A community learns to welcome the truth.
The readers of 3 John may have taken the warnings of 2 John a little too far. Not only were they shutting the door on false teachers but some had refused to welcome honest messengers as well.
The ringleader of this rebellion was a man named Diotrephes, “who loves to have … preeminence” (3 John 9). Diotrephes apparently felt no loyalty toward the apostles or their doctrine. He had become self-absorbed and opposed to the church’s leaders. In fact, it seems that he had become a bully, forbidding other members of the congregation to disagree with him and expelling them when they did.
John responds to this problem by setting descriptions of the faithful and hospitable Gaius and the domineering Diotrephes side by side, instructing his readers to “imitate … what is good” (v. 11). He must have felt confident that enough of the community remained loyal enough to make the right decision.
This brief letter shows that it takes effort to stand up for the truth and put it into practice. Like 1 and 2 John, this letter was likely composed late in the first century A.D. Tradition attributes it to the apostle John.
Key Verses in 3 John
• “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11).
• “I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face” (3 John 13, 14).