3 John
A personal note from the elder to his friend Gaius, praising his hospitality to travelling believers and rebuking a church leader, Diotrephes, who turns them away.
Overview
3 John has fewer words than any other book of the New Testament. “The elder” writes to “Gaius the beloved” (1:1), glad to hear from travelling believers that he is walking in the truth: “I have no greater joy than this: to hear about my children walking in truth” (1:4). Gaius has welcomed these travellers, though they were strangers to him. The elder asks him to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God, because “We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow workers for the truth” (1:8).
The trouble is Diotrephes, “who loves to be first” (1:9). He ignores the elder’s letter, spreads accusations, refuses to receive the travelling brothers and puts out of the church those who do. The elder promises to deal with him when he comes, commends a man named Demetrius (1:12), and, as in 2 John, ends by hoping to talk “face to face” (1:14).
Author and date
The writer again calls himself only “The elder” (1:1), a title for a senior church leader, and his style and closing are very close to 2 John’s.
Traditional view
Tradition assigns all three letters of John to the apostle, writing late in life to churches under his care in Asia.
Academic view
Most scholars take 3 John to be by the same elder as 2 John, and many think he was a leader in John’s circle rather than the apostle himself. Some see the clash with Diotrephes as a sign that churches were moving from travelling preachers to settled local leaders.
Both views take 2 and 3 John to be by the same writer, at around the same time.
Audience and setting
Gaius is a believer in one of the churches the elder oversees, probably a man of some means, since he can house and supply travellers. Gaius was a very common name, and he cannot be securely identified with any of the men of that name in Acts or Paul’s letters. The setting is the same network of house churches as 2 John, with missionaries who went out “for the sake of the Name” (1:7).
Genre, and how to read it
Read it together with 2 John. One letter tells a church not to welcome false teachers; the other praises Gaius for welcoming true ones and rebukes Diotrephes for refusing them. Side by side they show how much the early churches relied on hospitality, and the practical questions it raised about whom to trust.
The letter is also a window on church leadership at the end of the 1st century. Diotrephes may have been a local leader resisting outside authority, or simply an ambitious member, and readers differ on whether doctrine was at stake or only power. The elder’s own test is “He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn’t seen God” (1:11).
The shortest books
3 John is the shortest book in the Bible: 219 Greek words, about a hundredth of Jeremiah’s 21,976. 2 John has fewer verses (13 to 14) but more words. Both are personal notes from a writer who calls himself the elder, each short enough for one sheet of papyrus. Obadiah is the shortest book of the Old Testament, and Philemon the shortest of Paul’s letters.
- 3 John 219 words 14 verses
- 2 John 245 words 13 verses
- Obadiah 292 words 21 verses
- Philemon 335 words 25 verses
- Jude 457 words 25 verses
- Nahum 562 words 47 verses
- Haggai 601 words 38 verses
- Titus 658 words 46 verses
- Habakkuk 672 words 56 verses
- Jonah 688 words 48 verses
- Zephaniah 769 words 53 verses
- 2 Thessalonians 822 words 47 verses
Words in the site’s Hebrew and Greek. A Hebrew word often carries a prefix or a suffix that English writes as a separate word, so the Old Testament books count a little short against the New. Verses are as the WEB numbers them; some Bibles give 3 John fifteen.
Outline
- 1:1–1:4 Greeting — To Gaius, walking in truth
- 1:5–1:8 Hospitality commended — Sending travellers on their way
- 1:9–1:10 Diotrephes — A leader who loves to be first
- 1:11–1:12 Demetrius — Imitate what is good
- 1:13–1:14 Closing — Hoping to speak face to face
Key themes
- Hospitality
- Supporting travelling believers makes their hosts “fellow workers for the truth” (1:8).
- Truth
- The elder’s greatest joy is to hear that his children are “walking in truth” (1:4).
- Leadership
- Diotrephes, who “loves to be first among them” (1:9), is the letter’s picture of leadership gone wrong.
At a glance
Most mentioned: Demetrius, Diotrephes, Gaius