3 John 1:1

"The elder," says the apostle. So he steps down from the first place in the church of God, which he had every right to fill. But love takes the better way, and here the Holy Spirit inspired it for the special need... We need not doubt that there was a wise and worthy reason why the apostle John introduced himself as "elder" rather than as apostle, both to the elect lady and to the beloved Gaius.

John writes to those he stood among as an older man. He does not speak of his apostolic authority here. He wrote the letters as "the elder."

Gaius was one of the more common names in the Roman world of the first century. So it is best not to rush to identify the man this letter was sent to with the men of the same name in Acts 19:29, Acts 20:4 or 1 Corinthians 1:14. Paul describes the Gaius of Romans 16:23 as his host. John's well-loved friend certainly knew the privilege of showing Christian hospitality.

There is nothing to show that Gaius was gifted as a teacher or preacher. But he had those spiritual qualities, and without them gift counts for nothing... He comes before us as a humble, gracious and devoted believer. He loved the truth and walked in the truth. He acted in faithfulness and love, helped fellow believers on their journeys, welcomed them into the churches, and so helped to spread the truth. No wonder the Apostle calls him "the beloved Gaius". There was everything in Gaius to draw out the affection of God's people. Who would not want to be a Gaius?

Whether it was the elect lady and her children, or the well-loved Gaius, it is all the same. It was not because of his hospitality, but "whom I love in the truth." No doubt the apostle valued his generosity and care very much. But even in matters completely different from those of his second letter, the mark that pressed on his soul was this: "whom I love in the truth."

It is striking that John, while he speaks of love, always guards it in the clearest way by what he calls "the truth." Real love is in God Himself. He is love, and wherever love is real, the truth as it is in Jesus must guard it, or it is not from God.

It is only here that the word "Church" appears in John's writings... But now he finds he can trust the Church no longer, and he finds relief in the personal grace of this "beloved Gaius." He had honoured the Church from a distance, but he was disappointed. "Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first," had got in, and John has to fall back on what can never fail: on "truth and love" in the "beloved Gaius."

If we had only the Second letter, we might be in danger of becoming rigid, hard and suspicious. But the Third letter tells us whom we are to receive, and to receive with all our heart. If dangerous men go about trying to get in, we must not forget true men who are eager to spread the truth of Christ.