Third Letter of John written

The shortest book in the Bible, fourteen verses, and it is the only piece of writing in the New Testament that is entirely about a personal dispute in a single congregation.

The elder writes to a man named Gaius, whom he calls dear friend four times, and commends him for something specific: showing hospitality to travelling believers who were strangers to him, and sending them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

Those travellers had gone out for the sake of the Name, receiving no help from the pagans, so we ought to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth. That is the practical mechanism by which the movement spread: teachers travelling without funds, dependent entirely on believers taking them in.

Which makes the second half of the letter what it is.

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

Nothing is said about doctrine. The charge against Diotrephes is that he loves to be first, refuses to receive the elder's letters or his people, talks about him behind his back, and expels members who disagree.

That is the earliest recorded church quarrel about authority, and it is entirely recognisable: a local leader who has established control and will not accept correction from outside, and a senior figure at a distance with no mechanism to enforce anything except turning up in person.

A third man, Demetrius, is commended as someone everyone speaks well of, and he is probably the one carrying the letter, which would make the commendation a letter of reference.

The closing is the same as in the other short letter: I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Nothing more is known about any of the three men.

That a letter about a man refusing to answer his post was itself preserved and copied for two thousand years is one of the quieter ironies in the New Testament.

Diotrephes is the only person in the New Testament criticised purely for behaviour within a church, with no doctrinal charge attached, which makes the letter unexpectedly useful.

Hospitality is treated in the New Testament as a duty rather than a courtesy, and the reason is structural. There were no Christian buildings, no clergy salaries and no institutions; a teacher travelling between congregations depended entirely on households opening their doors.

Inns existed and had a reputation. Ancient writers describe them as filthy, expensive and attached to brothels, which is why a believer arriving in a strange town looked for a house instead.

Gaius is one of the commonest names in the Roman world and at least three men called Gaius appear in the New Testament, so identifying this one with any of them is guesswork.