Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
3 John 1-8, Gaius and the traveling brothers
The elder writes to his dear friend Gaius, praying that he is in good health and glad to hear that he walks in the truth. Gaius has been faithful in what he does for the brothers, strangers though they are; he should supply them for the next stage of their journey in a way that honors God, since they went out for the sake of the Name and took nothing from the pagans.
3 John 1-8, in every translation this tool compares.
The elder writes a short personal note to Gaius, wishing him good health and rejoicing at reports that he lives by the truth. Gaius has been looking after traveling believers he did not know, and the elder asks him to keep supplying them for their journey in a way that honors God. These travelers went out on behalf of the Name and took nothing from outsiders, so believers who support them become partners in the truth.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/letters-and-letter-carriers\/","n":"Letters, scribes and carriers","s":"Letters were usually dictated to scribes, carried by trusted travelers because there was no public post, and read aloud to the people they were sent to.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/hospitality\/","n":"Hospitality to travelers","s":"Taking in travelers was one of the great virtues of the ancient Mediterranean, above all among Jews. Messengers could travel light because they expected to be housed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/gods-name\/","n":"God's name and I am","s":"God gave his name to Moses at the burning bush as I AM, and in Isaiah he says I am he. To make God's name known was to show who he is, and when Jesus uses those words in certain settings, his hearers can take them as God's own name.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/orators-and-sophists\/","n":"Orators, rhetoric and boasting","s":"Public speaking was the great skill of the Greek city. Traveling orators performed for crowds and gathered paying students, audiences judged them on voice and gesture as well as argument, and the fans of rival speakers boasted of their own man against the rest.","r":""}
On the elder, see the note on 2 John 1-6; Carson, Moo and Morris place all three letters near Ephesus in the early nineties. Gaius was "one of the most frequent Roman names" (the cultural backgrounds notes), so he need not be any other Gaius in the New Testament; Carson, Moo and Morris call him "not to be associated with Gaius of Corinth", noting that only the late Apostolic Constitutions link him with Gaius of Derbe, and Wright and Bird think him a leader of a nearby church. Hospitality was a key virtue, inns were poor and often doubled as brothels, and Jewish travelers carried letters of recommendation, a practice Christians took over (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). To send someone on often meant supplying the next stage of the journey (the cultural backgrounds notes; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). Traveling speakers who lived off their hearers were often suspected of greed (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener), and the Didache rules that a departing apostle takes only bread, "but if he ask money, he is a false prophet". Wright and Bird write that "The third Johannine letter is about hospitality".
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 3 John, and on 3 John 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on 3 John 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7
- ESV Study Bible, Introduction to 3 John (Purpose, Occasion, and Background), and study notes on 3 John 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7
- CSB Study Bible, notes on 3 John 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 33, Introduction, and The Argument of 3 John, sections 1 and 2
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 21, 1, 2, 3 John, Author, Provenance, Date and Destination
- The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) 11.6, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7
