2 John: A Woman of Power

2 John is a book that is often overly neglected due to the fact that it is so short, and that it seems so similar to 1 John. Most people don't ever really take a second look at it.

However, whenever you really take the time and put forth the effort to really dive into what is being said, it doesn't take long to see that this letter is riddled with mystery. Before we dive into all of that, though, let's take a look at some of the glaringly obvious things in the letter.

First off, take a note of how incredibly similar the message is in this letter to the message in the letter of 1 John. It seems as though John is simply summarizing what he said in 1 John in 2 John. So much so that, if you want to know what 1 John is all about overall, all you need to do is read 2 John. Its almost like reading the Cliff Notes for 1 John.

With that said, take the time to notice the differences between 1 and 2 John:

-In 1 John, John is writing to an entire church (the Ephesians) whereas in 2 John he is writing to a smaller group of Christians, one woman and her "children" in particular.

-Notice, also, how John never mentions his name in 1 John and how he calls himself "the elder" in 2 John.

-Lastly, notice how in 3 John, which is incredibly similar in structure to 2 John, John addresses the person he is writing to by name..."Gaius." In 2 John, he just refers to the person that he is writing to as "the lady."

At the beginning of this article, I told you that 2 John is riddled with mystery. I say this because of "the lady." We read over this without ever really raising any other questions about her but we simply come to the conclusion, "Cool, John is writing to some lady," without ever really taking the time to ask of who she is. And really, we can't understand much about her without knowing a little bit of New Testament Greek.

Here is something that may intrigue you:

-The Greek word for "the lady" is Kuria. Before I define it for you, take a look at another Greek word that is the masculine version of Kuria. That word is Kurios.

So, you are asking to yourself, "So what? Where are you going with this?"

The word Kurios means "Lord." It is the word that replaced the Hebrew word "Yahweh." It is the very word that is used every time we call Jesus "Lord." Now, come back to Kuria. Kuria is simply the feminine version of Kurios "Lord." This means that she is some type of female "Lord" or "Master." Now, John is by no means saying that this woman is a god, or equivalent to Jesus our Lord, but that he is simply recognizing her position of power and authority. She is significant to John and we must recognize that.

What can we learn from this woman that is obvious from the letter? A few things:

1) Again, she is in a position of authority, so much so that John even refers to her as Master.
2) In verse 1, he tells her that all who know the Truth will love her and her children as he does. What does this mean? That she is going to be very well known and loved by, what it seems, by several Christians if not all of them. "the lady....whom I love in the truth-and not only I, but also all who know the truth."
3) She has children, verse 4.
4) She has been working with John for a long period of time apparently. "Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for..." He is warning her to be alert so that they do not lose all that they have gained.
5) She has a sister. Now, this could mean either a blood relative or a sister in the Lord.

Now, truth be told, no one can know who this "lady" is for sure. We can only speculate.

I want to throw an interesting thought your way. Now, I readily admit that there is a good chance that I am incorrect. However, I think that what I am about to say will make a lot of sense.

I think that there is a fairly high chance that the lady that John is writing to is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Here is why I say this:

-Jesus, while he was dying on the cross, commissioned John to take care of Mary. "Woman, here is your son, and to the disciple (John), here is your mother." It says in John 19:27 that John took care of her and she lived with him from that point on.
-Church history tells us that several years after the Resurrection of Jesus, John took Mary to Ephesus where John became the leader of the the Ephesian church after Timothy.
-Ephesus had always been a place of great persecution towards Christians. The Ephesians stirred up riots against Christians. Ephesus was the very place that Paul was put on trial. It was also the place that John was exiled from to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation and, arguably, some of his other letters.
-Now, with all of the turmoil, John was a busy man. I am sure that he still continued to travel around even after he arrived in Ephesus. Which means, there is a fairly high probability that he could have written a letter to Mary, warning her of the sudden outbreak of false teachers in Ephesus.

Why I think this letter could be addressed to Mary:

1) Mary was well known inside of and outside of the church. We actually know very little about Mary after the time of Jesus other than the fact that she lived with John in Ephesus for a time. I think we know so little about her not because she had little influence on the church at the time, but because the church was trying to protect her and keep her safe. They wanted to protect her from falling into the hands of those who were persecuting Christianity.

With that said, notice that John doesn't address her by name. He is protecting her identity, in case the letter were to fall into the wrong hands. So, she is significant enough that she needs to be protected.

2) John says, again, that all who know the truth will come to love her and her children as he has loved her, verse 1. Now, he seems to be talking about Christians throughout the ages, because he is talking about knowing the truth, loving in truth, and that truth lasting forever, verses 1 and 2.

3) Mary did have other sons who apparently didn't come to faith until after Jesus' resurrection. This could be why John is so excited that some of her children are now walking in the truth, verse 4. Also, the children in verse 4 could be referring to Christians.

4) Lastly, he calls her "Master." This is by no means insignificant. Again, this is the apostle John, the one whom Jesus loved...the one who was one of the greatest influences of all time...he calls her Master? Now, we need to ask the important question; "What woman does John view as significant enough to be called Master?"

I have said all of this because it is intriguing to think about, isn't it?

Again, I very well could be wrong here. I readily admit that.

However, whoever this lady is, we must never forget that she is a person of prominence and respect within the early church and especially in the apostle John's mind.