3 John
A HOSPITABLE HOME
3 JOHN 1-8
We do not have to preach to share the preacher’s work.
There are no grounds for separating this short letter widely in time from 1 and 2 John. In other words it was probably written toward the end of the first century. “Elder” (v.1): see 2 John 1; 1 Peter 5:1. The apostles were authorities on doctrine, but they could not impose their will on an already established church. John writes with the authority due to the senior elder of the church in Ephesus—at least so tradition says—but that does not give him power over another church. “Gaius” was a common name at the time. Three or possibly four other men of that name are mentioned in the New Testament, and we can hardly identify him with any of them. The greeting suggests that he may have been ill, and even that he may have been involved in some difficulties. John had no doubt of his spiritual state. Gaius may well have been a convert of John’s (v.4). “The truth of your life” (v.3) does not refer to doctrinal purity, but to a harmony between words, actions and character.
Here we have the opposite of 2 John 10f. For reasons connected with Diotrephes (v.9), the church in which Gaius was a member had not welcomed wandering preachers as they should. Gaius had evidently taken them in and been taken to task by the church for so doing. John expresses the hope that he will so do again (v.6), for they refused to accept any form of payment from the “pagans” to whom they had preached. The obvious distinction between them and the false teachers was that they were not seeking to influence the church at all; they were missionaries to the pagans around. The regulations of Matthew 10:5-13 could apply only partially because they were preaching, not to God-fearing Jews, but to idolatrous pagans. If it is asked why the church that sent them out did not provide for their needs, it may be suggested that it was often inadvisable for such travelers to carry much money. Until the local synagogue rejected Paul’s teaching, he could rely on Jewish hospitality, but those days were long past.