New Testament · General Epistles · Book 64 of 66
3 John
A short letter from “the elder” to Gaius, commending his welcome of travelling brethren, rebuking Diotrephes for refusing them, and vouching for Demetrius.
- 1 chapter
- 14 verses
- About 1 minute to read
- Letters to the Churches, c. AD 48–96
Third John is a letter about receiving those who travel in the Lord’s work. Brethren had gone out “for his name’s sake” (1:7), taking nothing from the Gentiles, and depended on the churches to take them in and send them on. Gaius received them. Diotrephes refused them and cast out those who would receive them. The elder writes to commend the one, to warn against the other, and to vouch for Demetrius. The rule that sorts the three men comes between Diotrephes and Demetrius: “He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God” (1:11).
One word holds the letter together. The elder loves Gaius “in the truth” (1:1), has no greater joy than to hear that his children “walk in truth” (1:4), and calls those who receive the brethren “fellowhelpers to the truth” (1:8). Here truth is something done: a door opened, a journey provided for. 2 John forbids receiving the man who brings not the doctrine of Christ (2 John 1:10); this letter rebukes the refusal of those who bring it. Between them the two letters say whom to receive and whom to refuse.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
3 John 1:11 KJV
Before you read
- Who wrote it
- The writer calls himself “the elder” (3 John 1:1), as in 2 John 1:1, and writes with authority to a church (1:9–10). Traditionally the apostle John.
The apostle John John the son of Zebedee wrote it, calling himself an elder as Peter did (1 Peter 5:1). Bede gives this as the general consensus of the Church, from the letters’ likeness to 1 John in words and faith; and the assurance of 1:12 echoes the Gospel’s close (John 21:24).
Grounds 1 Peter 5:1John 21:24Bede 735 · Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
John the presbyter of Ephesus, as some held 2 and 3 John were written by a presbyter named John, distinct from the apostle, whom Papias often mentions and whose tomb was shown at Ephesus. Bede records the view before setting it aside.
Grounds 3 John 1:1Bede 735 · Commentary on the Catholic Epistles
- To whom
- Gaius, “the wellbeloved” (1:1), known to the elder through brethren who had stayed with him (1:3–6). The New Testament names other men called Gaius (Romans 16:23; Acts 19:29; 20:4); the letter does not say whether he is one of them.
How 3 John is laid out
4 movements · 4 passages · 14 verses · gold dots mark key verses
Gaius walks in the truth
1:1–4 · 4 verses
The elder greets Gaius, whom he loves in the truth, and prays that he may prosper and be in health, even as his soul prospers. Brethren have come and testified of the truth in him and of his walk in it. The elder has no greater joy than to hear that his children walk in truth.
Receiving the brethren
1:5–8 · 4 verses
Gaius does faithfully whatever he does for the brethren and for strangers, and they have borne witness of his charity before the church. The elder asks him to bring them forward on their journey “after a godly sort.” They went out for his name’s sake, taking nothing of the Gentiles, so believers ought to receive such and be fellowhelpers to the truth.
Diotrephes refuses them
1:9–11 · 3 verses
The elder had written to the church, but Diotrephes, “who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” He prates against the elder with malicious words, will not receive the brethren, forbids those who would, and casts them out of the church. If the elder comes, he will remember these deeds. Gaius is to follow good, not evil.
A good report, and farewell
1:12–14 · 3 verses
Demetrius has good report of all men and of the truth itself, and the elder adds his own record, which his readers know to be true. He has many things to write but will not set them down with ink and pen; he hopes to come shortly and speak face to face. Peace, and greetings from friends to friends by name.
The words 3 John turns on
Truth runs through the letter. Then come what Gaius does for the brethren, what Diotrephes refuses and loves, and the witness borne to Demetrius.
- ἀλήθεια alḗtheiatruth5 verses
- προπέμπω propémpōbring forward on a journey, send on one’s way1 verse
- συνεργός synergósfellowhelper, fellow worker1 verse
- ἐπιδέχομαι epidéchomaireceive, welcome as a guest2 verses
- φιλοπρωτεύω philoprōteúōlove to have the preeminence, love to be first1 verse
- μαρτυρέω martyréōbear witness, have good report3 verses
What 3 John teaches
alḗtheia · truth
Walking in the truth
Truth is the word of this letter, in five of its fourteen verses, and it is never only something held. The elder loves Gaius “in the truth” (1:1). The brethren testify “of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth” (1:3), and the elder has no greater joy than “to hear that my children walk in truth” (1:4). To be in the truth is to walk in it. So those who receive the brethren become “fellowhelpers to the truth” (1:8), and Demetrius has good report “of the truth itself” (1:12), as though the truth he lives by bore witness for him. 2 John opens on the same joy, “that I found of thy children walking in truth” (2 John 1:4), and 1 John asks for love “in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
synergós · fellowhelper
Fellowhelpers to the truth
The brethren of 1:5–8 “went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles” (1:7), so their keep fell to the churches. Gaius received them, strangers as well as brethren (1:5), and sent them on. To bring them forward on their journey “after a godly sort” (1:6) is to provide for the road ahead, as the church at Antioch brought Paul and Barnabas on their way (Acts 15:3). From this the elder draws a duty: “We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth” (1:8). The host shares in the work he makes possible. Christ had said as much: “he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward” (Matthew 10:41).
philoprōteúō · love preeminence
The love of the first place
The letter names Diotrephes’ fault with a word found nowhere else in Scripture: he “loveth to have the preeminence” (1:9). The rest follows from it. He receives neither the elder nor the brethren, prates against them “with malicious words,” and casts out of the church those who would receive them (1:10). The disciples once reasoned “which of them should be greatest” (Luke 9:46), and Peter charged elders not to be “lords over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3). What lay beneath the ambition, the Fathers read two ways. Bede took Diotrephes for an arch-heretic of that time
; Andreas saw a man who has not learned to do the same thing
as Gaius. The letter itself names no doctrine. It sets beside him the rule of 1:11, and Demetrius as the good to follow.
Christ in 3 John
The letter never writes the name of Jesus, yet it turns on that name. The brethren went out “for his name’s sake” (3 John 1:7), and Bede reads it so: When it says for the name, it is to be understood as of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ promised an hundredfold to everyone who leaves house and kin “for my name’s sake” (Matthew 19:29), and the apostles left the council “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41).
To receive such men was to receive him. Jesus told the disciples, “He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (John 13:20). That is the weight of Gaius’s welcome and of Diotrephes’ refusal. The rule of 1:11, that he who does evil “hath not seen God,” is read in the light of the Gospel’s word about the Son: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). Those who are of God show it by doing good.
People
By how many verses name them
Where 3 John reaches
The passages it leans on, and the ones that lean on it
Christ’s promise that whoever receives a prophet or a righteous man shares his reward.
Peter’s charge to elders: not lords over God’s heritage, but ensamples to the flock.
The same test in 1 John: whoever sins “hath not seen him, neither known him.”
“Ye know that our record is true”: the Gospel of John closes on a like assurance.
2 John closes almost alike: more to write, no ink, a hope to speak face to face.
Books 3 John links to most
The Church Fathers on 3 John
26 quotations from 7 writers before AD 800
Bede saw in Gaius a man who upheld the preaching of others, and took him for Paul’s host at Corinth.
Because clearly he accumulated good deeds in addition to the faith in Christ which he had received, and although he was not sufficient for preaching the word himself, he rejoiced to sustain those who did preach with his resources. We believe this Gaius to be the one whom Paul mentions in the Epistle to the Romans, saying: ‘Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, greets you’ (Rom. XVI).
Gregory, on how the one who gives becomes a fellowhelper of the one who preaches.
Whoever gives practical assistance to those who have spiritual gifts becomes a coworker with those people in their spiritual work. There are relatively few people who are spiritually gifted but many who are rich in the things of this world, and when the latter comfort poor saints with their wealth they gain a share in their spiritual riches.
Didymus the Blind read verse 11 through Paul’s words on light and darkness, Christ and Belial.
Light has nothing in common with darkness, and there is no agreement between Christ and Belial. The person who does good has Christ, the true light, and not darkness or Belial. But the person who does evil is from Belial and darkness and has not seen God or had any knowledge of him.
Clement of Alexandria, on what the closing “Peace be to thee” rules out.
Do not let quarrelsomeness with its love of empty victory creep into our midst, for our aim is the elimination of all discord. Surely this is the meaning of the expression ‘Peace be to you.’
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