Another Bible Commentary: 3 John

1 Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6).

2-4 Gaius was still preaching Jesus instead of docetism/proto-Gnosticism. See 2 John.

5-6 Gaius was providing food, clothing, shelter, etc., for John’s Ephesian traveling teachers. This was a basic expectation inherited from desert hospitality culture. Again, it’s not like they had a plethora of what we would consider hotels and restaurants on the road; they basically had the kindness of strangers and brothels as options.

7 Avoiding looking like bums to the pagans is part of keeping the Gospel attractive (1 Thessalonians 4:12). The name of John’s rival “Diotrephes” means “nourished by Zeus”.

8 See Matthew 10:41-42.

9 There are plenty of Greek names of believers in the New Testament, so “Diotrephes” could have just been his birth name. Or, it could be a Deuteronomy 8:3-like image of him listening to the teachings of the Greeks. Saying that he “loves to be first” means that he didn’t think that John the Apostle (Revelation 21:14) had authority over him, which is reminiscent of Jude 8.

10 Diotrephes refused material support to John’s traveling teachers and excommunicated anyone who tried to help them. Is this purely Sodom-like lack of hospitality or a reaction to John’s prohibition of feeding/housing docetists? Either way, see 1 John 3:17. Also, earlier today a believing friend invited me into her home for food partly in response to my ongoing efforts in communicating God’s grace, and for that, I’d like to say thanks again.

11 Just to be clear, John’s summary of what is good is Believe and Love (1 John 3:23).

12 Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6), and John’s use of “true” about his own testimony is wordplay. Demetrius and Gaius might be the ones from Acts 19:23-31; Paul used to be evil, and grace is wonderful.