3 John part two

Today we are going to backtrack a little. Let's talk about Gaius. The name is probably of Latin origin, which may mean Gaius was Roman. There are three other mentions of the name Gaius in the new Testament. In Acts 19:29, Gaius was Paul's travelling companion from Macedonia (Greece). Just a few verses later, in Acts 20:4, a Gaius with Paul is from Derbe, which is in Turkey. Paul mentions a Gaius in Romans 16:23, and 1 Corinthians 1:14. From those letters, it seems that Gaius was an hospitable Corinthian, and a disciple of Paul. There is no way to know if the Gaius in 3 John is any of those or none.

Let's address some of the wording in 3 John that might make modern day English readers think this is written to Christians. We must remember that christianity came out of Judaism. Much of its vocabulary and practice was borrowed from Jewish concepts 1. The word elder. Jews had elders. 2. The word brother. People in the same religious community, even Jews, called themselves brothers. 3. The word for church (ekklesia) This was a generic term for a religious assembly or congregation, connected to a synagogue, that was later co-opted by Christians. Jews had those too. 4. The word pagans. This was actually a word that meant gentiles/ gentile nations, or ethnically non-Jews. The only other place it is used in the bible is in Matthew, where is is clearly referring to ethnically non-Jews. There were no Christians in the time period Matthew was writing about. So, it couldn't have been referring to non-christians. Christianity is not an ethnicity or nationality.

Let's now continue on to verse nine. It says, "I wrote to the church, but Diotrophes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us." This is kind of confusing. What church is he talking about? Is it the same church that the brothers reported to about Gaius? That wouldn't make any sense. And who is "us?" I could almost believe this letter was written by Paul to his Corinthian friend/disciple Gaius. This Gaius is hospitable and is a disciple of the letter's author, just like Paul's Gaius. Imagine Paul and his associates going from synagogue to synagogue, trying to teach in the assemblies about his Jesus visions/revelations and what he thought they meant. I imagine there were many Jewish synagogue leaders who would want nothing to do with Paul, his teachings, and his followers.

Verse ten says, "So, if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us." We have only one side of the story here. Diotrophes cannot defend himself. From what I have read of Paul's letters, this seems typical Pauline whining against the opposition. Can you even blame the opposition from trying to curtail what would be considered a  heresy to practicing Jews? Whether or not, this was Paul, I'm sure many synagogue leaders were wary of the new christian sect, or any sect.

Verse ten  continues, "Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church." Diotrophes does not intend to let anyone from this group (whatever group it is)  get a foothold in his congregation.

Verse eleven says, "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." The clear implication is that Diotrophes is evil.

It has occurred to me that another possibility is that this letter is about an established christian church rejecting an even newer controversial christian sect and teaching, after the Pauline era. Who knows? The author gives us no specifics.

Edited for major errors in verse numeration.