seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
3 John 1:1 The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
15 Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
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Here's the link to the commentary I read.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth: John’s goodwill towards Gaius came from his understanding that he walked in the truth. Nothing pleased John more than to know that his children walk in truth.
John knew that Gaius walked in truth because brethren came and testified of the truth that was in Gaius. His walk of truth was noticed by others, and they could talk about it because they saw it.
You do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers: John praised Gaius for his hospitality. This may seem somewhat trivial to us, but it is not to God. This is a practical outworking of the essential command to love one another; it is love in action.
Taking nothing from the Gentiles: The ancient world of the early church was filled with the missionaries and preachers of various religions, and they often supported themselves by taking offerings from the general public. But John said that these Christian missionaries should take nothing from the Gentiles (non-Christians). Instead of soliciting funds from the general public they were to look to the support of fellow Christians.
But Diotrephes: John publicly rebuked this man, and he rebuked him by name. In rebuking him by name the apostle of love did not act outside of love. Instead, he followed the clear command of the Scriptures (Romans 16:17) and the example of other apostles (2 Timothy 4:14-15).
Who loves to have the preeminence among them: Simply, the problem for Diotrephes was pride. In his pride, he did not receive the apostles such as John. This was in contrast to the humble hospitality of Gaius, who walked in the truth.
Prating against us with malicious words: Diotrephes not only failed to receive John and the other apostles, but he also spoke against them. His malicious gossip against the apostles showed what kind of man he really was.
“The Greek verb which is here translated ‘gossiping’ comes from a root which was used of the action of water in boiling up and throwing off bubbles. Since bubbles are empty and useless, the verb eventually came to mean indulgence in empty or useless talk. This was the nature of Diotrephes’ slander, though, of course, the words were no less evil in that they were groundless.” (Boice)
“The word signifieth… to talk big bubbles of words… it is a metaphor taken from over-seething pots, that send forth a foam; or… from overcharged stomachs, that must needs belch.” (Trapp)
Putting them out of the church: Diotrephes not only used his influence to forbid others from showing hospitality to John or his associates; he even tried to excommunicate those who tried to show such hospitality.
“To begin with, a man named Diotrephes had assumed an unwarranted and pernicious authority in the church, so much so that by the time of the writing of this letter John’s own authority had been challenged and those who had been sympathetic to John had been excommunicated from the local assembly. Moreover, due to this struggle, traveling missionaries had been rudely treated, including probably an official delegation from John.” (Boice)
The example of Diotrephes shows that those who love to have the preeminence also love to use whatever power they think they have as a sword against others.
Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good: John gave us two clear examples, one good (Gaius) and one bad (Diotrephes), and he now applies the point — follow the good, for we serve a good God and those who follow Him will likewise do good.
John did not excommunicate Diotrephes, though as an apostle he had the authority to do so. Instead, he simply exposed him — and he trusted that discerning Christians would avoid Diotrephes as they should.
Demetrius has a good testimony from all: John recommended this man to Gaius. Perhaps he was the one who carried the letter from John to Gaius, and John wanted Gaius to know that Demetrius was worthy of Christian hospitality.
Our friends greet you: In addition to a familiar blessing of peace upon Gaius, John also reminded him (and us) of the common ties of Christians — even if they are separated by miles, they are still friends in Jesus, and appropriately they should greet one another.
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My online Bible doesn't title this letter. After reading the commentary, I believe this letter is a warning about the fake preachers, priests, elders and teachers. It's a warning about big-headed men who find their place behind the pulpit exhilarating. They have no desire to spread the Gospel, they only care about spreading their version of whatever popular story is going around at the time and passing the plate.
When John wrote this, Christians were being hunted by the Roman Soldiers. Christians were "dangerous" to the Roman Government. Jesus had great numbers of followers. If they joined together with one goal, no one could stop them. The Roman Soldiers were in charge of making sure Christianity did not overpopulate the census.
Christians were "dangerous" to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. If humans started being kind to one another, they might raise up a great civilization of loving caring people who were willing to share with anyone. The "laws" the Pharisees and the Sadducees supported so fastidiously, would become superfluous and people would just go with the two "commandments" of Jesus. If the Christians stopped the sacrifices, what would the Pharisees and the Sadducees do all day? If the Christians took over, what would the Pharisees and the Sadducees do in their spare time? Would they have to take up dusting and mopping the Temple halls to fill their time?
To be fair, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were on God's side, they thought. They thought Christianity was a cult and they honestly thought they were doing the work of God. Remember, Jesus, according to the census, was a Bastard. He had no father's name that could be traced back to Abraham. He might as well have been Egyptian for all they knew. After all, Joseph did take Mary to Egypt for a while.
Was the church also a threat to any capitalism that was thriving in those days? After all, Jesus did have a field day tossing the tables of the money changers and driving the livestock away. He scoffed at paying the Temple Tax! Jesus never passed the offering plate!
Apparently, John heard that two men were having a standoff over what the Gospel. Demetrius was a good guy who laid the Gospel out truthfully. On the other hand, there was Diotrephes who swore his own poop stunk less that Jesus' poop. Apparently, Diotrephes changed the Gospel to fit the crowd in order to boost the reward in the offering plate.
On top of that, Diotrephes was spreading malicious gossip about the Apostles.
On top of that, Diotrephes was throwing people out of the church if they didn't fit his pattern of the perfect Christian.
Wow... can you imagine what Diotrephes would say if a multi-lingual, brown, tatted up, pierced up, stuttering, transexual showed up at Diotrephes church praising the Jesus that John knew?
Well, John wanted to make it clear there were good preachers and bad preachers. John wanted to make it clear that Gaius and Demetrius were on the right Mission and they should be welcomed in any Christian's home.
Isn't it a shame, the Christian Church wasn't even 100 years old and already there were foul-hearted, big-headed, men spreading malicious nonsense.
There's the title....
"Spreading malicious nonsense about us"
