JOHN, THE THIRD EPISTLE OF. The Third Epistle of John is addressed to an individual, one Gains. Reference is made also to two other individuals. One of these, Diotrephes, " loveth to have the pre eminence and receiveth us not . . . prating against us with wicked words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and them that would he forbiddeth, and easteth them out of the Church." Of the other, Demetrius, it is said that he " bath the witness of all, and of the truth itself." The writer again warns his reader, not against an heretical school, but against certain self-willed, self-assertive Christians who are in clined to interpret the truth in a way of their own. There always are such persons. Even in the lifetime of Jesus there will doubtless have been people who were faithful adherents of his, but who did not agree on every point with other adherents. John, through his intimacy with Jesus, gained a deeper understanding of the Master's teaching than was possible for many other followers. As he grew older, the persistent misunderstanding which he found in others perhaps made him a little intolerant and impatient. In the Third Epistle emphasis is again
laid on " the truth." John naturally felt that there can be no deviation from the truth. He did not sufficiently realize perhaps that to many people the truth must come gradually, unless it come by a sudden inspira tion. In any case, the Third Epistle is not different in style and outlook from the Second. " The affinities with the Second Epistle are so close that we may assume that it was written by the same author and in all pro bability at the same time. In that case it is possible that the letters were sent to the same destination. It is a plausible suggestion that the letter referred to in v. 9 is the Second Epistle, and that the writer sends this letter to Gains to guard against the suppression of his letter to the Church by Diotrephes " (A. S. Peake). Ease bius includes the Epistle among the disputed books. See J. A. M'Clymont; P. W. Schmiedel, The Johannine Writings, 190S; G. Currie Martin; Arthur S. Peake, Introd.