Third John Teaching Materials

3 John 1:6 · King James Version

“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:”

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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

Greek in contextσυνεργόςsynergos

Companion in work or fellow worker, here through help for travelling brethren. ² ¹

Verse 8 uses the nominative masculine plural form synergoi. The reception of the brethren and their service for truth give the shared work its context. ¹ ²

An organising centre for explanation

The letter can be explained through the connection between truth and help for people. Gaius walks in truth, acts faithfully toward brethren and strangers, and is encouraged to help them continue their journey. The elder calls believers fellow helpers to the truth when they receive such people. Diotrephes supplies the contrasting behaviour by refusing brethren and hindering those willing to help them. The instruction to follow good and the report about Demetrius then give the congregation a positive direction. ¹

The letter’s praise and blame can be read as directing Gaius’ response. ⁸ One proposed outline highlights joy and the good versus evil contrast. ¹⁰ Those proposals offer useful ways to organise an explanation while the whole letter supplies its own greeting, reports, request, conflict, commendation and closing. The good news about faithful conduct and the desired face to face meeting deserve a place alongside the account of exclusion. ¹

Keep the beloved recipient in view

The elder loves Gaius in truth and expresses a wish for his wellbeing and health. He rejoices over reports that Gaius walks in truth. The wish is part of an affectionate greeting to a particular person, not an assurance that every believer will become wealthy or remain free of illness. Its context lets teachers affirm genuine concern for health while preserving the sentence’s expressed form and the report that follows it. The letter values a person whose conduct benefits others. ¹ ³

A health wish belongs to personal letter communication. ⁷ James 5 provides the complete Christian context for the elders’ prayer with the sick and the community’s intercession. First Peter 4 joins prayer with hospitality and gifts used to serve one another. In Pentecostal teaching, divine healing can be prayed for within that loving life of the church. These actual passages support prayer and care without turning an affectionate wish into a measurement of a sufferer’s faith. ¹

Show what practical welcome accomplishes

Verses 5 to 8 describe acts that contribute to a journey and its purpose. Gaius receives brethren and strangers, their charity report is heard before the church, and he is urged to help them onward after a godly sort. They went out for his name’s sake and take nothing of the Gentiles. The elder then includes himself in the obligation to receive such people. The help offered by a host and the service of the travellers become parts of shared work for the truth. ¹

Onward help participates actively in the work of evangelisation. ⁶ Hospitality can serve others rather than secure domination. ⁵ A social model needs testing against the described evidence. ²² Matthew 10 and Acts 16 and 21 supply complete companion scenes of mission and reception. First Corinthians 9 provides the fuller discussion of gospel service and support, and Romans 16 names people whose work and hospitality contribute to ministry. These references let teachers explain the practical connection without supplying an invented journey for the unnamed brethren. ¹

Read the two short letters together

Second John warns about receiving a person who arrives without the teaching it identifies through the confession of Christ. Third John praises welcome for brethren who go out for the name and commends helping them on their way. Both letters attach reception to a described case, so their different responses should be explained through their actual subjects. The contrast can help a congregation consider what its resources, introductions and platforms support while continuing to hear the wider Christian call to hospitality. ¹

The short letters distinguish the work a welcome assists. ⁹ Their reception cases require attention to the message involved. ²³ Faithful love and discernment remain connected in the Johannine writings. ¹³ Hebrews 13, First Peter 4, Luke 10 and Matthew 25 also contribute their own complete Christian contexts for welcome and care. The passages can be explained together with attention to the actual visitor, recipient and work described in each. ¹

Explain the harm through the named actions

The elder accuses Diotrephes of malicious words, refusing brethren, hindering willing hosts and casting them out of the church. Those descriptions show the effect of preeminence on other people. The elder proposes to bring the deeds to attention if he comes. A teacher can follow the account through its stated actions before considering an institutional explanation. The passage records a present problem and an intended response; it does not give a complete history of the conflict’s resolution. ¹

Diotrephes’ exact office and means of obtaining authority remain uncertain. ⁴ Good conduct matters when competing loyalties complicate a choice. ²¹ The next request is to follow good rather than evil. First John’s Cain and Jesus comparison makes practical generosity central. ¹⁹ Jesus’ self giving supplies its pattern of mutual care. ¹⁷ First John 3 gives those connections their explicit setting, allowing conduct to be explained through Christ’s example rather than through the prestige of a title. ¹

Connect a good report with lived faith

Demetrius receives a good report from all, from the truth itself and from the elder’s testimony. The report follows the instruction to imitate good and therefore belongs within the letter’s appeal about conduct. His full biography is not provided. The testimony gives the elder’s present commendation its force while leaving his precise office and journey unnamed. A congregation can hear the positive example without needing a story the letter does not narrate. ¹

Family and friendship terms describe relationships among believers in the short letters. ²⁰ First John’s recurring themes connect its pastoral instruction. ¹⁸ Received testimony gives its moral decisions direction. ¹⁶ Love becomes visible in the relationships of God’s family. ¹⁵ The complete First John companion places confession and conduct together, with truth and love expressed through how believers treat one another. It gives a fuller Christian context for explaining the short letter’s report of good conduct. ¹

End with presence, peace and shared service

Third John ends with the elder’s hope to see Gaius and speak face to face. He wishes peace and asks for friends to be greeted by name. That personal ending belongs with the love stated at the beginning. The recipient is encouraged in relationships that can continue through conversation, faithful help and shared joy. Teaching the closing lets the congregation hear more than a correction of someone else’s harmful behaviour. ¹

Written words here anticipate further spoken communication. ¹² The short letters also indicate continuing contact among their participants. ¹¹ Incarnation grounds fellowship in the complete First John companion. ¹⁴ John 13 to 17 gives Jesus’ teaching about loving service, the Spirit and witness, while First Corinthians 12 to 14 directs gifts, including prophecy and tongues, toward love and building up the church. First Peter 4 joins gifts with hospitality and service. Those actual contexts allow Pentecostal ministry to connect shared work with Christ, care and the Spirit’s empowerment in the life of the church. ¹

Follow the evidence

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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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A Letter of Recommendation? A Closer Look at Third John’s Rhetorical ArgumentationLuca Marulli · 2009
Complete printed pages 220 to 223, argument and conclusion
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Hospitality in the Johannine LettersJohannes Beutler · 2022
Printed pages 170 to 177, situated letter comparison and own synthesis on page 176
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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
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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
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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
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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
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First, Second and Third JohnDouglas Sean O’Donnell · 2015
Printed pages 11 to 15; selected own incarnation and fellowship exposition on page 14
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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
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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
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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
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A Linguistic Overview of 1 JohnRandall K. J. Tan · 2006
Printed pages 68 to 73, own linguistic method, themes and participant discussion
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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An organising centre for explanation

Keep the beloved recipient in view

Show what practical welcome accomplishes

Read the two short letters together

Explain the harm through the named actions

Connect a good report with lived faith

End with presence, peace and shared service

Sources

Keep a useful resource close.

Third John Overview

Third John Historical Context

Third John Reading Guide