Introduction to 3 John (1-2)

¹ The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. ² Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well

The third letter of John is the shortest book in the New Testament, consisting of only 219 words. The first two letters of John deal basically with the same issue but the content of 3 John is on new subject and it was probably written later. For example, unlike in 1 and 2 John, there is no mention of a division in the Church or of the Antichrist. Nor does the author spend a lot of time telling people they should love each other. Furthermore, the letter names a number of people about whom we know little. It is addressed to someone named Gaius and praises another person named Demetrius. It also criticizes someone named Diotrephes. Gaius is clearly an elder of the community as is the author. About the other two we know little.

Reading this letter just after 2 John opens the author to charges of hypocrisy, for he criticizes in Diotrephes the measures that he recommends in 2 John to the Lady. Certainly, this letter is not a theological treatise but a look at issues that divided the early Church. What we need to ask ourselves is what we can learn from it today. Francis J. Moloney has argued that it does speak to us today because “The agonizing task of maintaining a balance between purity of thought and action and the call to welcome all – even sinners – into our communities is already faced.” In other words, our own church today is divided by these very same issues. Who should be included in the Church and who should be excluded from it and why? These questions are as important today as they were then and as divisive.

The letter begins with John calling Gaius “beloved” which means that he is a Christian. Note that he says he loves Gaius “in truth” which once again unites the ideas of love and truth. Remember that, in 2 John, truth means right belief and thus love of God. The wish that Gaius’s soul “is getting along well” may seem strange to us. Note that John first wishes him good health for his body and then turns to his soul. There is an equation made here between body and soul. A person is doing well when both the body and the soul are healthy. Perhaps we should all be wishing good health in both to our fellow Christians.