the Third Week of Advent
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Bible Commentaries
Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament Robertson's Word Pictures
- 3 John
by A.T. Robertson
THIRD JOHN
ABOUT A.D. 85 TO 90
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
Certainly III John is addressed to an individual, not to a church, though which Gaius we do not know. There are three friends of Paul with this name; Gaius of Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:14), Gaius of Macedonia (Acts 19:29), Gaius of Derbe (Acts 20:4), but it is unlikely that this Gaius of Pergamum (Findlay would call him) is either of these, though the Apostolical Constitutions does identify him with Gaius of Derbe. It is possible that in 3 John 1:9 there is an allusion to II John and, if so, then both letters went to individuals in the same church (one a loyal woman, the other a loyal man). Three persons are sharply sketched in III John (Gaius, Diotrephes, Demetrius). Gaius is the dependable layman in the church, Diotrephes the dominating official, Demetrius the kindly messenger from Ephesus with the letter, a vivid picture of early church life and missionary work. John is at Ephesus, the last of the apostles, and with an eagle's eye surveys the work in Asia Minor. The same Gnostic deceivers are at work as in the other Johannine Epistles. Pergamum is described in Revelation 2:13 as the place "where Satan's throne is."
