3 John — New Testament Reader

3 John

The King James text of 1611, set beside a plain-English rendering, so the original may be both read and understood.

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Chapter 1

King James Version — 1611

In Plain English

1The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

1The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

2Dear 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.

3For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

3It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it.

4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

5Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;

5Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you.

6Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:

6They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God.

7Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

7It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.

8We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.

8We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

9I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

9I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.

10Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

10So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

11Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

11Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

12Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

12Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

13I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:

13I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink.

14But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.

14I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

The Shortest Letter

Third John is the briefest book in the New Testament, and the most personal of all the letters that bear John's name. Like its twin, it comes from "the elder," but this time it is addressed not to a church but to a single man—"my dear friend Gaius"—a believer the old apostle clearly loves and admires. It opens with one of Scripture's warmest greetings, a prayer that Gaius might "enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." It reads like exactly what it is: a real letter between two real friends, preserved by accident of history so that we get to read someone else's mail.

The occasion is a small and very human church conflict, the kind that has recurred in every generation. Traveling missionaries—who went out "for the sake of the Name" and accepted no support from outsiders—depended on the hospitality of local believers as they moved from town to town. Gaius had welcomed and helped them generously, and John writes to thank and encourage him. But there was trouble: a man named Diotrephes, who "loves to be first," had set himself up as a gatekeeper, refusing to welcome the missionaries, spreading malicious talk about John himself, and even expelling from the church those who tried to help. Against this petty tyrant John holds up two good examples—Gaius, whose love was reported to the whole church, and Demetrius, "well spoken of by everyone." The simple moral: "Do not imitate what is evil but what is good."

An Interpretation

Written with AIThe reflection below was written by AI as commentary—one reader's lens on the text, offered alongside it and never in place of it. It is not scripture, and not the King James words themselves.

There is something quietly reassuring about Third John, precisely because it is so small. After the cosmic vision of the Gospel and the soaring meditations on light and love, here is the same apostle dealing with something utterly ordinary: a difficult man in a small congregation who likes to throw his weight around. The faith, this letter reminds us, is not lived only on the mountaintops of theology. It is mostly lived down here, in the unglamorous friction of community—who got welcomed, who got snubbed, whose feelings got hurt, who refused to share the guest room.

The three names tell the whole story in miniature. Gaius opens his home; Diotrephes guards his turf; Demetrius simply has a good reputation. Two of them are remembered with affection nineteen centuries later, and one is remembered as a cautionary tale—not for heresy, notably, but for ego. Diotrephes is never accused of believing wrong things. His sin is that he "loves to be first," and that love made him inhospitable, gossipy, and controlling. It is a sobering little portrait: you can hold the right doctrine and still poison a church, simply by needing to be in charge.

And so the letter's plain conclusion—"do not imitate what is evil but what is good"—lands with more force than its size suggests. John does not give Gaius a theological lecture; he gives him two living examples and tells him which one to copy. Much of the moral life really is that simple, and that hard: watch who is generous and who is grasping, and become more like the generous one.