A Commentary on the Epistles of John

Chapter 23

2 John 1:12-13

2 John 1:12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 

The central lesson that John is teaching in this epistle focuses on preventing false teachers to influence our churches, our families and ourselves (see verse 10). John also warned that if we welcome these false teachers we may be considered an accomplice to their intentional deception. This again is a reminder that we need to know the truth of God’s Word first, otherwise we would not be able to detect any lies or false statements regarding Scripture. Even though John wrote just enough to make his point and perhaps stop a problem that was in progress, he had more to discuss with the epistle’s recipient.

We can joke about John being unwilling to use more paper and ink as being one of the first ecology-minded activists, however that is not the case. John undoubtedly not only wanted to spend time with the recipient but probably also wanted to talk further about this issue. We all can take a lesson from John regarding interpersonal skills, there is nothing more impactful in any relationship than a personal face-to-face meeting. The Greek phrase, “stoma pros stoma” translates out as, “mouth to mouth,” a well known ancient expression (see Numbers 12:8) implying a personal visit (not a form of resuscitation). 

John adds the fact that a personal meeting would also provide the benefit of completing their joy (Greek word, ‘chara’, is often translated as ‘rejoice’). What joy is he talking about? He is referring to the joy of sharing with people of faith, where we see and hear God working in other people’s lives and making a difference in this world. Only through a changed life can we truly experience God’s love and find real joy (see Philippians 4:8-9). 

2 John 1:13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

John concludes this epistle with a quick statement that the children of your elect (or chosen) sister greets you. The word John uses (translated here as ‘greets’) is the word that is can be found in the closing of nearly all of the New Testament epistles. However, there is still one big question that remains to be answered, who is the elect lady? 

When we reviewed verse one we examined five popular potential answers: 1) a metaphor for the church at large (the Body of Christ); 2) a metaphor for a local but unnamed church; 3) a proper noun for a specific person; 4) an unidentified person who inadvertently offered hospitality to a false teacher who claimed to be a believer; or 5) Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

Now that we have read and reviewed all 13 verses of this letter, have you come to any conclusions? Let’s explore each of these potential answers more closely in light of the last 12 verses. Starting with the easiest one to refute.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, even though John was given the responsibility to take care of Mary (see John 19:25-27) and all believers would know of her (see verse 1), she would have been over 100 years old (John would have been in his 90’s). Plus, she would have had first hand knowledge about who Jesus was and what He taught. It would be very doubtful that Mary was the elect lady. 

The remaining four potential answers come down to how you interpret the use of the term as being either ‘literal’ (an individual) or ‘figurative’ (community or church). Unfortunately, the Greek text does not indicate an article in the phrase (technically considered an error in the Greek, however this is not unprecedented in the New Testament as we see a similar problem of a missing article in 1 Peter 1:1 as well). 

In support of the interpretation of the word “lady” referring to a literal individual, we can use the following observations:

1. It was acceptable to use cryptic language to protect the identity of the sender and recipient due to potential persecution regarding the content of the letter.
2. Letter’s addressed to individuals would be considered acceptable to be included in the Canon of God’s Word as there would be precedence with Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus.
3. The phrase, “face-to-face” was used primarily for person-to-person encounters.
4. Researcher and Biblical scholar Dr. J. Rendel Harris wrote about how the term, ‘lady’ was primarily used during the time this epistle was written to be a term of familiar endearment for intimate friends and family (from A Western Gloss in John ii, written in 1929).
5. Similar terms were used by John in his third epistle which was clearly written to an individual.
6. The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria suggests that the word translated elect or chosen (Greek word ‘eklektos’) is close to the Babylonian name, ‘Electa’.
7. Specific metaphors are rarely used more than once in any writing. The term is used twice in this epistle.
8. The Greek word for ‘lady’ (Kyria) could be a proper name. The name ‘Martha’ in Hebrew and Aramaic can be translated as ‘mistress’, this Greek word (kyria) can also be translated as ‘mistress’. There are some scholars that believe the recipient was Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus. 
9. Verse five of this epistle uses the phrase, “writing you,” that uses a singular pronoun.
10. John never used the usual term for church, ‘ekklēsia’ (used by John three times in his third epistle).

Regarding the possibility of interpreting ‘lady’ as a metaphor for either the church, a church or a community of believers:

1. Verse eight warns us to, “watch yourselves,” a plural statement (can also be translated ‘ourselves’).
2. The proper name “Eklekte Kyria” would be an improbable combination of these two very rare names (not found in any literature). 
3. The greeting in verse three (which includes the blessing of grace, mercy, and peace) was a typical epistle greeting to churches. Some consider this greeting to be too elaborate of a greeting for an individual.
4. The term ‘kurios’ (meaning ‘lord’, compliment to ‘lady’) was often used in the phrase, “Day of the Lord” indirectly referring to Sunday morning, the day that people gathered together as a church. 
5. Believed unlikely that John would write to the specific lady that they, “love one another,” since that could be perceived improper or inappropriate. 
6. Grammatically these words present a perfect analogy of 1 Peter 1:1 and should not be considered proper names.

There are many good scholars on both sides of this question. Many early church commentators preferred the acceptance of the term as a metaphor while many later scholars preferred to consider the term referring to a literal person. As you can see there is no overwhelming evidence supporting either way. 

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