3 John 11-John Issues Gaius a Prohibition, a Command and Communicates Two Spiritual Truths to Him (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 7, 2023
Third John: Third John 11-John Issues Gaius a Prohibition, a Command and Communicates Two Spiritual Truths to Him
Lesson # 7
3 John 11 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. (NIV84)
3 John 11 Beloved, you must continue making it your habit of not imitating that which is evil in character but rather that which is divine good in character. The one who is performing divine good is, as an eternal spiritual truth, living by means of the one and only God as a source. The one who is committing evil never sees the one and only God. (Pastor’s translation)
Verse 11 is marked by the figure of asyndeton, which expresses the solemn nature of these statements to Gaius and that John wants Gaius to meditate upon each one and think about what they mean to him.
This verse also has a chiastic structure: evil, good, good, evil which emphasizes the importance of Gaius continuing to perform divine good by demonstrating hospitality to those itinerant communicators of the gospel and their families whom John had set his seal of approval on.
“Dear friend” is the adjective agapētos (ἀγαπητός) and it indicates the close personal relationship that existed between Gaius and those Christians who testified to the apostle John that Gaius was walking in truth by demonstrating God’s love to itinerant pastor-teachers and evangelists.
It also speaks of Gaius’ relationship to the Trinity and designates Gaius as a Christian since it expresses the fact that he was the recipient and beneficiary of God’s love.
“Do not imitate what is evil” denotes that John is commanding Gaius that he must continue making it his habit of not imitating what is evil but what is good.
“What is good” is the adjective agathos (ἀγαθός), which describes obedience to the apostle John’s command to support itinerant communicators of the gospel and their families whom he put his seal of approval on and which obedience is divine in quality and character.
It is divine and quality and character because this hospitality is produced by the Holy Spirit who inspired John to issue this command in the first place, which was according to the Father’s will.
Therefore, this hospitality towards these traveling communicators of truth is divine in quality and character because it is according to the Father’s will which is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the apostle John’s command to show hospitality to these Christian brothers and sisters.
This hospitality is intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent because it is based upon and motivated by the Spirit.
“Anyone who does what is good” describes obeying John’s command to support financially and materially those itinerant communicators of the gospel and their families.
It speaks of performing divine good, which is produced by the Holy Spirit when Gaius obeyed John’s Spirit inspired command to support these traveling communicators of truth and their families.
It describes this hospitality as being intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent because it is based upon and motivated by the Spirit.
“Is from God” is indicating that the one who is performing divine good is, as an eternal spiritual truth living by means of God as a source.
“Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God” refers to disobeying the apostle John’s apostolic instructions to support financially and materially those itinerant communicators of the gospel whom he had put his seal of approval on since John is speaking in the context of Diotrephes disobeying these instructions.
It teaches that the one who commits evil never sees God in the sense that they never gain an experiential knowledge of the triune God in that they never personally encounter God, which results in being affected by this encounter and the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
Here in verse 11, John is issuing a deep, emotional Spirit inspired command that Gaius never imitate what is evil but what is good and he is commanding Gaius that he must not imitate what is evil which in context would be Diotrephes’ behavior.
He does not want Gaius to imitate this pastor’s disobedience to his apostolic authority, which was demonstrated by his refusal to follow John’s directions in supporting the itinerant communicators of the gospel whom the apostle had placed his seal of approval.
The context indicates that Gaius was in fact not imitating Diotrephes’ bad example but obeying John’s authority (cf. 5-8) and thus, John was exhorting him to continue his obedience to his commands to support these itinerant communicators and their families.
The apostle is teaching Gaius that disobedience to his apostolic command to support itinerant communicators of the gospel who he has given the seal of approval is evil in the sense that it is produced by the sin nature and motivated by indoctrination from the cosmic system of Satan.
This disobedience is in fact disobedience to the will of the Father and is evil in the sense that it constitutes living independently of God’s will.
By continuing to obey the apostle John’s instructions regarding the itinerant communicators of the gospel, Gaius would be performing that which is divine good in character because this hospitality is produced by the Holy Spirit who inspired John to issue this command, which was according to the Father’s will.
Therefore, this hospitality towards these traveling communicators of truth is divine in quality and character because it is according to the Father’s will which is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the apostle John’s command to show hospitality to these Christians brothers and sisters.
This hospitality is intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent because it is based upon and motivated by the Spirit, thus, this hospitality benefits the body of Christ and God as well.
Following the initial command, John communicates two eternal spiritual truths to Gaius.
The first is that the one who is performing divine good is living by means of the one and only God as a source, which is an obvious reference to obeying John’s command to support financially and materially those itinerant communicators of the gospel and their families.
This hospitality is divine good because it is produced by the Holy Spirit when Gaius obeyed John’s Spirit inspired command to support these traveling communicators of truth and their families.
The Christian who is performing divine good is living by means of God as a source since performing divine good is the direct result of being in union with Jesus Christ who is the Son of God and being identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session.
It is also the direct result of obeying the Father’s will which is revealed by the Spirit through the apostles’ teaching which is now in the Greek New Testament and is also the direct result of obedience to the Holy Spirit who in turn produces divine good in the Christian.
The one performing divine good is living by means of God as a source since it is the direct result of experiencing fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The second eternal spiritual truth that John communicates to Gaius is that the one who is committing evil never sees the one and only God.
The evil of course is a reference to disobeying the apostle John’s apostolic instructions to support financially and materially those itinerant communicators of the gospel whom he had put his seal of approval on since John is speaking in the context of Diotrephes disobeying these instructions.
These disobedient believers like Diotrephes never see God in the sense that they never have an experiential knowledge of God.
They never experience God’s presence through fellowship which is accomplished by exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God which reveals the Father’s will.
This faith produces obedience to the Spirit inspired teaching of the Word of God.
They never see God in the sense that they never personally encounter God, which results in being affected by this encounter with the Trinity and the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.