Page 82 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

their teaching is John’s main concern. As a result, they were admonished not to allow those false
teachers to teach in their assembly nor say anything for fear that they would inculcate their contagious
false teaching in the minds of the congregants. Allowing them to do so would allow the church to also
participate in their wicked work. Further, they did not need to welcome them in their church. Most
likely, John is saying that they needed not to consider those false teachers (or secessionists) as having a
Christian standing just as theirs.

Having exhorted and warned them, John closes the epistle by conveying greetings from their sister who
was also chosen by God. Most likely, this is not a literal sister, but implies the members from the church
apostle John was leading. Some observes that it “refers to the members of the church where John is
when he was writing this letter. The bearer of the epistle would know the identity of that church so that
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the readers would recognize that John is sending the greetings of a sister church.” “If the children
referenced in 2 John 4 are members of a congregation, this likely refers to members of a sister church—
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a nearby congregation.”

3 John.

Audience (Recipients).
The epistle itself says that it was written to “beloved Gaius” (3 John 1) but not that one of Corinth (cf. 1
Cor. 1:14; Rom. 16:23), nor of Macedonia (cf. Acts 19:29), and probably not Gaius of Derbe (cf. Acts
20:4).

Occasion.
Denial to accept the truth in the church especially by Diotrephes could have possibly prompted elder
John to write the letter to beloved Gaius (3 John 9-11).

Purpose.
Elder John most likely wrote it to exhort and warn Gaius against following the contagious false teaching
of Diotrephes (3 John 3-8; 9-11).

Message (Content) from 3 John.
Having introduced himself as an elder (that is apostle John) and his audience, in this case Gaius, he went
on to discuss the main matters at hand.

Commendation of Gaius (3 John 3-4).
Elder John commended Gaius for his continued faithfulness to the truth. This was reported to elder John
by some believers who either stayed with Gaius or were going to the same church with Gaius, but later,
they were restored to where elder John was. How did they know that Gaius remained faithful to the
truth? First, they told elder John that Gaius was living out the truth. Saying the same thing in another
way, Gaius was walking the talk (and that talk was the Word of God). And this gave elder John great joy.
Secondly, Gaius demonstrated his faithfulness to the truth by exercising hospitality toward the
wayfarers (itinerant preachers/teachers [vv5-8]). He calls these preachers as brothers and sisters. In
Greek, that phrase refers to believers, both men and women as part of God’s family.

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