The shortest book in the NT and very similar to 2 John in format, style, author and length, 3 John is nevertheless very different from 1 and 2 John in terms of subject matter. There is no critique of moral indifference or Christological error, only complicated ecclesial relationships involving rival authority, a situation very difficult to diagnose. For the moment, the following surface information is sufficient: in one community, a certain Diotrephes, who has imposed himself as leader, has decided to exclude the itinerant missionaries, including those of the presbyter. His refusal of hospitality leads the presbyter to write 3 John to Gaius, apparently a wealthy person from a nearby community. Gaius has offered hospitality on a temporary basis, but the presbyter wants him to take on greater responsibility in helping the missionaries, including the famous Demetrius, who is about to arrive.

1. General Analysis of the Message
   1. Opening Formula (1-2)

      The sender and recipient section is the briefest in the NT, but very similar to secular letters of the time. A wish for health is also a feature of the opening of secular letters, but the presbyter extends his concern to Gaius' spiritual well-being - a link between soul and body. It is clear that the presbyter views Gaius as very friendly.

   2. Body (3-14)
      1. Transitional expression of joy (3-4)

         The joy of seeing Gaius walking in truth is more than conventional, for the presbyter implicitly highlights Gaius in contrast to Diotrephes. Gaius has received testimony from "brothers" who have come to see the presbyter. All this shows that the presbyter has contact with a group of travelers who are partly missionaries and partly his eyes and ears on the situation of the Church.

      2. Message (5-14)

         The "brothers", among whom Gaius has a reputation for hospitality, come from the presbyter's community to the one in which Gaius lives; and Gaius is asked to help them on their way. Here we have the image of the first preachers of Christ who set out for the sake of the "Name", taking care to reject the help of pagans, and who therefore depend on the assistance of generous local Christians. In the beautiful words of the presbyter, those who help these people become "co-workers with the truth". Then, suddenly, the letter mentions a certain Diotrephes "who likes to be first" in the church, who pays no attention to the presbyter and has ignored the presbyter's letter. Moreover, Diotrephes spreads nonsense about the presbyter, refuses to receive the "brothers" (i.e. the missionaries apparently sent by the presbyter), prevents those who wish to do so from doing so and expels them from the church. It is hard to imagine a more complete rejection of the presbyter's authority. One might expect the presbyter simply to order Diotrephes expelled or ostracized, but the relatively mild invitation not to imitate evil suggests that the presbyter had neither the authority nor the practical power to act against Diotrephes. Instead, he writes to Gaius in support of a person named Demetrius, apparently a missionary for whom this letter serves as a letter of recommendation.

         As in 2 John, the presbyter closes the body or message of the letter by apologizing for its brevity and expressing the hope of seeing Gaius soon.

   3. Concluding Formula (15)

      In 2 John, the children of a chosen sister church send greetings; in 3 John, "the friends here" (i.e., from the presbyter's church) send greetings to Gaius and the friends there, "each by name."

2. Diagnosis of the Situation

   It is not known how Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius are related to each other and to the presbyter.

   1. Gaius. Does he offer hospitality to those recently rejected by Diotrephes, or does Diotrephes refuse hospitality to those whom Gaius was helping? Most biblical scholars opt for the first hypothesis, but why then should the presbyter speak to Gaius of Diotrephes? Gaius was probably not a member of the house church of Diotrephes; and Gaius, whom the presbyter likes, was probably not the head of another house church. In other words, the presbyter may be dealing with two churches whose organization is different

   2. Diotrephes. The things he is accused of are: he likes to be the first in a church, he pays no attention to the presbyter, he refuses to welcome the "brothers" (apparently missionaries sent by the presbyter), and he hinders and expels those who offer them this hospitality

   3. Demetrius. A prominent missionary (receiving "a good report from all") was visiting Gaius, either bearing 3 John or shortly after receiving it. The seriousness of the testimony to him reflects the presbyter's view that hospitality must be extended so that the gospel can be proclaimed.

   We cannot be sure of all the reasons for the antagonism between the presbyter and Diotrephes; but the letter makes sense if both figures were opposed to the secessionist missionaries. If we assume that the presbyter also wrote 1 John, he thought there was no need for human teachers: those who have the anointing of the Spirit are automatically taught what is true, and so spirits must be tested for false prophets. Diotrephes may have found all this too vague, since the secessionists claimed to have the true spirit, making it impossible for people to know who was telling the truth. As had been discovered in other churches, Diotrephes would have decided that there was a need for authoritative human teachers, namely those who had the experience to know what was wrong and the administrative authority to remove false teachers. He assumed this role for his local church, keeping out all missionaries, including those of the presbyter. From the presbyter's perspective, Diotrephes was arrogant in departing from the principle that Jesus was the model shepherd and that all other (human) shepherds were thieves and bandits. From Diotrephes' perspective, the presbyter was naive and impractical. That Diotrephes ultimately won out in his vision of what would save Johannine Christianity can be indicated by John 21 (the last element of John, written after 1 and 2 John?) where Jesus gives Peter pastoral authority over the sheep, effectively modifying the thrust of the parable of the good shepherd.

3. Issue for Reflection

   The Gospel and the Johannine epistles have left us traces of developments within a particular Christian community over several decades:

   1. struggles with the local Jewish synagogues who rejected as irreconcilable with monotheism the Johannine Christian confession of Jesus as God;

   2. a bitter withdrawal or expulsion of Johannine Christians from the synagogues, accompanied by the Christian counter-claim that Jesus had replaced all the essential elements of Judaism (Temple worship, festivals, natural birth of Jewish parents);

   3. simultaneously an intensification of the high Christological standard, making Johannine Christians suspicious of some other Christians who do not confess Jesus correctly;

   4. an internal schism when this high Christology was carried by some Johannine Christians to the point of questioning the importance of the humanity of Jesus;

   5. an attempt to preserve a Christological balance between the human and the divine by appealing to what was traditional in Johannine teaching, and by rejecting as antichrists those who deviated from this balance;

   6. a struggle to find effective ways to combat false teachers ;

   7. and the gradual acceptance of the type of authoritarian structure found in the other churches, thus aligning at least part of the Johannine heritage with the rapidly emerging Great Church.

   If we think of the struggles and divisions of later Christianity, we can see how often the pattern has been repeated, in whole or in part.