General Epistles · New Testament
3 John
c. AD 90
- Section
- General Epistles · New Testament
- Events span
- c. AD 90
- Written
- c. AD 90, from Ephesus (near modern-day Selçuk, Turkey)
- Author
- John the Apostle
John writes to his friend Gaius, commending him for showing hospitality to traveling teachers. He rebukes the domineering Diotrephes, who refuses to welcome them, and commends Demetrius, offering a small window into leadership struggles in the early church.
Historical setting: Late in the first century, the Second Temple already destroyed; a note on hospitality and leadership in the scattered church.
Key themes
- Hospitality
- Walking in truth
- Supporting faithful ministry
- Rebuking pride
- Doing good
The letter's message
- John commends his friend Gaius for walking in the truth
- He praises Gaius for showing hospitality to traveling teachers
- He rebukes Diotrephes, who loves preeminence and refuses to welcome the brothers
- He commends Demetrius, who has a good testimony from everyone
Key lessons
- Supporting faithful gospel workers with hospitality makes us “fellowhelpers to the truth”; practical generosity is real partnership in ministry. 3 John 5–8
- Pride and the love of being first poison a church; Diotrephes’ domineering example stands as a warning to “follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.” 3 John 9–11
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
Critical scholarship view
Where mainstream critical scholarship dates or attributes this book differently from the traditional view above.
- Written
- c. AD 90–110
- Author
- The Johannine elder / anonymous