For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (the first week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.
As we continue our look at the Top 12 Blog Posts at Covered in His Dust, we will examine the post that got the eighth most views in the history of the blog. This brings us back to the pastoral letters of John and my post on 2 John. It was titled “2 JOHN: the ‘Woman’” — and you can find it here.
In this series, as we look at each post, I want to ask three questions: why, what, and what else? Why do I think this post got so many views; why were others drawn to it? What do I hope people found when they got here; what do I hope they heard? Finally, what else have I learned about this; what else would I say about these ideas?
WHY THIS POST?
If you have been following along and noticed that we hit 3 John and then 1 John, you might have thought it weird that the book of 2 John got skipped. Well, after a quick break to talk about atonement, we are back to round out our journey through the letters of John. As before, I am taken aback that these posts found themselves on the list. Whether it is the fact that people are doing studies in Johannine literature or that the name “John” is a thoroughly Googled name… I’m a little struck at the number of views here. I certainly never finished writing on the letters of John and thought to myself, “Now that was a good one!”
However, if there is one element that might have caused 2 John to rise above the other two pastoral letters, it is the great discussion about the nature and identity of this “woman” who John directs his letter to. Any search for “who is the woman mentioned in 2 John” could have led a reader to this post.
WHAT DO I HOPE THEY FOUND?
First, I hope they found a concise and well-presented argument for the different opinions on the identity of the woman/audience of 2 John. If I did my job, I hope that by pulling out a few key references in the letter, we noted how much credence there is to the different options. I also hope they didn’t sense me swaying the conversation toward my favorite option (more on that below); without a personal “dog in the hunt,” I wanted to let the potential Bible student use their own research to make a choice they felt good about.
In addition to this, I also hope that by asking these questions and provoking critical thinking without resolution that I encouraged a better way of engaging the biblical text. I do not mean this merely from a textual criticism perspective, for cold textual criticism is shallow and lacking in any power. But there is something to learn by engaging the Text from a place of critical (and yes, even western) thought. It causes us to become more intimate with the Text, grow closer to the God speaking through it, and consider the message He may be imparting to us through the original author’s intent.
WHAT ELSE WOULD I SAY?
There isn’t much I would add to the existing conversation. That is, of course, except my own favorite opinion. Now that the original conversation has run its course and I don’t have to worry about influencing the student/thinker, where do I personally land on the opinion? I love the third option, of course. I think John could have easily written and sent the letter to a prominent woman and her family in the church. In fact, I have a personal hunch that this woman was the leader of the larger church John wishes to speak to. We know from Paul’s writings (particularly letters like Romans) that the early church didn’t balk at placing women in places of leadership in the church. Knowing John’s role of leadership in the church of Asia and Asia Minor, I would imagine he followed suit.
But to cloak a deeper message within the trappings of surface-level reading would be exactly like John in his other writings. One of the things we find consistent within Johannine literature is a multi-layered approach to his writing where the reader keeps peeling back one layer after another to find John’s larger point being applied at deeper and deeper levels. We see John doing this all throughout his gospel and the book of Revelation. Many scholars have argued against the idea that the Apostle John penned all of the letters that are written under his name. Looking at 2 John, I would argue that the same John wrote the gospel, the letters, and Revelation. While I’m no Greek scholar, I see a lot of similarities in the style of writing.
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