In verse 12, John turn to commend another
brother. He was none other than Demetrius. He was a good man and could well be
the person delivering the Apostle’s letter to Gaius. Here, John was urging
Gaius to show hospitality to Demetrius. That was an opportunity for him to
demonstrate love. In this verse, John was actually bearing reference of
Demetrius’ worth. He was said to have a good reputation with the people who
knew him. Furthermore, he was congruent in character and conduct. They attested
to the truth, hence, John personally vouched for him.
In his conclusion, John gave the reason for being brief in this
letter. His desire was to see Gaius soon and to communicate with him face to
face. He then wished peace to be upon
him. Here, John introduced the word “friends.” This term reveals to us that
quality friendship existed among the first century believers. To show
hospitality to friends was truly an expression of love, a subject that John had
been encouraging in his letter.
In 3 John we see three characters: Gaius, Diotrephes and
Demetrius. John commended two and warned against one. It’s encouraging to know
that there are more commendable people than there are dishonorable ones. We
must learn to commend those deserving it and warn against those that can cause
disrepute to the church. Having said all, let’s seek to build one another so
that the honorable ones will be more than the disruptive ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment