Chronological

¹ I, the elder, to you, a lady chosen by God along with her children. I truly love all of you and am confident that all who know the truth share in my love for you. ² The truth, which lives faithfully within all of us and will be with us for all eternity, is the basis for our abounding love. ³ May grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Jesus the Anointed, the Father’s own Son, surround you and be with you always in truth and love.

⁴ I was so filled with joy to hear stories about your children walking in truth, in the very way the Father called us to live. ⁵ So now, dear lady, I am asking you to live by the command that we love one another. I’m not writing to you some new commandment; it’s one we received in the beginning from our Lord. ⁶ Love is defined by our obedience to His commands. This is the same command you have known about from the very beginning; you must live by it. ⁷ The corrupt world is filled with liars and frauds who deny the reality that Jesus the Anointed has come into the world as a man of flesh and blood. These people are deceivers and antiChrists.^{[a] 8} Ensure that you do not lose what we have worked for so that you will be fully rewarded.

⁹ Any person who drifts away and fails to live in the teachings of the Anointed One, our Liberating King, does not have God. But the person who lives in this teaching will have both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If any person comes to you with a teaching that does not align with the true message of Jesus, do not welcome that person into your house or greet him as you would a true brother. ¹¹ Anyone who welcomes this person has become a partner in advancing his wicked agenda.

¹² I have so much more to tell you, but I would rather meet with you personally than try to capture these sentiments by ink on paper. I hope to come and see you so that our joy will be complete.

¹³ The children of your chosen sister send you warm greetings.

¹ I, the elder, to Gaius, who is much loved by all and loved in truth by me.

² My beloved friend, I pray that everything is going well for you and that your body is as healthy as your soul is prosperous. ³ I was thrilled when the brothers and sisters came and told me stories of your faithfulness as you continue to walk in the truth. ⁴ The greatest joy in my life is hearing how my children are walking in the truth.

⁵ My friend, you demonstrate your faithfulness in all the things you do for the brothers and sisters; even when they are strangers to you, you treat them as family. ⁶ These friends tell the entire church how you have extended your hand to them in love. You will do well to send them on in a way that is in keeping with God. ⁷ They have gone out to serve under the banner of the Name, and they do not accept gifts from those outside our faith community. ⁸ We should give people like this our full support so that we can share in this work for the truth.

⁹ I wrote some things specifically to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be the one up front, rejects us. ¹⁰ If I come, you can be sure that I will call him out and draw attention to his actions. He assails us with lies and deceit. As if that were not enough, he does not welcome the traveling missionaries into his home. Instead, he hinders any who do so and expels them from the church.

¹¹ Dear friend, don’t follow his evil ways. Instead, imitate the good and righteous life. The one doing what is good belongs to God, but those who pursue evil have never even laid eyes on God.

¹² Demetrius has a good reputation with everyone we know. The truth stands on his side, and we add our unreserved recommendation to the long list of accounts on his behalf. You can rest assured that we are telling the truth.

¹³ There is so much I would like to say to you, but I do not want to say it with ink and pen. ¹⁴ I expect us to be together soon and talk about these things face-to-face.

¹⁵ May you experience true peace. I send you greetings from the fellow believers here. Greet all our friends there personally.