Book of Common Prayer
Hospitality for God’s people
1 The Elder to beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
2 Beloved, I pray that all is going well with you, and that you are every bit as healthy physically as you are spiritually. 3 I was absolutely delighted, you see, when some of the family arrived and bore witness to your truthfulness, since clearly you are walking in the truth. 4 Nothing gives me greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Beloved, when you are doing all that you do for family members, even when they are strangers, you are doing a faithful work. 6 These people have borne witness to your love in the presence of the assembly, and you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 They went out for the sake of the Name, not accepting help from outsiders. 8 We ought to support people like that, so that we may become fellow workers with the truth.
Authority and example
9 I have written something to the assembly. But Diotrephes, who wants to be the most important person there, refuses to acknowledge us. 10 So, then, if I come, I will refer back to what he has done, and the slanderous words he has spoken against us. Not being satisfied with that, he doesn’t welcome family members himself; and, when others want to do so, he forbids them and throws them out of the assembly.
11 Beloved, don’t imitate evil; imitate good! Someone who does good is from God; someone who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has been well attested by everybody, and by the truth itself. We join in this testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I have much to write to you, but I don’t want to do it with pen and ink. 14 I am hoping instead to see you very soon, so that we can talk face to face.
15 Peace be with you. All the friends greet you. Greet all the friends by name.
The servant
15 Jesus discovered the plots against him, and left the district. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them all, 16 giving them strict instructions not to tell people about him. 17 This was so that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might come true:
18 Look! Here’s my servant, whom I chose;
my beloved one, my heart’s delight.
My spirit I will place on him,
and he’ll announce true judgment
to the whole wide world.
19 He will not argue, nor will he
lift up his voice and shout aloud;
nobody in the streets will hear
his voice. 20 He will not break the damaged
reed, or snuff the guttering lamp,
until his judgment wins the day.
21 The world will hope upon his name.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.