The Passion Translation New Testament Masterpiece Edition (2020 edition) : with Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Songs (The Illustrated Passion Translation) (The Passion Translation (TPT))

by Brian Simmons

The letter is addressed to the eklekte kuria (“elect/chosen/excellent lady”). Most commentators see this as a metaphor for the church and her spiritual children, believing that John wrote this letter to a sister congregation or network of congregations. This has been the majority view since it was first noted by Jerome (Jerome, Ep. Xi. ad Ageruchiam). Still, others see it as a letter to a specific woman, with the conjecture that her name was either Elekta or Kyria. This is a possibility, since one way to read the letter is that John knew this woman and was acquainted with her sister and her children (v. 13). If this was indeed written to Kyria (feminine of “lord,” meaning a woman in authority), there is a possibility that she was the pastor or overseer of a specific church. But who was the most especially “chosen woman” in the entire Bible? It was Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus. John was given the commission by Jesus himself in his last moments on the cross to care for Mary as his mother, and we know that Mary had a sister (John 19:25–27, cf. v. 13). What other woman is chosen and loved, not only by John but all the church? Every believer in Jesus rightly honors and reveres his mother, Mary. Throughout church history there have been a few scholars who believe that Mary was the recipient of this letter. (See Knauer, Stud. U. Krit., 1833, Part 2, p.452ff.; q.v. J. E. Huther, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the General Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude, transla...