Book study
3 John
A personal note from 'the elder' to a friend named Gaius about a live problem in a local church: how the community treats travelling missionaries who carry the gospel for free. John commends Gaius for hosting and equipping such workers, exposes a domineering man named Diotrephes who refuses them and expels those who don't, and points to Demetrius as the trustworthy alternative. Underneath a small church squabble lies a large principle — supporting faithful workers is itself co-working for the truth.
Themes
- Walking in truth — The elder's deepest joy is to hear his 'children' are walking in the truth — truth is a road walked, not just a creed held.
- Hospitality as partnership — To receive and send off travelling workers 'worthy of God' is to become a fellow worker for the truth; the host shares the missionary's labor.
- Working for the Name — The itinerants go out 'for the sake of the Name,' taking nothing from outsiders — so the church must be their support.
- Love versus power — Gaius's open-handed love is set against Diotrephes's love of being first; the letter contrasts two ways of holding a place in the church.
- Imitate the good — The moral hinge: don't imitate evil but good — the one who does good is of God, tested by conduct, not talk.
Outline
- 1. Support the workers, resist the tyrant — Greeting and joy over Gaius's walk, commendation of his hospitality, the counter-example of Diotrephes, the good example of Demetrius, and a hope to speak face to face.
Chapters
- 3 John 1 — How a church treats travelling gospel workers reveals whether it is walking in the truth. John commends Gaius for hosting and equipping them (vv. 1–8), exposes Diotrephes for shutting the door and expelling those who open it (vv. 9–10), and hands Gaius a rule and a role model — imitate good, receive Demetrius (vv. 11–12) — before hoping to settle the rest in person (vv. 13–14).