Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

The twenty-seven books of the New Testament include the first four books, 'Matthew', 'Mark', Luke' and 'John', penned by their hand, which describe the events around the coming of the Messiah, including Jesus' birth, life, and death upon the cross which fulfilled all the prophecies concerning His life on this earth. The next book, called 'Acts' penned by Luke, sometimes referred to as 'Acts of the Apostles' or descriptively called, 'the book of conversions' as it dealt with the ascension of our Lord, the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles on the Pentecost following Jesus' death upon the cross, the infancy of the church with the first converts and how one becomes a Christian and the martyrdom of some of the early Christians, as well as the conversion of Saul, who became known as Paul, and his three missionary journeys as well as his trip to Rome where history tells us he was martyred there. The next twenty-one books are epistles, or letters written to individuals, such as Timothy, established churches, or group of churches. The final book of the bible, 'Revelation', written by John while in exile on the isle of Patmos, is generally a book of prophecy of the church and is also written to the seven churches of Asia, so also it is an epistle to those churches as well. These prophecies will continue to unfold along with the history of this world that is controlled by the Lord.

That brings us to our question, "Which epistle is written to a lady?". Paul says about himself in his epistle to Corinth, "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (1 Corinthians 15:1-9) Paul persecuted the Christians before Jesus appearing to him on the road to Damascus, and then, amazingly enough, he is the one that pens most of the epistles, usually by the writing hand of Luke (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews), fourteen in all. Interestingly enough, while Jesus walked this earth His brothers did not believe in Him as the Christ (John 7:1-5) and yet by the appearance of Jesus before His brother (1 Corinthians 15:7) James also is turned to the Lord and pens a book by his name-'James' as well as his other brother, Judas (Mark 6:3) who writes an epistle called 'Jude'! Of course we have Peter that writes two books by his name, '1 Peter & 2Peter'.

So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read, "The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I was glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. And now I ask you, lady, not as writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have heard from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Having many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that your joy may be made full. The children of your chosen sister greet you." (2 John).

So there we have the answer to our question, as the writer of this epistle is none other than John! Now the debate that rages on this book is not the writer, as that is evident, but just who is the 'lady'. Some say it might be a congregation while others say it is a woman, two possible names that are given are 'Eclecte' or 'Cyria'. Many believe that her identity is not given because of the persecution upon the Christians at that time. When John says, "I was glad to find some of your children walking in truth" would seem to indicate that it is indeed a woman he is talking about who has some faithful children. The debate will rage on without my help.

May we be as dedicated to the faith as this 'lady' and her 'children walking in truth' for life everlasting!