3rd Letter of St. John
Title:
This time [unlike the unidentified 1 John] St. John identifies himself
as “the elder” (cp. 2 John). Looks like he sent a general “sermonic” epistle to
establish the theological frame of refence, then he sent to letters: this one,
to one of the members of the congregation, and another one (2 John) addressed
to the church.
Date of
writing: If these
two epistles (2 and 3 John) are written at the same time, then we can assume
that later date of writing (still prior to 70 AD). The reasoning is based on
the usage of names: Gaius and Demetrius (3 John 1, 12). Gaius was a prominent
member of the congregation in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:14; cp. Rom. 16:23). Demetrius
was a silversmith in Ephesus who rioted against St. Paul (Acts 19:23-27, Gaius
was present at the riots together with Sp. Paul, Acts 19:29).
Structure:
a. 1, Greetings
b. 2-4, testimony
of truth
c. 5-8,
receiving and sending out brothers
d. 9, I wrote
to the church, resistance of Diotrephes
c’. 10, I’ll
bring up his rejection of brothers
b’. 11-12, Good
testimony of Demetrius
a’. 13-15, Final greetings
Main
themes: Testimony.
Sending. Beloved.
Testimony.
It is a two-folded theme. First the testimony should be true. At times it is
expressed directly in the letter connecting both parts together (v. 3). But the
very next verse brings up a similar idea using other words – great joy to
hear [testimony] that my children walk in the truth. The second part
is that the testimony is done by other people. Similar to 2 John and the final
greetings of this epistle the idea of face to face comes to mind. There
is someone who you know or do not know is ready to testify for you…
Sending out
brothers. It is very important to notice that from the very beginning the
Church had a component of outward orientation. As it should be – there is
brotherly love among the members (see more on beloved), at the same time
this love should “spill out” (cp. Ps. 23:5c) into the relationship with the
outsiders. It is not either or, it is BOTH.
Beloved.
John calls Gaius beloved at least three times (v. 2,5, 11). Again, we can see a
cross-shaped meaning of the word. He is loved by God and by John.
Main
Characters: three
groups:
a. John/the
elder and Brothers (who testified about Gaius)
b. Gaius,
friends (should be greeted each by name), brothers/strangers, Demetrious
c. Diotrephes
Reflection
in other parts of the Bible: Putting together the description of the Garden (Gen. 1 and 2) and
typology of the righteous man as a fruitful tree, we can see that John (the
elder) presents himself as the tree of Life, Gaius and many others in the letter
are fruit trees, while Diotrephes is the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
This is a great example of God using “difficult” people in our lives to help us
grow in godliness.
Lutheran
teaching: BoC does
not have references to 3 John. Though, it has the valuable implications in
theology of the church and mission work.
Lutheran
hymnody:
LSB 835 – On Galilee’s High Mountain
LSB 760 –
What God ordains is Always Good
Relevancy
of the Book: The
letter shows John as a very persistent teacher, shepherd, and brother. He wants
to make sure that leaders of (and everyone in) the Church know the truth. At
the same time, he cares for the emotional and spiritual being of his
“children”; his reoccurring phrase “beloved” attests to a caring pastoral
heart. His brotherly qualities are displayed through the desire of maintain
peace in the family of God. It is a great example of the current social and
political environment the Church finds herself in. Same qualities are still
valuable for the advancement of the Gospel from heart to heart.
Memory
verses:
11 Beloved,
do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever imitate good is from God; whoever
does evil has not seen God.
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