“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.”Read the surrounding chapter
Time, place, and setting
- Time
- The letter is undated; the elder responds to reports and hopes for a personal visit. 1
- Place
- The letter names no city and addresses Gaius, a beloved recipient connected with brethren and a church. 1
- Setting
- Faithful hospitality, support for travelling brethren, harmful exclusion, good testimony and shared joy shape the letter. 1
Follow the letter’s movement
Read the opening address and the final greetings together. The elder loves Gaius in truth and hopes to speak with him face to face; friends send greetings and friends are to be greeted by name. Inside that relational frame come reports of faithful conduct, encouragement to help brethren, an account of harmful exclusion and a commendation of Demetrius. The whole movement keeps the conflict in view alongside affection, joy and a desire for peace. It also gives the named people different roles rather than treating the letter as a biography of Diotrephes alone. 1
Writing here anticipates further spoken communication. 13 The short letters indicate contact among their participants. 12 Their exact network remains only partly visible. 7 Follow the reports, requests and proposed visit as parts of that exchange, allowing the elder’s own sequence to guide the reading. 1
Verses 1 and 2: love and wellbeing
Gaius is called beloved, and the elder states that he loves him in truth. The next verse expresses a wish for wellbeing and health as his soul prospers. Its form matters: this is personal concern addressed to a particular recipient. The following report describes his faithful conduct rather than giving a diagnosis or a guarantee of financial success. Reading the wish within the greeting allows it to retain its warmth and its actual subject. 1 3
A health wish belongs to the letter’s personal communication. 8 James 5 provides the fuller Christian context for prayer with the sick, the elders’ ministry and communal intercession. First Peter 4 connects the life of the community with prayer, hospitality and gifts used to serve one another. A Pentecostal reading can bring those named contexts beside the elder’s concern for Gaius, praying for divine healing and caring for the person rather than changing the greeting into a fixed outcome. 1
Verses 3 and 4: truth in the report
Brethren have come and testified about Gaius’ truth, and the elder rejoices because he walks in truth. Verse 4 extends the joy to hearing that his children walk in truth. The report names conduct the elder values. Notice the relation between knowing truth, speaking about another person and living faithfully: the witness of the brethren brings good news about an actual life. The elder’s joy is then followed by a more specific account of what Gaius has done. 1
Family and friendship terms describe Christian relationships in the short letters. 21 First John’s recurring themes connect its pastoral instruction. 19 Its received testimony also gives moral decisions direction. 17 First John 1 to 5 is a fuller companion for these connections, while Third John supplies the particular report and joy that lead into its request. 1
Verses 5 to 8: receive and help onward
Gaius acts faithfully toward brethren and strangers. They have spoken before the church about his charity, and the elder encourages him to bring them forward on their journey after a godly sort. Verse 7 identifies their purpose through his name’s sake and their taking nothing of the Gentiles. Verse 8 then includes the elder with others who ought to receive such people, so that they may be fellow helpers to the truth. Read the conclusion through the actual help just described. 1
Onward support participates in the work of evangelisation. 6 Welcome can serve others instead of securing domination. 5 A social model still needs testing against this letter’s evidence. 23 Matthew 10 and Acts 16 and 21 provide complete scenes of mission, reception and shared journeys. First Corinthians 9 gives the fuller discussion of gospel work and support. These companions expand the conversation through their own settings rather than supply a missing itinerary for the brethren. 1
Verses 9 and 10: trace the actions
The elder has written to the church, but Diotrephes does not receive him. The letter describes preeminence, malicious speech, refusing brethren, preventing willing hosts and casting people out of the church. Keep those actions distinct enough to see how the harm spreads. The elder’s response is also stated conditionally: if he comes, he will bring the deeds to attention. The letter reports a conflict and an intended response, but it does not narrate the final resolution. 1
The exact office and source of Diotrephes’ authority remain uncertain. 4 Praise and blame can be read as directing Gaius’ choice. 9 The short letters distinguish what their reception assists. 10 Their different reception cases need attention to the message involved. 24 Read Second John completely beside this passage before assuming that every refusal or every visitor in both letters belongs to an identical situation. 1
Verses 11 and 12: conduct and commendation
The elder asks Gaius to follow good rather than evil, then connects doing good with being of God. Demetrius receives a good report from all, from truth itself and from the elder’s testimony. These verses turn the reader toward a positive example and a commendation. The letter does not identify Demetrius’ complete career or state that he carried it. His report is sufficient for the elder’s present recommendation without becoming an invented travel story. 1
Good conduct matters when competing loyalties complicate a response. 22 One proposed outline highlights joy and the good versus evil contrast. 11 First John’s Cain and Jesus comparison stresses practical generosity. 20 Christ’s self giving gives mutual care its pattern there. 18 Love becomes visible in the relationships of God’s family. 16 The complete First John 3 companion helps readers see how good conduct can be explained through Christ and care for a brother in need. 1
Verses 13 and 14: presence, peace and friends
The elder prefers a visit to putting everything into ink and pen. He hopes to see Gaius soon, speak face to face and exchange greetings among friends. The ending invites readers to hear the letter as communication in an ongoing relationship. The elder has not reduced Gaius to a problem to manage. He loves him, recognises his faithful service and desires peace and presence. Those concerns give the requests their personal force. 1
Faithful love remains joined with discernment in the Johannine writings. 14 Incarnation grounds fellowship in the First John companion. 15 John 13 to 17 gives Jesus’ explicit teaching about love, service, witness and the Spirit. First Corinthians 12 to 14 places gifts within love and the building up of the church. These contexts help a church read welcome and shared work through Christ, allowing prophecy, tongues, prayer and practical care to serve the relationships and witness the letter values. 1
Sources
Numbered references support the material above. Scripture quotations use the KJV.
- The Holy Bible, King James VersionKing James translators · 1611
3 John 1; John 1, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 8; Acts 2, 8, 10, 19, 16, 21; Romans 12, 16; 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14, 9; James 2, 5; 1 Peter 1, 2, 4; 1 John 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Hebrews 13; Matthew 10, 25; Luke 10; 2 John 1; complete Greek 3 John 1:8
View the source - A Greek English Lexicon of the New TestamentJoseph Henry Thayer
Complete historical Thayer entry 4904, displayed lines 19 to 22.
View the source - The Epistles of S. John, Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesAlfred Plummer
Notes on 3 John 1:1 to 8 and opening note on verse 9.
View the source - Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the General Epistles of James and John, Meyer seriesJoh. Ed. Huther
Notes on 3 John 1:8 to 10, displayed lines 79 to 106.
View the source - Hospitality versus Patronage: An Investigation of Social Dynamics in the Third Epistle of JohnIgor Lorencin · 2008
Printed pages 172 to 174, own comparison and application
View the source - Hospitality Transforms from Stranger to Guest: A Reflection in the Light of the Third Epistle of JohnPaweł Podeszwa · 2024
Printed pages 35 to 40 and 44 to 47; own mission cooperation synthesis on page 45
View the source - The Theology of the Johannine EpistlesJudith M. Lieu · 1991
Introduction, printed pages 4 to 10, especially Historical Setting on pages 8 to 10; rendered licensed preview pages
View the source - The Setting of Second John and Third JohnJohn Polhill · 2006
Printed pages 28 to 37, especially own Third John section on pages 34 to 37
View the source - A Letter of Recommendation? A Closer Look at Third John’s Rhetorical ArgumentationLuca Marulli · 2009
Complete printed pages 220 to 223, argument and conclusion
View the source - Hospitality in the Johannine LettersJohannes Beutler · 2022
Printed pages 170 to 177, situated letter comparison and own synthesis on page 176
View the source - First to Third John: Worship by Loving God and One Another to Live EternallyJohn Paul Heil · 2015
Printed pages 2 to 4, proposed Third John structure and linguistic observations
View the source - Text, Context and the Johannine Community: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Johannine WritingsDavid A. Lamb · 2012
Complete thesis summary, printed pages 157 to 160, methods and results
View the source - The Fourth Gospel in First Century Media CultureAnthony Le Donne and Tom Thatcher, editors · 2011
Jeffrey E. Brickle, Seeing, Hearing, Declaring, Writing: Media Dynamics in the Letters of John, printed pages 11 to 13 and 17 to 19
View the source - 1, 2 and 3 John, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New TestamentKaren H. Jobes · 2014
Official publisher excerpt, Literary Context, Main Idea, Structure, Free from Fear, Love Takes a Community and Johannine Ethics; selected printed pages 200 to 213
View the source - First, Second and Third JohnDouglas Sean O’Donnell · 2015
Printed pages 11 to 15; selected own incarnation and fellowship exposition on page 14
View the source - Lived experiences of the love of God according to 1 John 4: A spirituality of loveDirk G. van der Merwe · 2017
Introduction, Peculiarities in the Text, opening Character of God and complete Relational Experiences sections
View the source - Ethical decisions according to 1 JohnJ. G. van der Watt · 2013
Afrikaans sections 2 and 3 and opening section 4, received message and Spirit synthesis
View the source - Ethics and Imitatio Christi in First John: A Jewish PerspectiveMavis M. Leung · 2018
Printed pages 128 to 131; own First John 3:16 to 17 explanation and conclusion
View the source - A Linguistic Overview of 1 JohnRandall K. J. Tan · 2006
Printed pages 68 to 73, own linguistic method, themes and participant discussion
View the source - Atonement and Ethics in 1 John: A Peacemaking HermeneuticChris Armitage · 2014
doctoral thesis, printed pages 289 to 296, Cain and Jesus contrast and practical love synthesis
View the source - What Shall We Call Each Other? Part Two: The Issue of Self Designation in the Johannine Letters and RevelationPaul Trebilco · 2003
Printed pages 59 and 60, friends and family terms, communication qualification and conclusion
View the source - The Third Epistle of John: The Cost of Walking in the TruthStephen Motyer · 1987
Complete article, printed pages 6 to 9; own moral principle and final synthesis on page 9
View the source - On Hospitality in Third John: An Evaluation of the Response of Malina to MalherbeJan van der Watt · 2014
Printed pages 399 to 403, own critical assessment of social models and opening concluding remarks
View the source - The ethical implications of 2 John 10 to 11Jan G. van der Watt · 2015
PDF pages 4 to 6, own Second John reception argument and conclusion
View the source