The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
My Understanding: John wrote this letter to his friend, Gaius, “whom I love in the truth.” In other words, this was an agape (God-like) love, or a Christian love that he had for his brother in Christ. He prayed for him for good health and that all may go well with him, “even as your soul is getting along well.” In other words, Gaius was a Christian man who was doing well spiritually, i.e. he had a close and obedient relationship with Jesus Christ. He was a man who was faithful in his commitment to Jesus Christ, and his life was one that exemplified a walk of faith, in that he continued (persisted; persevered) to walk in the truth.
Yet, John’s love and concern for him went beyond just his spiritual condition. He was also concerned for his physical and emotional well-being. Jesus also set the example for us of one who cared about the entirety of someone’s being, not just for their souls, though he never missed the opportunity to include the message of the gospel whenever he ministered to people’s needs, because his primary goal in ministry, and in coming to the earth, was to provide forgiveness of and deliverance from sins, via his blood shed on the cross for our sins, and to give people the hope of eternal life with God by his grace and through faith.
With Great Joy
John said that he received the good report concerning Gaius’ faithfulness, and his continued walk in the truth of the gospel, with great joy. In fact, he said he had no greater joy than to hear that his (spiritual) children were walking in the truth. I have to ditto that remark, as I feel the same way. Obviously John was concerned for and cared about Gaius’ physical life on this earth, not just for his soul for eternity, yet John knew that this life and all that is in this life is going to pass away, and what mattered most was not only the eternal destiny of someone, but that the person was walking in faithfulness and in the truth of the gospel on a continuous basis.
The reason, I believe, that the spiritual walk of the children of God (believers in Jesus Christ) gave him greater joy than anything else on the face of this earth, was because he recognized, not only the eternal value of a consistent walk of faith in Christ, but he knew all too well how our spiritual well-being impacts every aspect of our lives, including our relationship with the Lord, our relationships with our family members, with our friends and co-workers, and it impacts our attitudes, actions, thoughts and behavior.
We may have great joy in our physical children’s accomplishments – their first words, their first steps, their success in potty training, their first drawing, their learning of good manners and the right way to treat other people, their work in school, their first competitive event in which they excelled, graduation from kindergarten, high school, and/or college, as well as marriage, and the birth of their own children, etc. I find great joy in my children (and their spouses), and in my grandchildren, and in my times with them, yet there is no greater joy for me than seeing a follower of Christ, especially those in my own family, be faithful in his or her commitment to the Lord Jesus, and to continue to walk in the truth of God’s word and Christ’s teachings.
All these other things are temporary, i.e. they are of this world, and they will pass away. The spiritual, nonetheless, is eternal and has great value for not only this life but for the next. If we are truly walking in fellowship with Jesus Christ; if we are obeying the Lord in all things to the best of our knowledge; and if we are continuing to walk in the truth of God’s word, we will have peace with God that should spill over into our relationships with others. We should be better spouses, parents, children, employees, and friends, etc. And, we should be bearing much spiritual fruit because we are walking in obedience to Christ. And, from that will come the blessings of God in knowing that we are fulfilling the purpose on this earth for which we were created by God, and there is much joy and peace in that.
Loves to be First
John moved from the subject of Gaius’ faithfulness and steadfastness in following the truth of God’s word to addressing a situation with a leader in the church which needed to be addressed. Diotrephes, who was obviously in a position of power, rule and authority in the church, is described as someone who loved to be first. It appears to me that he may have been jealous of the apostles, and so he did whatever he could do to exclude the apostles and other brothers in Christ, who appeared to be missionaries, from the fellowship of this congregation. Not only that, but he gossiped maliciously about the apostles.
So, even though John wrote to the church, this leader in the church apparently did not allow the letter to be given to or to be read in the church, because Diotrephes was evidently concerned about his own position of power and authority being compromised in some way, and so he felt he needed to protect his position of authority over the congregation. Does this sound familiar? This is what Jesus faced with the religious leaders of his day, and they killed him out of jealousy, and out of fear that he might lead people away from the Pharisees, and thus they would lose their positions of influence over the people.
There are many such leaders in our churches today who are protective about their positions of power and authority to the point to where they will, as well, use whatever means at their disposal to make sure they remain in absolute control over the people, even if it means ignoring the word of God and kicking people out of their churches who want to follow what the Word teaches. They are followers of men instead of followers of God, and many of them will use manipulation, lies, deceit, gossip, and the ignoring of or the twisting of the Word of God in order to accomplish their man-made purposes and goals. The Bible warns us about such men, so that we are not led astray by them and their false teaching, and so we don’t fall into the devil’s trap by following these followers of men.
Who does What is Good?
John told Gaius that he was not to imitate what is evil but what is good. I remember how Jesus told his disciples that they had to obey the Pharisees because they were in authority over them, but they were not to become like them and they were not to do the things the Pharisees did. It is my considered opinion here that John was giving Gaius a similar message as what Jesus gave his disciples. John was telling Gaius that it was his intention, if he should be able to come there, to call attention to what this leader of the people was doing that was wrong. Yet, I believe he was also warning Gaius not to imitate the actions, behavior and attitudes of this leader of the church.
Then John told him that anyone who does what is good is from God, and anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. This is another one of those sentences that, taken out of context, can be easily misinterpreted, and a false doctrine formed around it. When John spoke of “good,” he was speaking in terms of how God viewed “good.” The Bible says there is no one who is righteous, no not one, so none of us are “good” of our own accord. We are all evil in nature, because we are all born with sinful natures. The only way we can become “good” is through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for our sins, through his resurrection back to life in conquering sin, death and hell, and by God’s grace and through faith in Jesus Christ.
We learned throughout the first book of John that genuine faith in Jesus Christ involves turning from our sin (not continuing in sin) and walking in obedience to Christ and his commands, which primarily revolve around loving God and loving others. If we claim to have fellowship with God and yet we continue to walk in sin, or we don’t love other people, then John said that we are liars, and the truth is not in us. So, the only way we can be “good” is through Christ’s righteousness within us that comes through what he did for us on the cross in dying for our sins so we could go free, and by us appropriating through faith what Jesus did for us by us dying to sin and our old way of living according to the flesh, and by us allowing the Holy Spirit of God to do a spiritual transformation in our hearts, and by us putting on the character and things of Christ/God in our lives in place of walking in sin.
In Conclusion
We should follow the example of Gaius in how he was faithful to Christ, and in how he continued to walk (to conduct his daily life) according to the truth of God’s Word. And, we should follow John’s example in showing concern, not only for people’s physical and emotional well-being, but that we should regularly and consistently show concern for their spiritual walks with Christ. In fact, we should be like John in that nothing in this life gives us greater joy than to see our fellow Christians walking in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in turning from sin, and in walking in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. We also ought to follow the example of extending hospitality to those who are sent out by God in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As well, we should remember not to follow the example of those among us, especially those in positions of leadership within our churches who wield great influence and power, who exercise the abuse of power for their own selfish purposes, who ignore the teachings of scripture which don’t suit their purposes, and who are followers of men instead of followers of God. We need to be careful who we closely associate with, in that we should avoid close associations with brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as with non-believers who are clearly willfully living sinful lifestyles, even after we have (and this is first) confronted them in love with their sin. The reason for this is that we tend to become like those we are around, and bad often is a much stronger influence than good. Another reason is that by close association with them we are in essence giving a kind of approval to what they do.
So, imitate those who are walking closely with Jesus Christ, but don’t imitate those who are clearly living sinful lifestyles apart from a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Most of all, imitate Christ Jesus and his example to us in godly living, because man will fail us, but God will never fail us. He will remain faithful to all his promises. And, we can take that to the bank!
Jesus, Lead Me / An Original Work / July 22, 2011
Jesus, lead me all the way.
Be my hope and be my stay.
Gently lead me where I should go,
So Your Spirit, I want to know.
Open up my heart to You.
Fill me with Your love and truth.
Make my heart want to obey.
Be my Lord today. Gently lead always.
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Cleanse my heart, and make me whole;
Be transformed in my heart today,
As I turn from my sin and pray.
Make Your will known to my heart.
May I not from You depart.
How I long to hear You now,
As I humbly bow. Jesus, hear me now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTIM16o9ldg
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