The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
The elder who sends this greeting is the apostle John, addressing Gaius as deeply loved and as one cherished in the truth. The opening is not mere affection but the ground of fellowship, love bound up with shared faithfulness to the truth. It identifies both writer and reader in a bond that prepares for the appeal that follows.
That appeal commends to Gaius's care certain brethren who were preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. They were to be received and entertained, and that welcome was to come through the church of which Gaius was a member. The instruction establishes that God's missionaries should always be given a kind reception. Gaius in his faithful hospitality supplies the pattern to imitate, while Diotrephes supplies the opposite, one who loved preeminence and showed disrespect, hindered the workers, and cast them out.
The elder who sends this greeting is the apostle John, addressing Gaius as deeply loved and as one cherished in the truth. The opening is not mere affection but the ground of fellowship, love bound up with shared faithfulness to the truth. It identifies both writer and reader in a bond that prepares for the appeal that follows.
That appeal commends to Gaius's care certain brethren who were preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. They were to be received and entertained, and that welcome was to come through the church of which Gaius was a member. The instruction establishes that God's missionaries should always be given a kind reception. Gaius in his faithful hospitality supplies the pattern to imitate, while Diotrephes supplies the opposite, one who loved preeminence and showed disrespect, hindered the workers, and cast them out.