Three Men in 3 John #1: Gaius

I’m currently reading the much-acclaimed #1 Sunday Times (and New York Times) Bestseller ‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo (warning: sexually explicit). I’ve just finished reading the 2019 Booker Prize winner ‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Atwood, which features the accounts of three very different women. I’m halfway through writing a novel from the perspective of three inter-connected women that I started over three years ago.

But in these next three blogs, we focus in on three men. These three men are named in the short letter from John that is known in our Bibles as 3 John: Gaius, Diotrephes and Demetrius.

GAIUS

The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honours God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

3 John v1-8

Gaius is the primary recipient of this letter; it’s addressed specifically to him. Gaius was a very common name in the Roman Empire, so we cannot know for sure if this is the same Gaius as mentioned in Acts 19:29, 20:4, 1 Corinthians 1:14 or Romans 16:23, but we can still learn much from his example. John describes him as a man of integrity, worthy of respect. I would love for someone to write to me in this way, wouldn’t you? So let’s see what makes Gaius such a good example of how to live as a follower of Jesus in this world.

In some translations, ‘all may go well with you’ is written as ‘prosper’, making this one of the passages to back a prosperity gospel. However, prosper literally means ‘have a good journey.’ It’s what we would wish for anyone we care for, right? It includes so much more than material success. It’s like saying, ‘I hope things go well for you.’ and was a common part of the everyday language of letter writing.

This is a great attitude for us to adopt and emulate too: desiring the best for others holistically in physical health, mental health and spiritual heath. Each of these matters. Where we can support and encourage others in any of these areas, then let us do so with generosity of heart.

As we have seen in John’s previous letters, nothing gives John more joy than knowing that his spiritual children are walking in truth. It’s interesting that John only knows about how Gaius is walking in the truth, because others have told him. Others have noticed and reported back. It is how Gaius lives his life that bears witness to the truth. Others can see it.

Walking in truth is so much more than right knowledge. This is about lived experience. It’s when your whole life is aligned with the truth that you believe wholeheartedly in. If you believe you are a child of God, then live a life that demonstrates that belief. If you believe God is love, then live a life of love. It’s all about integrity, being true to your identity in God. Don’t pretend, don’t hide anything, be real.

John praises Gaius for the faithfulness of his hospitality. We see throughout the Bible how hospitality is a key outworking of love in action. We see in our world how hard hospitality to the stranger is to put into practice.

Gaius is generous in his support of others, whether he knows them or not. Travelling Christian leaders and preachers were dependent on support from local believers. Without these local believers, the Gospel would never have spread, and the church would never have been established. These faithful believers were as important in spreading the Good News of Jesus as the early church leaders themselves.

Gaius is faithful to his calling. Faithfulness is a great compliment. Being faithful in whatever you are called to do day in day out is the challenge presented to us here. We all have a part to play and we are called to play it well.

John ends this letter to Gaius with his final blessings and greeting from friends. He has so much more to say when he sees Gaius face to face. We have no way of knowing if that meeting ever took place.

Peace to you.

This is John’s desire and prayer for Gaius. The part of the letter we haven’t covered today is about contention and conflict (and the other two of our three men). Gaius will need wisdom and peace to face the issues he has to contend with. We all need to pray for peace for ourselves and others so that we can act 24/7 as people of peace in whatever difficult situations we find ourselves.

Peace to you.