The 3rd letter that John wrote
(The book in the Holy Bible called 3 John)
About this letter
John wrote this letter about 2,000 years ago. That was about 60 years after Jesus went back to heaven. This letter is now in the Holy Bible.
John was one of Jesus’s 12 special workers. He went everywhere with Jesus, and he knew Jesus well. After Jesus went back to heaven, John lived until he was very old. He looked after lots of churches, so people called him Old Man.
Some of those churches that John looked after were in other towns, not in the town that John lived in. So he wrote letters to people in those churches. He wanted to tell them to keep following the true message about Jesus. Sometimes there was trouble in those churches, so John wrote letters to tell them what to do.
We still have copies of 3 of John’s letters, and they are now in the Holy Bible. This letter is the 3rd letter that we have.
John wrote this letter to a man called Guyus. Guyus was John’s friend, and John heard that Guyus was helping Christians that went around and told people about Jesus. You see, at that time, churches sent people to go around to different towns and tell people the good news about Jesus. They had to go a long way, so they needed food and somewhere to stay. Some of those Christians went to Guyus’s town, and he helped them.
This letter also tells us about a man that was called Diotrefees. He didn’t want to help those Christians that were telling people about Jesus, and he didn’t want any other Christians to help them.
And John also wrote about a man that was called Demetrius. He was a good man. He was probably one of those Christians that went to different towns and told people about Jesus. He probably went to Guyus’s town, and maybe he was the person that took this letter to Guyus.
1
1 Dear Guyus,*
This letter is from the church leader that people call Old Man.
Guyus, you are my good friend, and I really love you.
2 My friend, I know that God has made your spirit healthy inside you. I pray that everything in your life will be good, and I pray that your body will be healthy, just like your spirit is healthy.
John heard good things about Guyus
3 You know, some Christians came here and told me about you. They said, “Guyus always lives God’s way.”
I was very happy to hear that. I know that you really believe God’s true message, and you are living God’s way.
4 You know that I look after lots of churches, and the people in those churches are like my own kids. So, whenever I hear that those people are living God’s way, it makes me really happy. It makes me more happy than anything else.
Help Christians that are telling people about Jesus
5-6 Those Christians that visited you, they came back here, and they told the whole church mob about you. They said, “Guyus loved us. He was really good to us.”
My friend, that was a really good thing that you did. You didn’t know those Christians, but you looked after them anyway. That shows that you are living God’s way.
Whenever those Christians visit you, please look after them. And when they leave you, give them things to take with them, so that they can keep telling people about Jesus in other places. God wants you to do that. 7 You see, those Christians are working for Jesus Christ. They go to different places, and they talk to people that are not in God’s family, and they tell them about Jesus. But they don’t ask those people for money. They don’t make people pay money to hear the true message about Jesus. 8 So us Christian mob, we have to look after Christians that come to our town to tell people God’s true message. We have to give them food and money to help them do that work. In that way, we are helping those Christians to tell people God’s true message.
Diotrefees is making trouble
9 I wrote a letter to the Christians that live near you. But that man Diotrefees doesn’t listen to what we say. He thinks he’s really important, and he wants to be the boss.
10 I will visit soon, and I will talk to everyone about the bad things that Diotrefees is doing. He is making up lies against us, and he is rubbishing us. And that’s not all. Diotrefees does other bad things too. Whenever Christians come to tell people about Jesus, Diotrefees doesn’t let them come to church or stay at his house. And if somebody else in the church says, “I want to help those Christians,” then Diotrefees says, “No, don’t help them.” And he tells that person that they are not allowed to come to church any more.
11 My friend, whenever you see people doing bad things like that, don’t copy them. But whenever you see people doing good things, you have to copy them.
If somebody does good things, that shows that they belong to God. But if somebody does bad things, that shows that they don’t properly know God.
Demetrius is a good man
12 Now I want to talk to you about Demetrius. Everyone says that he is a good man. Look at the way he lives. He takes notice of God’s true message, and he lives God’s way. We also say that Demetrius is a good man, and you know that we don’t lie to you.
The end of John’s letter
13 I have more things that I want to tell you, but I don’t really want to write them in a letter. 14 I want to visit you soon. Then we will talk together.
15 I pray that you are happy and quiet inside yourself.
Your friends here say hello to you. Please say hello to each of my friends there with you.
* 1:1 Acts 19:29; Romans 16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:14