3 John
Truth 7 times; Receive 3 times; Walk 2 times; Love 2 times Key Scripture: 1:4 Time of Writing: Late 1st Century A.D.
Verses 1-8: Greeting and Gaius’s Hospitality Verses 9-11: Diotrephes Rebellion Verses 12-14: Commendation of Demetrius and Final Greeting
Purpose:
- To encourage Gaius in his reception of the brethren
- To assure Gaius that John himself would deal with Diotrephes when he next visited the church
- To bear record of Demetrius’ good report in the truth
Message:
- Believers must be willing to receive the brethren and show hospitality to them.
- Any leaders who desire to have the pre-eminence will bring himself under divine discipline.
- Christianity is a practical walk in truth and love.
v.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.
And the worst thing that could happen to many Christian people would be what they fret, and fume, and work themselves into a fever, and live careful days and sleepless nights in order to secure-and that is, outward prosperity. The best thing is that the soul should be more prosperous than the body, and the worst adversity is the outward prosperity that ruins or harms the inward life.
v.4
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
See more in Spurgeon on parents in 3 John 4 3John v 4.
v.9
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us.
v.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.
The issue, then, is not whether those outside the church are or are not Christian (their status is known), but whether those within the church are truly born again. If people claim to believe orthodox theology and do not live righteously, John states, the regeneration of those people should be doubted, for their life shows that they are still a child of the devil.