Chapter 26
3 John 1:9-10
3 John 1:9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
Earlier in verse six John mentioned that Gaius should continue providing for the traveling teachers in a manner worthy or pleasing to God. He then offered three points to consider what might be considered worthy, beginning with the motivation as we are to do everything in His name. God should never be an afterthought in a Christian’s mind. God is to be our priority in life. John essentially says that where God guides, He also provides and as Christian’s we should not seek nor expect support from non-believers or from any non-Christian organization. John then clearly states that support for Christian outreach and service should come from other Christians. John follows these God pleasing points with a serious issue and example of what is clearly not pleasing to God, and to a large degree, is still a major hindrance to the church at large today.
To understand these verses, we need to begin by exploring how the Bible presents and handles the issue of pride, arrogance, and conceit. First, it is important to note that Eve was not the first person to disobey God. Even though we do not see in the book of Genesis when or how the angel Lucifer fell and took with him one-third of the angels (we know about Satan indirectly by listening to the words given by God to the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and to the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 where God is speaking to the ‘power’ behind each king, not just to the kings themselves), we know Satan saw himself as a god. It was his pride that led to the events in the garden where Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit.
We can also learn some things from the definition of the words used to describe pride in the Bible. For example, in the Hebrew the word ‘gāḇah’ (often translated as ‘arrogance’ or ‘haughtiness’) literally means ‘tall’ or ‘high’ and the word ‘gōḇah’ (usually translated ‘pride’, ‘proud’ or ‘exalted’) also refers to something or someone being high and lofty. The Greek word ‘typhoō’ (translated ‘pride’, ‘proud’ or ‘conceit’) from the Greek word for ‘smoke’, conveys the concept of being “puffed up” (the Bible consistently uses the idiom of ‘leaven’ or ‘yeast’ to represent sin as it corrupts by “puffing up”). We also see the Greek word ‘hyperēphanos’ (usually translated as ‘arrogant’) means to put oneself first and the Greek word ‘alazōn’ (another word that is translated either ‘proud’, ‘boaster’ or ‘braggart’) refers to someone being a pretender or bragging about something they do not possess.
However, the Bible teaches in greater depth on this subject than what we can learn from the derivation and/or definition of the words. To help us learn how God views pride, arrogance, and conceit we need to examine the use of these words in Scripture. The following is a short list of Bible passages that may aid in our understanding:
In summary, pride, arrogance, and conceit simply keep us (and potentially others) from God. In the next two verses in 3 John we will be hearing about a person who is often called an arrogant Christian. Seeing and understading how the Bible handles the subject of pride, we can conclude that the idea of someone being a true Christian, and also be a prideful, arrogant, or conceited person just doesn’t make any sense.
John introduces the third person in his letter, Diotrephes, which is a very rare name. We do not know much about him, although his name means essentially, “nourished by Zeus” making some scholars think that he may have come from royalty (and since royalty often possess an “air of arrogance,” that may be true). John says he wrote something to the church, we do not have record of that letter he is referring to. John, as well as all the other epistle writers, may have written many letters that were either not found or included in the Canon of Scripture. He points out that Diotrephes likes to put himself first (Greek ‘philoprōteuō’ means literally “love preeminent” or to hold first place) and does not accept or acknowledge John’s authority. While the concept of authority is somewhat blurred today (Greek word ‘epidechomai’ means to receive, accept or assent to), the authority of John, being one of Jesus’ closest disciples, apostle, and friend should have been without question.
John planned on making the church aware of Diotrephes’ actions as his behavior was unacceptable. As Christians we have a responsibility to call attention to other Christians about any potential problem that may not be considered appropriate in God’s eyes and especially anything that might get in the way of God’s work (see Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:15-17; Luke 17:3; 2 Thessalonians 3:15; 1 Timothy 5:19-20; Titus 1:13; 2:11; 3:10 and James 5:19-20). Even though this is well documented in the Bible (including from Jesus Himself) we often shy away from admonishing another Christian. People like to quote Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (ESV) but Jesus is not saying that we should not judge someone but that we should not judge someone hypocritically (He later in the same chapter of Matthew calls each believer to be fruit inspectors, see verses 15-20).
John brings up several issues against Diotrephes including, “talking wicked nonsense” against him. The word John uses here is ‘phlyareō’ meaning “idle accusations” which is similar to the word Paul used in 1 Timothy 5:13 that is translated simply as ‘gossip’. It appears that Diotrephes, instead of examining the content of John’s message, is out to assassinate John’s character (a practice that is often used in courtrooms today, if you can make the messenger or witness look bad or negate their credibility, you can call into question the truth of their message, regardless if it is true or not). Next, John says that Diotrephes is not just satisfied with his verbal attack on John, he is now denying hospitality to the traveling teachers himself. This is also a lesson for us today, just because we do not know someone or that they come from some other Christian affiliation, that does not mean we should not support them (obviously some investigation to their beliefs and teaching is in order but we should not stop just because they are unknown). Refusing God’s workers is essentially the same thing as refusing God.
Diotrephes didn’t stop there, he also attempts to prevent those affiliated with his church to offer any support or hospitality by threatening excommunication. Perhaps this is what happened to Gaius. Diotrephes is definitely a person we do not want to emulate, sadly there are many people like him in church leadership, even today. We are to follow only what is good (see verse 11). If you have to boast then boast about God (read Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:31 and 2 Corinthians 10:17).