3 John

As with 2 John, this letter is addressed personally and is short enough to have been written on a single piece of parchment. Written to a fellow believer, Gaius (a common Roman name meaning "rejoicing") too would have welcomed fellow Christians to his home as they traveled (vv5-8) just as the recipient of 2 John had likely done. By contrast, Diotrephes (an uncommon name meaning "nourished by Zeus" or foster child of Zeus) was not only inhospitable but, because he loved to be first among those in the church (v9), "he himself does not welcome the brothers either, and he forbids those who want to do so and puts them out of the church" (v10). Just as John called out the wickedness of Diotrephes ways ("I will call to remembrance the ways which he does" - v10), we should not leave others unaware of evil misdeeds but rather exhort one another to good works (v11). John's words sound much like those from the writer of Hebrews "And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works," Heb 10:24. The third person referenced in John's letter, Demetrius (a common name meaning belonging to Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain), was a man of good character, to whom John added his own witness. Perhaps because Demetrius' character had been called into question, John's recommendation here also shows that a person is not only known by their name but by their deeds and character. It is possible that this letter was delivered to Gaius by Demetrius' own hand. We see in this letter that the early church was by no means immune from the strife and bitterness that plagues the modern church today.