3 John

Written by Yohannes (John). Yohannes was one of Yeshua's closest disciples. And the disciple whom Yeshua loved. He was a fisherman with his brother James (Yaakov) and Yeshua nicknamed them "The Sons of Thunder". As far as we know John lived longer than all the other disciples and died as an old man on the island of Patmos around 100AD.
We don’t know when John (Yohannes) wrote this letter. Most scholars assume it was towards the end of Yohannes’ life, so probably shortly before 100AD.
We also don’t know where Yohannes was when he wrote the letter. We know that he wrote to Gaius, a Roman name, but he could have been anywhere in the Empire. There are several Gaius mentioned in the New Testament.


	3 John
	Who, When, Where
	Written by Yohannes (John). Yohannes was one of Yeshua's closest disciples. And the disciple whom Yeshua loved. He was a fisherman with his brother James (Yaakov) and Yeshua nicknamed them "The Sons of Thunder". As far as we know John lived longer than all the other disciples and died as an old man on the island of Patmos around 100AD. We don’t know when John (Yohannes) wrote this letter. Most scholars assume it was towards the end of Yohannes’ life, so probably shortly before 100AD. We also don’t know where Yohannes was when he wrote the letter. We know that he wrote to Gaius, a Roman name, but he could have been anywhere in the Empire. There are several Gaius mentioned in the New Testament.
	Summary
	Yohannes wrote to Gaius to warn him about Diotrophes who was disrupting the assembly there and trying to take control. He also commended those who had genuinely gone out in the name of Yeshua and asked Gaius to take care of them and treat them well.
	Before You Read
	Sadly still an issue today, people who do not know God still try to take control of the church for their own purposes. We need to be willing to take a stand against them and expose them for what they are. We also need to recognise genuine followers of Yeshua, who are sacrificing their lives for the sake of the gospel, and we need to take care of them and send them on their way encouraged and provided for.
	Key Verses
	3 John 11 Beloved, don’t imitate evil but good. A good rule for life really. Look for good, and copy it. If you see evil, don’t.
	After You Read
	What verses really stood out to you? How would you summarize this book in a sentence or two? What is it about? What is God trying to say to us? How about your assembly? Is there a Diotrophes? Quite often the Diotrophes is a weak willed man with a controlling wife, a Jezebel. Do you have one of those? If you do, then you need to pray about what your role is in exposing/deposing/ opposing them. If there is nothing you can do about it, then you should pray about moving on to a safer environment for your own protection and spiritual growth.