Historical

¹ From the leader of the church people. I send greetings to the lady whom God has chosen, and to her children. I love you all because you have the truth about Christ. I am not the only one who loves you. All those who know the truth, love you also.

² We love you because of the truth we share which is in our hearts and will be with us for ever.

³ God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's son, will bless us. They will be kind to us. They will give us peace. They will do these things because they are true, and they love us.

⁴ I was very glad to find that some of your children are living in the right way. They are living the way the Father told us to live.

⁵ And now I want to ask you to do something. I am not telling you to do something new. It is the same law we had from the beginning. It is this, `We must love one another.'

⁶ We love God when we live the way God has told us. This is the law you heard from the beginning. You must live by it.

⁷ Many men who fool people have gone out into the world. They believe that Jesus Christ did not come to live as a man with a body. These men belong to the one who fools people. He is against Christ.

⁸ Watch out for yourselves! Do not lose what you have worked for, but receive all the reward that you should have.

⁹ Everyone who goes too far, and does not believe what Christ taught, does not believe God. Anyone who believes what Christ taught, believes both the Father and the Son.

¹⁰ If anyone comes to you who does not teach what Christ taught, do not take him into your house. Do not even greet him.

¹¹ Anyone who greets him helps him in the wrong things he does.

¹² I have much to write to you. But I do not want to write it on paper. I hope to come to visit you and talk with you. Then we will be very happy.

¹³ The children of your sister whom God has chosen send their greetings.

¹ From the leader of the church people. I send greetings to my dear Gaius. I love you because you have Christ.

² My dear brother, I ask God that you may be all right in every way and that your body may be well. I know that your soul is all right.

³ I was very happy when the brothers came and told me that you have been true. They said you are really living the right way.

⁴ Nothing can make me more happy than to hear that my children are living in the right way. My dear brother, when you help your Christian brothers in any way, even though you do not know them, you show that you do what you say you believe.

⁵ They have told the people of the church here how you showed your love to them. Please send them on their way as God would have you do.

⁶ They went out to do Christ's work. And they have not taken any help from people who do not believe in God.

⁷ So we should help such men with what they need. Then we are doing our part to tell the true message. I wrote a letter to the people of the church. But Diotrephes wants to be the leader. He will not listen to us.

⁸ So if I come, I will show what he is doing. He is saying wrong things about us. And that is not all. He does not take our brothers into his own home. And he stops other people who want to take them in. He will not let them be church members any longer.

⁹ My dear brother, do not do the wrong things people do, but do the good things people do. Anyone who does good things belongs to God. Anyone who does wrong things has never seen God.

¹⁰ Everyone says Demetrius is a good man. All this is true. We say the same thing too. And you know that what we say is true.

¹¹ I have much to write to you. But I do not want to write to you with pen and ink.

¹² I hope to see you very soon. Then we will talk together.

¹³ May God give you peace. Our friends greet you. Greet everyone of my friends.