Interpretation of the 3rd Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian

ABOUT THE THIRD COLLECTION EPISTLE OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN THE THEOLOGIST The question of the authenticity and canonicity of the third epistle of the Apostle and Evangelist John is quite similar and inextricably linked with a similar question about the authenticity of the second epistle of the same Apostle. Both by the external, historical attestation of the 3rd Epistle of John by church tradition, and by the internal similarity of thoughts and expressions of this epistle with the 1st Epistle of John and the Gospel of John, its authenticity cannot be doubted. Who was Gaius, to whom this letter was written, is unknown with certainty. In the apostolic writings, several persons with this name are known (Acts 19:29, 20:4; Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor 1:14), and one of them, namely the Corinthian Gaius (Rom 16:23), was distinguished by his hospitality, like that Gaius to whom the 3rd letter of John was addressed. Nevertheless, the identity of these two persons is doubtful: the original readers of both the first two epistles of St. John and the 3rd, apparently, belonged to Christians of the churches of Asia Minor. There is no mention of any hierarchical position for Gaius in 3 John; he was probably just a pious, true Christian of the worldly rank. The third epistle was probably written at the same time as the second and, of course, also from Ephesus. Greetings and praise to Gaius (1–4). On the virtue of hospitality (5–8). Reproof of Diotrephes and praise of Demetrius (9–12). News and greetings (13–15). 3 John 1:1. The elder - to my beloved Gaius, whom I truly love. 3 John 1:2. Beloved! I pray that you will be healthy and prosper in everything, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:3. For I rejoiced exceedingly when the brethren came and testified of your faithfulness, how you walk in the truth. 3 John 1:4. There is no greater joy for me than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. No matter how common greetings of love and appeals of love are in the writings of the great Apostle of love, it seems that Gaius was a particularly beloved disciple of his, as may be indicated by the strengthened expression (v. 1): “whom I love in truth” and the repeated repetition of the address “beloved” (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11) to Gaius, to whom the Apostle first of all sends prayerful well-wishes (2), indicating then (vv. 3-4) the basis or reason for his apostolic benevolence towards Gaius and his disposition towards him is that he walks in the truth (v. 3), and this is the highest joy for the Apostle’s pastoral love for his spiritual children (v. 4; see 2 John 1:4). 3 John 1:5. Beloved! You act faithfully in what you do for the brothers and for the strangers. 3 John 1:6. They testified before the church about your love. You will do well if you let them go, as you should for God's sake, 3 John 1:7. for they went for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 3 John 1:8. So we must accept such in order to become followers of the truth. The apostles in their writings repeatedly praise and command the faithful to love hospitable people (for example, Rom. 12:13; Heb. 13:2, etc.), as a high Christian virtue, which received especially high value and significance in the case when hospitality was shown to preachers of the Gospel who worked freely among the converts (cf. 1 Cor. 9:12, 18; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Sol. 2:9). Obviously, this was the kind of hospitality of the pious Gaius, which was announced to the Apostle by the brothers, “who went out for the name of God, taking nothing from the pagans” (v. 7): these were the true evangelists of the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor. 9:12, etc.). 3 John 1:9. I wrote to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to excel among them, does not accept us. 3 John 1:10. Therefore, if I come, I will remind you of the deeds that he does, reviling us with evil words, and not being satisfied with that, he himself does not accept the brothers, and forbids those who want to, and expels them from the church. 3 John 1:11. Beloved! do not imitate evil, but imitate good. He who does good is from God; but he who does evil has not seen God. 3 John 1:12. About Demetrius it is testified by everyone and by the truth itself; We also testify, and you know that our testimony is true. Instead of: “I wrote”, έγραψα, in Sinaisk. code. stands: έγραψα αν – “I would write.” This reading, which is also confirmed in the reading of the Vulgate: saipsissem forsitan, I might have written, is more consistent with the meaning of the text of Art. 9–10: otherwise it would be incomprehensible: how was the message written by the Apostle of the entire Church lost? With the proposed reading, the meaning is that if the Apostle had written a letter to the whole church, then someone who loves to take precedence among them (members of this local church) could abuse this letter, and now the Apostle hopes to expose him personally (v. 10). Who Diotrephes was is not directly stated in the text, but the epithet “lover of primacy”, ό φιλοπρωτεύων (v. 9), assimilated by Diotrephes, in connection with the predicates: “and he himself does not accept the brothers and forbids those who wish, and expels them from the church” (v. 10), i.e. deprives him of church fellowship, as heretics - shows in him the chairman of the Church, unworthy, according to the judgment of the Apostle, of this title. Likewise, the ecclesiastical and social position of the one praised by the Apostle is unknown (v. 12) Dimitri; Only Dorotheus of Tire records the tradition that this Demetrius was subsequently the bishop of the Philadelphia Church, one of the seven Asia Minor churches mentioned in the Apocalypse (Rev. 3:7ff.). 3 John 1:13. I had a lot to write; but I don’t want to write to you with ink and a cane, 3 John 1:14. I hope to see you soon and talk mouth to mouth. 3 John 1:15. Peace be with you. Friends greet you; Greet your friends by name. Amen. The conclusion of the 3rd epistle closely resembles the conclusion of the second epistle (vv. 12–13); there is only another mention of the “friends” (οί φίλοι) of the Apostle (cf. Acts 27:3), partly with him, partly greeted by him through the letter. You might be interested in: