3 John

1Chapter

Greeting

1The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
2Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

5Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
9I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
11Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

13I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. 14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
15Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.
Study
Chapter 1
CSB

TWISTED SCRIPTURE

3 John 2

Prosperity preachers say that as children of the King every Christian has a right to wealth and health, and that these can be ours if only we’ll have enough faith. These preachers often wear expensive clothes and drive expensive cars, and they have television ministries in which they promise prosperity to anyone who financially supports them. While it is not wrong for a Christian to be healthy and wealthy, this verse does not promise that Christians will experience these benefits. In the context of John’s letter we can see that prosper means spiritual prosperity, which he primarily measures by a disciple’s faithfulness to the truth. In fact he mentioned truth three times in verses 3-4. Looking outside John’s letters, we see that the other apostles never promised riches to Christians. Paul, for example, suffered many bad experiences. He was lashed, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. He faced dangers and often lacked the finer things that accompany wealth (see 2Co 11:22-27). And yet judging by 3 John 2 we would say that Paul prospered.

CSB

John encouraged Gaius to continue his hospitality toward the missionaries. Such a ministry was important because these ministers were laboring on behalf of God. Underlying this discussion is a contrast between Christian missionaries and false teachers. An individual who welcomes a false teacher basically shares in his evil deeds (v. 11; 2Jn 10-11), but those who receive Christian missionaries are “coworkers with the truth” (v. 8).

CSB

Most likely the words “I wrote” refer to a previous letter now lost. It probably contained instructions from John that Diotrephes disregarded. Diotrephes, a man of influence and authority in the church, evidently was hostile toward the apostle John. The nature of his rebellion was observable in three distinct areas. (1) He loved to be in the first position. (2) He spread malicious gossip about John. (3) Failing to be content with those evil actions, he refused to receive believers from other assemblies and cast out of the church those who did receive the brethren. The sins of pride, gossip, and intolerance are frequently found together, and they compromise witness to the gospel.