Third John again has much to say about truth and love, but emphasizes love as being the necessary accompaniment of truth. Another type of evil had arisen: that of a man in the assembly apparently claiming to be acting for the truth and yet casting others out, even refusing the apostle John. If love for the saints of God is ignored in this way, then no claims of “truth” can stand. Truth and love must stand together, as complements of one another, for in these is the very nature of God.

Gaius, to whom John wrote, was commended because his soul prospered, and John expressed the wish that in health he should prosper similarly. He may not have been blessed with physical strength to bear much in the way of controversy, but his walking in the truth and his faithful care and love toward those who had gone forth in the work of the Lord is highly commended.

The “strangers” mentioned in verse 5 are very different from the “deceivers” in 2 John. These strangers were brethren unknown to Gaius, but who were unselfishly devoting themselves to the work of Christ, taking nothing from the Gentiles—those unsaved. Just as fully as deceivers were to be refused, so fully were true servants of Christ to be received.

Let us cultivate this godly warmth of affection in a proper balance of truth by attending to the ministry of this epistle. Again the apostle wrote as though he intended to come shortly.