Third John: Third John 3-4-John Commends Gaius for His Faithfulness to His Apostolic Teaching

3 John 3 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. (NIV84)

3 John 3 For I was prompted to greatly rejoice during the time when brothers and sisters arrived as they testified to your truth because you make it your habit of living by means of the truth. (Pastor’s translation)

Verse 3 presents the reason for the apostle John’s intercessory prayer on behalf of Gaius.

“It gave me great joy to have some brothers come” refers to John greatly rejoicing during the time when certain unidentified Christians came to his place of residence or the place in which he taught and informed him that Gaius was living by means of the truth.

“Brothers” is the noun adelphos (ἀδελφός), which means “spiritual brothers and sisters” and refers to certain unidentified Christians who came to John’s place of residence or where he taught and informed him that Gaius was walking by means of the truth.

The word describes these Christians as related to John and Gaius and the Lord Jesus Christ through regeneration, thus, the word refers to a “fellow-believer, fellow-Christian, spiritual brother or sister.”

“And tell about your faithfulness to the truth” is a temporal clause indicating that certain unidentified Christians arrived at John’s location as they testified that Gaius was walking by means of the truth and emphasizes the personal relationship which Gaius has with the truth of God.

“About” is the conjunction kathōs(καθώς), which means “because” since it is functioning as a marker of cause indicating that certain unidentified Christians testifying to Gaius’ truth “because” he was walking by means of the truth.

“Walk” is the verb peripateō (περιπατέω), which means “to live, to conduct one’s life” and is used in a figurative sense with reference to the lifestyle of Gaius.

Here the verb is expressing the idea that Gaius was conducting his life by means of the truth and specifically by means of the command to love one another as indicated by John’s statements in verse 6 in which he mentions Gaius operating in God’s love by demonstrating hospitality to itinerant communicators of the gospel.

The present tense of the verb is a customary present used to signal a habitual action indicating that John is writing that Gaius was “making it a habit of” living by means of the truth.

“Truth” is the noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), which means “truth” referring specifically to Gaius obeying the Spirit inspired command of the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another as He loved.

This time the noun is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which is a marker of means indicating that Gaius was making it his habit of living “by means of” truth.

So therefore, here in verse 3, the apostle John informs Gaius that he was prompted to pray for him because he greatly rejoice when certain unidentified Christians arrived at his place of residence or where he was teaching as they testified to his truth because he was making it his habit of living by means of the truth.

Thus, when John prayed for Gaius it was that his soul would continue to prosper which would be accomplished by Gaius continuing to live by means of the truth.

These unidentified Christians were itinerant communicators of the gospel which is indicated by John’s statements in verses 5-8, which record John commending Gaius for supporting financially and materially these men who communicate truth.

When John says that Gaius was making it his habit of living by means of the truth, he is referring to the fact that Gaius was obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s command to love one another as He loves.

This is indicated by the fact that in 3 John 3 the apostle says that certain unidentified Christians testified to Gaius walking by means of truth and in 3 John 6 he says that they testified to his divine love before the church.

So because John is saying that these Christians were testifying to both his love and truth we can infer that Gaius walking by means of the truth was the direct result of obeying the Lord’s command to love one another.

Therefore, a comparison of these verses reveals a spiritual principle that to walk or live your life by means of truth is demonstrated by obeying the Lord’s command to love one another or in other words, to love one another is to live your life by means of God’s truth.

It also indicates that a Christian is not living their life by means of truth if they do not love their fellow Christian and so to live by means of truth is to love one’s fellow believer and to love one’s fellow believer is to live by means of truth.

This principle is taught by John in 2 John 5, which equates the command to live by means of the truth in 2 John 4as obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command recorded in John 13:34 to love one another as He loved.

3 John 5-8 makes clear that Gaius walked by means of the truth because he practiced Christian hospitality by providing for their financial and material needs of these itinerant teachers of the gospel, thus, living one’s life by means of the truth will demonstrate itself in Christian hospitality.

Gaius not only adhered to the sound doctrine of the apostles but also conducted himself according to their teaching.

Therefore, this reveals a spiritual principle that adhering to sound doctrine will manifest itself in godly character and acts of love produced by the Holy Spirit.

3 John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (NIV84)

3 John 4 I never experience a greater joy than this, namely that, I regularly hear about my own spiritual children because they are making it their habit of living by means of the truth. (Pastor’s translation)

“Joy” refers to the apostle John experiencing joy which is produced in him by the Holy Spirit as a result of hearing of his spiritual children conducting their lives by means of his apostolic teaching which he describes as the truth.

The noun characontains the figure of speech called metonymy of the effect where Gaius conducting his life by means of the truth is a cause for joy for John and here we have the effect for the person producing it, thus Gaius produced joy in John’s life because the former was obeying his apostolic teaching.

“My children” refers in a figurative sense to the spiritual children who received Christian instruction from the apostle John.

“Walking” is the verb peripateō (περιπατέω), which means “to live, to conduct one’s life” and refers to Christians conducting their lives by means of the truth and specifically the command to love one another as indicated by John’s statements in verse 5-8.

The present tense of the verb is a customary present used to signal a habitual action indicating that it gave John no greater joy than to hear of his spiritual children “making it their habit of” living by means of the truth.

The participle form of the verb is a causal participle indicating that John was regularly hearing about Gaius “because” he was making it his habit of living by means of the truth.

“Truth” is the noun alētheia (ἀλήθεια), which means “truth” referring specifically to unidentified Christians obeying the Spirit inspired command of the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another as He loved.

It refers specifically to Gaius obeying this command since in verses 5-8 John is commending Gaius for demonstrating hospitality towards itinerant communicators of the gospel.

This time the noun is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which is a marker of means indicating that John experienced no greater joy than to regularly hear of his spiritual children such as Gaius making it their habit of living “by means of” truth.

Here in verse 4, John emphasizes with Gaius that he never experiences a greater joy than to regularly receive news from other Christians because his spiritual children are making it their habit of living by means of the truth.

Thus, John is stressing with Gaius that he was experiencing great joy because Gaius was living by means of the truth as demonstrated by his extending hospitality to itinerant communicators of the gospel.

The language of verse 4 makes clear that John regularly heard of reports about Gaius living by means of his apostolic teaching as a result of demonstrating great hospitality to itinerant communicators of the gospel who informed John of Gaius’ conduct toward them.

It was in effect a lifestyle of his to demonstrate hospitality to the body of Christ.

The fact that John identifies Gaius as one of his spiritual children here in verse 4 does not mean that the latter was saved through the former’s ministry since in First John the apostle uses this designation for all the Christians he was writing to in First John (1 John 2:1, 12, 18).

In fact, it does not appear that John was on familiar or intimate terms with Gaius, which is indicated by his statement in 3 John 3.

Therefore, in 3 John 4 by calling Gaius one of his spiritual children, John reveals that Gaius was under his apostolic authority.