Texts in Conversation
Second John opens with the Elder writing to an elect lady and her children. Shepherd of Hermas describes an aged woman who is identified as the Church and addressed throughout as kyria, the same Greek title.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 John 1:1
New Testament
1 From the elder, to an elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth (and not I alone, but also all those who know the truth), 2 because of the truth that resides in us and will be with us forever.
Shepherd of Hermas 8:1
Early Christian
1 Now, brothers, a revelation was made to me in my sleep by a youth of exceedingly fair form, who said to me, “Whom do you think the aged woman, from whom you received the book, is?” I said, “The Sibyl.” “You are wrong,” he says, “she is not.” “Who then is she?” I say. “The Church,” he says. I said to him, “Why then is she aged?” “Because,” he says, “she was created before all things; therefore she is aged; and for her sake the world was formed.” 2 And afterwards I saw a vision in my house. The aged woman came, and asked me if I had already given the book to the elders. I said that I had not given it. “You have done well,” she said, “for I have words to add. When I have finished all the words, it will be made known by you to all the chosen.
Date: 90-140 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... When we turn more specifically to Second John’s kyria, evidence from the third century B.C. is given by BAG 459 (BAGD 458) for the figurative use of kyria he ekklesia, ‘the lady congregation.’ Dolger, ‘Domina,’ points to an early second-century A.D. Jerash inscription dedicated to kyria patridi, ‘the lady hometown.’ In the Shepherd of Hermas the old lady who is identified as the church (Vision 2.4.1) is addressed as kyria (Vision 3.1.3). Tertullian (around 200) supplies in Latin our first example of a particular church (at Carthage) called ‘Lady’: Domina mater ecclesia (‘Lady Mother Church’; Ad martyras 1.1), a usage that is scarcely his creation. Furthermore, there is no difficulty with applying to a local church the other Second John term eklekte, for in the New Testament groups of believers are frequently designated as ‘chosen, elect’ (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12; 2 Timothy 2:10; Revelation 17:14; also 1 Clement 6:1; Hermas Vision 1.3.4). ...
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