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 9-15, Diotrephes and Demetrius
The elder wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, eager to be first, refuses to receive him; he spreads malicious talk, refuses to welcome the brothers and puts out of the church those who do. Gaius is not to imitate evil. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone, and the elder adds his own testimony; he hopes to come soon and talk face to face.
3 John 9-15, in every translation this tool compares.
The elder reports trouble with Diotrephes, a man who wants to be in charge, rejects the elder's authority, spreads accusations against him, refuses to receive traveling believers and expels those who do. The elder promises to deal with this when he comes and urges Gaius to copy good rather than evil. He commends Demetrius, says he would rather talk in person than write, and sends greetings. Why Diotrephes acted as he did is read in more than one way.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sent-agent\/","n":"The one who is sent","s":"Jewish law held that a man's agent was as the man himself, backed by his authority as long as he represented him faithfully. How people treated the agent showed how they treated the one who sent him.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/letters-of-recommendation\/","n":"Letters of recommendation","s":"A traveler often carried a letter from someone his hosts trusted, vouching for him and asking them to receive him. Such letters opened homes, synagogues and churches.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/friendship\/","n":"Friendship, and the friend of Caesar","s":"The ancient world prized friendship: loyalty to the death, goods held in common, secrets shared. The same word covered a patron and his dependents, and friend of Caesar was a title a governor could not afford to lose.","r":""}
Diotrephes apparently led another house church and refused hospitality to missionaries carrying the elder's letters of recommendation (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Why Diotrephes refused is read in different ways. Wright and Bird write, "This is likely to represent a clash of ecclesiastical authority rather than of theological dogma." Käsemann argued that the writer was an early single bishop and Diotrephes the defender of older local freedom; Carson, Moo and Morris answer that he simply "loved to be first", and suggest he may have used the danger of heresy to build his power. 3 John itself may be a letter of recommendation for Demetrius (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes), probably its carrier (the ESV and CSB Study Bibles; Wright and Bird), since "apart from official business of the empire, no public postal service existed" (the cultural backgrounds article on the seven churches). The wish to talk face to face was a standard thing to say in letters (Wright's commentary). The ink of verse 13 was usually black, carbon mixed with a natural gum, on papyrus sheets made from strips of the Egyptian plant (the cultural backgrounds article on writing materials, written for this verse).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to 3 John, and on 3 John 9-11 and 12
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Introduction to 3 John (Genre), and notes on 3 John 9, 12, 13 and 14
- ESV Study Bible, Introduction to 3 John (Purpose, Occasion, and Background), and study notes on 3 John 10, 11, 12 and 15
- CSB Study Bible, notes on 3 John 9, 10, 12 and 15
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 33, Introduction, Genre and purpose, and The Argument of 3 John, section 3
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 21, 1, 2, 3 John, Author and Purpose
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, articles Letters to the Seven Churches and Writing Materials in the Ancient World
- N. T. Wright, Early Christian Letters for Everyone, comment on 3 John 9-15
