3 John – would this prayer lead to you being physically sick?
If you are just joining us, this is the 4th post in a series on 1,2 and 3 John.
Find the first post HERE.
3 John
Verse 2 has been misused by prosperity gospel proponents, but I’ll simply share this: Carefully look at the verse. Spiritual life is to be uppermost but neither is the material ignored. It says that Gaius’s soul prospers (traditional Bible versions) or as the NIV 2011 words it – Gaius is progressing spiritually. John prays that his physical health would match his spiritual health. John records in verses 3-6 what he heard about Gaius’s spiritual health, that he is faithful to the truth and walking in the truth.
Challenging question:
Would we want our physical condition to match our spiritual condition?
William MacDonald in his Believer’s Bible Commentary shares this on 3 John 2:
“Apparently he was not too well in body, since John wishes that his physical health might correspond to his spiritual vigor. When John says I pray that you will prosper in all things it is doubtful that he is thinking of wealth and material prosperity. Rather he is speaking of physical well-being, as suggested in the next phrase – and be in health. Would we want our physical condition to correspond to our spiritual? Is it not sadly true that we take better care of our bodies than of our souls? That is why F.B. Meyer wryly remarked:
‘It would not be desirable to express the wish of verse 2 to all our friends, because if their bodies were to correspond to the condition of their souls, they would suddenly fall into ill-health.’ (page 1150)
In 3 John we see two characters in contrast:
In Gaius we see service in truth and love.
In Diotrephes we see evil by strife and pride.
Note that the problem with Diotrephes does not seem to be with truth (doctrinal heresy) but with sinful behavior. Warning: we can have right beliefs and behave badly. Remember truth and love go together.
Third John is the only New Testament book that does not mention Christ by name. However, verse 7 says “It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans.” There is only one NAME and it refers to Jesus.
See Romans 1:5; Acts 5:40-41; Philippians 2:9.
Furthermore, for those who study Christology, you’ll be familiar with the fact that in Jewish parlance “The NAME” was used instead of saying YHWH. The Jewish people did not want to accidentally misuse God’s name so they stopped saying it. A common “replacement” was Adonai (Lord) and “The NAME” was another. Note the use of the Name in the Acts reference. For a Jewish convert to Christianity to refer to Jesus as the Name was – in one sense – startling! It reveals they were equating YHWH and Jesus, even at this early point in time in Acts.
⇒ Thanks for visiting Enough Light. People are not reading blogs much anymore, so I appreciate that you spent time here. If you were helped by this series, please share it – see buttons below. Grace and Peace, Laura Martin
