Summary: Bible - Book of 3 John

The GIST

3 John, a letter near the very end of the New Testament of the Bible, is attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally regarded as the author of the Gospel of John and of the two other letters that carry his name. The writer himself gives no name at all. He calls himself simply "the elder," and he writes to a friend named Gaius. By word count it is the shortest book in the entire Bible, a single chapter of fourteen verses in the King James text, and it was probably written to fit on one sheet of papyrus.

It matters because it is so small and so human. There is no doctrine set out here and no grand argument. There is a man thanking a friend for opening his home to travelling preachers, a complaint about a local leader who will not cooperate, a recommendation for someone who can be trusted, and a promise to visit soon. Through that keyhole a reader sees how the earliest Christian communities actually functioned: by letters, by guests at the door, and by the character of the people in charge.

What It Says

A warm greeting (verses 1 to 4)

The letter opens with affection. It is from "the elder" to "the wellbeloved Gaius," a man the writer says he loves in the truth. That word, truth, sounds again and again through these few lines and gives the note its backbone.

Next comes a wish that has become one of the most quoted sentences in the letter: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." The elder takes it for granted that Gaius is flourishing inwardly, and he hopes his outward life and his body will keep pace.

The reason for that confidence follows. Fellow believers have come to the elder and testified about Gaius, reporting that the truth is in him and that he lives by it. The elder's delight is unmistakable, and he puts it in a line any teacher or parent will recognise: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." The phrase "my children" has led readers to wonder whether the elder was the one who first brought Gaius to faith.

Praise for an open door (verses 5 to 8)

The heart of the letter is its praise of Gaius for hospitality. "Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers." The guests in question were not old friends. They were travelling brethren whom Gaius did not know personally, and he looked after them anyway. They, in turn, have spoken about his love in front of the church.

The elder asks him to keep going, and to go one step further. If Gaius will send these travellers on their way in a manner worthy of God, he will do well. The reason is the nature of their mission. They set out "for his name's sake," and they went "taking nothing of the Gentiles." They accepted no support from outsiders, so they depended entirely on the welcome of fellow believers.

From this the elder draws a principle that reaches beyond one household: "We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth." To house and feed and send on those who carry the message is to share in their work. The host becomes a partner of the preacher.

The trouble with Diotrephes (verses 9 and 10)

Then the tone darkens. "I wrote unto the church," the elder says, and something went wrong with that earlier letter. A man named Diotrephes stands in the way. The elder sums him up in a phrase that has clung to his name ever since: he is one "who loveth to have the preeminence among them." He does not receive the elder or accept what he says.

The charges are specific. Diotrephes has been talking against the elder "with malicious words." Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the travelling brethren himself. Worse still, he stops others who want to welcome them and throws those people out of the church. In other words, he is punishing exactly the kind of generosity for which Gaius has just been praised.

The elder does not intend to let it pass. "Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth." He plans to deal with the matter in person.

Choose your example (verse 11)

Out of that contrast comes the letter's one direct piece of moral instruction, and it is as plain as instruction gets: "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good." The elder attaches a test to it. "He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." Conduct is the evidence. With the generous Gaius on one side and the domineering Diotrephes on the other, the reader hardly needs to be told which example to follow.

A word for Demetrius (verse 12)

A third man now enters. "Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself." The elder adds his own testimony to the general opinion and reminds Gaius that his word can be relied on. Nothing more is said about Demetrius, but the commendation is strong: everyone speaks well of him, the truth itself speaks well of him, and so does the elder.

Until we meet (verses 13 and 14)

The ending is brisk and friendly. The elder has a great deal more to say, but he would rather not put it down "with ink and pen." He hopes to see Gaius soon, so that they can speak face to face. He signs off with a blessing of peace, passes on greetings from friends, and asks Gaius to greet the friends where he is, each one by name.

Why It Matters

Scholars read 3 John as a truly personal letter, and one commentator has remarked that it sits awkwardly under the usual label of "Catholic epistles," letters meant for the church at large. Its theme is the importance of hospitality, especially toward those working to spread the gospel. It is also the only book of the New Testament in which the names "Jesus" and "Christ" do not appear. The missionaries are said to have gone out for the sake of "the Name," and no more.

The article fills in the picture around the three men. Gaius seems to have been a man of means, since the elder did not think it an unreasonable burden for him to host travelling preachers. The name appears four other times in the New Testament, among Paul's companions and hosts, but there is no reason to suppose that any of those men is this Gaius. The "brothers" he sheltered are understood as missionaries who had set out without money. The quarrel with Diotrephes appears to be about leadership and authority and not about belief, because the elder never accuses him of teaching heresy. Gaius apparently knew the church in question but was probably not a member, or he would not have needed to be told what Diotrephes was doing. Demetrius was probably one of the travelling missionaries, and the letter likely served as his letter of recommendation, a common practice in the early church. A later source, the Apostolic Constitutions, says Gaius became bishop of Pergamon and Demetrius bishop of Philadelphia, though there is no early support for the claim about Gaius.

The earlier letter to the church is another small puzzle. Most scholars think it was a previous letter of recommendation that has not survived, while at least one argues that it was 2 John.

On authorship, the letter was almost certainly written by the same person as 2 John, and probably 1 John too. In both of the shorter letters the writer calls himself the elder, both follow the form of ordinary personal letters of the period, and both deal with hospitality and conflict in the church. Whether that writer was John the Evangelist or someone else, perhaps a figure known as John the Presbyter, remains uncertain. Some find it strange that anyone would defy an apostle the way Diotrephes defies the elder. The language echoes the Gospel of John, so the letter is usually placed near the end of the first century, though proposed dates range from the 60s to about 110. Tradition places its writing in Ephesus.

Its road into the Bible was slow. Early Christian writers do not mention it, probably because it is so brief, and the first reference comes in the middle of the third century. Origen is reported as saying that not everyone considered 2 and 3 John genuine, and Eusebius listed them among the disputed books while noting that most people acknowledged them. All three letters of John were recognised by Athanasius and by the councils of Hippo and Carthage late in the fourth century. The text itself has come down cleanly, preserved in the great early codices with no major differences between copies.

One verse has had an unusual modern career. The wish that Gaius may prosper and be in health is often cited as a proof text in prosperity gospel teaching. Opponents of that teaching see it as little more than the kind of good wish that opens many letters.

Who Should Read It

Read 3 John if you want to see the early church at ground level in about a minute's reading. It will speak to anyone who has opened a home to guests, to anyone who has worked under a leader who had to be first, and to anyone who has been asked to vouch for a colleague. It is also a fine place to start for readers who feel daunted by the Bible's longer books, because everything in it is concrete: three names, one conflict, and a simple instruction to imitate what is good.