicative and it means “to rejoice”. εὕρηκα is 1^st person singular perfect active indicative and means “to find” [this is where we get our word “EUREKA!”]. περιπατοῦντας is an accusative masculine present active participle which means “walking”. The final verb of the sentence is ἐλάβομεν which is 1^st person plural aorist active indicative meaning “to receive”.

λίαν is the adverb which adds further emphasis upon its antecedent Ἐχάρην [the first word of the verse is the verb that λίαν modifies]. Thus, his rejoicing was GREAT!

Clearer English:

As you may already be aware, translations from one language to another are not technically an exact science. I do not mean to say that it is impossible [far be it from that], but there is an art to obtaining both a clear and accurate translation. Therefore, though I translated the verse above in a more word for word manner, the following translation is more meaning based:

⁴ I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

*Continue on with 2 John 1:5