3 John

Salutation

1 From “the elder” to Gaius, loved in the truth.

There’s that word “truth” again, repeated throughout this short letter, in verses 3, 4, 8, and 12. Commentators don’t seem to agree on the identity of this Gaius, a name that is mentioned several places in the New Testament. The People’s New Testament lists them.

Gaius Commended for His Hospitality

2-4 John prays that Gaius’s physical health is equal to the health of his soul. He has heard from friends of Gaius’s faithfulness to the truth and is overjoyed.

He expresses the same thing to the elect lady in 2 John verse 4.

5-8 These friends were strangers to Gaius, yet he accepted them as friends (NRV). John urges him to help them on their journey, for they don’t accept any support from non-believers. When we support such people, we become “co-workers with the truth.”

Where the NRSV uses the word friends (verse 5), the original Greek is Adelphos, or brother. And though the NRSV uses the word nonbelievers in verse 7, the footnote says that in Greek the word is Gentiles, so I tend to agree with Jamieson, Fausset and Brown that he’s talking not about nonbelievers but of newly converted Gentile Christians.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

9-10 A man named Diotrephes, who desires preeminence in the church, does not acknowledge John’s authority as an apostle, so if John is able to come to Gaius, he plans to expose Diotrephes for his lies. The man also refuses to welcome fellow Christians and “expels” those who want to welcome them.

A desire and insistence for preeminence is not a sign of strength, as a person guilty of such would suppose, but a sign of weakness. It requires strength to stand back and let others take the lead, even though you might think they’re not doing the job you think you could. Arrogance – the opposite of the humility that Christ commands – is destructive and a danger to “unity in the bond of peace” that Paul begs us to have in Ephesians 4:1-3.

11-12 John urges Gaius to imitate the good man, whose goodness is from God, and not the evil man, who hasn’t even seen God. He commends Demetrius, who has a good reputation; John – who is truthful – testifies on his behalf.

This seems like a contrast of the evil of Diotrephes and the goodness of Demetrius. While some may be drawn to Diotrephes because of his forcible personality, be warned that he doesn’t really understand the character of God nor of Christianity. Rather look to Demetrius and his goodness for an example.

Final Greetings

13-15 Again, similar to 2 John, John expresses his desire to see Gaius in person rather than just through a letter. He sends peace personally and from other Christians and urges Gaius to greet each Christian by name on his behalf.