The Elder Writes
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Scripture: 2 and 3 John
Read 2 John and 3 John in their entirety before proceeding. Both together take less than five minutes to read.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 4
The Shortest Letters in the New Testament
We reach the end of our study with two of the shortest books in the whole Bible. Second John is thirteen verses; Third John is fifteen. Together they occupy a single page in most editions of the New Testament. They are brief enough that their brevity itself has made some readers wonder why they are in the canon at all. Why did the early Church preserve these short notes alongside the letters of Paul and the great First John we have just studied? What is the ongoing value of reading them alongside the major letters of the New Testament?
The answer, as we will see today, is that these short letters give us something the major letters cannot. They give us the aged apostle in ordinary pastoral correspondence, not constructing a major theological treatise, but writing personally to specific people about specific situations. They give us a glimpse of what apostolic ministry looked like in its everyday form. They give us a window into the pastoral concerns of the earliest church as it faced ongoing challenges: itinerant false teachers, questions of hospitality, domineering personalities in local congregations, the daily administrative work of shepherding flocks across the Roman world. And they give us, in miniature, the same theological emphases we have met in First John, proving the consistency of John’s voice across every context in which he wrote.
In this final session we will work through both letters together. We will examine Second John, written to a specific woman (or a specific congregation described as a lady) and her children, warning against the deceivers who were moving among the churches. We will work through Third John, written to a specific man named Gaius, addressing a tangled congregational situation involving a troublesome church leader named Diotrephes and a quieter man of good report named Demetrius. And we will close by looking back at what the whole volume has given us: what we have learned across ten sessions in these Johannine letters, and what we carry forward into the continuing Christian life.
Second John: A Letter to the Elect Lady
The second letter opens with a greeting that identifies both sender and recipient. The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
The elder, ho presbyteros in Greek, is almost certainly the apostle John. By the end of his life, he is one of the last living apostles, and the title elder both refers to his office and to his age. The elect lady and her children is probably a specific Christian woman whose household he is writing to, though some interpreters have read the language as referring to a specific congregation described metaphorically as a lady and its members as children. Either reading works; the practical content of the letter is the same. The elder is writing with pastoral concern to people he loves in truth, preserving the fellowship in the apostolic Gospel.
Walking in the Truth
John’s first note is joy. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. This is the same joy we have seen throughout the first letter. The elder’s heart is bound up with the faithfulness of those he has pastored. When he hears they are walking in the truth, his joy is real and immediate.
The phrase walking in the truth deserves attention. Truth, for John, is not primarily an abstract proposition to be affirmed. It is a reality in which one walks: a way of life shaped by what has been received from God, a path characterized by the apostolic Gospel, a life aligned with the Christ who is Himself the truth. Walking in the truth is the ongoing shape of Christian life, and the aged apostle rejoices to hear of those who are doing it.
Love One Another
The familiar theme returns. And now I ask you, dear lady (not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning) that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
The resonances with First John are unmistakable. The old-new commandment. Love for one another as the summary of the Christian calling. Love expressed in the keeping of commandments. All of this is familiar. What is distinctive about Second John is how compressed it is. In the first letter, John developed these themes across chapters. In this short note to a specific woman, he distills them to their essential form. Love one another. Walk according to His commandments. You have heard this from the beginning. Keep doing it.
Warning Against Deceivers
But the short letter has a pastoral purpose beyond affirmation. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
Here is the specific situation prompting the letter. The same false teachers we met in First John are active across the region, moving from congregation to congregation, seeking hospitality and a hearing in Christian homes. They deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, the same denial John has been addressing throughout. Second John gives the elder’s direct practical instruction for how the elect lady and her household should respond when such teachers appear at their door.
Do Not Greet Them
The instruction is sharp. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
This is a hard word that deserves careful handling. John is not teaching that Christians should be rude to unbelievers or refuse hospitality to anyone who disagrees with them on any point of theology. The context is specific. Traveling teachers in the early church depended on the hospitality of local Christian households as they moved from place to place. When an itinerant teacher arrived claiming to be a Christian teacher, being received into the home gave him a platform. He would teach the household. He would be given resources to continue his travel. His teaching would be credited with the endorsement of that household’s hospitality.
John says the elect lady should not give this endorsement to teachers who deny Christ come in the flesh. Refusing them the hospitality that would otherwise be given to a traveling Christian teacher is the appropriate response. To receive them would be to endorse the teaching and to give aid to its spread. This is not unchristian rudeness; it is appropriate pastoral discernment in a specific situation. The one who gives aid to those actively working against the Gospel takes part in the harm they do, however unintentionally. The elder is protecting the household, the broader church, and the Gospel itself.
Translation to Our Day
The principle remains applicable in modern circumstances, though the specifics differ. We do not usually host traveling teachers in our homes today. But we do give platforms. When we endorse teachers on social media, recommend books, provide financial support, attend conferences, invite speakers to our churches; we are giving the modern equivalent of the hospitality John is regulating. And the principle still applies. Christians are called to be discerning about what teaching they endorse. Not every teaching that uses Christian language comes from the Christian faith. Teachers who deny the full incarnation of Christ, in whatever contemporary form that denial takes, are not to be given the platform of Christian endorsement. To give them that platform is to take part in the spread of what contradicts the Gospel.
This is not a call to unloving dismissiveness toward those who have been drawn into false teaching. Christians should love, pray for, and where possible engage with individuals who have adopted such views. But there is a difference between loving an individual person and endorsing a teaching. The first is always appropriate; the second requires the discernment John is calling for. The Christian can refuse to platform a false teacher while still loving the individual human being who teaches falsely. John is regulating the platforming, not forbidding the love.
Closing
The elder closes warmly. Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. The children of your elect sister greet you. The practical pastoral letter ends with pastoral warmth: the desire for face-to-face fellowship, the joy that comes with it, the greetings from other Christians. The elder is not primarily a theologian at his desk. He is a shepherd writing to specific sheep, longing to be with them, sending love from other Christians who also love them. This is how the New Testament pastoral letters actually look in their ordinary form.
Third John: A Letter to Gaius
The third letter is of the same length and character, but addressed to a specific man rather than a household. The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Gaius is a specific man John is writing to. Several men named Gaius appear in the New Testament: Gaius of Macedonia (Acts 19:29), Gaius of Derbe (Acts 20:4), and the Gaius of Corinth whom Paul baptized and who hosted the church there (Romans 16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14). Gaius was one of the most common names in the Roman world, and whether this Gaius is any of them, and where he lived, is unknown. What we know is that he was a Christian faithful enough that his walking in the truth had become known to John through the report of other Christians, and that he was someone John loved personally as one of his children in the faith.
No Greater Joy
The statement in verse four is one of the most touching in the letter. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. This is the voice of the pastor. Nothing else compares. The aged apostle at the end of his long ministry names his deepest joy, and it is not personal success, not recognition, not comfort, not any of the things the world values. It is the report that his spiritual children are walking in the truth. This is what he has lived for. This is what fulfills him. This is what makes the long years of pastoral labor worth everything.
For those who teach and pastor in the Christian community today, this verse is worth sitting with. The deepest joys of Christian ministry are not the visible successes. They are the reports that those we have taught are walking in the truth: growing in the faith, living faithfully, bearing fruit over time. When we hear this about those we have taught, a joy rises in us that is different from the other joys available in the world. It is the joy of participating in the ongoing work of Christ in the lives of specific people. And it is the joy the elder is describing, the greatest joy, he says, in the ordinary run of pastoral life.
Faithful Hospitality
John then commends Gaius for something specific. Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
Gaius has been hospitable to traveling Christians who came through his community. These are, apparently, legitimate Christian missionaries: those going out for the sake of the name, accepting no support from unbelievers, dependent on the hospitality of Christian households. Gaius has received them, supported them, and sent them on their way. John commends this as faithful Christian practice.
Note the contrast with Second John. There the elder warned against hospitality to false teachers who deny Christ. Here he commends hospitality to faithful teachers who go out for the sake of Christ. The principle is the same in both letters: Christian hospitality is discerning, given in support of what serves the Gospel and withheld from what works against it. Gaius is commended for getting this right. Supporting faithful missionaries is participating in their work; we are fellow workers for the truth when we help them. This is how the ordinary Christian community in the early church moved the Gospel forward, through the hospitality of many ordinary Christians, which made traveling Christian ministry possible.
Diotrephes
The tone now changes. I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
Here is an unhappy situation in a local congregation. Diotrephes is described with several specific charges. He likes to put himself first, loves to have preeminence, in some translations. He does not acknowledge the apostle’s authority. He speaks wicked nonsense against John and those with John. He refuses to welcome the Christian brothers who come traveling. And he actually excludes from the congregation those who want to welcome the brothers.
The Picture of a Problem
What Diotrephes is doing is recognizable across church history. He has made the local congregation his personal domain. He has asserted his authority against apostolic oversight. He is hostile to traveling Christians who might threaten his control. And he is enforcing his hostility by excluding members who disagree with him. This is what happens when a local church leader’s love of preeminence overtakes his care for the flock and for the broader church’s unity.
The elder’s response is measured but clear. If I come, I will bring up what he is doing. Apostolic correction is planned, but not through a public letter of rebuke. The elder expects to come in person and handle the matter face to face. This is itself a model of pastoral wisdom. Letters can be misread and misused. Face-to-face correction, while harder, is often more effective and more consistent with love for the erring person. The elder is planning correction that honors both the need for accountability and the weight of personal encounter.
The Broader Lesson
For modern Christians, the Diotrephes story is a warning that is still needed. Church leaders can be tempted by preeminence. Congregational politics can produce hostile divisions. People who want to receive faithful Christian teachers can be blocked by those whose own authority would be challenged. When this happens, the New Testament’s picture is that such leaders must be named, addressed, and, if they do not repent, removed. The health of congregations depends on leadership that serves rather than dominates, that welcomes rather than excludes, that honors apostolic teaching rather than setting itself up against it. Diotrephes is the picture of the leader who fails at all of these. His presence in Scripture is a permanent warning.
Demetrius
John closes the letter with commendation of a different man. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
Demetrius is the contrast to Diotrephes. Where Diotrephes is divisive, Demetrius is well-regarded by all. Where Diotrephes speaks wicked nonsense, Demetrius has the testimony of the truth itself. Where Diotrephes seeks his own preeminence, Demetrius serves quietly and is commended by the community. The elder adds his own testimony to what others have already said about Demetrius. This is probably the man who carried the letter from John to Gaius, or someone Gaius should welcome if Demetrius comes through. In a congregation troubled by Diotrephes, John commends Demetrius as the alternative pattern of Christian leadership: quiet, faithful, commended by all.
These two brief portraits, Diotrephes and Demetrius, are among the most practically useful in all the pastoral literature of the New Testament. They show us what to look for in Christian leaders and what to avoid. They give concrete form to what the letter has been teaching: walking in the truth, loving the brothers, supporting faithful workers, refusing the domineering patterns that destroy congregational health. Every generation of the Church has examples of both types of leader, and the distinction John draws continues to help us recognize them.
Looking Back Across the Volume
We have now reached the end of our study, and it is worth pausing to look back at what we have done. Ten sessions. Three letters. One aged apostle writing to specific Christian communities with specific pastoral concerns. And across all of it, the same aim: that we may know we have eternal life.
What We Have Learned
Think back to where the volume began. The prologue of First John brought us face to face with the apostolic witness: the Word of life who was heard, seen, and touched by the eyewitnesses. From there we walked through the great themes that have structured the letter. The fellowship with the Father and the Son. The walking in the light and the ongoing cleansing of Christ’s blood. The advocate and the propitiation for our sins. The tests of life: obedience, love, belief. The antichrists and the anointing. The children of God and the love that flows from the new birth. Cain and Christ. The love-defining cross. The greater God who stands above our accusing hearts. Testing the spirits by the Christological confession. God who is love, who demonstrated it in sending His Son, whose perfect love casts out fear. The water and the blood and the Spirit who testify together. The faith that overcomes the world. And finally the thesis verse and the closing exhortation. All of this we have walked through, session by session, building the assurance John was writing to produce.
If the study has done its work in us, we have come to know, really know, with settled confidence, that we have eternal life. Not because we have performed to a sufficient standard. Because we have been given the Son, through the Gospel the apostles proclaimed, confirmed by the Spirit in our hearts and by the means of grace in our Christian lives. The life is in Him. He is ours. Therefore the life is ours. This is what John aimed at, and if it is now settled in us, the volume has done its work.
What Comes Next
The Christian life continues. The assurance that has been built is not an arrival but a foundation. Now we go on: walking in the light, abiding in what we heard from the beginning, loving the brothers in deed and in truth, guarding ourselves from idols. The aged apostle’s word to his little children was meant for ongoing Christian life, not for a one-time emotional experience of assurance that fades the next week. Live in this. Return to it when doubts rise. Let it shape the whole pattern of life.
For those who have taught this study alongside others, the commendation of Third John applies. Nothing in pastoral work is greater than hearing that those we have taught are walking in the truth. If the study has shaped Christian lives, if your students have grown in assurance, if the love of God has been received more deeply, you have participated in the joy the elder describes. This is the joy of Christian teaching in its truest form.
For everyone who has walked through the volume, the continuing Christian life is what remains. The means of grace continue. The apostolic Gospel continues to be preached. The sacraments continue to be administered. The fellowship of believers continues to gather. The Spirit continues to sanctify. The Christ who was proclaimed continues to save. And in all of this, the promise of the thesis verse continues to be true for us. We have eternal life. It is in the Son. The Son is ours. We may know it, settle into it, rest in it, every day of every year until we see Him face to face.
Gathering the Threads
The short letters of 2 John and 3 John give us the aged apostle in ordinary pastoral correspondence. Second John warns against hospitality to false teachers who deny Christ come in the flesh. Third John commends Gaius for hospitality to faithful missionaries, exposes Diotrephes as a warning, and commends Demetrius as an alternative pattern. Both letters echo the themes of First John in compressed form: walking in the truth, loving one another, discerning between what serves the Gospel and what does not.
For the Lutheran Christian, these short letters preserve the same emphases the volume has been building. The apostolic Gospel as the ground of fellowship. The discernment against false teaching. The love that expresses itself in specific acts of hospitality and support. The importance of faithful leaders who serve rather than dominate. These are not theological novelties; they are the ordinary shape of Christian life, preserved in the apostolic teaching, lived out in every generation of the Church.
And for every Christian who has now worked through all ten sessions of this volume, the invitation is to carry forward what has been received. Know that you have eternal life. Walk in the truth. Love the brothers. Guard yourself from idols. Keep what was heard from the beginning. Abide in Christ, who abides in you. This is the shape of the Christian life, and it is the shape that will continue until He appears and we see Him as He is.
For Discussion
The following questions are for group discussion or personal reflection.
Looking back across the whole study, what one or two teachings have been most formative for you? What do you want to carry forward?
‘I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.’ Who are the people (pastors, teachers, parents, grandparents, friends) whose joy your walking in the truth has been? Have you ever thanked them?
John’s instruction about hospitality to false teachers has modern applications in what we endorse, platform, and support. Where is this principle most relevant in your life right now?
Diotrephes is a warning; Demetrius is a model. In the congregations and ministries you know, where do you see echoes of each? What does Demetrius’ quiet faithfulness look like in practical terms?
The thesis verse (‘that you may know that you have eternal life’) has been the pastoral heart of the volume. Has your assurance grown across these ten sessions? Where do you still want it to settle more deeply?
The Christian life continues after this study ends. What concrete practices will you take forward (in Word, worship, sacrament, prayer, fellowship) to continue abiding in what you have heard from the beginning?
A Closing Word
We have come to the end of our ten-session journey through the Johannine letters. The apostle whose voice has guided us across these weeks (the last surviving of the Twelve, writing, by ancient tradition, from Ephesus near the end of the first century) has given us what we needed. Not new content beyond the Gospel we had received, but the settled reception of what was always there. The Christ who was heard, seen, and touched is still the Christ who is received in the Gospel today. The Spirit who bore witness at Jesus’ baptism, and who now bears witness through the apostolic Word, Baptism, and the Supper, is still at work through the means of grace. The eternal life that was given is still ours, present possession in the Son who is always sufficient.
For the continuing Christian life, there is no better summary than the ones John himself has given us. Walk in the light. Confess your sins. Abide in what you heard from the beginning. Love one another as Christ has loved us. Keep yourselves from idols. Know that you have eternal life. These are not complicated instructions. They are the ordinary shape of Christian existence, given by the apostle who walked with Christ and who has now passed His teaching to us. Receive it. Walk in it. Let it settle deeper every year.
And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Now and forever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Father of all grace, who have brought us through this study of Your apostle’s letters, settle in our hearts what we have received. Grant us to walk in the truth, to love one another, to discern faithfully the spirits we encounter, and to keep ourselves from every idol that would draw us from You. We thank You for Your Son Jesus Christ, the true God and eternal life, and for the Spirit You have given us who continues to testify to Him through Word and sacrament. Keep us in the fellowship, in the apostolic teaching, in the hope of His appearing. Until we see Him face to face and are like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria