Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 3 John 1:5

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

5 8. Gaius praised for his Hospitality: Its special Value

5. Beloved ] The affectionate address marks a new section (comp. 3Jn 1:3 ; 3Jn 1:11), but here again the fresh subject grows quite naturally out of what precedes, without any abrupt transition. The good report, which caused the Apostle such joy, testified in particular to the Christian hospitality of Gaius.

thou doest faithfully ] So the Vulgate; fideliter facis: Wiclif, Tyndale, and other English Versions take the same view. So also Luther: du thust treulich. The Greek is literally, thou doest a faithful (thing), whatsoever thou workest (same verb as is rendered ‘wrought’ in 2Jn 1:8) unto the brethren: which is intolerably clumsy as a piece of English. R.V. makes a compromise; thou doest a faithful work in whatsoever thou doest; which is closer to the Greek than A.V., but not exact. ‘To do a faithful act’ ( ) possibly means to do what is worthy of a faithful man or of a believer, ostendens ex operibus fidem (Bede); and ‘to do faithfully’ expresses this fairly well: thou doest faithfully in all thou workest towards the brethren. But this use of is unsupported by examples, and therefore Westcott would translate Thou makest sure whatsoever thou workest; i.e. ‘such an act will not be lost, will not fail of its due issue and reward’. The change of verb should at any rate be kept, not only on account of 2Jn 1:8, but also of Mat 26:10, where ‘she hath wrought a good work upon Me’ ( ) is singularly parallel to ‘thou workest toward the brethren’ ( ).

and to the strangers ] The true text ( ABC) gives, and that strangers ( ); i.e. towards the brethren, and those brethren strangers. Comp. 1Co 6:6; Php 1:28; Eph 2:8. The brethren and the strangers are not two classes, but one and the same. It enhanced the hospitality of Gaius that the Christians whom he entertained were personally unknown to him: Fideliter facis quidquid operaris in fratres, et hoc in peregrinos. Comp. Mat 25:35.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Beloved, thou doest faithfully – In the previous verses the writer had commended Gaius for his attachment to truth, and his general correctness in his Christian life. He now speaks more particularly of his acts of generous hospitality, and says that he had fully, in that respect, done his duty as a Christian.

Whatsoever thou doest – In all your contact with them, and in all your conduct toward them. The particular thing which led to this remark was his hospitality; but the testimony respecting his general conduct had been such as to justify this commendation.

To the brethren – Probably to Christians who were well known to him – perhaps referring to Christians in his own church.

And to strangers – Such as had gone to the church of which he was a member with a letter of commendation from John. Compare the Rom 12:13 note, and Heb 13:2 note.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

3Jn 1:5-6

Thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers.

Allegiance to the faith

In these few words the sum and substance of the Christian life are placed before us. They convey to us that he who was addressed was simply loyal to truth and loyal to duty, whilst this, the loyalty of his being, flowed forth in act from a fountain of the purest love. These, in the Christian, cannot be disjoined. The mere philosopher may present us with a state of loyalty to truth, as truth is found in the regions of science. If he descends into the bowels of the earth, and tries to read the marvellous structure of mens temporal habitation, he is supposed to be loyal to fact or to truth as he finds it. Or, if his business lies on the surface of the world, and he questions the trees of the forests, the flowers of the field, or the grass of the earth, he ever holds his intellect in allegiance, and utters the thing as it is. Or, if rising from the earth, and traversing the starry firmament, he tries to measure, and weigh, and count the number of the stars, he stands the minister of truth, the interpreter of the works and ways of the Omnipotent Creator. All this, so far as it is an attitude of human reason, is right and well. But all this, however effective in giving strength and enlargement to mans intellect, does not achieve the full loyalty to truth commended in the sacred writings. The truth therein revealed contains the knowledge of Jesus, the Saviour of the world. It displays to the human understanding the only pathway leading out of sin into piety, out of misery into happiness, out of death into life. But whilst, with childlike simplicity, the message of the Divine love is to be received into the understanding, with the same simplicity the law of the Divine love is to be received into the heart. The conscience of the genuine Christian is to be ruled by the commandments of Jesus. Our Lord is King in Zion. Alone He legislates, and alone demands the indefeasible allegiance of the conscience of man. It is not pretended that men do not know in any thing right from wrong till they have opened the Bible. Men in all ages, in all lands, have gone into the market of the world attempting to maintain a standard of truth. To this lawgiver, legislating for the conscience and the heart, the disciple of Jesus becomes immediately and uninterruptedly liege. Loyalty to Him who spake as never man spake arises out of confidence in Him who died as never man died. Fidelity to Jesus as our rightful Lord is essentially interwoven with fidelity to Jesus as the Lord our righteousness. And this was the state of Gaius: a Christian doing whatever he did to the brethren, and to strangers, in the faith that so God had taught him, and under the conviction of his conscience that so his Lord had commanded. But this is not all; there is another element still, the ever-living, ever-moving impulse that urges onward the whole. It is love–the end of the commandment–out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Over and above the marvellous signature of the kindness and love of God our Saviour written in the blood of the Cross, the Spirit of love proceeding from the Father and the Son comes to enkindle this Divine flame in every follower of Jesus. In every Christian He is the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. No religion found among men, and invented by men, ever pretends to the indwelling of this infinite agent–the moral renovator, of the soul. His presence in man is the presence of holy love. In this we behold the living power that moves the heart of the kingdom of God; the life that reanimates every soul loyal to the Messiah, and binds for ever, beneath the perfect bond, the subjects of the eternal King. Such, then, are the three essential elements which form the Christian life and the Christian character the spirit of allegiance to whatever the Word of God reveals; the spirit of allegiance to whatever the Word of God commands; and lastly, the spirit of love animating and urging onward the whole. What Divine simplicity. (J. Paterson, D. D.)

Bring forward on their Journey after a godly sort.

Noble deeds

I. The standard of noble deeds, worthily of God.

1. Gaius was animated by the purest motive. To be charitable is praiseworthy, but to serve God is better. He received not the glory of men.

2. He did the best he could. The question was not whether the deed was worthy of Gaius, but whether it would be acceptable of God.

3. He had the best end in view. It was the glory of God. He treated well the servants for the Masters sake.

II. The inspiration of noble deeds, Who bare witness to thy love before the Church.

1. Deeds worthy to be rehearsed. Christians need not indulge in useless conversation while so much valuable history waits to be told.

2. Deeds worthy of imitation. The life of Gaius may fail us in some particulars; if so, look at the life of Jesus. (The Weekly Pulpit.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 5. Thou doest faithfully] . Kypke thinks that is put here for , and that the phrase signifies to keep or preserve the faith, or to be bound by the faith, or to keep one’s engagements. Thou hast acted as the faith-the Christian religion, required thee to act, in all that thou hast done, both to the brethren at home, and to the strangers-the itinerant evangelists, who, in the course of their travels, have called at thy house. There is not a word here about the pilgrims and penitential journeys which the papists contrive to bring out of this text.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Charity to Christians is reckoned fidelity to Christ, being shown to them upon the Christian account, which is intimated to have been done by this pious person, who so kindly treated

the brethren, and strangers, i.e. even though they were strangers.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

faithfully an act becoming a faithful man.

whatsoeverthou doest a distinct Greekword from the former doest: translate, workest:whatsoever work, or labor of love, thou dost perform. So Mat26:10,She hath wrought a good workupon me.

andto strangers The oldest manuscripts, and that (that is, and those brethren)strangers. The fact of the brethren whom thou didst entertainbeing strangers, enhances the love manifested in the act.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Beloved, thou doest faithfully,…. Or a faithful thing, and as became a faithful man, a believer in Christ; in all his beneficence and charity he acted the upright part; he did not do it in an hypocritical way, to be seen of men, and gain applause from them, but from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God:

whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; which may design either different persons; and by “brethren” may be meant the poor brethren of the church that. Gaius belonged to, and others that were well known to him; and by “the strangers”, not unconverted persons, but such of the saints as came from foreign parts, and travelled about to spread the Gospel, and enlarge the interest of Christ: or else the same persons may be intended, for the words may be read, as they are in the Alexandrian copy, and some others, and in the Vulgate Latin version, “what thou doest to the brethren, and this to strangers”; that is, as the Arabic version renders it, “to strange brethren”; or, as the Syriac version, “to the brethren, [and] especially [them] that are strangers”; so that Gaius was a very hospitable man, one that entertained and lodged strangers, and used them very civilly and courteously, with great liberality, and with much integrity and sincerity.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

A faithful work (). Either thus or “thou makest sure,” after an example in Xenophon quoted by Wettstein ( ) and parallel to in Re 21:5. But it is not certain.

In whatsoever thou doest ( ). Indefinite relative with modal (=) and the first aorist middle subjunctive of . See Col 3:23 for both and in the same sentence.

And strangers withal ( ). “And that too” (accusative of general reference as in 1Cor 6:6; Phil 1:28; Eph 2:8). This praise of hospitality (Rom 12:13; 1Pet 4:9; 1Tim 3:2; 1Tim 5:10; Titus 1:8; Heb 13:2) shows that in 2Jo 1:10 John has a peculiar case in mind.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Thou doest faithfully [ ] . Rev., thou doest a faithful work. A third interpretation is thou givest a pledge or guaranty, and a fourth, akin to this, thou makest sure. The Rev. is best. There is no parallel to justify the third and fourth. 73 Thou doest [] . Or lit., according to the eymology, workest (ergon work). See on Jas 2:9. The distinction between this verb and others signifying to do, such as poiein, prassein, dran, which last does not occur in the New Testament, is not sharply maintained in Attic Greek. In certain connections the difference between them is great, in others, it is hardly perceptible. On poiein and pra. ssein, see on Joh 3:21. ‘Ergazomai, like prassein, contemplates the process rather than the end of action, carrying the ideas of continuity and repetition. It means to labor, to be active, to perform, with the idea of continued exertion, and therefore is used of servants, or of those who have an assigned business or office. See Mt 21:28; Mt 25:26; Luk 13:14; Joh 5:17; Joh 6:27; Joh 9:4; 1Th 2:9. For the phrase ejrgash eijv thou doest toward (Rev.), see Mt 26:10.

And to strangers [ ] . The best texts read, instead of eijv touv to the (strangers), touto, that; so that the sentence is, literally, “to them that are brethren, and that strangers.” For the phrase and that, compare 1Co 6:6; Phi 1:28; Eph 2:8.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

PART 11 GODLY ACCEPTANCE OF VISITING BRETHREN

1) “Beloved thou doest faithfully faithful service portrays and indicates one’s claim of love for a person, a cause, or an institution. Love-deeds express the high, holy, Divine love commanded of our Lord, and embraced by his disciples. Joh 13:34-35; Jas 1:22-25.

a) As our Lord loved his own and served

them to the end Joh 13:1.

b) As Paul loved his companions in Mission

work to the end 2Ti 4:7-8.

c) As Peter loved and served his Lord to

the end, 2Pe 1:13-14.

d) As John loved and served to the end -let us also faithfully serve.

2) “Whatsoever thou doest” – the term “doest” is from the Greek (Ergaste) and is here used to mean whatever and each detail of work Gaius performed was faithfully begun and finished. Blessed is the person who 1) resolves to do, 2) begins to do, and 3) completes doing a task, labor, or work of love. Whatever God has for one to do, let him do it faithfully, with his might Ecc 9:10; and he shall have reward, Mat 25:34-40.

3)“To the brethren and to strangers’ The term “to the” (Greek eis tous) means “with reference to”, the brethren and strangers. Blessed is that person who can, like Gaius, faithfully, (full of faith deeds) impartially, without respect, witness to and serve the better and the less known. Our Lord came to seek and to save the lost, of His own, and all races, and loved the whole world Luk 19:10; Joh 3:16. Paul felt himself impartially a debtor to all, Rom 1:14-15; 1Co 9:22-23.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

3Jn. 1:5. Faithfully.Not impulsively, not selfishly, but with a due sense of duty and obligation, and with an earnest care to do well. Perhaps the precise meaning is Christianly, in a manner true to thy Christian profession and character. R.V. Thou doest a faithful work in whatsoever thou doest. Westcott: Thou makest sure whatsoever thou workest, i.e. Such an act will not be lost, will not fail of its due issue and reward. To strangers.Precisely, to the brethren, and that strangers. The point is, that Gaius had been specially trustful and kind in dealing with Christian brethren who, in their journeyings, had visited the Church with which he was connected. These brethren were often strangers, personally unknown; and it was only too easy to be suspicious of their integrity, and so to neglect them. The duty of entertaining Christians on their travels was of peculiar importance in early times:

(1) from the length of time which travelling required;
(2) from the poverty of the Christians;

(3) from the kind of society they would meet in public inns. The duty is enforced in Rom. 12:13; 1Ti. 3:2; Tit. 1:8; Heb. 13:2; 1Pe. 4:9 (Sinclair).

3Jn. 1:6. Charity.Distinguished from love as a feeling or sentiment. Charity is Christian love (love for Christs sake), finding expression in deeds of kindly service. In this sense of the term it is well to retain the word charity used in the A.V. of the New Testament. No intelligent reader confuses charity with almsgiving. Before the Church.That Church with which the apostle John was, at the time, closely associated. It is suggested that certain persons had been sent from St. Johns Church on some Christian mission to other Churches. On their journey they had visited the Church of which Gaius was a member. They were strangers, and some regarded them with suspicion, but Gaius had not only trusted them, and given them hospitality, but had interested himself in their mission, and furthered them in their plans. Bring forward.This implies that there was yet some service to the missionaries which Gaius could render.

3Jn. 1:7. His names sake.The more precise rendering is, for the sake of the name. Compare Act. 5:41. Taking nothing of the Gentiles.Not seeking help from them, but fully trusting the Christian love of the Christian brethren.

3Jn. 1:9. Wrote unto the Church.Evidently to introduce the coming missionaries, and to prepare the way for them. Read, I wrote somewhat, i.e. a short letter. It was evidently a brief request that kindness might be shown to the visitors. Diotrephes.The name can be of no Christian significance, for it only means, love-nourished. He was a prominent member of the Church, and probably a man of wealth and influence. We need not think he was an insincere or bad man. He was undisciplined in character, and his natural dispositions were unlovely. The root of evil was probably jealousy of the confidential relations of Gaius and St. John. That spirit would lead him to oppose whatever Gaius wished. Pre-eminence.Note how opposed to the spirit of Christ, who was among us as He that serveth, and to the teachings of Christ, If any among you wishes to be chief, let him be your minister. The desire for pre-eminence in a Christian community is the fruitful occasion of trouble. He who wants pre-eminence is likely to be unscrupulous in his methods of striving for it. Receiveth us not.Will not recognise our authority, or give our wishes due consideration.

3Jn. 1:10. Prating against us.Painful reports of what had been said and done in the Christian assemblies had reached St. John, and the supreme mischief was that a party bad been formed which gathered round the masterful Diotrephes. He had evidently acted in a very unreasonable and violent way. He actually went so far as not only to refuse hospitality to the missionaries, but also to eject from the local congregation those who were willing to entertain them.

3Jn. 1:11. That which is evil.Notice the Christian carefulness which avoids saying, him who is evil. Possibly there was some danger of Gaius yielding for the sake of peace. St. John reminds him that if a thing is manifestly wrong from the Christian standpoint, he must stand against it, whatever may be the cost. He must not give way from any good-natured pliability. Good is of God.A familiar Johannine teaching. See 1Jn. 2:16; 1Jn. 2:29; 1Jn. 3:8-9; 1Jn. 4:4; 1Jn. 4:6-7. Not seen God.1Jn. 3:6.

3Jn. 1:12. Demetrius.Either the principal man of the missionaries, whose genuineness Diotrephes refused to recognise, or the person sent to Gaius with this letter. The former is the better suggestion. It is then a strong assurance of the trustworthiness of Demetrius, so that Gaius might confidently persist in his kindly treatment of him and his fellow-messengers. There is no good reason for identifying the person with the Demetrius of Act. 19:24. Of the truth itself.Or, of the spirit of truth. It may, however, mean, judged by the Christian standard. For a similar double witness, see Joh. 15:26-27. Record.Or, testimony.

3Jn. 1:14. Our friends.Precisely, the friends.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.3Jn. 1:5-14

Sanctified and Unsanctified Natural Dispositions.There are three men introduced by name to us in this epistle. They are in many things very unlike each other. They are alike in thisthat in each case the new Christian life has come into a natural disposition, proposing to alter, or strengthen, or tone that natural disposition as need may be. To use an illustration: Three very different branches, each with its own capabilities, strength, or weakness, or bias, have been grafted into the same living tree. The life of the tree flows freely into each branch, but it has to deal with, it has to be affected by, the condition and bias of each grafted branch, and the fruitage of each branch is found to differ. The same life in each, differing results according to the peculiarities of each. Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius have the life in Christ, but one of them has a natural disposition which even that new life cannot easily tone aright, or cannot tone save with the help of long years of severest discipline.

I. Gaius had a naturally hospitable disposition.The grace of God could fit well to thatcould raise the tone of it, dignify it as the expression of high and holy principles, and sanctify the man through the new forms in which he found exercise for it.

II. Diotrephes had a naturally masterful disposition.He would be nowhere if he could not be first. He allowed no resistance of his will. His spirit has been at once described and satirised, when it is said of such men, They would rather reign in hell than serve in heaven. Men with such dispositions can be Christians; but in them the Christian spirit and life have a long and fearful struggle ere the self-will is brought into subjection. And they make heaps of misery before the good work is accomplished in them.

III. Demetrius had a naturally amiable disposition.There was no one unusual virtue, as in the case of Gaius, but a generally amiable tone and character. He was a gentleman. And it is in such natures that the new life has the freest, fullest sphere for its highest and noblest work.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

3Jn. 1:7. For the Names Sake.In all the older manuscripts the phrase is, For the Names sake. There is no need to put the personal pronoun, or the proper name. There is but one Name known among men, for the sake of which, and to tell the virtue and power of which, men will leave their homes, and wander up and down among the countries and through the cities, taking cheerfully whatever fortunes may come. The men spoken of were evidently Jewish believers, who went out among the Gentiles to tell the glad news. These men were very thankful for any hospitality they might receive from Christian motives, and the well-beloved Gaius was famous for his kindness to the saints. St. John bids him, and those with him, still welcome the stranger in the Name of the Master whom he serves, and for whose Names sake alone he came to them.

I. For the Names sake is the availing plea in acceptable prayer.Prayer is not the rising up of the intellectual soul of man to Divinity. That is merely speculative thought, tinged, it may be, with devoutness, but lacking the simplicity, the earnestness, the energy, of real prayer. Real prayer is prayer in the name of Christ. That means that God has revealed Himself in Christ. The name is the character: the name of God is the character of God as manifested among men, as displayed in human history. To pray in the name of Christ is to recognise God in Him, in His whole personality, in His whole history, in what He has done and suffered on our behalf.

II. For the Names sake is also, in a pre-eminent degree, the spring and motive-power of holy obedience.This is the meaning of the text in its own connection. These men went forth, these first missionaries, in a spirit of self-consecration that asked no questions, that fixed no limits, that reserved no retreat; they went forth to tell the world the news. And they lived upon the news they told. The gospel was meat and drink to them, and clothing, and house, and home. Taking nothing of the Gentiles. The gospel would be benefited by their self-denialthat settled the question in a moment. Nothing, nothing from you. If you believe the message, if you feel its constraining force, and yield yourselves to Christ, and live through Him to God, then open your door, and spread your table, and light your lamp of welcome, and we will come in. But so long as you are only listenersundeclared and undecidednothing. And this was no transient impulse. The whole secret of the loyalty, endurance, unselfishness, of the Christian witnesses and martyrs, lay in thisFor the Names sake. What essentially is this Christian service? It means the consecration of the redeemed self in wholeness to the glory of Christ, and to the service of our fellow-men under Him. We say from the heart, For the Names sake, and then all is easy. The love of Christ has this perfectly unique peculiaritythat it is the love of God and the love of man in one; and when, for the Names sake, we give ourselves to God, and live to God, then we are swayed by the all-comprehending love. Of what importance, then, must it be to a Christian to be full of lovefull of the love of Christ to him, shed abroad by the Holy Ghostfull of quick-answering love to Christfull of the power of the Name!A. Raleigh, D.D.

For the Sake of the Name.The R.V. gives the true force of these words by omitting the His, and reading merely, for the sake of the Name. There is no need to say whose name. There is only one which could evoke the heroism and self-sacrifice of which the apostle is speaking. The expression, however, is a remarkable one. The Name seems almost, as it were, to be personified.

I. The pre-eminence implied in the Name.The name means substantially the same thing as the Person of Jesus. The distinction between the Name and the Person is simply that the former puts more stress on the qualities and characteristics as known to us. Thus the Name means the whole Christ as we know Him, or as we may know Him, from the book, in the dignity of His Messiahship, in the mystery of His Divinity, in the sweetness of His life, in the depth of His words, in the gentleness of His heart, in the patience and propitiation of His sacrifice, in the might of His resurrection, in the glory of His ascension, in the energy of His present life and reigning work for us at the right hand of God. All these, the central facts of the gospel, are gathered together into that expression, the Name, which is the summing up in one mighty word, so to speak, which it is not possible for a man to utter except in fragments, of all that Jesus Christ is in Himself, and of all that He is and does for us. It is but a picturesque and condensed way of saying that Jesus Christ, in the depth of His nature and the width of His work, stands alone, and is the single, because the all-sufficient, Object of love, and trust, and obedience. There is no need for a forest of little pillarsas, in some great chapter-house,one central shaft, graceful as strong, bears the groined roof, and makes all other supports unnecessary and impertinent. There is one Name, and one alone, because in the depths of that wondrous nature, in the circumference of that mighty work, there is all that a human heart, or that all human hearts, can need for peace, for nobleness, for holiness, for the satisfaction of all desires, for the direction of efforts, for the stability of its being. The Name stands alone, and it will be the only Name that, at last, shall blaze upon the page of the worlds history when the ages are ended, and the chronicles of earth, with the brief immortality which they gave to other names of illustrious men, are mouldered into dust. The Name is above every name, and will outlast them all, for it is the all-sufficient and encyclopdical embodiment of everything that a single heart or the whole race can require, desire, conceive, or attain. So then, brethren, the uniqueness and solitariness of the Name demand an equal and corresponding exclusiveness of devotion and trust in us. Hear, O Israel! The Lord thy God is one Lord. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. And, in like manner, we may argueThere is one Christ, and there is none other but He. Therefore all the current of my being is to set to Him, and on Him alone am I to repose my undivided weight, casting all my cares and putting all my trust only on Him. Lean on none other. You cannot lean too heavily on that strong arm. Love none other except in Him; for His heart is wide enough, and deep enough, for all mankind. Obey none other, for only His voice has the right to command. And lifting up our eyes, let us see no man any more save Jesus onlythe Name that stands alone! Involved in this, but worthy of briefly putting separately, is this other thoughtthat pre-eminent and exclusive mention of the Name carries with it, in fair inference, the declaration of His Divine nature. It seems to me that we have here a clear case in which the Old Testament usage is transferred to Jesus Christ, only, instead of the Name being Jehovah, it is Jesus. It seems to me impossible that a man saturated as this apostle was with Old Testament teaching, and familiar as he was with the usage which runs through it as to the sanctity of the Name of the Lord, should have used such language as this of my text unless he had felt, as he has told us himself, that the Word was God. And the very incidental character of the allusion gives it the more force as a witness to the commonplaceness which the thought of the Divinity of Jesus Christ had assumed to the consciousness of the Christian Church.

II. The power of the Name to sway the life.The preposition seems to me to cover both the ground of, on account of, or by reason of, and on behalf of. Taking the word in the former of these two senses, note how this phrase, for the sake of the Name, carries with it this principlethat in that Name lie all the forces that are needed for the guidance and the impulses of life. In Him, in the whole fulness of His being, in the wonders of the story of His character and historical manifestation, there lies all guidance for men. He is the pattern of their conduct. He is the companion for us in our sorrow. He is the quickener for us in all our tasks. And to set Him before us as our pattern, and to walk in the paths that He dictates, is to attain to perfection. Whosoever makes for the sake of the Name the motto of his life shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And not only is there guidance, but there is impulse, and that is better than guidance. For what men most of all want is a power that shall help or make them do the things that they see plainly enough to be right. Where is there such a force to quicken, to ennoble, to lead men to higher selves than their dead past selves, as lies in the grand sweep of that historical manifestation which we understand by the Name of Jesus? There is nothing else that will go so deep down into the heart, and unseal the fountains of power and obedience, as that Name. Our whole life ought to be filled with His Name. You can write it anywhere. It does not need a gold plate to carve His Name upon. It does not need to be set in jewels and diamonds. The poorest scrap of brown paper, and the bluntest little bit of pencil, and the shakiest hand, will do to write the name of Christ; and all life, the trivialities as well as the crises, may be flashing and bright with the sacred syllables. Mohammedans decorate their palaces and mosques with no pictures, but with the name of Allah, in gilded arabesques. Everywhere, on walls and roof, and windows and cornices, and pillars and furniture, the name is written. There is no such decoration for a life as that Christs Name should be stamped thereon.

III. The service that even we can do to the Name.That, as I said, is the direct idea of the apostle here. He is speaking about a very small matter. There were some anonymous Christian people who had gone out on a little missionary tour, and in the course of it, penniless and homeless, they had come to a city the name of which we do not know, and had been taken in and kindly entertained by a Christian brother, whose name has been preserved to us in this one letter. And, says John, these humble men went out on behalf of the Nameto do something to further it, to advantage it! Jesus Christ, the bearer of the Name, was in some sense helped and benefited, if I may use the word, by the work of these lowly and unknown brethren. Now there are one or two other instances in the New Testament where this same idea of the benefit accruing to the Name of Jesus from His servants on earth is stated, and I just point to them in a sentence, in order that you may have all the evidence before you. There is the passage to which I have already referred, recording the disciples joy that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame on behalf of the Name. There are the words of Christ Himself in reference to Paul at his conversion, I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Names sake. There is the Churchs eulogium on Barnabas and Paul, as men that have hazarded their lives for the Name of our Lord Jesus. There is Pauls declaration that he is ready, not only to be bound, but to die, on behalf of the Name of the Lord Jesus. And in the introduction of the epistle to the Romans he connects his apostleship with the benefit that thereby accrued to the Name of Christ. If we put all these together, they just come to thisthat, wonderful as it is, and unworthy as we are to take that great Name upon our lips, yet, in Gods infinite mercy and Christs fraternal and imperial love, He has appointed that His Name should be furthered by the sufferings, the service, the life, and the death of His followers. He was extolled with my tongue, says the psalmist, in a rapture of wonder that any words of his could exalt Gods Name. So to you Christians is committed the charge of magnifying the Name of Jesus Christ. You can do it by your lives, and you can do it by your words, and you are sent to do both. We can adorn the doctrinepaint the lily and gild the refined gold, and make men think more highly of our Lord by our example of faithfulness and obedience. We can do it by our definite proclamation of His Name, which is laid upon us all to do, and for which facilities of varying degrees are granted. The inconsistencies of the professing followers of Christ are the strongest barriers to the worlds belief in the glory of His Name. The Church, as it is, is the hindrance rather than the help to the worlds becoming a Church. If from us sounded out the Name, and over all that we did it was written blazing, conspicuous, the world would look and listen, and men would believe that there was something in the gospel. If you are a Christian professor, either Christ is glorified or put to shame in you, His saint, and either it is true of you that you do all things in the Name of the Lord Jesus and so glorify His Name, or that through you the Name of Christ is blasphemed among the nations. Choose which of the two it shall be!A. Maclaren, D.D.

3Jn. 1:9-10. Diotrephes.The vain, irritable, and loquacious Diotrephes, whose religion seems to have been quite compatible with a slippery morality. What exactly it was at which Diotrephes took offence, whether in the letter of St. John or in the conduct of Demetrius, we are not told; but it is not difficult to offend a man who has an undue sense of his own importance, and whose self-love may be set on fire by any match, however innocently it may be struck. The offence was some wound to his love of pre-eminence, his determination to stand first, and to exact a homage he did not deserve. Possibly Gaius had received Demetrius without consulting Diotrephes, or even after he had declined to receive him. Whatever the prick which his vanity had received, the character of the man comes out in his wholly disproportionate and extravagant resentment of the offence. In his resentment he sets himself against men far wiser and better than himself; he imperils the peace of the Church; he diminishes its numbers and strength. His wounded vanity landed him, as it often does land men, in the most bitter animosity and intolerance. He must have won over a majority of his fellow-members to his side. And he must have taken a by-path to his end. He may long have cherished a factious spirit in the inferior members of the Church, the less wise and less good, by opposing whatever Gaius and his friends proposed, and finding plausible reasons for opposing them. And, indeed, a man of inferior gifts and of a spirit less informed by the grace of Christ, who will stand first, will put himself forward and attempt to rule a free Christian congregation, must take this course. He must play on the ignorance, and even on the piety, of those who follow him,must affect a superior wisdom, or a superior orthodoxy, or a superior devotion to the claims of its poorer and less-instructed members; must, in short, wield the common weapons of that loud-mouthed, irrepressible, and unsavoury creature, the religious demagogue. He cannot suffer learning, wisdom, godliness, experience, to exert their natural and beneficent influence, but must at all risks counterwork that influence, and suggest plausible reasons for not yielding to it. How else can he win, and maintain, a pre-eminence he does not deserve, which, in his calmer moments, he may even know that he does not deserve? There is nothing in the epistle to suggest that Diotrephes held unsound doctrinal views, or that he fell into what are called gross and open sins. All that he is blamed for is the conceit and self-assurance which rendered him impatient of rivalry or resistance, and set him on seeking power rather than usefulness. How did Diotrephes induce his fellow-members to follow his lead, since they must, most of them at least, have been good men, who were not likely to excommunicate their fellows either for an excess of charity, or for wounding his self-conceit? St. John says, He receiveth not us prating against us with wicked [or malicious] words. No doubt he questioned the authority of St. John in an indirect way. He may have pitted Paul against John, contrasting their teachings, and unduly exalting Paul. We are told two things about Diotrephes. We are told not only that he loved to have the pre-eminence, but also that he was cursed with a voluble tongue, that he would still be speaking: for how often does a fluent tongue lead a man whither, in his reasonable moods, he would not go, and betray him into positions which he would not willingly have assumed? And if the itch of speaking is apt to lead on to the prating of idle, and even of malicious, words, the lust of power commonly leads to an abuse of power. No punishment is more unwelcome to such an one than that with which St. John threatened Diotrephes: I will put him in mind of his words and his worksbring him to book for them, in his own presence and in that of the Church. Such men dislike nothing so much as being compelled to face their own whispers, and to see how they sound in honest and impartial ears, or even in their own ears, now that their excitement and irritation have subsided. Diotrephes, then, was a man who was not necessarily or wholly bada man who may have had many good qualities, and have done some service to the Church; but his good qualities were blended with, and their good effects vitiated by, an exorbitant self-conceit and loquacity. So vain, so bent on influence and supremacy, as to be capable of the most cruel intolerance in asserting his supremacy; so talkative as to be capable of slipping into malicious and wicked words rather than hold his tongue or let the Church defer to other guidance than his own,he offers a much-needed warning to many a man of spotless respectability and worrying temper, of pious principles and worldly aims, of good intentions but a too voluble tongue, who, because he thinks more highly of himself than be ought to think, flatters himself that he is serving the Church when he is only pandering to his self-importance and self-conceit, and is cruelly injuring the Church he professes to love. Let, then, your religion show itself in deeds rather than in words, in a life conformed by the grace of Christ to the will of God, not in loud professions and loquacious speeches, nor in an intolerant temper, and your readiness to sit in judgment on your brethren, and to pass sharp and pungent verdicts upon them.S. Cox, D.D.

Prating for Pre-eminence.The verb occurs in Polybius in the sense of to domineer, and Plutarch is cited for the equivalent phrase . The race of domineering praters is not likely to die out. In all times it has flourished and in all climes. Many prate themselves into pre-eminence with malicious words or otherwise, by dint of pushing without scruple, of prosing without mercy, of self-assertion and self-glorification, and all for love of having pre-eminence, with the profits, real or reputed, thereunto attached, or thence accruing. Some men, as Emerson says, love only to talk where they are masters; they like to go to school-girls or to boys, or into shops where the sauntering people gladly lend an ear to any one. They go rarely to their equals: listen badly, or do not listen to the comment or the thought by which the company strive to repay them; rather, as soon as their own speech is done, they take their hats. Swifts readers could supply the name of the person indicated in that paragraph of his essay on conversation, where he professes to know a man of wit who is never easy but where he can be allowed to dictate and preside, who expects neither to be informed nor entertained, but to display his own talents, whose business is to be good company and not good conversation, and who therefore chooses to frequent those only who are content to listen, and profess themselves his admirerswitlings and suckling Templars, who every sentence raise, and wonder with a foolish face of praise. Dr. Moores analysis of the self-conceit of Zeluco includes this characteristicthat, detesting all whom he suspected of having sufficient penetration to see into his real character, he could support the company of those only upon whose understandings he imagined he imposed by giving them a much better idea of his character than it deserved. This accounts for his constant preference for ignorant societya preference tending to the same result as Gay sets forth in the prelude to one of his fables:

How fond are men of rule and place,
Who court it from the mean and base!
These cannot bear an equal nigh,
But from superior merit fly.
They love the cellars vulgar joke,
And lose their hours in ale and smoke;
There oer some petty club preside,
So poor, so paltry, is their pride;
Nay, een with fools whole nights will sit,
In hopes to be supreme in wit.

The man of strong intellect and firm will is apt, as Professor Spalding says, to degenerate into dogmatism, and reasons with his fellow-men in the same spirit in which the Jews built the second Temple, where every man worked with one hand and with the other hand held a weapon. What insolent familiar, asks Lamb in his notes on the old Benchers of the Inner Temple, durst have mated Thomas Coventry?whose person was a quadrate, his step massy and elephantine, his face square as the lions, his gait peremptory and path-keeping, indivertible from his way as a moving column, the scarecrow of his inferiors, the brow-beater of equals and superiors. But who does not love to rule, be it over a genius or a dolt?Francis Jacox.

3Jn. 1:12. Demetrius.This epistle was probably written from Ephesus, toward the close of St. Johns long life and ministry, and addressed to one of the neighbouring Churches of Asia Minor, which St. Paul had founded some thirty or forty years before. Obviously there was a good deal of independence in the Churches when one Church in a province could refuse communion with men who were commended to them by another Church, could excommunicate those who did commune with them, and an unknown Diotrephes could not only set himself, but persuade the majority of his fellowmembers to set themselves, against the request and command of one of the apostles who had seen the Lord, and he the disciple whom Jesus had loved above the rest. But if the Churches had grown in independence, they had not declined in missionary zeal. The Churches under the charge of St. John were sending out evangelists, such as Demetrius, to the Gentiles. The impression which the epistle leaves on our minds is that the members of the primitive and apostolic Church were not, as they have sometimes been drawn, saints who lived together in an unbroken charity and peace, too good for human natures daily use, but men and women of like passions with ourselves; with much that was good in them, but also with not a little that came of evil; capable of heroic self-sacrifice, but also capable of sinking into selfish ambitions, and envies, and strifesof falling, in short, into the very errors and faults of which we find some lingering traits even in the Church life of to-day, when we ought to be so much wiser and better than they. Demetrius and his fellows had been called to the evangelic office, and had devoted themselves to preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. St. John knew them, loved them, approved them, gave them letters of commendation to the Churches of Asia Minor, and, among others, to the Church of which both Gaius and Diotrephes were members. Diotrephes, evidently a man of some mark and gifts, declined to have anything to do with them: perhaps because Demetrius did not come first to him, or did not make much of and defer to him; perhaps because he preferred St. Pauls doctrinal and argumentative method of teaching, and his demand for faith, to St. Johns Divine and deep simplicity, and his eternal insistence on charity, or love. In any case he did not like Demetrius, did not take to him; and doubtless he soon found or imagined abundant reasons for his dislike. Having formed and uttered his hasty opinion, Diotrephes was not the man to draw back from it. Nor was he content to keep it to himself, to hold it alone. He must impose it on the Church. When others would have received the evangelists, he forbad them. If they paid no heed to his prohibition, he got them cast out of the Churchthe motto of this lover of pre-eminence being, apparently, Better to reign in a small Church than to serve in a large one. Undeterred by his influence and threats, the hospitable Gaius had welcomed the repulsed and disheartened evangelists to his home, and furthered them in their good work. Whether he also was excommunicated by Diotrephes, or whether he was too wealthy and powerful a man to be attacked, we are not told. But, at all risks, he discharged his duty, having, I suppose, an affectionate reverence for St. John which made the displeasure of a Diotrephes sit lightly upon him. Demetrius was very grateful to him; and when he returned to Ephesus, reported the fidelity of Gaius both to the apostle, and to the Church of which John was pastor or bishop. And now the apostle sends back Demetrius, and writes to Gaius, commending and encouraging him, and promising him a speedy visit, in the course of which he will depose Diotrephes from his pride of place, make him eat his wicked words, and restore those whom he had cast out. Demetrius was an evangelist, a travelling evangelist, or missionary. He had devoted himself to the service of the Gentiles (3Jn. 1:7), and he was probably also a prophet. But whatever his gifts, and whether few or many, there can be no doubt of the self-sacrificing and disinterested spirit in which be used them. Simply to travel was dangerous in those days, since every stranger was then held to be an enemy. But to go into the schools, market-places, and sanctuaries of strange cities, in order to teach a strange religion, was very like courting death. But Demetrius did not shrink. He would take nothing of the Gentiles. Like St. Paul, he knew well enough that, if he seemed to make anything by his message, the sharp, suspicious traders of the Asian harbours and markets would close their minds and hearts, as well as their purses, against him. Hence he would take nothing from them; no, not even if it was offered him, lest he should be placing a stone of stumbling in the way of any whose consciences had been touched. If we ask for the motive which inspired this noble and self-sacrificing devotion to the spiritual welfare of men, we are told that it was simply for the sake of the Name that Demetrius devoted himself to the service of the Gentiles. The way stood for the way of Christ, or the Christian way of thought and life. And, in like manner, the Name was the Name of the great Saviour of men, and stood for all that was known of Him, all that was summed up in Him. What moved Demetrius and his companions to their great and perilous work was the love they bore to the Name of Jesus Christ their Lord, and the Lord and Saviour of all men. What the Name really covers is that Jesus Christ was the Saviour whom God had promised and anointed, and that God was in Him, reconciling the world unto Himself. Demetrius won for himself a threefold testimony:

1. He won the witness of allthe witness of all good men, of all who were capable of appreciating goodness.

2. He won the testimony of the truth itself. He embodied the truth in deeds of love and self-sacrifice of which he would have been incapable but for the truth which animated and sustained him. The truth itself speaks through such a man, and bears witness to him.

3. St. John adds his own testimony: we also bear witness. How it nerves a mans courage, and sustains his devotion, if some great master, or apostle, openly supports him, saying, I love him; I trust him: receive him as you would receive me!S. Cox, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

5. Faithfully A faithful thing; a thing inspired by a true faith.

Brethren strangers In apposition, as both meaning the same persons. The brethren were evangelists of John, but strangers to Gaius. He entertained them, not as old acquaintances, nor from pure hospitality in general; but because they were Christian itinerants authenticated by the apostle.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Beloved, you do a faithful work in whatever you do towards those who are brethren and strangers withal, who bore witness to your love before the church, whom you will do well to set forward on their journey worthily of God, because for the sake of the Name they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.’

Gaius clearly welcomed travelling preachers who were of the truth, even if they were strangers, and indeed all Christians who came to his church as visitors from a distance. He was a man of great hospitality because of his love for Christ. He welcomed them because they went forth in the Name of Christ Jesus. And he was to be commended for it as a faithful servant of Christ, for He did it in Christ’s name. He gave not only a cup of cold water (Mat 10:42), but also abundantly.

Early Christian preachers normally received material support from other believers (compare Act 20:35; 1Co 9:14; 1Th 3:7-9), or alternatively like Paul, they supported themselves. They did not solicit funds from unbelievers (compare Mat 10:8; 2Co 12:14; 1Th 2:9). They relied on God, and on God’s people. “Gentiles” was a general term for unbelievers, for Christians were no longer Gentiles. They were of the true faith. They were ‘sons of Abraham’ and of the new Israel (Gal 3:29; Gal 6:16; Eph 2:12-22; Rev 7:1-8).

‘You do a faithful work in whatever you do.’ What a testimony Gaius had. He was totally reliable, absolutely dependable, thorough, and set to show God how faithful he was because he loved Him. And this was especially revealed in his attitude towards hospitality for those who preached the truth who came from a distance, at a time when most who were in his church group were set against such, and his actions would be disapproved of. He sought the favour of God and not the favour of men.

‘Towards brethren and strangers.’ This may indicate two sets of people, showing that he did not discriminate, but may well signify the same people. They were true men of God, but they came from outside the area and were therefore looked on with suspicion by many. They were ‘foreigners’. Yet they should have been received with the love of Christ, and they were, by Gaius.

‘Who bore witness to your love before the church.’ This probably means before their own church when they arrived back home. All spoke of how Gaius had welcomed them when others had treated them coldly. Although when given the opportunity they no doubt spoke well of Gaius before his own church. He was well spoken of everywhere.

‘Whom you will do well to set forward on their journey worthily of God, because for the sake of the Name they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.’ But he was right in what he did. The men were worthy of Gaius’ good treatment. They were true brethren, and should be treated with honour, because in Jesus’ name they went forward, living by faith in the promises of God, and sought no charity. They sought only the honour of Jesus Christ, and were willing to suffer for His name’s sake.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The hospitality of Gaius:

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

v. 6. which 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,

v. 7. because that for His name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

v. 8. We, therefore, ought to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth.

The apostle here specifies the virtue in which Gaius excelled: Beloved, thou art acting as a faithful brother in rendering service to the brethren, strangers at that. It was an act of faithfulness agreeing well with the faith Gaius was professing which he performed when he rendered such signal service to the brethren, who were total strangers to him, at that. He had not known them before, he was bound to them by no external ties, but the fact that they were believers with him, as the letters of John showed, was a sufficient incentive to him to receive them with open arms and to do all in his power to make their journey and their stay a pleasant one.

It was from some of these brethren that St. John had received the report which occasioned this letter: Who testified to the love before the congregation; and thou wilt do well in speeding them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. So great was the impression which the cordial hospitality of Gaius made upon the missionaries that they reported it at once upon their return. ; they were effusive in their commendation of their host, of the love which he had shown them. In acknowledging this, the apostle incidentally provides for a future continuance of this charitable endeavor: If Gaius continues this policy of assisting the missionaries by speeding them on their way, and in a manner worthy of their calling of ministers of God, then he will do well. See Act 15:26. For, as John says, it was for the sake of His name that they went out and did not accept anything from the heathen. These missionaries, like all men worthy of the name, did not go out to seek their own glory and advancement. They were concerned only about the Word of the Gospel, about extolling the name of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. They were preaching without receiving any compensation from the heathen, probably in order not to bring suspicion upon their office as though they were merely in the business of preaching for the sake of the money they might make that way. This being the case: We, therefore, are under obligation to support such men, that we may prove fellow-workers with the truth. That is the duty of the Christians at all times and in all places, to provide for the bodily necessities of men that are going forth to preach the Gospel. In this way the Christians perform their share with the truth and for the truth of the Gospel, they assist in spreading the glorious news of salvation through the redemption of Jesus Christ.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

3Jn 1:5. Thou doest faithfully “As becomes a faithful Christian.” The Papists have contrived, by various falsifications, to make the scriptures speak the language of their church. We have given a remarkable instance on Jam 5:11. Here we have another; for “St. John,” say they, “praises Gaius, for having dealt faithfully with pilgrims.” See “Popery an Enemy to Scripture,” by Mr. Serces, and the Preface to Dr. Middleton’s Letter from Rome, p. 66, &c.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

3Jn 1:5-6 . Praise of Caius for his , induced by that which he exhibited towards the brethren (3Jn 1:3 ).

. . .] By the conduct ( ) of Caius, which he had shown towards the brethren, is described as faithful, i.e. corresponding to the Christian profession. Ebrard’s view, that is = the classical (= ) in the sense of “to give a pledge of faithfulness, a guarantee,” cannot be grammatically justified. By (= ) the idea is generalized: “ everything whatever. ”

] With the construction , comp. Mat 26:10 . By it is brought out that the to whom Caius is showing his love are ; even with the reading the thought remains the same: , namely, is epexegetically used = “and that too;” as the were Christians, they cannot be distinguished from the ; Lcke takes in a specializing sense: “and particularly or especially;” but it is not brotherly love in general, but just the , that is the subject here. That is to say, the apostle in this praise has specially in view what Caius had done to the brethren who had come to him (the Ap.: 3Jn 1:3 ), and who are also spoken of in 3Jn 1:6-7 ; these, however, were . [18] 3Jn 1:6 . ] That “dissociates the concrete representation of some from the generic representation of ” (de Wette) is incorrect; it rather refers directly to the previously-mentioned strange brethren. By we are not to think of the Church to which Caius belonged, but of that in which John was sojourning.

. . . ] The same brethren that had come from Caius to John wanted to return thither again, in order from thence to continue their missionary journey (3Jn 1:7 ). John now recommends them to the loving care of Caius.

are not others (de Wette), but the same as were spoken of in the preceding sentence. The combination of the future and the aorist participle is strange, as the two verbs do not denote two different actions, but the consists in the ; it is different in Mar 13:13 , Act 24:25 , Rom 15:28 , where two different actions are placed in connection with one another, and the aorist participle is used in the sense of the fut. exacti (see Winer, p. 306; VII. p. 321). This has not been properly noticed by the commentators. The explanation of Dsterdieck: “The aorist form is to be explained by the fact that the good deed will consist in this, that Caius will have worthily brought the brethren forward,” does not solve the difficulty, as the good deed consists in the bringing them forward itself. The apostle may have used the aorist, however, in the feeling that “the action of Caius is only completed when he has accomplished the equipment and escort of the brethren” (Braune). The same connection is found in Eurip. Orest. 1210 ff.: , which Matthiae ( Ausf. Gramm. , 2d ed. p. 1087) translates: “if we are so fortunate as to take;” [19] in accordance with which we may translate here also: “thou shalt act worthily to accompany them.” Luther incorrectly: “thou hast done well that thou hast sent them on their journey;” in the revised ed. 1867 correctly: “thou shalt do well if thou sendest them on their journey.” Ebrard arbitrarily conjectures: .

It is quite evident from the connection with the sequel, that by John wants to encourage Caius to the . The reading means: “whom thou, after thou hast treated them well, shalt bring forward on their journey.”

With , comp. Act 10:13 , Phi 4:14 ; with = “to fit out for a journey,” Rom 15:24 , 1Co 16:6 ; 1Co 16:16 , Tit 3:13 .

(comp. 1Th 2:12 ; Col 1:10 ) does not belong to . , but to = “as worthy of God, with all care and love” (Lcke).

[18] The present is not opposed to this view, as it would seem to be; it is explained by the fact that the apostle regards the single, special case, as an evidence of the of Caius in general.

[19] The whole passage in Euripides runs:

;

, ,

, .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

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

Ver. 5. Thou dost faithfully ] That is, out of faith, and as beseemeth a faithful Christian. They that give alms, &c., and not out of faith, they do worse than lose their labour, for they commit sin.

And to strangers ] Though they be not yet converted to the faith, and made brethren, thy liberality may work upon them, and win them, as Alban.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

5 8 .] Praise of the hospitality shewn by Caius; and reason of that praise . Beloved (beginning again of new address: see above on 3Jn 1:2 ), thou doest a faithful act ( , as c. and most interpreters. De W. and Bengel explain it “fidele facis: facis quiddam quod facile a te pollicebar mihi et fratribus.” But the other is better. In , 1Ti 1:15 al., there is possibly the same allusion: not only a saying worthy of credit, but one belonging to those who are of the ) whatsoever thou workest (the aor. betokens these deeds as summed up in one and characterized as ) towards (so the Lord in Mat 26:10 describes His anointing by Mary thus, ) the brethren, and that (and those brethren), strangers ( is an especial mark of Christian , Rom 12:13 , 1Ti 3:2 , Tit 1:8 , Heb 13:2 , 1Pe 4:9 ), who (the above-named ) bore testimony to thy love in the presence of the church (viz. where St. John was at the time of writing. They were Evangelists, 3Jn 1:7 ; and thus would naturally give the church an account of their missionary journey, during which they were so hospitably treated by Caius): whom thou wilt do well if thou forward on their way (as Bengel says, the future is a “morata formula hortandi.” The aor. part. presents no difficulty: it will then, and not till then, be a good act, when it is done. And this would only be expressed by the fut. with an aor. part.: would be liable to be rendered “whom thou wilt benefit by forwarding &c.” the present part. being, in such a conjunction, timeless, and merely ratiocinative. On ., see reff. and Tit 3:13 ) worthily of God (this qualification belongs to , not as Carpzov., who supplies a before , to , “well and worthily of God.” The words mean, in a manner worthy of Him whose messengers they are and whose servant thou art). For on behalf of the Name ( of Christ : see the second ref., and cf. Ignat. ad Eph 3 and 7, pp. 648 f., and ad Philad. 10, p. 705, . Bengel says, “subaudi, Dei. Lev 24:11 . Conf. Jac. 2:7.” But neither of these places applies. O. T. usage is naturally no guide for us here; and St. James alludes to the name of Christ ) they went forth (on their missionary journey: not, as Beza, Erasm.-Schmidt, Wolf, Carpzov., Bengel, “were driven forth:” see more below), taking nothing (receiving nothing by way of benefaction or hire: even as St. Paul in Achaia, 1Co 9:18 , 2Co 11:7 ff; 2Co 12:16 ff., 1Th 2:9 ff.: against Huther, who denies the applicability of the comparison, seeing that in St. Paul’s case they were Christian churches : but so must these have been before they would contribute to the support of their missionaries. Notice ; implying that it was their own deliberate purpose; refusing to take any thing: would have expressed only the fact , which might have arisen from the remissness of the , and might have been, considered by themselves as a hardship. This is the force of , and not as Dusterd., that would only have stated the fact, but by the Apostle presents it for the consideration of his readers) from the heathens (reff. The expositors spoken of above under , take these words as belonging to it, “expulsi sunt a paganis,” and interpret , “nihil secum asportantes,” “omnibus rebus spoliati.” Grot., who takes of expulsion, understands it to have been “a Juda, per Judos incredulos, ob Christum:” and takes the rest as meaning “potuerant in ista calamitate adjuvari misericordia , sed maluerunt omnia Christianis debere.” But the whole interpretation is forced and unnatural, and the ordinary one obvious, and very suitable, considering the motive put forward in 3Jn 1:8 , which clearly shews them to have been workers for God’s truth. The pres. part. indicates, not what they did when they , but their habit after their setting out: and is as so often, indicative of norm, without any particular time being pointed out. So that we need not, with Huther and Dsterd., imagine that there is an allusion to a missionary maxim , to take nothing from the heathen, in accordance with which they acted). We therefore ( , contrast to the : , because they . ) ought to support (see Strabo in reff. Notice the allusion to above. The word does not seem to signify “receive hospitably,” as some have explained it, nor does it imply, as c., Thl., appealing to , Ps. 16:12, anticipating, not waiting to be asked, in the exercise of good offices) such persons, that we may become fellow-workers ( with them ) for the truth (this, and not as vulg. “ut cooperatores simus veritatis” (so Luth., Grot., Bengel, al.), is the construction. Those with whom one is , are put in the gen. , see Rom 16:3 ; Rom 16:9 ; Rom 16:21 , 1Co 3:9 al. The dat. is commodi: to promote the cause of the truth: so . , Col 4:11 , , 1Th 3:2 ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

3Jn 1:5-8 . The Duty of Entertaining Itinerant Preachers. “Beloved, it is a work of faith that thou art doing in thy treatment of the brethren, strangers withal. They testified to thy love before the Church; and thou wilt do well in speeding them on their way worthily of God. For it was for the sake of the Name that they went forth, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore are bound to undertake for such, that we may prove fellow-workers with the Truth.”

A company of reisende Brder had returned to Ephesus, and in reporting of their mission at a meeting of the Church had made special mention of the hospitality of Gaius. The Apostle commends him and bids him continue his good offices.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

3Jn 1:5 . The adjective is either act., “believing” ( cf. Joh 20:27 ), or passive, “worthy to be believed,” “trustworthy” ( cf. 2Ti 2:2 ). It is passive here, and it is well explained by cumenius as equivalent to . The peculiarity is that, by a sort of hypallage, the adjective is transferred from the subjective to the objective. Transitive: “Thou makest whatever thou workest on the brethren a believing act, a work of faith”. It was not mere hospitality but a religious service. Westcott’s rendering: “thou makest sure whatsoever thou doest” gives an unexampled and indeed impossible meaning. , aor. of habitual and constant hospitality; , aor. of each particular act. , “and that to”; more commonly ( cf. Heb 9:12 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 3Jn 1:5-8

5Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; 6and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.

3Jn 1:5 “you are acting faithfully” These actions by Gaius are exactly opposite of Diotrephes’ actions in 3Jn 1:9-10. See Special Topics: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness at Joh 1:7 and Joh 1:14.

“in whatever you accomplish” This is a relative pronoun with ean and an aorist middle subjunctive which expresses a condition with the prospect of being fulfilled. Gaius had helped traveling missionaries on every occasion and in every way possible.

“especially when they are strangers” The church should have been welcoming and supporting these itinerant Christian missionaries, but because of the local situation, Gaius alone was helping these brethren of whom he knew nothing except that they also knew, served, and loved Jesus Christ.

3Jn 1:6 “they have testified to your love before the church” Obviously the early church in Ephesus had a missionary report time during their corporate worship.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Church (ekklesia)

“You will do well” This is a Greek idiom found in the Egyptian papyri (see Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament) for “please” (cf. Act 10:33).

“to send them on their way” This is a technical idiom for equipping, praying for, and supplying the needs of traveling missionaries (cf. Act 15:3; Rom 15:24; 1Co 16:6; 2Co 1:16; Tit 3:13).

“in a manner worthy of God” This means in a significant, loving, abundant way (cf. Col 1:10; 1Th 2:12). Believers are to treat gospel workers in a manner befitting who they serve (cf. Eph 4:1).

3Jn 1:7

NASB, REB”they went out”

NKJV”they went forth”

NRSV”they began their journey”

TEV, NJB”they set out”

This very common verb is used of

1. the false teachers leaving the church in 1Jn 2:19

2. false prophets going out into the world in 1Jn 4:1

3. many deceivers going out into the world in 2Jn 1:7

4. true Apostolic witnesses going out (into the world) in 3Jn 1:7

NASB”for the sake of the Name”

NKJV”for His name’s sake”

NRSV”for the sake of Christ”

TEV”in the service of Christ”

NJB”entirely for the sake of the name”

This is an example of “the name” standing for the person and work of Jesus Christ. As believers believe in His name (cf. Joh 1:12; Joh 3:18; Rom 10:9; 1Co 12:3; Php 2:9-11), they are forgiven in His name (1Jn 2:13), they also act for His name (cf. Mat 10:22; Mat 24:9; Mar 13:13; Luk 21:12; Luk 21:17; Joh 15:21; Joh 20:31; Act 4:17; Act 5:41; Act 9:14; Rom 1:5; 1Pe 4:14; 1Pe 4:16; Rev 2:3).

NASB”accepting nothing from the Gentiles”

NKJV”taking nothing from the Gentiles”

NRSV”accepting no support from non-believers”

TEV”without accepting any help from unbelievers”

NJB”without depending on non-believers for anything”

This phrase refers to these witnesses trusting God for His provision, much like Jesus’ words to the Twelve in Mat 10:5-15 and the Seventy in Luk 10:4-7.

This is the late first century use of “Gentiles” as an allusion to pagans or unbelievers (cf. Mat 5:47; 1Pe 2:12; 1Pe 4:3). Believers are to support gospel work! Who one helps reveals his heart.

In John’s day many traveling teachers taught for money and reputation. God’s teachers/preachers/evangelists were to be helped not for their words, but because of their Lord whose mission they were sacrificially involved in.

3Jn 1:8 “we ought” This is an oft repeated, moral admonition (cf. Joh 13:14; Joh 19:7; 1Jn 2:6; 1Jn 3:16; 1Jn 4:11). The term opheil means literally to be in financial debt, but it came to be used figuratively to be obligated or to be indebted to someone.

“to support such men” Hospitality was a crucial duty of the early church because of the deplorable moral conditions of most of the local inns (cf. Mat 25:35; Rom 12:13; 1Ti 3:2; 1Ti 5:10; Tit 1:8; Heb 13:2; 1Pe 4:9).

“so that we may be fellow workers with the truth” As believers help missionaries, they are involved in their work of faith and truth. This is a gospel principle! The NT guidelines for Christian giving are found in 2 Corinthians 8-9.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

faithfully = as a faithful (deed). App-150.

doest = workest.

to. App-104.

to. The texts read “that to”. The brethren referred to were strangers. Compare Heb 13:2.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

5-8.] Praise of the hospitality shewn by Caius; and reason of that praise. Beloved (beginning again of new address: see above on 3Jn 1:2), thou doest a faithful act ( , as c. and most interpreters. De W. and Bengel explain it fidele facis: facis quiddam quod facile a te pollicebar mihi et fratribus. But the other is better. In , 1Ti 1:15 al., there is possibly the same allusion: not only a saying worthy of credit, but one belonging to those who are of the ) whatsoever thou workest (the aor. betokens these deeds as summed up in one and characterized as ) towards (so the Lord in Mat 26:10 describes His anointing by Mary thus, ) the brethren, and that (and those brethren), strangers ( is an especial mark of Christian , Rom 12:13, 1Ti 3:2, Tit 1:8, Heb 13:2, 1Pe 4:9), who (the above-named ) bore testimony to thy love in the presence of the church (viz. where St. John was at the time of writing. They were Evangelists, 3Jn 1:7; and thus would naturally give the church an account of their missionary journey, during which they were so hospitably treated by Caius): whom thou wilt do well if thou forward on their way (as Bengel says, the future is a morata formula hortandi. The aor. part. presents no difficulty: it will then, and not till then, be a good act, when it is done. And this would only be expressed by the fut. with an aor. part.: would be liable to be rendered whom thou wilt benefit by forwarding &c.-the present part. being, in such a conjunction, timeless, and merely ratiocinative. On ., see reff. and Tit 3:13) worthily of God (this qualification belongs to , not as Carpzov., who supplies a before , to ,-well and worthily of God. The words mean, in a manner worthy of Him whose messengers they are and whose servant thou art). For on behalf of the Name (of Christ: see the second ref., and cf. Ignat. ad Eph. 3 and 7, pp. 648 f., and ad Philad. 10, p. 705, . Bengel says, subaudi, Dei. Lev 24:11. Conf. Jac. 2:7. But neither of these places applies. O. T. usage is naturally no guide for us here; and St. James alludes to the name of Christ) they went forth (on their missionary journey: not, as Beza, Erasm.-Schmidt, Wolf, Carpzov., Bengel, were driven forth: see more below), taking nothing (receiving nothing by way of benefaction or hire: even as St. Paul in Achaia, 1Co 9:18, 2Co 11:7 ff; 2Co 12:16 ff., 1Th 2:9 ff.: against Huther, who denies the applicability of the comparison, seeing that in St. Pauls case they were Christian churches: but so must these have been before they would contribute to the support of their missionaries. Notice ; implying that it was their own deliberate purpose; refusing to take any thing: would have expressed only the fact, which might have arisen from the remissness of the , and might have been, considered by themselves as a hardship. This is the force of , and not as Dusterd., that would only have stated the fact, but by the Apostle presents it for the consideration of his readers) from the heathens (reff. The expositors spoken of above under , take these words as belonging to it, expulsi sunt a paganis, and interpret , nihil secum asportantes, omnibus rebus spoliati. Grot., who takes of expulsion, understands it to have been a Juda, per Judos incredulos, ob Christum: and takes the rest as meaning potuerant in ista calamitate adjuvari misericordia , sed maluerunt omnia Christianis debere. But the whole interpretation is forced and unnatural, and the ordinary one obvious, and very suitable, considering the motive put forward in 3Jn 1:8, which clearly shews them to have been workers for Gods truth. The pres. part. indicates, not what they did when they , but their habit after their setting out: and is as so often, indicative of norm, without any particular time being pointed out. So that we need not, with Huther and Dsterd., imagine that there is an allusion to a missionary maxim, to take nothing from the heathen, in accordance with which they acted). We therefore (, contrast to the : , because they . ) ought to support (see Strabo in reff. Notice the allusion to above. The word does not seem to signify receive hospitably, as some have explained it, nor does it imply, as c., Thl., appealing to , Ps. 16:12, anticipating, not waiting to be asked, in the exercise of good offices) such persons, that we may become fellow-workers (with them) for the truth (this, and not as vulg. ut cooperatores simus veritatis (so Luth., Grot., Bengel, al.), is the construction. Those with whom one is , are put in the gen., see Rom 16:3; Rom 16:9; Rom 16:21, 1Co 3:9 al. The dat. is commodi: to promote the cause of the truth: so . , Col 4:11,- , 1Th 3:2).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

3Jn 1:5. , thou doest faithfully) thou doest something, which I readily promised myself and the brethren from you. Thus whatever harmonises.-, thou shalt do) in the labour of love.-) and, that which is of the greatest consequence, to strangers in particular.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

3Jn 1:5-8

NEW TESTAMENT LAW OF MISSIONS

(3Jn 1:5-8)

5 Beloved, thou doest a faithful work in whatsoever thou doest toward them that are brethren and strangers withal; –In verse 4, John had commended Gaius for the fact that he walked in truth. Here, he makes particular mention of the acts in which Gaius had exhibited faithfulness: he had supplied hospitality for the “brethren,” and “withal” (and that also) to “strangers.” This faithful disciple had not limited his bounty to those known to him; he had extended it to the strangers who came, i.e., to brethren personally unknown to him. Missionaries, properly ac-credited, were certain to find a welcome at his house, whether he had previously known them or not. From what follows in the Epistle, we may infer that Gaius had been sharply criticised by Diotrephes (a domineering church boss) for what he had done ; and John carefully put the stamp of apostolic approval on his work in emphatic fashion. To provide for those who were bearers of the message of salvation was a faithful work; and the apostle urged Gaius to continue in it.

6 Who bare witness of thy love before the church:–The antecedent of “who” is both the brethren and the “strangers” of verse 5. Though strangers, they were brethren, but brethren formerly unknown to Gaius. These testified to the church of Gaius’ faithfulness and acts of love. The congregation before which they appeared and bore this witness is not stated, though we may infer that it was the church in Ephesus, since here, accord-ing to reliable tradition, John lived when, it is believed, his Epistles were written. That it was before the public meeting of the church when Gaius was commended, follows from the fact that the article does not appear before the word “church” in the text. (Cf. 1Co 14:35, en ekklesiai, “in church.”) The commendation was uttered, so we believe, in the midst of a report being made to the church of their evangelistic activities.

Whom thou wilt do well to set forward on their journey worthily of God:–From this it would appear that this same group of missionaries were contemplating another visit to that re-gion, and would need the aid of Gaius; and the apostle, therefore, admonished him that he would “do well” to continue to evidence his faithfulness by setting them forward on their journey in a man-ner worthy of a follower of God. The custom then prevailed to start a guest on his journey by accompanying him for some dis-tance, by providing money and food for the trip, and by bidding him Godspeed on the way. To this gracious custom Paul refers in Rom 15:24, and Tit 3:13. The phrase, “to set forward on their journey,” means thus not only to accompany one a portion of the way, but also to supply the ordinary means for such a journey. (Cf. Act 21:5.)

7 Because that for the sake of the Name they went forth. –The name for which these missionaries went forth was the name of Jesus Christ. (Cf. Act 5:4; Jas 2:7′; 1Pe 4:16.) Thus early in the history of Christianity, the name represented all that Christ was and taught and did. When the shadow of Dark Ages descended upon the world, the word became a passport in dangerous places, serving as an introduction and protection to those who accepted the Lord’s standard. When the agents of persecution came to ferret out the martyr, and when civil and papal edicts shut the door of sympathy, occasionally help could be ob-tained by knocking at the door of others, and whispering, “In the Name!” As the name in the Old Testament stands for Jehovah so in the New Testament, it is the synonym for Christ.

These words explain why the hospitality which Gaius accorded the missionaries which came his way was so essential and im-portant. They “went forth,” not in their own name, or by their own authority, but “in the name of,” (by the authority of) Christ, to bear his message to the lost. They were thus entirely worthy of the bounty bestowed upon them, the shelter and food which they received.

Taking nothing of the Gentiles.–It would have been un-seemly for these who carried the message of salvation to depend for support on those to whom they preached. Such would have exposed them to the charge that they sought material advantage for themselves, and that their preaching was merely a pretext to obtain that. There is nothing which so quickly wins men to a sympathetic hearing as the realization of complete unselfishness on the part of those who bear the message to them: and it is abso-lutely requisite that in all missionary efforts, the missionaries be wholly independent financially and materially of those to whom they preach. (Cf. 2Co 11:3.)

8 We therefore ought to welcome such, that we may be fellow-workers for the truth.–That missionaries are not to receive support from the heathen or unbelievers to whom they go, does not mean that they are not worthy of support, or that the church is released from the obligation to provide for them. On the contrary, “we” (who are children of God) “ought” (are morally obligated) to “welcome such,” (hupolambanein, present active infinitive), keep on welcoming such, as a regular practice in life, in order that we may be fellow-workers for the truth. As those who welcome and support those who preach false doc-trines become partakers with them (2Jn 1:9), so those who re-ceive and maintain those who preach the truth, become fellow-workers for the truth. The word “welcome,” is translated from a word which, in the first century, signified the reception of people into one’s house, the association which attends such receptions ; the fellowship which obtains; and the readiness with which, under such circumstances, provisions are supplied them.

Commentary on 3Jn 1:5-8 by E.M. Zerr

3Jn 1:5. Doest faithfully denotes that whatever Gaius did he was in earnest about it; not halfhearted. He did his good deeds for others “heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col 3:23). To brethren and to strangers is in keeping with Gal 6:10. Paul there says for disciples to “do good unto all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.”

3Jn 1:6. Have borne witness was done by the brethren mentioned in the preceding verse. They seem to have been traveling from place to place, or some of them were, which gave them an opportunity for making the report to John referred to. Gaius assisted these travelers in some way for their journey. After a godly sort means it was in the name of God and because of their work for Him.

3Jn 1:7. These traveling brethren were evidently engaged in spreading the Gospel, for the next verse speaks about being fellowhelpers to the truth. The Lord has “ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1Co 9:14). Yet Paul refrained from such support in order that he might relieve the brethren of that pressure. The brethren of our verse did something similar, except they evidently made that concession to the people of the nations (Gentiles).

3Jn 1:8. Because of the aforesaid sacrifice John insists that the disciples should voluntarily assist them. Fellow helpers to the truth. A man may not be able to preach the Gospel, but if he supports the man who does so he becomes a partner with him in the work and will be blessed of the Lord for his contribution.

Commentary on 3Jn 1:5-8 by N.T. Caton

3Jn 1:5-Beloved, thou doest faithfully.

Here, the apostle commends the conduct of Gaius. His hospitality extended not only to the brethren known to be such, but also to those who were unknown-those who were strangers. The contrast of this conduct with the men of that age was marked. In this hospitable conduct, Gaius was faithful, zealous, unremitting.

3Jn 1:6-Which have borne witness.

Persons upon whom these Christian favors had been bestowed by Gaius, the recipients of his Christian charity, had given the apostle information concerning it. It should, therefore, be no surprise to Gaius that the writer should speak of the matter in this epistle. These informants also testified before the church about this exhibition of love which Gaius had for the cause of Christ. I take it, that many of these recipients of the hospitality of Gaius had been out upon missions of one kind or another connected with the church-possibly upon evangelizing tours-and while the apostle not only rejoices at and commends Gaius for receiving these into his home, he also adds the additional method of helping the proclamation of the word in this, by aiding the proclaimers in going from place to place. These journeys are attended with labor and more or less expense. Gaius may aid in lessening the one or the other by his contributions. In this, should you thus act, you will do well.

3Jn 1:6 –After a godly sort.

This would be well pleasing to God. It is as God would have you do. This will meet the approbation of the Master. The meaning is this: in addition to your hospitality to brethren and strangers, if you add such additional help as you can to those who are away on missions for or on behalf of the church, thus making their labor or expenses lighter on their journeys, you will also be performing acts well pleasing to God.

3Jn 1:7-Because that for his name’s sake.

Those whom I desire you to help on their journey went forth to sound the praises of the Master, the love of God to the world, that those who should be hearers might become the sons of God. Now, these went forth on this mission of love without calling upon the unconverted for assistance in the performance of the duties thereof. They went forth in the name of Christ, and for his cause; hence, could not call upon the Gentiles for aid or assistance. The meaning is not that the Gentiles had tendered aid which was rejected, as some suppose.

3Jn 1:8-We therefore ought to receive such

Since it is not prudent for those who go out upon evangelizing tours to ask for aid from the Gentiles, we who are members of Christ’s body, the church, ought to receive such and aid them to the extent of our ability. We thus become fellow-helpers in spreading the truth.

Commentary on 3Jn 1:5-8 by Burton Coffman

3Jn 1:5 –Beloved, thou doest a faithful work in whatsoever thou doest toward them that are brethren and strangers withal;

Beloved … Note the transition to the section praising Gaius for his hospitality.

Thou doest … doest … “The second of these verbs is different from the first in the Greek, and implies more of toilful labor.”[17] What is in view here is the marvelous hospitality of Gaius extended to traveling brethren who were spreading the gospel; and the words “strangers withal” show that he did not merely entertain those with whom he was personally acquainted. There were good solid reasons why traveling preachers of that day depended upon faithful brethren such as Gaius for their maintenance. The scarcity of inns, the disreputable character of such inns as were available, and the general poverty of many Christians contributed to this necessity.

ENDNOTE:

[17] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1062.

3Jn 1:6 –who bare witness of thy love before the church: whom thou wilt do well to set forward on their journey worthily of God:

This is a description of the “witnessing” mentioned in 3Jn 1:3, which see. One may glimpse the enthusiasm and excitement of 1century evangelism in the thoughts here.

Set forward on their journey … “The Greek works used here imply not only good wishes, but material support.”[18] The New Testament custom of congregations accompanying such travelers a part of the way upon their departure is glimpsed again, and again, in the account of Paul’s travels in Acts.

Worthily of God … indicates that Gaius was to go the whole way in his hospitality. It meant, “to help on one’s journey with food, money, by arranging for companions, and providing means of travel.”[19] Dodd went so far as to declare that “set forward on their journey” was somewhat of “a technical term of early Christian missions, implying the assumption of financial responsibility for departing missionaries.”[20] This would seem to be true. Certainly, Paul seems to have had in mind the financial support of brethren in Rome for his projected trip to Spain.

[18] Amos N. Wilder, op. cit., p. 310.

[19] J. W. Roberts, The Letters of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1968), p. 175.

[20] John R. W. Stotts, op. cit., p. 222.

3Jn 1:7 –because that for the sake of the Name they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.

In this and the following verse, there are three clear reasons why such missionaries should be supported: (1) What they are doing is for the glory of the precious Name (the name of Christ, of course). (2) They were not taking up collection among the heathen populations where they preached. (3) When such people are aided, their helpers become fellow-workers with them, thus sharing in the rewards of their labors (3Jn 1:8). f For the sake of the Name … The holy name of Jesus Christ stood for everything that Christians held dear; and the missionaries John was pleading for had forsaken everything for the privilege of preaching it to others. The generosity of the early church toward such preachers was profoundly great, leading to all kinds of abuses. Ignatius in his writing to the Ephesians said, “There are some who make a practice of carrying about the Name with wicked guile, and do certain other things unworthy of God.”[21]

Taking nothing of the Gentiles … Blaney noted that this does not mean that, “The Gentiles offered help which these brethren refused; but that they did not ask them for help.”[22] Furthermore, it is obvious that Christian Gentiles are not meant, but the heathen. There is also another possible meaning here which was cited by Orr:

They went forth from the heathen taking nothing, in becoming Christians, and more particularly preachers, they surrendered rights of ownership and of inheritance in their heathen families.[23]

Paul, it will be remembered, counted “all things but dross” when he became a Christian.

[21] Amos N. Wilder, op. cit., p. 310.

[22] Harvey J. S. Blaney, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1969), p. 415.

[23] R. W. Orr, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 624.

3Jn 1:8 –We therefore ought to welcome such, that we may be fellow-workers for the truth.

See under 3Jn 1:7 for three reasons why missionaries such as these should be supported, the third being, “that we may be fellow-workers in the truth,” that is, participants in the rewards of spreading the gospel. John has built up the case here to show how important it was for such men to be aided, thus pointing up the sinful nature of Diotrephes’ actions in shutting his doors against them and blocking the efforts any one else might have been willing to make on their behalf. All of this contrasts with the beautiful and hospitable behaviour of Gaius.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

saved

(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Mat 24:45, Luk 12:42, Luk 16:10-12, 2Co 4:1-3, Col 3:17, 1Pe 4:10, 1Pe 4:11

Reciprocal: 2Ki 12:15 – for they dealt 2Ki 22:7 – they dealt faithfully 2Ch 31:20 – wrought Mat 10:41 – that receiveth a prophet Mat 25:16 – went Mat 25:35 – I was a Luk 10:7 – for Act 16:15 – If Rom 16:2 – ye receive Gal 6:10 – especially Phi 4:14 – ye have

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

3Jn 1:5. Doest faithfully denotes that whatever Gaius did he was in earnest about it; not halfhearted. He did his good deeds for others “heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col 3:23). To brethren and to strangers is in keeping with Gal 6:10. Paul there says for disciples to “do good unto all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.”

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

3Jn 1:5-8. Thou doest a faithful work: the labour of Gaius love is said to be faithful, as corresponding with the commandment of love and true to it.

Towards the brethren, and moreover strangers: not both brethren and strangers, but, as the sequel shows, brethren who came from abroad. Thou doest marks that the conduct of Gaius is supposed to be habitual, though a special instance had been brought before the apostle.

Who bare witness to thy love before the church: being evangelists, they gave an account of their travels in the presence of the church where the apostle dwelt; and returning to Gaius for further travels, they are commended to him for further support; to be set forward worthily of God, their Master and the Head of their cause. Then follows a tribute to the dignity of their work, and the high claim it gave them. For the sake of the Name, the name of Christ who is God, they went forth, from the church into the world, though in a very different sense from the going out of the antichrists (1Jn 2:19), taking nothing of the Gentiles: this is stated as their fixed principle, to receive nothing from the

Gentiles as such, before they were formed into churches; but it contains no maxim for the missionary work generally. It is introduced here for the sake of what follows. We therefore ought to support such, that we may be fellow-workers with them for the truth: an important sentence, as showing that they who provide of their substance for the maintenance of the labourer are partakers of his work.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, How our apostle at once commends the great charity of Gaius, and at the same time excites him to the farther practice of it.

Where note, 1. How charity towards Christians is here styled fidelity to Christ, because shown to them upon Christ’s account: Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren. Acts of charity are acts of righteousness and fidelity? he that is uncharitable is unjust.

Note, 2. The extensive nature of Gaius’s charity; it was to brethren but to strangers; that is, not only to the brethren of the church with him, but to strangers in their travels to and fro, as they came near him; but more particularly to such faithful ministers as came out of foreign parts to preach the gospel, whom Gaius had hospitably and charitably entertained.

Note, 3. How he exhorts Gaius farther to furnish and help these ministers in their travels with all things necessary for their journey; because,

1. They preached the gospel freely, taking nothing of the Gentile Christians for their pains.

2. Because it was for Christ’s name sake they went abroad: to preach the gospel, say some; to avoid persecution, say others.

3. Because to entertain such, is to further, as much as in us lies, the propagation of the gospel of Christ: such as contribute towards the maintenance and support of the ministers of Christ for his sake, shall have the present comfort and future reward of co-operating and contributing their parts towards the propagating and spreading of the gospel of Christ.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Helping Traveling Preachers

Traveling preachers went from place to place preaching the truth during the first century. John commended Gaius for supporting their efforts by taking them in and providing for their needs ( Mat 25:31-46 ; 1Ti 3:2 ; 1Ti 4:9-10 ). Those he had helped had reported his good deeds to the church where John was. It seems these same men were about to make another preaching trip, and John encouraged Gaius to again help them on their way ( Rom 15:24 ; Tit 3:13 ). Woods suggests it was customary in that day to start out with a guest and go a short way with him on his trip thereby encouraging his efforts ( 3Jn 1:5-6 ).

These missionaries did their work for the sake of Christ. They refused pay from nonbelievers, likely to avoid criticism as to their purpose for preaching ( 1Co 9:1-19 ; 2Co 11:1-9 ). By taking such men in and helping them on their way one became a partner in their efforts ( 3Jn 1:7-8 ; contrast 2Jn 1:9 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

3Jn 1:5-8. Beloved, thou doest faithfully Uprightly and sincerely; or, as is more accurately rendered, thou dost a faithful thing; or a thing becoming a faithful person, or one who is a real believer; whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers To thy fellow- Christians, known to thee, and to those with whom thou hast had no acquaintance. Who have born witness of thy charity before the church The congregation with whom I now reside; whom Which brethren or Christian strangers; if thou bring forward on their journey Supplied with what is needful; after a godly sort In a manner worthy of God, or from a principle of divine love, and correspondent to the relation in which you and they stand to him; thou shalt do well How tenderly does the apostle enjoin this! Because that for his names sake Out of zeal for his honour and interest; they went forth To preach the gospel, abandoning their habitations, possessions, and callings; taking nothing of the Gentiles Among whom they laboured, toward their support, that they might take off all suspicion of their being influenced by mercenary motives. We, therefore Who do not undertake expensive journeys for the sake of preaching the gospel, and who have any habitation of our own; ought to receive such Hospitably and respectfully; that If Divine Providence do not give us opportunities of laying ourselves out, as they do, in the exercise of the ministerial office; we might Though in a lower degree; be fellow-helpers to the truth Which they preach, and may be entitled, through divine grace, to a share in their reward.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1:5 Beloved, thou doest {b} faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;

(b) As becomes a believer and a Christian.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

B. Encouragement to Support Those Who Proclaim the Truth VV. 5-10

John commended Gaius for his love of the brethren (cf. 1Jn 2:3-9; 1Jn 3:14-18; 1Jn 3:23; 1Jn 4:7; 1Jn 4:11; 1Jn 4:20-21; 2Jn 1:5) to encourage him to continue practicing this virtue.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

    

John loved Gaius as Gaius loved the brethren to whom he had extended hospitality.

"The early Christian community’s deep interest in hospitality is inherited from both its Jewish roots and the Greco-Roman culture of its day." [Note: Barbara Leonhard, "Hospitality in Third John," The Bible Today 25:1 (January 1987):11.]

John’s affection for Gaius is obvious in his repeated use of the word "beloved" (cf. 3Jn 1:2). Gaius acted faithfully in the sense that his behavior was consistent with God’s truth (cf. 2Jn 1:1-2).

It is possible that Gaius had shown love "for the brethren and for strangers" as some Greek texts read. On the other hand, perhaps the NASB translation is correct: he showed love to the brethren and even to those brethren who were strangers to him. Probably Gaius had demonstrated love to all these varieties of people (cf. Heb 13:2).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)