3 John Bible Teaching

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3rd John Whole Chapter
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August 21st 2016
Okay, last week we discussed the internal and external evidence of both 2nd and 3rd John – so that is out of the way.

Let’s cover the general characteristics of this brief letter or epistle and move on to Jude next week.

This letter – and remember, this and 2nd John are merely letters written by John to another person and NOT to a church or gathering of Saints in a particular geography) but this epistle is written to a Christian whose name was Gaius.

We know nothing more about him.

Additionally, we know nothing about the time nor the place of this letter. But it was addressed to Gaius.

In verse 2 John expresses his love for Gaius and a wish for his well-being and happiness.

He then commends Gaius’s character and efforts as John seems to have learned about Gaius’s love for the truth and his kindness shown not only to members of his own church but also to strangers.

That is verses 3-8.

He then switches and while commending these strangers to their attention adds that Diotrephes would not acknowledge his authority or receive those whom he introduced to them.

This conduct, he asserts, requires a rebuke and adds that when he himself came to them he would take proper measures to assert his own authority, and show to him and to the church the duty of receiving Christian brethren who were commended to them from abroad.

That’s verse 9 and 10.

At this point (verse 11) he exhorts Gaius to persevere in that which was good–in a life of love and kindness, mimicking the characteristics of God.

At verse 12 he speaks of a man named Demetrius–who, it would seem, had been an associate of Gaius and he commends him as well.

Then, as he did in the second epistle, he says in closing that there were many things which he would be glad to say to him, but there were reasons why they should not be set down “with ink and pen,” but he hoped soon to speak with him face to face – and the epistle ends with a salutation.

So let’s work through the verses and see if there is more to be found – I can say from my opinion there really isn’t that much except some general principles.

3rd John 1:1 The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;
6 Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:
7 Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.
9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
11 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.
12 Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.
13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:
14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.

Alright back to verse 1.

The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

This is a very similar introduction to what we find in the Second Epistle covered last week where the writer identifies himself as the Elder and speaks of loving Gaius in the truth, something he said toward the Elect Lady in the Second Epistle.

“Unto the well-beloved Gaius.”

There are three people named Gaius in the New Testament.

Paul in Roman 16:23 calls one “his host,” and whom he says (in 1st Corinthians 1:15) he baptized, while residing at Corinth.

There is a Gaius of Macedonia who was a traveling companion of Paul’s and was arrested by a mob at Ephesus, (Ac 19:29;)

And there was a Gaius of Derbe, who went with Paul and Timothy into Asia, (according to Acts 20:4.)

This Gaius could have been any of them – but we don’t know. Scholars believe that if it was any of them it would have probably been the last mentioned.

The only problem with this is time as this Epistle was written a long time after Paul and Timothy traveled with a man named Gaius into Asia.

But it’s possible.

All we really know is his name means beloved and he seems to have been a personal friend of John and as mentioned John says to him what he says to the Elect Lady – “he loves him in the truth.”
(verse 2)

2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

The word translated wish here in the New Testament usually means to pray but there are a few places where it means a strong and earnest desire for anything, (Acts 27:29; Romans 9:3; 2nd Corinthians 13:9) and this is in all probability what it means here.

Beloved, I really desire and amidst all things that you would prosper and be in health . . . EVEN as your soul prospers.

Now, because John adds that he desires this above ALL THINGS, some people have used this passage as the foundation for the health and wealth movement saying:

“See, right here John is saying that above all things he (and therefore God) wants his followers “ABOVE ALL THINGS” be healthy and wealthy.

But the sense in the original is,

“In every respect, I wish that it may go as well with you as it does with your soul; that in your worldly prosperity, your comfort, and your bodily health, you may be as prosperous as you are in your spiritual walk with Christ.”

That is what he says here – I pray that your well-being is as prosperous as your soul.

Additionally, this is a salutation – a greeting at the start of a letter. Its normative but does not mean, especially since it is a personal letter to a friend, that the Holy Spirit led him to write this exact salutation because God wanted it.

I think that is taking things too far.

Additionally, because John is an apostle and does have his earthly priorities right, he greets Gaius with a salutation that is in typical reverse order that would come from someone in the world.

Normally, as citizens of the world we hope that a persons health and wealth are tip top shape and worry about the things of the spirit last.

But John clearly aligns his wishes for Gaius well-being in direct connection to the well-being of His soul. In other words, I doubt very much John would hope for Gaius’s health and wealth if his soul was not right.

We have a tendency to worry about the healthy and wealth of people around us. As cold as this may sound I personally don’t care at all about the health and wealthy of people IF – IF – they don’t know the Lord.

In fact I hope that the trials and troubles of their healthy and wealth will bring people to Him – in the least out of desperation.

Like Jesus said, “what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but loses his soul.”

And while I do believe in the total reconciliation of all people to God I do not believe that God will bring them all in complete or intact and I am convinced that there are those, of their own free will and choice, who refuse to sow unto the Spirit and having nothing at all to reap, could lose their complete mind, will and emotion as individuals.

Resurrecting into something of which I have no knowledge.

In any case, I see this as a greeting presented with Christian wisdom . . . and not much more. (verse 3)

3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

Who these were we do not know – possibly members of the same church with Gaius, who, for some reason, had visited the writer of this epistle or its possible that they may have been the “brethren” who had gone out from John with his “letter of commendation to the church” which through the influence of a man named Diotephes rejected it. But along the way were treated well by Gaius and this is when John heard their testimony of the “truth that is in him.”

Can’t really say.

What we can say is John was blessed by the report and says:

4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

It’s a sort of strange phrase for us today but it makes sense – John was an old man and the last living apostle.

The call on his life was to sow and reap souls, like a farmer would a crop.

Bringing people up in the faith he was also like a parent, since we grow from being born-again, to infancy, to childhood, to young adults and then into full maturity.

I think these factors give John every right to refer to believers either he brought into the faith or simply oversaw, as children.

I also believe that the same relationship – though it frequently goes unstated – exists today. And while we are brothers and sisters and there is no hierarchy of authority or power or place in the body, there are those who are more mature and those who are less, which tacitly creates a parent child relationship.

At verse 5 John seems to get into the body or purpose of his letter to Gaius and says:

5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;

In the previous verses John commended Gaius for his attachment to truth but now, as he did in his second epistle, he speaks more specifically about his generous acts of hospitality, and says that Gaius had, in that respect, done his duty as a Christian.

And most of what John says here seems to be toward Gaius’s hospitality toward both believers and strangers (verse 6)

6 Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:

Again, these people returned to John and bore witness to him of Gauis and his goodness. Then speaking of the errand that those who came to Gaius were on He adds:

7 Because that for his name’s sake (God) they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

On the errand of God they went on this journey, “taking nothing of the Gentiles.”

In other words, John seems to be commending Gaius because those who were on God’s errand that came to him did not live off the support of the Gentiles of that area therefore the hospitality of Gaius was even more valuable and important in their work – and much more appreciated.

Why they didn’t take anything of the Gentiles is not said but it was probably because if they had it would have hindered their work among them – so they trusted in the benevolence and hospitality of believers like Gaius to help them along.

Speaking of this hospitality these men John sent forth received John says in verse 8

8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.

Now, John is the senior living apostle. He has seen much. But note something here – the term “we”.

He is writing to Gaius and commends him on his hospitality and adds that the men who had come to him returned with a great report of the heart and hands of Gaius, which were so important SINCE the men did NOT rely on support from the Gentile amongst whom they worked.

But instead of saying to Gaius in verse 8:

“You therefore ought to have receive these men, that you might be fellowhelpers to the truth.”

But instead includes Himself and uses the we.

“When it comes to supporting preachers and teachers and missionaries and those in the faith who serve without expecting remuneration, WE therefore ought to receive such men (into our lives or homes) that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.”

I love this – and these little insights we get from scripture. And the point of this message is:

We are ALL on the same team, we are all parts of the same operational parts of the computer. We are all parts of the same necessary parts of an engine. Remove any part and there is no functionality.

Therefore NO part is more important than the next – none. John illustrates this to us by using WE.

And the other point is we all do and play our part – as so constructed and led by God. None is MORE important, none is inferior, none superior. We simply ARE and we seek to do as lead by Him.

In this comes tremendous autonomy and tremendous responsibility. Not all are teachers, not all are evangelists, not all are able to give financially, not all have the gifts of the Spirit, not all have the gift of administration, not all have the gifts of helps.

We cannot look to others and expect them to do what most others do neither can we expect people to work independently. We are all functioning parts (listen) world-wide – and I believe ought to see ourselves as that.

Know your part and play it well IS good advice – because in so doing we all become FELLOW-HELPERS to the truth.

The word translated Fellow helpers is SOON-ER-GOS and it means companion in labor – companions in labor to the truth!

Therefore, John says, we ought to receive such as the men that came to you and you treated so well.

At verse 9 John gives us an example of someone who missed the point of what I just said and says:

9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

Here John seems to be speaking of an earlier situation and may be hearkening back to a time when he wrote and asked for the church to support those he was sending (which may or may not have included Himself even) but a man named

“Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.”

The Latin Vulgate renders translates this differently and says:

“I would have written, perhaps, to the church, but Diotrephes would not . . . .”

And the thinking here is John was saying, “I would have written a letter to the whole church (instead of to a private believer) but the man Diotrephes, who loved preeminence among it, would not have received it.”

However several manuscripts of a much later date introduced a particle, (en) which the same rendering would be demanded in the Greek and changed it to I wrote OR I did send a letter.

“But Dee-ot-ref-ace,” he adds, “who loveth to have the pre-eminenee among the believers, received us not.”

In other words he would not admit our authority or he would not comply with any such recommendation.

We do not know who “Dee-ot-ref-ace” was – but it appears that he was probably some sort of leader that got big in the head.

We presume he held an office due to the fact that the letter would have gone to him and that he had the power to disregard it.

Interestingly enough the single word rendered “who loveth to have the pre-eminence,” is PHIL-OP-ROTE-YOO O deos not appear anywhere else in the New Testament and it simply means, “someone who loves to be first” whether as the head of all things, to rule, to lord over people, to be in total control.

John seems to be saying that he believes that the church he was writing to would have complied with his written request if it wasn’t for good old Dee-ot-ref-ace.

Now listen – this was in the apostolic church – the church that Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against! And even then, with an APOSTLE alive and still in operation, human beings and their attitudes and need for power popped up and caused problems.

According to John the wrinkle in the whole system was DEE-OT-REF-ACE’s
desire to rule.

There’s a big difference between men with a desire to serve and men with a desire to rule. Watch out for the latter.

We might be so bold as to believe that when John wrote that “Dee OT-REF-ACE refusal to receive us,” is a reference to his refusal to receive John which probably meant that he did not acknowledge him as an apostle or maybe believe that as an apostle he had the right to interfere in the affairs of the church at the local level.
(So in verse 10 John then says)

10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

If I come and make a visit – which is evident that he was going to soon (according to verse 14) “I will remember his deeds which he doeth.”

That is, I will take measures to deal with him in a proper manner. Because the situation was apparently public it sounds like John would deal with him publicly.

At this point John details what the man had specifically done, saying:

“prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

The Greek word translated “prating against us with malicious words” is not used anywhere else in the New Testament and simply means:

“overflow with talk,” or to talk too much without weight, or with little purpose; to be loquacious; to trifle; to run on in talk, without connection or sense.”

By itself the word does not mean talking badly but because John adds that he was speaking malicious words we know that he was prattling on with evil invectives.

John adds:

“And not content therewith.”

Meaning he was not satisfied with venting his private feelings in talk.

Some people seem to be satisfied with merely talking against others, and take no other measures to hurt them but apparently DEE-OT-REF-ACE wasn’t one of them.

He apparently rejected the brethren and persuaded the church to do the same thing.

John adds:

“Neither doth he himself receive the brethren (which is sort of obvious but then he adds) “and forbiddeth them that would.”

And here we get a clear picture to DEE-OT-REF-ACE ways – there were those in the church who were disposed to receive them in a proper manner and had it not been for him they would have . . . but he forbade it.

“And casteth them out of the church.”

We see the same spirit of DEE-OT-REF-ACE in the world today and it is all founded in the hearts of men and women who love to rule.

Others openly accept the person and presence of others but the DEE-OT-REF-ACES of the world forbid them and even cast them out of the church for saying that others are acceptable to them.

The Spirit of Dee-ot-ref-ace.

So John adds:

11 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.

Contextually we cannot help but believe that this is a direct exhortation that was referencing DEE-OT-REF-ACE.

11 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.

Want a direct example of what is Good (and therefore of God) and that which is evil?

Look at DEEOT!

Ready?

“prating against us with malicious words”
EVIL and not of God

“ and not content therewith,”
EVIL and not of God

(I want to discuss this particular crime of Dee-ot in a minute but we also know that )

“ neither doth he himself receive the brethren,”
EVIL and not of God

“and forbiddeth them that would,”
EVIL and not of God

“and casteth them out of the church.”
EVIL and not of God

I experienced a VERY trying to my soul situation this past week – extremely painful personally but in the end I came to a realization that solved a puzzle hovering over my head for years.

What I realized was the words of Man must be expressed very carefully and considerately and taken lightly but the Word of God is priceless and forever.

In conclusion John mentions another person by the name of DEMEETREEUS, saying:

12 DAY-MAY-TREOS hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

Little is known of DAYMAYTREEOS.

Some think that he resided near the place where the author of this epistle lived, and was connected with the church there, and was probably the bearer of this epistle.

It is impossible to determine with certainty on this point, but there is one circumstance which seems to make it probable that he was a member of the same church with Gaius, and had united with him in showing Christian hospitality to these strangers.

It comes by way of the use of the phrase “hath good report of all,” implying that some testimony was borne to his character beyond what the writer personally knew.

And then when John adds:

“Yea, and we also bear record,” which implies that John himself may have personally known him.

And then, attesting to a personal witness, adds, “And ye know that our record is true.”

From all of this it seems that DAY MAY TREE US was personally known by John.

And to the conclusion, which is similar to the conclusion in the second Epistle:

13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:
14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.

So there are the three Epistles of John. Next two weeks Jude, then De REBELATION.

Q and A