3 John: Walking in Truth and Making Room for What Is Good
Discover how truth becomes visible through faithfulness, hospitality and humble service – and why following what is good sometimes requires both generous support and courageous resistance.
Welcome to 3 John
Third John is the shortest book of the Bible by word count in the original Greek.
Yet within this tiny personal letter, John gives us a remarkably vivid picture of Christian character.
Three people stand before us.
Gaius.
A faithful believer whose life brings John great joy.
He walks in truth.
He loves fellow believers.
He welcomes travelling Christian workers even though they were previously strangers to him.
His faith has become generous hospitality.
Diotrephes.
A man within the church who “loves to have first place.”
He rejects John’s authority.
He spreads malicious accusations.
He refuses hospitality to fellow believers.
And he attempts to remove from the church those who want to welcome them.
His desire for prominence has begun harming the community around him.
Demetrius.
A man well spoken of by everyone, by the truth itself and by John.
Three people.
Three patterns of life.
And in the middle of them John gives a simple instruction:
“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
Third John therefore asks us to pay attention not only to what people say they believe but to what their lives produce.
Truth can be walked in.
Love can become practical.
Hospitality can advance the work of the gospel.
Leadership can serve others.
Or leadership can become a place where ego seeks control.
The difference matters.
John does not give us a long theological argument.
He gives us something almost more confronting.
He lets us watch truth and pride become visible in real people.
And then he asks us to choose what we will imitate.
Before You Begin
Third John identifies its writer simply as “the elder,” as does 2 John.
The letter has traditionally been associated with John and shares the vocabulary and concerns found throughout the Johannine letters, particularly truth, love and faithful Christian fellowship.
It is addressed to a believer named Gaius.
Several men named Gaius appear elsewhere in the New Testament, but Scripture does not establish that this Gaius is identical with any of them. We should therefore resist trying to identify him more precisely than the letter allows.
The immediate situation involves travelling Christian workers.
In the early church, missionaries and teachers often depended upon the hospitality of fellow believers as they travelled.
Supporting them could therefore become genuine participation in their ministry.
Gaius has been faithfully welcoming such believers.
Diotrephes has taken the opposite approach.
He refuses to receive them and prevents others from doing so.
John strongly confronts his behaviour.
But an important distinction should be noticed between 2 John and 3 John.
In 2 John, believers are warned not to support travelling teachers who deny the truth about Christ.
In 3 John, Gaius is commended for supporting faithful workers who have gone out for the sake of Christ.
Taken together, the letters give a balanced picture of Christian hospitality.
Do not support teaching that undermines Christ.
Generously support those who faithfully serve Christ.
Christian hospitality is therefore neither indiscriminate nor closed.
It is loving and discerning.
The Message of 3 John
Third John is a deeply personal letter, but three great concerns run through it.
Walk in truth.
John’s greatest joy is hearing that his children are walking in truth.
Truth has moved beyond belief into conduct.
Support what is good.
Gaius faithfully serves Christian workers.
John says that by supporting such people, believers become “coworkers with the truth.”
Do not imitate self-serving leadership.
Diotrephes loves first place.
His desire for prominence damages relationships, rejects appropriate authority and prevents others from doing good.
John therefore tells Gaius:
“Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
Third John asks a searching question:
What kind of influence does your life create around you?
Does your presence make it easier for others to serve God faithfully?
Or does pride, control, insecurity or the desire for recognition begin making everything harder?
Movement 1 – Walking in Truth
3 John 1-4
What Happens Here
John addresses Gaius warmly:
“Dear friend, whom I love in the truth.”
He prays that Gaius may prosper in every way and be in good health, just as his soul prospers.
This personal greeting should not be turned into a universal promise that faithful Christians will always experience financial prosperity or physical health.
John is expressing a loving prayer for a particular friend.
His greatest joy comes from another report.
Fellow believers have testified to Gaius’s faithfulness to the truth.
Gaius is “walking in truth.”
John responds:
“I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.”
What to Notice About God
Truth is meant to become a way of life.
Throughout John’s letters, truth is never merely something Christians possess intellectually.
It shapes the walk.
What believers know about God, Christ and the gospel is meant increasingly to become visible in ordinary conduct.
God’s truth reaches beyond information towards transformation.
A Thread to Follow
John does not say his greatest joy is that Gaius has accumulated impressive biblical knowledge.
He rejoices that Gaius is walking in truth.
There is an important difference between knowing what is true and living from what is true.
Christian maturity brings the two increasingly together.
Pause & Notice
- What report about Gaius brings John such great joy?
- What does the phrase “walking in truth” suggest about the relationship between belief and everyday life?
- If someone observed your ordinary choices rather than listening to what you say you believe, where would God’s truth be most clearly visible in the way you live?
Movement 2 – Faithfulness to Strangers
3 John 5-8
What Happens Here
John now commends Gaius for something specific.
“Dear friend, you are acting faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers and sisters, especially when they are strangers.”
Gaius has been welcoming travelling Christians whom he did not previously know.
These believers have testified before the church about his love.
John encourages Gaius to continue helping them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
These workers have gone out “for the sake of the Name,” receiving no support from the Gentiles.
John therefore says:
“We ought to support such people so that we can be coworkers with the truth.”
That is a striking description.
Gaius may not be travelling with these workers.
He may not be performing the same ministry.
But by faithfully supporting them, he participates in what God is doing through them.
What to Notice About God
God’s work often involves many different forms of faithfulness.
Some go.
Some welcome.
Some teach.
Some provide.
Some send.
Some give.
Some make room.
John does not treat supportive service as spiritually insignificant.
Those who help faithful workers become “coworkers with the truth.”
The kingdom of God is not built only through the most visible people.
A Thread to Follow
Hospitality in 3 John is love made practical.
Gaius does not merely wish the travelling believers well.
He provides what they need.
This echoes something John has already written in 1 John:
“Let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.”
Love becomes visible through what it is willing to do.
Pause & Notice
- What does Gaius do that John describes as faithful?
- Why does John call those who support faithful Christian workers “coworkers with the truth”?
- Do you tend to value visible forms of service more highly than quiet acts of support, generosity and hospitality that make another person’s faithfulness possible?
Movement 3 – Diotrephes Loves to Have First Place
3 John 9-10
What Happens Here
The tone changes sharply.
John says he had written something to the church, but:
“Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive our authority.”
John identifies something happening within Diotrephes before describing what comes out of it.
He loves to have first place.
This desire for prominence becomes visible through several behaviours.
He refuses to acknowledge John’s authority.
He spreads malicious accusations against John and his associates.
He refuses to welcome the travelling brothers and sisters.
And he prevents those who want to welcome them from doing so, even putting them out of the church.
John says that when he comes, he will call attention to what Diotrephes is doing.
John does not ignore destructive behaviour in the name of keeping peace.
What to Notice About God
Although God is not directly named in these verses, John’s response reflects an important biblical principle.
Leadership among God’s people is not meant to become a platform for self-exaltation.
Jesus consistently taught His disciples that greatness in His kingdom looks like service rather than domination.
Diotrephes has moved in the opposite direction.
His leadership has become centred upon maintaining his own position.
A Thread to Follow
John gives us one of Scripture’s most concise diagnoses of unhealthy leadership:
He loves to have first place.
Notice how much grows from that desire.
Rejection of accountability.
Malicious speech.
Control.
Exclusion.
Preventing others from doing good.
The external behaviour reveals an internal hunger for prominence.
Pride rarely remains private.
Eventually it shapes the environment around it.
Pause & Notice
- What behaviours grow from Diotrephes’ desire to have first place?
- How does his leadership contrast with the servant-hearted pattern Jesus taught?
- When your ideas, position or preferences are challenged, what happens inside you – are you able to remain teachable, or does the need to be right, recognised or in control begin shaping your response?
Movement 4 – Do Not Imitate What Is Evil
3 John 11-12
What Happens Here
John turns back towards Gaius with a direct instruction:
“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
He then adds:
“The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.”
As throughout John’s letters, he is describing the character and direction of a life rather than teaching that a single failure proves a person has never known God.
John then introduces Demetrius.
“Everyone speaks well of Demetrius – even the truth itself.”
John also testifies concerning him, and Gaius knows that John’s testimony is true.
Demetrius therefore stands as a positive example alongside Gaius.
Diotrephes provides the warning.
Demetrius provides another pattern worth following.
What to Notice About God
Knowing God should increasingly produce what is good.
John again refuses to separate spiritual claims from visible life.
This does not mean goodness earns relationship with God.
Throughout John’s writings, life comes through the Son.
But the life God gives produces fruit.
The God who is good forms His people towards goodness.
A Thread to Follow
John understands the power of imitation.
People shape people.
We learn attitudes, habits, responses and even ways of using power from those around us.
John therefore does not merely say:
“Avoid evil.”
He says:
“Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
The question is not only what influences you reject.
It is also what examples you intentionally follow.
Pause & Notice
- What contrast does John draw between doing good and doing evil?
- Why might Demetrius be mentioned immediately after John’s warning about Diotrephes?
- Who or what are you allowing to shape the way you speak, lead, respond to disagreement and treat other people – and is that example producing greater resemblance to Christ?
Movement 5 – Face to Face
3 John 13-15
What Happens Here
Like 2 John, this letter closes with John’s desire for personal fellowship.
He has much more he could write, but he does not want to continue merely with pen and ink.
He hopes to see Gaius soon.
Then they can speak face to face.
John closes with peace and greetings between friends.
“Peace to you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name.”
It is a beautifully personal ending.
Names matter.
People matter.
Christian truth is lived in relationships.
What to Notice About God
The Christian faith forms a people, not merely isolated individuals with private beliefs.
John’s language is full of relationship.
Dear friend.
Brothers and sisters.
Coworkers.
Friends.
By name.
The truth of Christ creates genuine fellowship among people who belong to Him.
A Thread to Follow
John’s desire to speak face to face reminds us that relationships cannot always be reduced to messages.
Written communication is valuable.
John himself is writing Scripture.
Yet presence matters.
Listening matters.
Conversation matters.
Knowing people “by name” matters.
Truth is meant to be lived among real people.
Pause & Notice
- What does John’s closing reveal about the importance he places upon personal relationships?
- How does this relational ending fit with the themes of hospitality and fellowship throughout the letter?
- Are there relationships in your life where genuine presence, listening or face-to-face conversation may accomplish something that continued messages cannot?
See 3 John as a Whole
Third John gives us three lives to observe.
Gaius walks in truth.
Diotrephes loves first place.
Demetrius has a good testimony.
And John tells us:
Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.
The contrast is powerful because each person’s inner orientation becomes visible through relationships.
Gaius’s truth becomes hospitality.
Diotrephes’ pride becomes control.
Demetrius’s character becomes a good testimony.
This is what makes 3 John so transformational.
It asks us to look beyond what we say we value and examine what our lives actually create around us.
Does knowing truth make us more faithful?
Does love make room for people?
Does leadership help others flourish?
Does our presence encourage people towards what is good?
Do we use influence to serve or to control?
Do we celebrate the contribution of others or feel threatened when attention moves away from us?
John does not give us abstract leadership theory.
He gives us people.
Then he invites us to notice whom we are becoming like.
Seven Great Threads to Carry With You
1. Truth Is Meant to Be Walked In
John’s joy comes from hearing that Gaius is walking in truth.
Knowing truth is important.
Defending truth can be important.
But truth reaches its intended destination when it shapes the way we live.
2. Love Becomes Practical
Gaius’s love is visible through hospitality.
He welcomes people.
Supports them.
Helps them continue their journey.
Biblical love moves beyond good intentions.
It asks:
What would genuinely serve this person?
3. Supporting Faithful Work Is Genuine Participation
Not everyone has the same role.
Gaius does not need to become a travelling missionary in order to matter.
By supporting those who go, he becomes a coworker with the truth.
There is dignity in faithful support.
The visible ministry and the person quietly making that ministry possible both matter.
4. The Desire for Prominence Can Corrupt Leadership
Diotrephes loves first place.
That desire does not remain hidden.
It affects the way he speaks.
The authority he accepts.
The people he welcomes.
The freedom he gives others.
The community itself.
A desire to be important can quietly turn service into control.
5. Christian Leadership Should Make Room for Faithfulness
Diotrephes prevents others from welcoming faithful workers.
His leadership does not merely refuse good.
It obstructs other people from doing good.
Healthy influence does the opposite.
It encourages.
Equips.
Makes room.
Celebrates faithfulness beyond itself.
6. Choose Your Examples Carefully
John tells Gaius to imitate what is good.
We become shaped by what we repeatedly admire.
Character is contagious.
Pay attention to the people, voices and patterns you allow to teach you what success, leadership, strength and spirituality look like.
7. People Matter by Name
John ends:
“Greet the friends by name.”
After confronting power, deception and conflict, the letter returns to people.
Christian ministry is never merely about programmes, platforms, audiences or achievements.
It is about people whom God knows and loves.
Where 3 John Leads
Third John fits beautifully alongside 1 and 2 John.
First John teaches believers to walk in light, truth and love.
Second John shows that love requires discernment: do not support teachers who deny Christ.
Third John gives the complementary truth: faithfully support those who serve Christ.
Together the letters give us a mature picture of Christian fellowship.
Love generously.
Discern carefully.
Support truth.
Do not participate in deception.
Third John also echoes Jesus’ teaching about leadership.
Jesus warned His disciples against the kind of leadership that “lords it over” others.
Instead:
“Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant.”
Diotrephes loves first place.
Jesus takes the lowest place.
Diotrephes protects his position.
Jesus lays down His life.
Diotrephes excludes people who threaten his control.
Jesus forms a people through sacrificial love.
Third John does not explicitly make this comparison, so we should not pretend John directly develops it here.
But within the wider New Testament, the contrast is unmistakable.
Christian leadership takes its shape from Christ.
And Christ’s greatness is revealed through humble, self-giving service.
Before You Leave 3 John
Third John is only a few paragraphs long.
But it may ask one of the most revealing questions in Scripture:
What does your presence make easier for other people?
Gaius makes faithfulness easier.
Travelling believers arrive.
He welcomes them.
They need support.
He provides it.
They need to continue their journey.
He helps them.
His life creates room for other people to serve God.
Diotrephes does the opposite.
He makes faithfulness harder.
He refuses good workers.
He attacks those he perceives as threatening.
He controls who can be welcomed.
He pushes out people who will not comply.
His influence narrows the space around him.
The difference begins in the heart.
One serves.
One wants first place.
That phrase deserves careful attention.
“He loves to have first place.”
Most of us would probably never say:
“I want to be the most important person here.”
Pride is often subtler.
We may simply become uncomfortable when our suggestion is not chosen.
Defensive when corrected.
Disappointed when someone else receives recognition.
Frustrated when people do things differently from us.
Compelled to explain why we were right.
Threatened when someone else succeeds.
Hurt when our contribution is unnoticed.
None of those reactions automatically makes someone like Diotrephes.
But they can reveal places where the desire for importance is asking for more room than it should have.
Instead of immediately condemning yourself, become curious before God.
Why did that affect me so strongly?
What was I hoping to receive?
Did I need recognition?
Did I need control?
Did I need to be right?
Did someone else’s success feel like a reduction of my own worth?
Those questions can bring hidden motives into the light.
And once they are in the light, they can be surrendered.
There is freedom in no longer needing first place.
You can celebrate another person’s gift without diminishing your own.
You can allow someone else to lead.
You can receive correction.
You can change your mind.
You can serve where nobody notices.
You can help another person succeed.
You can give without attaching your identity to whether anyone remembers who gave.
Gaius shows us another side of transformation.
He simply makes room.
There is nothing spectacular about hospitality.
A meal.
A bed.
Resources.
Encouragement.
Practical assistance.
Yet John calls those who provide such support:
“Coworkers with the truth.”
Never underestimate quiet faithfulness.
The person on the platform is not necessarily doing something more important than the person who made the work possible.
God’s kingdom is filled with contributions most people never see.
A prayer.
A meal.
A gift.
A conversation.
A room prepared.
A person encouraged.
A need quietly met.
A faithful yes.
When these things serve what is true and good, they matter.
Then John gives one of the simplest discipleship principles imaginable:
“Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
Look at what you admire.
The loudest voice?
The most successful person?
The strongest personality?
The person everyone notices?
Or character?
Faithfulness?
Humility?
Generosity?
Truth?
Love?
You will gradually be shaped by what you celebrate.
Choose examples carefully.
And finally, remember John’s closing words:
“Greet the friends by name.”
There is something beautiful there.
People are not projects.
Not numbers.
Not audiences.
Not useful connections.
Not obstacles.
Not supporting characters in our own story.
They have names.
Truth should never make us less human.
Ministry should never make people disappear behind the work.
Leadership should never make position more important than relationship.
The apostle who confronts Diotrephes still knows the friends by name.
Perhaps that is a beautiful picture of what mature Christian influence can look like.
Strong enough to confront what is harmful.
Humble enough not to need first place.
Generous enough to support someone else’s calling.
Faithful enough to walk in truth.
And relational enough to remember the person in front of you.
Pause Before You Continue
- When you consider Gaius, Diotrephes and Demetrius together, what does 3 John reveal about the way inner character eventually becomes visible through relationships and behaviour?
- What does Gaius’s example teach about the spiritual value of hospitality, generosity and quietly supporting the faithful work of others?
- When someone else receives recognition, succeeds, leads differently from you or challenges your opinion, what does your internal response reveal about your relationship with recognition and control?
- Does your influence generally make it easier for other people to flourish and serve faithfully, or are there situations where fear, insecurity or the desire for control causes you to narrow the space around them?
- Who are you presently imitating – intentionally or unintentionally – and are those influences forming greater humility, truthfulness, generosity and Christlike love in you?
Now Open His Word
Now return to 3 John.
It contains only fifteen verses, so begin by reading the entire letter without stopping.
Meet the people.
Gaius.
Diotrephes.
Demetrius.
Then return to the beginning.
Notice John’s affection for Gaius.
“Dear friend…”
John repeats this personal address throughout the letter.
Then read his prayer concerning Gaius’s health and wellbeing.
Keep it in context.
John loves his friend and hopes things are going well for him physically just as they are spiritually.
Do not turn this greeting into a universal promise that spiritual faithfulness guarantees physical health or material prosperity.
Then stop at John’s great joy:
“To hear that my children are walking in truth.”
Ask what John celebrates.
Not merely knowing truth.
Walking in it.
Then move into verses 5-8.
Notice how practical Gaius’s faith becomes.
He serves fellow believers.
Even strangers.
They testify about his love.
He helps them continue their journey.
Then notice John’s description of Gaius’s participation:
“Coworkers with the truth.”
Perhaps you sometimes assume that only visible ministry counts.
Let John correct that.
Support can be ministry.
Hospitality can be ministry.
Generosity can be ministry.
Making another person’s faithful service possible can itself be faithful service.
Then enter verse 9.
Read John’s description of Diotrephes carefully.
Before John describes his actions, he gives you the heart issue:
He “loves to have first place.”
Then watch what grows from it.
He rejects authority.
He spreads malicious words.
He refuses hospitality.
He prevents others from offering hospitality.
He removes people who resist his control.
Trace the movement.
Desire for prominence does not remain an internal preference.
It begins reshaping an entire community.
Then bring the passage closer without using it merely to diagnose someone else.
It can be easy to read about Diotrephes and immediately think of a controlling leader you have known.
Resist that for a moment.
Ask instead:
Is there any place where I love first place?
Maybe not publicly.
Maybe internally.
Do you need your idea to win?
Your contribution to be noticed?
Your interpretation to be accepted?
Your generosity to be appreciated?
Your sacrifice to be remembered?
Your opinion to have the final word?
Do not answer with shame.
Bring the answer honestly before God.
Truth brought into the light can become an invitation to freedom.
Then notice something else.
John does not ignore Diotrephes’ behaviour.
He says he will call attention to it.
Christian peace does not mean pretending destructive conduct is harmless.
Humility does not require silence about wrongdoing.
There are times when faithful love confronts.
Then move into verse 11.
“Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
Read that sentence slowly.
Ask:
What am I repeatedly watching, admiring and absorbing?
People teach us what matters even when they are not intentionally teaching.
If you continually admire prominence, you may begin craving prominence.
If you admire control, you may begin mistaking control for strength.
If you admire humility, faithfulness, generosity and service, those qualities begin becoming more visible as desirable ways to live.
Then meet Demetrius.
Notice the threefold testimony.
Others speak well of him.
The truth itself testifies.
John testifies.
His reputation appears to correspond with his character.
Then step back and compare all three people.
Gaius: walking in truth and helping others.
Diotrephes: loving first place and hindering others.
Demetrius: receiving a good testimony.
Ask:
What kind of person makes the people around them freer to do what is good?
Then reach the final verses.
John could continue writing.
Instead, he wants to speak face to face.
Notice again how relational the letter is.
Then let the final phrase stay with you:
“Greet the friends by name.”
By name.
After everything about truth, ministry, leadership and conflict, John returns to people.
Perhaps that is worth carrying with you.
Whatever God gives you to do…
Whatever responsibility you carry…
Whatever truth you defend…
Whatever ministry you support…
Whatever influence you gain…
Do not lose sight of people.
Walk in truth.
Make room for what is good.
Do not need first place.
Use whatever influence you have to help rather than hinder.
Choose carefully what you imitate.
Support faithfulness wherever you find it.
And remember the people around you by name.
Continue Your Journey Through 3 John
The Overview has helped you see the heart of this tiny personal letter.
Now step closer.
Read its fifteen verses slowly and watch what each life reveals.
Notice Gaius’s quiet faithfulness.
Notice what grows from Diotrephes’ desire for prominence.
Notice Demetrius’s good testimony.
Then allow John’s simple instruction to remain with you:
“Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.”
Let truth become something you walk in.
Let love become practical.
Let influence become service.
And wherever God has placed you, look for ways to make room for what is good.
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