171: 2 John — The “Woman” | BEMA Podcast Notes

BEMA Episode Link: 171: 2 John — The “Woman”
Episode Length: 13:32
Published Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2020 01:00:00 -0700
Session 4
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings hear the words of 2 John and toy with the question of who the woman is that John addresses his letter to.

Discussion Video for BEMA 171

Transcript for BEMA 171

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 171: 2 John - The “Woman”

Title & Source Summary

Episode: 171 - 2 John: The “Woman” Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings Focus: The entire book of 2 John, verse-by-verse

This episode provides a complete verse-by-verse study of 2 John, focusing on the identity of the “chosen lady” to whom John addresses his letter. The hosts explore the recurring themes of truth and love that permeate John’s writing, while investigating whether the recipient is an actual woman, a church community, or perhaps both. The discussion emphasizes John’s consistent message that walking in truth is inseparable from walking in love, and concludes with a personal challenge about how John would evaluate our own lives and communities through this lens.

Key Takeaways

2 John is one of the few (possibly the only) letters in the New Testament directly addressed to a woman
The identity of the “chosen lady” remains debated: she could be an actual woman, a metaphor for a church, or both
John’s central themes of “truth” and “love” are deeply interconnected - to walk in truth is to walk in love
The Greek grammar shifts from feminine (when addressing “the lady”) to masculine (when addressing recipients), suggesting a broader audience than just one woman
The deceivers John warns against likely include Docetists (early Gnostics who denied Christ came in the flesh) and possibly other heretical groups
John’s measure of faithfulness is fundamentally about love, not just doctrinal correctness
The letter challenges readers to reflect on how their own lives and communities would be evaluated through John’s “lens of love”

Main Concepts & Theories

The Identity of the “Chosen Lady”

John opens his letter addressing “the lady chosen by God and to her children.” The hosts present three interpretive options:

Option 1: A Literal Woman - John could be writing to an actual woman and her biological or spiritual children. This is the most straightforward reading and shouldn’t be dismissed simply because it lacks complexity. The letter would represent a personal correspondence that was preserved and canonized.

Option 2: A Church Community - The “chosen lady” could be a metaphorical reference to a church body. This interpretation is supported by several factors:

Biblical precedent: Churches are frequently depicted as brides (feminine imagery)
The Greek grammar shifts from feminine (addressing “the lady”) to masculine (addressing recipients throughout the letter)
The concept of “daughters” in biblical language refers to outlying villages or suburbs of a main city (as when Jesus addresses “daughters of Jerusalem”)
John’s closing reference to “the children of your sister who was chosen by God” suggests church-to-church communication

Option 3: Both/And - Given John’s demonstrated ability to write on multiple levels simultaneously, the letter could be addressed to an actual woman who leads a house church or larger body of believers, with intentional or unintentional allegorical overtones. This woman would be both the primary recipient and a representative figure for the broader community.

The hosts note that even if this was personal correspondence, letters in the ancient world were expected to be circulated and shared among communities, so John would have anticipated a wider audience regardless of the primary recipient.

Truth and Love: John’s Integrated Framework

Throughout 2 John, John repeats the words “truth” and “love” with remarkable frequency. The hosts emphasize that for John, these concepts are not separate categories but deeply integrated realities:

Walking in truth means walking in love - John rejoices that the chosen lady and her children are “walking in the truth,” which 1 John established means they are walking in love
Without love, there is no truth - According to John’s previous letter, someone who claims truth but lacks love is actually a liar
Obedience equals love - The command to be obedient is fundamentally about being loving: “This is love that we walk in obedience to His commands”
Love is the beginning command - John references “the command we have had from the beginning” which is to love one another

This represents a continuation of themes from 1 John, showing John’s consistent theological framework across his letters.

The Deceivers and False Teachers

John warns against “many deceivers who did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.” The hosts identify several possible groups:

Docetists (Most Likely) - Early Gnostic heretics who believed Jesus only appeared to be human but was actually pure spirit. This denial of the incarnation (“coming in the flesh”) was a major threat to early Christianity.

Other Possible Groups:

Judean legalists who followed Paul around Asia Minor opposing his gospel
Legalistic believers creating “holy huddles” and shunning tax collectors and sinners
The Nicolaitans mentioned in Revelation
Any group promoting a gospel that divorced belief from love

John’s instruction is clear and strong: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them.” This represents the serious threat false teaching posed to early Christian communities.

The Church as Female/Bride Imagery

The discussion reveals important biblical patterns in how communities are described:

Churches are portrayed as brides, using feminine language
Major cities with surrounding communities are described as mothers with daughters
When Jesus says “daughters of Jerusalem,” he’s addressing outlying towns, not specifically women
This feminine imagery for communities of faith extends throughout Scripture and would have been natural for John’s audience

John’s Measuring Standard: The Lens of Love

The episode concludes with a powerful reflection on how John evaluates faithfulness. Unlike measuring by doctrinal precision alone, John’s primary metric is love:

Would John rejoice about our walking in truth because of sound doctrine, or because of demonstrated love?
How would a letter from John about our family or church read?
Would John find us walking in the truth (love) or missing the mark?

This challenges the common tendency to prioritize theological correctness over practical love, suggesting John would invert that priority.

Examples & Applications

Personal Application: The Commute Challenge

Marty suggests a practical exercise: After finishing the episode, turn off the podcast and spend the rest of your commute reflecting on love. Let this reflection impact how you respond when someone cuts you off in traffic. This grounds the lofty discussion of truth and love in everyday situations where irritation and selfishness often prevail.

Church Evaluation Through John’s Eyes

The hosts invite listeners to imagine John writing a letter about their church community:

Would he commend the church for walking in truth?
Would that commendation be based on doctrinal soundness or demonstrated love?
Would the letter sound like 2 John (celebratory) or like other New Testament letters that address serious problems?

This provides a sobering metric for church health that transcends typical measures like attendance, programs, or theological precision.

Historical Context: House Churches and Women Leaders

The possibility that the “chosen lady” leads a house church or larger body of believers reflects the historical reality of early Christianity, where many churches met in homes and women played significant leadership roles. This challenges assumptions about women’s roles in the early church and provides historical precedent for female leadership.

Hospitality and Doctrinal Boundaries

John’s instruction not to welcome false teachers into one’s house addresses the tension between Christian hospitality and protecting the community from harmful teaching. In a context where traveling teachers depended on the hospitality of believers, refusing to host someone was a serious boundary. This offers a model for maintaining doctrinal integrity while living in love - not all inclusivity serves the community’s health.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

Women in Early Church Leadership - Research the role of women leaders in house churches and early Christian communities, including archaeological evidence and references in other New Testament letters
Docetism and Early Gnostic Movements - Study the development of Gnostic thought, why it was so threatening to orthodox Christianity, and how it influenced later theological debates about Christ’s nature
The Johannine Community - Investigate the scholarly discussion about the community behind John’s writings, including theories about their location, composition, and theological concerns
Biblical Metaphors for the Church - Trace the bride imagery and other feminine metaphors for the people of God throughout Scripture, from Israel in the Old Testament to the church in the New Testament
Ancient Letter Writing and Circulation - Explore how letters functioned in the ancient world, including conventions for writing, delivering, and circulating letters among communities
The Relationship Between Truth and Love in Other New Testament Writers - Compare John’s integration of truth and love with how Paul, Peter, James, and other writers handle these concepts
Hospitality in the Early Church - Study the crucial role of hospitality in spreading Christianity and supporting traveling teachers, and how communities navigated questions about who to host
The Nicolaitans and Other Early Heresies - Research the various groups mentioned in Revelation and other New Testament books that posed threats to early Christian orthodoxy
Grammar and Gender in Biblical Greek - Examine how Greek grammar works regarding gender and what the shift from feminine to masculine might indicate about ancient writing conventions
The Canon and Personal Correspondence - Investigate how and why personal letters like 2 and 3 John were preserved and included in the biblical canon

Comprehension Questions

What are the three interpretive options for identifying the “chosen lady” in 2 John, and what evidence supports each option?
How does John connect the concepts of “truth” and “love” in 2 John, and why is this connection significant for understanding his theology?
Who are the “deceivers” that John warns against, and what makes their teaching dangerous according to the letter?
What does the phrase “daughters of Jerusalem” actually refer to in biblical language, and how does this help us understand the feminine imagery used for communities?
According to the hosts, what is John’s primary measuring stick for evaluating faithfulness in individuals and communities, and how might this challenge contemporary approaches to assessing church health?

Personal Summary

2 John offers a brief but powerful window into the early Christian community through a letter addressed to a mysterious “chosen lady” who may be an individual woman, a church community, or both. What makes this short letter remarkable is how it distills John’s essential message into thirteen verses: authentic Christian faith is measured not primarily by doctrinal precision but by the integration of truth and love.

The debate about the chosen lady’s identity reminds us that the early church was diverse and complex, with women potentially serving as church leaders and communities meeting in homes rather than dedicated buildings. John’s warning against deceivers who deny Christ came in the flesh points to real theological battles the early church faced, particularly against Gnostic-influenced groups who spiritualized Jesus at the expense of his physical incarnation.

Most challenging is John’s consistent metric for faithfulness: love. He measures truth not by theological sophistication but by demonstrated love for others. To walk in truth is to walk in love. Without love, claims to truth become lies. This isn’t anti-intellectual or dismissive of sound doctrine - John clearly cares about right teaching regarding Christ’s incarnation. Rather, it’s a recalibration that places love at the center where it belongs, as the fulfillment of all commands and the measure of genuine faith.

The episode’s closing challenge to reflect on how John would evaluate our own lives and communities is uncomfortable precisely because it’s so direct. Would John commend us for walking in truth because we’re walking in love? Or would he need to write a different kind of letter? This question makes 2 John not just a historical curiosity but a contemporary mirror reflecting what truly matters in Christian discipleship.

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S4 171: 2 John — The “Woman”

Seeing Through the Lens of Love [13:32]