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The Upper Register

Third John

  1. Verse 1: Gaius

    • Other Gaiuses mentioned in the NT (1 Cor 1:14; Rom 16:23; Acts 19:29; 20:4)
    • But we don’t know who this Gaius was.

  2. Verse 2: Health of body and soul.

    “There is biblical warrant here for desiring the physical as well as the spiritual welfare of our Christian friends” (Stott, 223).

  3. Verses 3-4: “Walking in the truth.”

    “To walk in the truth is more than to give assent to it. It means to apply it to one’s behavior. Whoever ‘walks in the truth’ is an integrated believer in whom there is no dichotomy between profession and practice. On the contrary, there is in him an exact correspondence between creed and conduct” (Stott, 224).

  4. Verses 5-8: Gaius commended for showing hospitality to traveling preachers/missionaries.

  5. Verse 6: “You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.”

    • “Send one on a journey” (propempō) = to provide travel assistance, to speed someone on their way with supplies, money, travel companions, transportation, letters, etc.
    • Almost a technical term for financially supporting a missionary (Acts 15:3; 20:38; 21:5; Rom 15:24; 1 Cor 16:6, 11; 2 Cor 1:16; Tit 3:13).
    • “In a manner worthy of God” — that is, in a manner that befits their status as God’s spokesmen.

  6. Verse 7a: “They went out for the sake of the Name”

    • Cp. Rom 1:5: “… through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.”
    • The missionaries went out to make the Name of Christ known and to bring people to saving faith in him.`

  7. Verse 7b: They didn’t take any money from pagans (non-Christians).

    • They depended on the Christian community to provide them with hospitality and support.

  8. Verse 8: When we show hospitality to missionaries, we become fellow-workers for the truth, advancing the cause of the truth. We “play our part in spreading the truth” (NEB).

  9. Verses 9-11: Diotrephes’s abusive leadership

    1. “I wrote to the church” (NIV), “I have written something to the church” (ESV)
      1. Some have suggested that this is 2 John.
      2. But 2 John doesn’t quite fit. We would expect a letter that includes a request that the church provide hospitality to those whom John recommended.
      3. Thus the letter is probably lost.
    2. He loves to be first (philoprōteuō)—that is, he loves exercising autocratic authority over the church.
    3. He does not acknowledge John’s apostolic authority.
      1. NIV: He “will not welcome us.”
      2. Verb epidechomai is same verb used in v 10 in reference to hospitality.
      3. Diotrephes’s refusal to welcome the brothers (whom John recommends) is tantamount to his rejection of John himself.
      4. I like the ESV: He “does not acknowledge our authority.”
      5. Another apostolic “we.”
      6. 1 John 4:6: “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.”
      7. Cp. the way Paul’s apostolic authority was also questioned (2 Corinthians and Galatians).
    4. He spreads malicious gossip about John (bad mouthing).
    5. He refuses to welcome the orthodox missionaries recommended by John.
    6. He prevents others from doing so, threatening them with excommunication.
      1. Verb ekballō = to cast someone out (of the church).
      2. Cp. John 9:34-35 - the blind man whom Jesus healed was “cast out” of the synagogue.

  10. Verses 12: Letter of recommendation for Demetrius

  11. Verse 15: “Greet the friends, each by name.”

    • A church should not get so big that the members do not know each other personally “by name” (Stott, 234).
    • If Jesus the Good Shepherd calls his sheep “by name” (John 10:3), shouldn’t his under-shepherds as well?