Commentary on John 3:1-8 (Read John 3:1-8) Nicodemus was afraid, or ashamed to be seen with Christ, therefore came in the night. Matthew Henry's Commentary – 3 John . Go to To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use our convenient peri pantōn- would be more correctly rendered here “concerning, or in respect to all things;” and the idea is, that John wished earnestly that “in all respects” he might have the same kind of prosperity which his soul had. Learn more. N.T.

If he had gone with these strangers, and had carried this letter, it would have been noticed, and it would have been in accordance with the apostolic custom, that he should have been commended to the favorable attentions of Gaius. 3 John 1. ... 3 John. It is often in the power of one such man to bring a whole church under his control, and effectually to embarrass all its movements, and to prevent all the good which it would otherwise accomplish. In the history of the Acts and in the epistles we meet with five persons of this name. Includes Topical Study on the Feasts (Lessons 2-4) and Topical Study on Sheep (2) that there were certain persons known to the writer of the Epistle, and who either lived where he did, or who had been commended to him by others who proposed to travel to the place where Gaius lived. commendation to the church, (3 John 9), and had been rejected by the church through the influence of Diotrephes, and who, after having been hospitably entertained by Gaius, had again returned to the writer of this Epistle. Commentaries for the book of 3 John. Stephen S. Smalley. 2d, A Gaius of Derbe, a city of Lycaonia, mentioned Acts 20:4. the highest joy that a Christian parent can have is to know that his children, whether at home or abroad, adhere to the truths of religion, and live in accordance with the requirements of the gospel of Christ.If a child wished to confer the highest possible happiness upon his parents when with them, it would be by becoming a decided Christian; if, when abroad, in foreign lands or his own, he wished to convey intelligence to them that would most thrill their hearts with joy, it would be to announce to them that he had given his heart to God. Lesson 1 of each part can be downloaded below as Pdf. On this occasion, probably, they bore this Epistle to him. The elder unto the well-beloved Gaius — Gaius, or, according to the Latin orthography, Caius, was a common name among the Romans. He exhorts Gaius to persevere in that which was good - in a life of love and kindness, in an imitation of the benevolent God, V. Of another person - Demetrius - who, it would seem, had been associated with Gaius in the honorable course which he had pursued, in opposition to what the church had done, he also speaks in terms of commendation, and says that the same honorable testimony had been borne of him which had been of Gaius, VI.

The first of these suppositions is hardly probable; but, though he may have admitted that he was an apostle, there were perhaps some reasons operating in this particular case why he prevailed on the church to reject those who had been thus commended to their hospitality. 3 John 1:1. And though now he came by night, yet afterward he owned Christ publicly.

(2)the fair and obvious interpretation of the Greek word used by the apostle, ((3)it is more probable that John had written to the church on some former occasion, and that his recommendation had been rejected by the influence of Diotrephes, than that he would be deterred by the apprehension that his recommendation would be rejected.It seems to me, therefore, that the fair interpretation of this passage is, that these brethren had gone forth on some former occasion, commended by John to the church, and had been rejected by the influence of Diotrephes, and that now he commends them to Gains, by whom they had been formerly entertained, and asks him to renew his hospitality to them.The single word rendered “who loveth to have the pre-eminence,” Whatever was the cause, the case furnishes an illustration of the bad influence of one ambitious and arrogant man in a church. Gaius probably aided them in every way in which it was practicable.

What were the alleged grounds for the course which he constrained the church to take, we are not informed; the real ground, the apostle says, was his desire to rule. The word does not properly imply that there was malignity or ill-feeling in what was said, but that the talk was of an idle, foolish, and unpprofitable character.