3 John 1The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I myself love in truth.
The salutation of this letter goes from verses 1-4. The opening greeting is short, just a few words, and identifies the author and recipient. The same author as 2 John is given. The elder has traditionally been accepted as the Apostle John who wrote The Gospel of John, 1 and 2 John, and Revelation. Like 2 John 1, the use of this word expresses not only the older age of the author but comes with the nuance of respect and authority. Nothing more needed to be said because the elder’s identity was known to the recipient. John had earned the respect through his personal connection with Jesus and the truth of his faithful witness to the words and deeds of Jesus. We get to listen on a brief conversation of an older and more experienced church leader writing to his student, protégé, and disciple.
Unlike 2 John, the recipient of this letter is named. The name Gaius was common in the Roman Empire. Three other people are named Gaius in the New Testament: Gaius of Corinth (Romans 16:23), Gaius of Macedonia (Acts 19:29), and Gaius of Derbe (Acts 20:4). The location of the Gaius in this letter is unknown, so it is impossible to connect him to any of the others in the New Testament. Two descriptions of Gaius are given in this verse, and others will be given in verses 2-8. In the context of the letter, his faithfulness to the truth is compared to the eccentric Diotrephes in verses 9-10. First, the close bond common to Christians is expressed in one of John’s favorite words in the description of beloved (agapētō) and the verb I love (agapō). The word is used again in verses 2, 5, and 11. The repetition in this opening verse and the emphatic I myself establishes a strong connection between John and Gaius.
The source of John’s love came from the truth. This word is repeated in verses 3 (twice), 4, 8, 12 (twice) and is an important word in 2 John and other writings of John. The central truth of the message that John preached and Gaius believed focused on the person of Jesus: that he was the divine Son of God who came in the flesh as a real human, was born, lived, died, and rose from the dead. From this historical foundation, all other Christian doctrines develop, including the doctrine of salvation and how believers ought to live in love. The love John had toward Gaius flowed out of John’s own experience with the Lord Jesus. As he wrote in 1 John 4:19, we love because God first loved us in Jesus Christ. Love and truth must go together. Without the truth of Jesus, love only becomes a sentiment or emotion. Without love, the truth is only empty intellectualism.