3 John

vs 1

Who's Gaius? No idea. But this letter is different to the other two, being to a person. Of course, it would probably have been a public letter, but this identifier does mean that it could have been to a different group.

vs 2

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Sounds almost like something I'd write to somebody. The only things of theological importance are that 1) John had friends 2) he cared about their soul as much as their health.

vs 3

So just like Paul, John gets great joy out of the faithfulness of his friend.

vs 4

Friend and children don't really go together, but it is possible that Gaius was John's son. More likely, though, he is a spiritual child of John (after all, he refers to everyone in his letters as children at some stage). Now here's an interesting idea for you - is Gaius the result of John's friendship evangelism? It's interesting that I've never heard anyone use a biblical analogy for relational evangelism, and it is a fairly recent development in the church's history. But here it is, at least possibly, in the Bible.

vs 5

Makes it sound like Gaius might be a leader or evangelist or something, certainly something that causes him to travel. But it's actually the opposite - you get it from the next verse that he is showing hospitality to those that are travelling through. In any case, he is serving a church even though he doesn't know the people.

vs 6

And so John now encourages him to send them on their way in the same manner he has looked after them.

vs 7

The Name. I like it, sounds secretive. And of course these travelling Christians received no help from the pagans. Like I said earlier, you don't offer hospitality to those who are going to do something you don't agree with. This was ingrained in the culture. So that would generally mean that you'd hope Christians or at least some God-fearers would be in the town so you had somewhere to stay.

vs 8

And showing these men hospitality is working together with them. Serving the needs of those who serve the Lord is like serving the Lord himself. Jesus knew that well - seems John was listening too.

vs 9

A bit of juicy gossip, if you are 1900 years old. You can imagine that there would be some people who accept the truth of the gospel, but then wonder why these people, these Apostles, should be shown any preferential treatment. Not much different to our situation where church leaders are not shown enough respect for the job they do - they are treated as just another member of the church, but really they are set apart.

vs 10

Ok, sounds like Doitrephes is on a serious power trip! This almost sounds like an exclusive Brethren took over the church. Not that they gossip any more than other churches... But this whole idea of putting people out of the church for being in contact with those you don't like... not good.

vs 11

The classic lesson from both 1 and 2 John - this simple test proves faithful almost every time. John swore by it obviously.

vs 12

Not only does John speak well of him, and everyone speak well of him, but the truth speaks well of him! Of course truth doesn't speak, so John here is showing how his doctrine of people's works showing the proof of their salvation is true in Demetrius.

vs 13

Sounds like John alright. Interestingly, 2 and 3 John were less criticised in the early church than 1 John at some points. You can see why in a way, because 1 John has far less of a letter structure to it.

vs 14

"The friends" when you get down to it here, is obviously a synonym for the church. So when John calls Gaius "friend", he might also mean "brother in Christ". Of course, they were still friends I'm sure.

Just a bit of interest, the greek for "face to face" is actually "mouth to mouth". I found it interesting anyway.

Wow, two books in two days, I'm on fire! What to do next?