3 John 1: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This short letter is from "the elder" to Gaius, praising him for the faithful way he takes care of traveling believers and urging him to send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It warns about Diotrephes, who wants to be first, refuses to welcome those believers, and puts out of the church anyone who does welcome them. It speaks well of Demetrius, and closes with the writer's hope to visit soon and talk in person.

Claim by Claim

1. 1:1
   • The writer identifies himself as the elder.
   • The letter is addressed to Gaius, who is beloved.
   • The writer says he loves Gaius in the truth.
2. 1:2
   • The writer addresses Gaius as beloved.
   • The writer prays that Gaius may prosper in all respects.
   • The writer prays that Gaius may be in good health.
   • The writer says Gaius's soul prospers.
3. 1:3
   • The writer rejoiced greatly.
   • Brothers came to the writer.
   • The brothers testified to the truth that is in Gaius.
   • Gaius walks in the truth.
4. 1:4
   • The writer has no greater joy than to hear that his children walk in the truth.
   • The writer calls them his children.
5. 1:5
   • The writer addresses Gaius as beloved.
   • Gaius acts faithfully in whatever he does for the brothers.
   • Gaius also does this for strangers.
   • It is left unclear whether the strangers are a separate group or are these same brothers, unknown to Gaius.
6. 1:6
   • These men testified to Gaius's love before the church.
   • If Gaius sends them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, he will do well.
7. 1:7
   • They went out for the sake of the name.
   • They took nothing from the Gentiles.
8. 1:8
   • We ought therefore to receive such men.
   • The purpose is that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
9. 1:9
   • The writer wrote to the church.
   • Diotrephes loves to have the first place among them.
   • Diotrephes does not receive us.
10. 1:10
    • If the writer comes, he will call attention to Diotrephes's deeds.
    • Diotrephes speaks against us with malicious words.
    • Diotrephes is not content with that.
    • Diotrephes himself does not receive the brothers.
    • Diotrephes forbids those who want to receive them.
    • Diotrephes casts them out of the church.
11. 1:11
    • The writer addresses Gaius as beloved.
    • Gaius is told not to imitate what is evil.
    • Gaius is told to imitate what is good.
    • The one who does good is of God.
    • The one who does evil has not seen God.
12. 1:12
    • Demetrius has a good testimony from all men.
    • Demetrius has a good testimony from the truth itself.
    • The writer and those with him also testify for him.
    • The recipients know that our testimony is true.
13. 1:13
    • The writer had many things to write.
    • The writer will not write them with ink and pen.
14. 1:14
    • The writer trusts he will see Gaius shortly.
    • They will speak face to face.
    • The writer wishes peace to Gaius.
    • Our friends send greetings to Gaius.
    • Gaius is told to greet the friends by name.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1

"The elder" translates a word that could mean simply an older man, but by this time it was also a title for a recognized leader of a church or a group of churches. The writer gives no name, which suggests the title alone was enough to identify him to the reader. Gaius was one of the commonest names in the Roman world, and nothing in the letter ties this Gaius to the others mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.

1:2

"I wish above all things" does not mean this is the writer's greatest wish. The Greek phrase means "in every respect," and it describes how he hopes things go for Gaius, not how strongly he hopes it. "Prosper" here means having things go well in general; the same verb was used of a journey that went smoothly, and it does not point specifically at money.

1:3

"The brethren" are fellow members of the movement, not relatives. In this letter they are specifically Christians who travel from place to place and carry news between congregations.

1:4

"My children" means people the writer brought into the faith or taught, not his own sons and daughters. Calling converts or pupils your children was ordinary usage for a teacher.

1:5

Traveling teachers in this world depended on private households for food, shelter and a bed, since public inns were few, expensive and often disreputable. Taking in "strangers," people you had never met, on the strength of a letter or a shared faith, was a costly and risky service rather than a simple courtesy.

1:6

"Charity" in 1611 English meant love; it had not yet narrowed to mean giving money to the poor. "Bring forward on their journey" renders a verb that was close to a technical term for sending travelers off properly equipped: supplying food and money for the road, and sometimes escorting them part of the way.

1:7

The Greek says only "for the sake of the Name," with no "his"; the KJV supplies it. Saying "the Name" on its own, instead of naming God or Jesus outright, was a familiar Jewish way of speaking. "Gentiles" means non-Jews, and here it stands for the outsiders these travelers were preaching to. Wandering lecturers and religious salesmen of the period commonly took fees from their audiences, so refusing payment marked these men out as a different kind of visitor.

1:8

"Receive," in this letter, means to take someone into your home as a guest, not merely to accept an idea or a message. "Fellowhelpers" is a compound the KJV translators built to render a word meaning co-workers, people laboring at the same task.

1:9

"I wrote unto the church" may refer to an earlier letter that has not survived, or, by a common convention in ancient letter writing, to this letter itself, which a writer could describe in the past tense because it would be in the past by the time it was read. The wording does not settle which. "The church" is the local congregation that Gaius and Diotrephes both belong to, not an institution or a building. "Receiveth us not" covers both refusing the writer's authority and refusing to welcome the people he sends.

1:10

"Prating" was an ordinary word in 1611 for chattering or talking idle nonsense, and it translates a verb meaning to talk nonsense about someone, to accuse without substance. Putting people out of the church meant expelling them from the congregation, which in a small community also cut them off from its shared meals, meetings and practical support.

1:12

"Hath good report of all men" means everyone speaks well of him, and "bear record" means to testify or vouch for someone. A traveler arriving in a strange town normally carried a letter from someone both sides knew, and this kind of written recommendation was the standard way of establishing that a visitor could be trusted.

1:13

The "pen" was a reed cut to a point and dipped in ink, used on papyrus. "I will not... write" translates a verb meaning "I do not wish to," so it is a preference rather than a refusal.

1:14

"Salute" in 1611 English simply meant greet, with no military sense. "Peace be to thee" is the ordinary Jewish greeting, shalom, used at parting as well as at meeting, and it wishes wellbeing rather than merely quiet. "The friends" may be more than a casual description: it appears to be a term the group used for itself. Many modern Bibles divide this verse into two, numbering them 14 and 15, so their chapter has fifteen verses where the KJV has fourteen.