Gleanings from 3rd John. And personal insights.

Please see 3rd John 1:1-14......it's a one chapter letter.


Gaius, is believed to have been either a pastor, or a significant leader in a church body.
He was loved by John, for John tells him 4 times in this letter that he is "beloved"

I can think of no one that is more needy of encouragement and love then pastors. As you read this letter, it can give you a small hint of what a pastor may go through in his ministry. In this case, he was trying to do the work of ministry that was pleasing to God, and yet, he had this person Ditrophes, who was doing evil, and it no doubt made the work very, very difficult.

People generally see a pastor at his best as it were, there in the pulpit, teaching or preaching the Word of God. They have no idea of what he may have gone through that week, just trying to get to the pulpit. So, the next chance you get, give a word of encouragement to your pastor, it might just help lift a heavy load, you never know.

John was praying for Gaius to prosper and be in health. These are two matters, both on the physical plain.  Material prosperity and physical health. ( this verse is not as some "Word of faith " teachers have made it, the basis for a Biblical doctrine, that guarantees you will be healthy and wealthy. It was simply a prayer. But, it's a legitimate prayer, in that material prosperity is something one can pray for, and for health also. God is not against you prospering, it's just that He does not make it so that just because you are a christian that you will be what we would call wealthy. ( He may ) but, it's not a built in reality just because you are a believer. But, on the other hand, He is not against you prospering, and your praying for it is a very normal and acceptable prayer, one that is not out of God's will in a general sense.

Gaius was commended for a number of things by John.

1. The truth was in him.
2. He was walking in truth.
3. He brought joy to John's heart.
4. He was faithful to minister to the brethren and to strangers.
5. His love and ministry were spoken of by others where John was in a church.
6. He was involved in helping ministers and missionaries in their work.


The main thing that is brought out about Gaius is his financial suport, and  material provision for those who were going out for the gospel, i.e missionaries, and then his hospitality to complete strangers who were also missionaries. He was very, very involved in supporting them in their work, because they had no other means of support. God had called them to go out for His names sake and preach the gospel.

John affirms that we, ( that would include himself, and others who were with him, and then us today in our contemporary society and life ) ought to follow the example set forth by Gaius.
That is to provide the financial support that is needed for those who are called by God to go into what we call full time ministry.

The exact of opposite of Gaius is now mentioned. A man who was characterized by pride, and an unwillingness to accept John's authority and leadership. He was spewing out nonsense, and saying hateful things about and against John. He may have been a pastor himself, or a leader in a different church then the one Gaius was in.

Ditotrophes was not content with just some of the terrible things he was doing, but then would not welcome into the church the very people whom Gaius was welcoming and supporting.
Along with that rejection, he was also forbidding people in the church from supporting these ministers and missionaries. And, not only forbidding them, but then removing them from the church if they went against his wishes and orders.

It was his way or the highway as they say. He was evil, and not to be imitated. He was not doing good, and had not seen God. What a sad case it is, when you have people with a Diotrophes like spirit in the church. They disrupt the normal flow of ministry through their selfishness, and their unwillingness to humble themselves and receive from those appointed by God. These Diotrophe like people, actually hinder the work of God. They are going against what God wants, and they are preventing others from helping. These types of people do exist in the church today.

Ditrophes was being warned here by John, that if he came to that church, he would call to mind his deeds and his hatefulness. We do not know whatever happened to him. But, most pastors would probably tell you they have run into some of Diotrophe's long lost relatives in their own church's. People who make the work of ministry so difficult. These people have nothing to blame but their own selfishness and pride. It's incredible that someone would try to stop the work of God in any church.

On a better note, there was and are today, plenty  of Demtrius'es. In fact, they far outnumber, and outshine the Ditotrophe like persons.
He had a good testimony. Everyone spoke so well of him, and John says from the truth itself. In other words, he was living out what the Bible says. He was the Bible in action.
John and his associates were also bearing witness to the goodness of this man Demetrius.

John ends his letter with a prayer for peace. How that is needed in so many lives and churches.
Diotrophe like people rob churches of peace, and Demetrius and Gaius types, bring peace.
Pretty clear to see who knew the Lord and who did not.

Lord, may we be those who please You, and do things in a manner worthy of You.
Help us to be fellow workers in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia

Having a good testimony.

See 3rd John 1:12-14

1:12 Demetrius has a good testimony from all, and from the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true.

1:13 I had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink;

1:14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

Having spoken of Diotrophes the man who was hindering the work of God, John now speaks of Demetrius, a man who was just the opposite. 

His name has no significant meaning, but his life did. We don't even have the details of what made up his good testimony. But, it's stated right here in the Holy Bible that he had one. 

What is a good testimony? Good means, better, honest, goodly, excellent, choice, surpassing, useful, suitable, commendable, and admirable. And, to have a good testimony, means, that a person has a good report, that they bear witness to the truth, they are affirming what they have seen or heard, and in this context, it has to do with Jesus Christ. It's a life lived following Christ, serving Christ, and a life that speaks for itself if you will. Demetrius was such a man. 

We are also told her, that his good testimony was from all, and that it was from the truth, and that John and his associates agreed with this. And, that Gaius knew that Demetrius's testimony was true. In other words, it was clear to everyone who knew him, what he was, and how he lived. 

In closing out this letter, John once again, just as he did in 2nd John, says, I have so much I want to write to you about. His heart and mind were full of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and he wanted to share it with Gaius. But, he also did not really want to write about it, but, was going to reserve it, hoping to come and see Gaius face to face. 

He ended his letter by saying "Peace to you" What a beautiful true thought for Gauis, from John, from the Father, from the Son Jesus Christ. The wonderful peace of God, the peace that comes from God, being given to Gaius. 

Peace means, to be undisturbed, to have quietness, to be exempt from rage and havoc. It speaks of harmony, unity, security, prosperity, that tranquil state of the soul. 

It's when the soul is assured of it's salvation by it's faith in Jesus Christ. And, thus fearing nothing of retribution from God, and is absolutely content with it's earthly state, regardless of whatever it might be. 

It's that blessed state of living and of devotion of upright men with God, and then of course after death when we leave these bodies and go to heaven with God, and with others who are already there, and with the holy angels, and with the Holy Spirit, the Son, the Father. And, where there will be no hatred and no sin, and no sickness, and no evil of any sort. 

John's friends also sent their greetings to Diotrophes, and John asked him if he would in turn greet all of John and Diotrophes friends by name. Go to each one of them, and share with them our greeting as it were. 

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia 

Do not be like Diotrophes. Do not imitate what is evil.

See 3rd John 1:9-11

1:9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.

1:10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

1:11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

John had written a previous letter to the church ( we don't know where this church was exactly ) but, he had written and this man Diotrophes was not receptive of John and some unamed other persons.

Much is said of this man.

1. He loved to have the preeminence among the others in the church.
2. He was not receptive to John and other servants of God.
3. His deeds were going to be called to mind.
4. He was prating against John and others.
5. He said malicious words.
6. He was not content with just his prating and maliciousness.
7. He was forbidding others to receive the ministers.
8. He was removing people from the church who should not have been removed.
9. He was evil.
10. He was not to be imitated.
11. He was doing evil.
12. He had not seen God.

What a description. Let's just take a close look at some of these things.

He loved to have the preeminence among others. That is, he loved to be first. He aspired to be first.

He was not receptive of John's apostolic authority, and of others as well. He would not come under the authority of those he should have come under. He was a proud and arrogant man.

He was prating. Not a word we hear or use very often. That is, he uttered nonsense. He would falsely accuse people. He made empty charges.

He accused people with malicious words. Maliciousness, means to intend to do harm to others. It's when you are out to destroy others. It means to be wicked. It means to have ill will towards others.

He was not content with prating and being malicious. He went on, and on, and on in his evil deeds.

He would forbid others from receiving these traveling ministers and missionaries.

He was evil, or destructive. That's what evil means. It means to hurt other people.

And, lastly, he had not seen God. In other words, if he had had contact with God, he would have acted differently. His actions revealed that he had not come into fellowship with God.


The last thing that John in this regard, is not to imitate evil. But, to imitate what is good. And, the person who does good is of God, and the person who does evil has not seen God. That's the second time John used this statement.

God wants to be seen as it were. He wants to be known, and to be received. That's His nature, to  give His goodness and grace, and mercy away to others.

Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia

The faithful financial support of those in ministry

See 3rd John 1:5-8

1:5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers,

1:6 who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well,

1:7because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles.

1:8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we may become fellow workers for the truth.

John had already called Gaius beloved once, in verse 2 of this letter, and he calls him beloved one more time in verse 11. There is no mistaking that John had a clear understanding of God's love for people, and this is why He sent Christ into the world. It's because He loves people. 

John went on in the passage we are looking at to commend Gaius for his faithful support of brethren, and for strangers. Gaius had provided aid to both of these groups. The strangers would be literally those people whom Gaius did not know. 

These traveling ministers, and missionaries had borne witness, or told of Gaius's love before the church where John was. 

Gaius was also encouraged by John to continue his financial support for those in ministry. John called it sending them forth on their journey in a manner worthy of God, and that he would be doing well if he did. 

So, what is the manner worthy of God? It would be to provide what is needed. That's what Paul said in Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" 

So, what Gauis was doing was to provide "all that was needed" 

The reason for this support is because "they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles" It was Paul's practice also to never ask for money from the unsaved to whom he was speaking to. But rather, he would be supported by those whom he had ministered to. The reason he would not take anything from them, is that he did not want to hinder the gospel of Christ, by being seen as doing what he did just for the money, ( as apparently many false prophets and charlatans were doing ) See 1st Cor 9, and 1st Thess 2:9 

Finally, in the passage before us, John says that "we ought to receive such" referencing the traveling ministers and missionaries. And, adds that "we may become fellow workers for the truth"

John was putting his stamp of approval upon these ministers, and encouraging others to share in the work of getting the truth out.  

It's helpful to realize that in the next section of this letter, that John brings up a person who would not receive these ministers. This man, Diotrophes,  was said to be "prating against us with malicious words" This means that he was a man boiling over if you will, and saying hateful things about John and others who were of John's mind, and insinuating many things about them. 

We will look more in detail at him tomorrow. But, what sad person he was. John has much to say about him. 

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia

The greatest joy.

See 3rd John 1-4

1:1 THE ELDER, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth:

1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

1:3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.

1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

John was an elderly man at this point, not to far from being in heaven with the Lord. What a blessing that is. 

John was also as an older man, a much wiser man then he had been when he was younger. That is what happens to men or women, who continue to walk with Christ, they become more blessed, more wise, more loving, etc, and John would be a classic example of that for all of us who may be headed towards older age. 

John was writing this brief letter to an individual named Gaius, which means Lord, is someone John knew personally, and that'a about all we know of him. Except that his soul was prospering. Which means, that his journey to heaven, was going along well. He was being led by the Lord, and was going along in the easiest way possible, that is, as compared to how hard we can make it. In other words, he was simply following the Lord, and was a blessed man. 

John now talks about joy once again, as he did in his 2nd epistle also. He says several things about it. 

1. He rejoiced greatly. Alot. Not just a little rejoicing, but much rejoicing. It came about when some other christians met up with him, and told him about the truth that was in Gauis, and John notes here in verse 3, that Gaius was also walking in the truth. That means, he was ordering his life according to the Word of God. These facts brought great joy to John. 

2. John had no greater joy. There was nothing else in his life that brought about the same greatness of joy, as this matter did. 

3. The joy is again explained and related to the fact, that "than to hear that my children walk in truth" In other words, those believers whom John calls his children, or those perhaps converted under his ministry, or those whom he had pastored in the past. Knowing how they were living brought him tremendous and great joy. 

John knew that these folks were on target with God's plan for their lives. They were following Jesus, and abiding in Him, and thus the great joy. What more can a person hope for then to know that someone is following the Lord? 

We love you Lord. 

In Jesus name..

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia 

God will reward you.

See 2nd John 2:8-13

This last section of this short letter, starts with an exhortation, or an encouragement, and a warning of sorts, to "look to yourselves etc, "  Normally, the Bible is telling us to look to God, but here, this rather unusual statement is given to us.

Look to yourselves. The idea here, is that of "take care" that you do not lose, or throw away and destroy all that you have worked for thus far in your walk. But, keep on abiding, and believing, that you will receive from the Lord all that He would want to reward you for. He wants you to have a full, and perfect, and complete reward.

So, we are heading for heaven, and in heaven we will appear before Christ to be rewarded for our labors here below. So in saying, "look to yourselves", the Lord is simply dealing with a fact of life, and that is the need to be careful on our way to heaven. It's similar to the thought that is imbedded in a portion of what we call the Lord's prayer. "Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, ( or the evil one ) In other words, the christian is aware of danger from within, and from without. Just as in any area of life, caution and care valuable attributes.


John ends with another explanation of what he mentioned earlier in verse 7, about deceivers.
2nd John 7. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

A deceiver is someone who seduces others away from the truth. It's a quiet steady effort, not an out and out blatant thing. To deceive means, to wander to rove, to mislead, lead others into error, it speaks of an impostor, a corrupter. So, this is a major part of why the readers were to be careful, it's because of the many deceivers . They are transgressors, they do not abide in the teaching of the Bible, and they are without God,

The person who remains in the teaching of Jesus Christ, has both the Father and the Son. Through God's Word we have His Son, and the Son's Father. They are both ours, and with us forever, and we with them forever. Praise God.

The final warning, is to not associate with false teachers. Those who bring this anti-christ doctrine, denying the humanity and the divinity of Jesus Christ, are not to be received into your house, and not to be greeted. If you do, you are sharing in their evil deeds.

What could this mean in practice, in our lives? It does not mean to be rude, or to be unfriendly, or to not be loving, and showing the grace of Christ. But, it clearly means to simply not have anything to do with these folks. That's all. In that culture of John's day, people would be coming into one another's homes, as there were no church buildings, there were no coffee shops etc, etc.
Social contact through being in homes, eating together was a big and normal part of life.

John is saying here, "draw a line of truth" Don't cross that line, and don't allow false deceivers into your world. You don't want to participate in what he calls "their evil deeds"

Indeed, evil, or destructive consequences follow false doctrine. The two go together. The one leads to the other.

Another way to understand the above, is not only not to welcome them, but, not to wish them God's blessing, and not to encourage them in their false teaching, don't hope for their success, and don't encourage them in their work.

John ends his letter with an anticipation of seeing his readers, and blesses them with greetings from others.

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia

What does it mean, to "walk in truth", and why is it important to God?

"See 2nd John 4-7 below,followed by some devotional commentary by Pastor Bob Grenier

John was not just rejoicing but, rejoicing greatly that he had found ( some of "your children ) walking in truth as we received commandment from the Father. It's clear he was rejoicing, what's not clear if he is making a distinction between all, or just some of her  ladies children. He may be just using the word some in a more loose fashion, just indicting, that he was glad to hear that some were walking etc, etc. Or He may have been really separating out in his mind, based on what he had heard that only ( some ) of her children were walking in the truth. He had come to find this out, not sure how, but it caused him great joy, he was greatly rejoicing.

As an aside, we don't know for sure if the lady and children, are a ref to a church leader the the sheep in that church, or to an actual lady and her own children. ( by the way, in a family with multiple children, some may, and some may not be walking in the truth. I've seen this countless, hundreds and hundreds of times, on a personal level, and on a pastoral level over the last 38 1/2 of full time ministry.

What is clear, is that John was joyful because of what these children were doing. And, that is, they walking in truth, as received commandment from the Father. So, two things here.

1. Walking in truth
2. As we received commandment from the Father

What do these things mean? Truth is the Word of God, truth is Jesus Christ. We can walk in the truth, walk in Christ, Christ is in us, as we walk day by day. We are to continue walking in the truth. We know Him who is true. We are in Him who is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God.

Now to walk in the truth, simply means, "to order one's life according to the Word of God" That's alll it means, and that's all it will ever mean, and it the most important thing that could ever mean anything to anyone. That your life would be in tune with God's Word, that is, You would receive His Word, You would be a doer of His Word, You continue in His Word, You would take God's wisdom and knowledge about life and apply it to your life, and seek to walk in the ways that God has layed out in His Word.

John add, "we received commandment from the Father. This is a phrase he like to use in his teaching. Always linking the present activity, exhortation to future activity to what God had given us in the past. A continuity of God's word from the time it was given and received, and then continued to be lived out by "doers" p.s It came from "the Father" Wow, God the Father, the Father of Jesus, the one who sent Jesus to rescue us.

From rejoicing to pleading John goes. He tells her, this is not as if I'm writing a new commandment to you, but, it's the one you have had from the beginning. Here it is, in plain and simple terms, unmistakable as to it's meaning. This is what the Father wants us to do.


                                           "It is that we love one another"


John, then describes love for us. It's also simple, "that we walk according to His commandments. And, this is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
So, love is walking in the commandments. Abiding in the Word, being a doer of the Word, is the foundation for loving one another. And as we individually, walk in the word, we sill then have that fruit of love for one one another. No walk, no fruit.


To further explain love, he says, "this is love, that we walk according to His commandments" He is constantly linking our lives, walks, His love, His Word, our being in the Word, the Word being in us, and overarching reality of love. Love being the main thing that the Lord wants us to be doing in our lives, To walk in love, to love one another.

This is what we have heard from the beginning. We should walk in it.

He is going to deal with deceivers in the next few verses. These would be people who did not believe any of what is above, and were teaching a doctrine not from God at all. It has no source in God, and was of no help to anyone when it comes to the matter of love, forgiveness, truth, sins, being born again, redeemed, set apart to God, being a true light in the World. etc, etc, and only to wind up in heaven. None of those things came from any of the false teachers, that John is about to deal with, and warn about, and give practical instruction on what not to do with them.


4: I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father.


5: And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.

6: This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

7:For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Pastor Bob Grenier

Calvary Chapel Visalia