3 John

3^rd 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.