3 John
King James Version · 1 chapters · 14 verses · New Testament
Three men, and a small church problem
The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius. Fourteen verses about hospitality, which sounds minor until you see what it meant: travelling teachers depended entirely on believers taking them in. Gaius did, faithfully, even for strangers, and is commended. Diotrephes, who loves to have the pre-eminence, refused to receive them, talked against the elder with malicious words, and threw out anyone in the church who did receive them. Demetrius has a good report of all men. It is the most ordinary book in the Bible, and it is in there because how a church treats people who arrive at the door is not a small thing.