Structure:
The structure of 3 John is similar to the structure of 2 John. The author is the same: the elder, whom we believe to be the same writer of the Gospel of John and 1 John. 3 John is written to the beloved Gaius. Unfortunately the name Gaius was a very common name in the first century. We see a number of different people named Gaius in the New Testament.
We read about one Gaius in the riot that took place in Ephesus. “So the city was filled with confusion; and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions” (Acts 19:29). Acts 20:4 tells us that one of Paul’s companions was Gaius of Derbe, which may or may not be the same Gaius that was attacked in the riot of Ephesus. We also read about Gaius who was a Christian in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 1:14. Romans 16:23 also speaks about Gaius who is a host to Paul. He may or may not be the same Gaius as any of the previous names we have looked at. The point being that we cannot know if the Gaius referred to in 3 John is the same as any of these other men listed in the New Testament or not.
The salutation is missing from this letter, which is interesting. There is no known reason why the salutation is missing, but it is a curiosity. Rather, John goes right into his thanksgiving in verses 2-4. Verse 2 is a very challenging prayer. John prays that Gaius may prosper in all things, including his physical health, just as his soul prospers. I do not know that many people would want this prayer made on their behalf. Would you like your life to prosper just as your spiritual life prospers? Would you like your physical health to be as good as your spiritual health? I think that most people would say no. Most people probably have better physical health than spiritual health. More people are prospering in the physical but are not prospering in the spiritual. This is a powerful prayer which makes a grand statement about the spiritual health and faithfulness of Gaius. The prayer seems to indicate that Gaius’ health was not great and it was John’s prayer that his health and prosperity would match his spiritual health. Verses 3-4 describe the joy John has knowing that Gaius is doing so well walking in the truth.
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Getting To Know The Bible
Structure:
As we have done with every New Testament letter, before we look at the details of a letter we need to examine the structure of the letter. The author of 2 John is “the elder.” This, of course, tells us nothing about who the author is. As we read this letter I think the author will become obvious. But let us wait to make the conclusion of who the author is until we have read the whole letter.
The recipients of the letter are “the chosen lady and her children.” Some think this is symbolic for a local church. I think there are two reasons why the symbolic view of the chosen lady and her children must be rejected. First, the way we interpret any form of communication is that we accept what a person says literally unless the context demands otherwise. This is also how we interpret the Bible. We take the words of the scripture literally unless the text demands otherwise. There is nothing in this text to suggest that the author is speaking figuratively. Second, interpreting the chosen lady and her children as a local church requires a denominational view of the church. Who is the chosen lady? Those who take a symbolic view would say the local church. Then who are her children? Those who accept a symbolic view would say the members of the local church. But a church is not an entity, institution, or a denomination. The church is people. The members are what make up a church. There is no church without the people. So how can we say that the lady is the church and the children are the members? Such symbolism is simply not biblical. Therefore, we need to interpret this letter as being written to a lady and her children. Many letters in the New Testament were written to individuals (Philemon, 1 & 2 Timothy) so we should not think that this letter cannot be to an individual. Notice that in the recipient section of the letter, the author speaks about truth. The author loves the recipients in the truth and all of those who have known the truth love the chosen lady and her children because the truth abides in them. We should realize that this letter is going to be about walking in truth.
The salutation is the standard greeting in New Testament times: “Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.” Paul in his letters also spoke of the grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 4 the author gives his thanksgiving: “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.” The author is thankful and joyful because the chosen lady’s children are walking in truth, obedient to the commands of the Lord.
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Getting To Know The Bible
Introduction:
1 John is a unique book. It does not seem to be a letter because it omits all the natural characteristics of a letter. 1 John does not have an author stated, recipients, salutation, thanksgiving section, closing section, nor greeting section. No characteristics of a letter are found in 1 John. But John repeatedly calls the readers of this treatise, “my little children.” This treatise was to be read by other people, but John avoids writing in the form of the letter.
Gnosticism was a large problem for Christians toward the end of the first century. Gnostic means knowledge. The Gnostics taught that they held special divine knowledge and only through them could a person come to truly know God and be complete. John writes this letter to fight this false teaching. Thirty-two times John says the word “know.” The Gnostics claim to have knowledge, but John is going to give the readers true knowledge of God.
What We Know (1:1-10)
- Because we have heard, seen, observed, and touched the Word of Life (1-4). John begins by teaching what he had the apostles knew. They knew Jesus because they had heard him, seen him with their own eyes, observed his actions, and touched him with their hands. Jesus came in the flesh and John gives his testimony to this fact. The way to have fellowship with God was to have fellowship with the apostles and their teachings, not the teachings of the Gnostics.
Written: that your joy may be complete (1:4). Throughout this treatise, John is going to explain the reason for the points he makes. John tells them that Jesus did come in the flesh so that their joy would be complete by believing the truth.
- God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in Him (5-10). What the apostles knew what that God is light. There is no evil with God and neither can be with the followers of God. (1) If we say we have fellowship with God but walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth (1:6). (2) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1:8). (3) If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar and the word of God is not in us (1:10). We cannot say that we are in a right relationship with God and violate God’s laws (walk in darkness). We cannot say that our sins do not affect us.
Written: that you may not sin (2:1). The purpose for telling the readers that God is light and that there is no darkness in him at all is so that we will not sin. We are not in fellowship with God if we practice sin. These things were written so that we would not sin. If we do sin, Jesus is the sacrifice of atonement for our sins.
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Getting To Know The Bible
Understanding the Parable of the Talents Properly [41:19m]:
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