Contrast Of Testimonies Series

Don’t you like the old western cowboy movies when you knew who the good guy was and who was the bad guy. You can pick them out easily in those old movies because the good guy wears the white hat, and the bad guy wears the black hat.

This letter makes it obvious who the good guy is and who is the bad guy. Diotrephes wore a black hat and Demetrius wore a white hat. You can easily pick up who is the good guy and who was the bad guy. Before this letter to Gaius, there may have been some confusion for Gaius on how he responds to these two. In this letter John has helped Gaius clarify the situation.

The apostle John has written much about believing in Jesus. John told us he wrote his Gospel that you might believe. In his letter 1 John he tells us it is about assurance of salvation for those who have believed. Now in the letter we know as 3 John he is writing about the believer’s testimony in the church.

Can you picture a contrast of testimonies in your mind? A situation where there was a believer with a good testimony and one with a bad testimony. John contrasts two church leaders and mentions their testimonies that are a complete opposite.

The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1-4)

We are limited in our understanding in just who Gaius is. There are some good possibilities, but we cannot say for certain. What we can say for certain is that Gaius was a good friend of John. The other thing we know for sure is that Gaius is walking in the truth.

In his younger days John and his brother James were known as the “sons of thunder.” His brother James was the first of the Apostles to die (excluding Judas), and John was the last. John was old when he wrote this letter. It is addressed to Gaius his trusted ministry partner or mentee. John is writing Gaius about a troublemaker church leader impacting the gospel ministry. John is not just writing Gaius about this situation. John is himself tangled up with this troublemaker.

When John wrote this epistle, he was probably in Ephesus and probably already in his eighties. That would mean he was ninety-two when he wrote revelation on the island of Patmos. Because of John’s advanced age I am supposing that this Gaius is not one of the others named Gaius we read in other parts of the New Testament.

There was a traveling companion of Paul named Gaius who was seized in the riot at Ephesus. (Acts 19:28-30) According to how I am dating this epistle, then that riot happened more than thirty years prior to this letter. If that Gaius is still living at the time John wrote this I don’t think John would be so happy at the news he was walking in the truth. Of course, that Gaius would be walking in the truth, there is no joyful surprise there.

There was a man named Gaius that Paul baptized in Corinth, but that Gaius is probably an old man also. I picture this Gaius as a younger man who was a disciple of John.

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. (3 John 5-8)

Now that we get past the introduction of John’s letter, we find out what the situation is. Not only does it seem likely that John is writing from Ephesus, as “the elder” there, but it seems John’s ministry extends through Asia.

When the Lord gave John his revelation on the Island of Patmos and a message to the seven churches, these churches, could all be ones that John was helping from his Ephesus base. This would mean that John had a “hall of Tyrannus” type ministry in Ephesus like Paul did twenty-five years prior.

John would send out missionaries who would go out for the sake of the name of Jesus, to start new work and help the churches. This ministry depended on the church giving these itinerant ministers hospitality. If the church members did not help these servants, then no one was going to. Gaius was faithful in hosting these missionaries, even though he did not already know them. In doing this John, the missionaries, and Gaius were all working together as a team for the cause of Christ.