3 John study notes

Important Concepts

• Walking in the Truth: Truth is to be lived, and Gaius exemplifies it in loving action.
• Supporting Gospel Work: Hosting missionaries “for the name” makes one a fellow worker for the truth.
• Love in Deed: Gaius’s love is practical, generous care even for strangers.
• The Danger of Pride: Diotrephes shows how love of preeminence corrupts leadership.
• Imitate Good: Doing good reveals one’s true relationship to God.
• Gospel Partnership: The church advances the truth together, some going and some supporting.

Practical Application

Third John, brief and personal as it is, gives us a vivid, real-life picture of three kinds of people in the church, and calls us to be like the good and not the bad. In Gaius we see the beauty of a believer who not only knows the truth but walks in it, showing his faith through practical, generous love — even toward strangers — and supporting those who carry the gospel. Third John reminds us that not everyone is called to be a traveling missionary, but everyone can be a “fellow worker for the truth” by opening their homes, their resources, and their hearts to support gospel work. In an age when the work of missions and ministry still depends on the faithful partnership of ordinary believers, Gaius stands as a model of the quiet, essential generosity that sustains the spread of Christ’s name. To welcome and support those who labor for the gospel is to share in their mission and reward.

In Diotrephes, on the other hand, we see a solemn warning about the corrupting power of pride. Here was a man in the church who “likes to put himself first” — and that love of preeminence led him to refuse hospitality, to slander an apostle, and to bully those who disagreed with him out of the fellowship. Third John warns us that the desire for status, control, and recognition is a serious spiritual danger, especially for those in leadership, and that it produces the very opposite of Christlike ministry. And in Demetrius, well spoken of “by everyone, and from the truth itself,” we see the value of a good and trustworthy reputation. John’s summary charge captures it all: “Do not imitate evil but imitate good.” We are called to imitate the humble, serving, generous good that flows from God, and to reject the proud, domineering evil that shows a heart that “has not seen God.” Third John thus calls us to walk in the truth, to support the work of the gospel with practical love, to guard against pride, and to be people whose goodness reveals that we belong to God.

Questions for reflection

1. Gaius supported gospel workers and so became a “fellow worker for the truth.” How are you partnering, practically, in the spread of the gospel?
2. Diotrephes “liked to put himself first.” Where might pride or love of recognition be at work in your own heart?
3. “Do not imitate evil but imitate good.” Whose example are you following, and does your goodness show that you belong to God?