II John 1, 4-11 The elder, To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth --and not I only, but also all who know the truth. . . . It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you

Biblical Foundations for Women Alongside Men in Ministry 20
and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
1. The fact that the “elect lady” is responsible to discern true and false teaching suggests that she was responsible for teaching in her home and likely was teaching like Priscilla did with her husband Aquilla in
Acts 18:26.
a. How could someone be held responsible for discerning true and false teaching if they were not capable of teaching and weren’t actively teaching?
2. Some NT scholars think this letter refers only to the woman’s own home and her own children. But why would a letter for someone’s own children and household alone be preserved in the New Testament, which is a collection of teachings for the whole Church?
a. That these instructions in II John for her “children” are for the disciples in her house-church is suggested by the fact that the term “children” is often used in John’s letters and in the NT to refer to disciples or members of a church (
I Cor. 4:14; 12:14;
Gal. 4:19;
I Thes. 2:7, 11;
I Jn. 2:1, 12, 13, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21;
III Jn. 4). Further more we have already pointed out women with house-churches that are mentioned in the NT: Lydia (
Acts 16:14-15, 40); Chloe (
I Cor. 1:11); Nympha (
Col. 4:15); Apphia (and her husband Philemon, Philem. 2); Priscilla (and Aquilla,
Rom. 16:3-5).
3. The “elect lady” herself is being addressed as the gatekeeper over her house- church. John did not address the elders or deacons of her house-church, but her herself.
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