The Apostle John wrote a letter to a fellow believer. We call this letter
3 John
3 John 1-4
I, the Elder, write to you, Gaius, whom I truly love. I ask God that you will do well in all respects just like your soul does well. I am happy because of the way you conduct your lives.
1
You(sg) know me as the
chief Elder.
I am writing this letter to you, my dear friend Gaius, whom I truly love.
2 Dear friend, I ask
God that things may go well for you in every way,
specifically, that you will be physically healthy just like you are spiritually healthy [MTY].
3 I am very happy because some fellow believers have come
here and told me that you conduct your life in accordance with the true message. You are
conducting your life in a manner
that is consistent with God's true message.
4 I am very happy when I hear that ◄people whom I helped to believe in Christ/my
spiritual children► are conducting their lives like you are!
3 John 5-6
Continue receiving the visiting fellow believers, as you have been doing.
5 Dear friend, you are
serving Jesus loyally/faithfully whenever you do things to help fellow believers,
even those whom you do not know, who are traveling
around doing God's work.
6
Some of them have reported before the congregation
here how you have showed that you love them. You should continue to help such people in their travels in a way that is pleasing to God.
3 John 7-8
Especially provide for them financially.
7 When those fellow believers went out
to tell people about Jesus [MTY], the people who do not believe in Christ did not give them anythingto help them.
8 So we
who believe in Christ ought to give food and money to such people to help
them as they teach others God's true message.
3 John 9-10
Because Diotrephes does not recognize my authority, I will publicly expose what he does in opposing us.
9 I wrote
a letter to the congregation
telling them to help those fellow believers. However, Diotrephes does not ◄acknowledge my authority/
pay any attention to what I wrote►, because he ◄desires to be in charge/wants to be the leader► of
the congregation.
10 So, when I arrive
there I will
publicly tell what he does: He tells others evil nonsense about us
in order to harm
us by what he says, and he is not content with only doing that. He himself refuses to receive the fellow believers who are traveling around doing God's work, and he also stops those who want to receive them by expelling them from the congregation.
3 John 11
Do not imitate a bad example; imitate good ones.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate a bad
example like that. Instead,
keep imitating good
examples. Remember that people who do good deeds ◄truly belong to God/are
spiritual children of God►,
but those who do
what is evil do not ◄know/have fellowship with► God.
3 John 12
You will do well to receive Demetrius, who is highly recommended.
12 All
the believers who know Demetrius say that he
is a good person. The fact
that he conducts his life in a way that is
consistent/in accordance with God's true
message shows
that he is a good person, and we also say the same thing
about him. You know that what we say
about him is true.
So it will be good if you welcome him and help him. He is the one who will be bringing this letter to you.
3 John 13-15
Instead of writing more, I expect to visit you soon, and we will speak directly with one another. Our mutual friends here send their greetings to all of you.
13
When I began to write this letter, I had much more
that I intended to tell you. But
now I do not want to say
it in a letter [MTY].
14 Instead, I expect to
come and see you soon. Then we will talk directly with one another.
15
I pray that God will enable you
to experience inner peace. Our friends
here ◄send you their greetings/say that they are thinking affectionately about you► [MTY]. Tell our friends
there that we ◄send our greetings to/are thinking fondly about► them.