3 John 5-6 ⁵Beloved, you do a faithful thing whenever you do this for the brothers and strangers, ⁶who testified to your love before the church; you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

Once again, John addresses Gaius as Beloved, adding support for calling John the Apostle of Love, who urged people to follow his teaching about love. He wanted Gaius to know and experience love in all he did. One evidence Gaius could show was how he treated the brothers and strangers. Some English translations identify the brothers as the strangers, assuming the brothers were not well known to Gaius, though this is not clear in the Greek. These could be separate groups to whom he could be helpful. The scenario seems that John sent the brothers, who were known by Gaius, and then some unknown guests along with this letter. Once Gaius received the letter and the word from John, he could send them on their way with what they needed. How Gaius treated these men would be evidence that he understood and was living by the truth. The assumption i

Verse 6 indicates that the brothers knew Gaius to some extent and testified of his love before the Christian community. The word for testified is used five times in this letter (verses 3, 6, 12 [three times]), indicating the importance of living out the truth in such a way that it influences others in a positive way. Gaius had a good reputation of love that had become known to others. The word for church occurs three times in this short letter (6, 9, 10), showing how believers had gathered together with a new identity of being called out of the world into a new way of life. For John, the primary identity marker of this new community was love. John inserts an indirect exhortation in the form of a polite request at the end of verse 6. The standard for hospitality is a manner worthy of God. Paul wrote a similar idea in 1 Corinthians 10:31 about doing everything to God’s glory. Do we do for others as service to God? Do we do our work to the best of our ability as if serving Jesus (Colossians 3:23)? Everything Gaius did should be seen as doing it for God, to bring God glory, which would be a powerful testimony before the church.