who have borne
witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their
journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well,
3 John 1:6
Dear Heavenly
Father, You do answer prayers, big and small.
It may not be what we envisioned or in our timing, but You do answer
prayers. Let me just praise Your name. Whatever glory I have to give, I give it all
to You. I'm humbled by Your love and
Your grace. Help me tonight to stay
grounded in Your Word and please let Your Word speak wisdom into my life. In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.
In verse 6, John
continues the body of the letter focusing on encouragement. The first part of the body is the initial
exhortation, or an emotional plea to inspire people to act. To bring deeper understanding to today's
text, let's examine some key words and their companion or similar verses.
This verse starts
with the word "who." We must
look to the previous verse to discover the identity of the
"who." In this case, the
people referred are the brethren and strangers. "Borne
witness" in the Greek is martureo which
means testify, told, give evidence, give a good report, to bear witness unto
the truth and how great it is, testimony by deed not word. "Love" in the Greek is agape which means benevolence, good will
friendship, esteem, love which centers on moral preference, divine love which
God prefers. Fellow Christians and
strangers that Gaius has helped inform the world of Gaius' kindness and
friendship to them.
"Before"
in the Greek is enopios which means
before the face of, in the presence of, in the eyes of, all things happen under
God's watch in keeping with His plan built on His absolute knowledge, before
one's eyes, in one's presence and sight of hearing. The English word, church, comes from the
Greek word, kyriakos, which means
belonging to the Lord. However in this
verse, "church" in the Greek is ekklesia
which means assembly, congregation, whole body of Christian believers,
people called out of the world to God, a company of Christians. Ekklesia
is made of the word iek (out from and
to) and kaleo (to call). The brethren and aliens report with tangible
evidence Gaius' hospitality bodily in the presence and sight of hearing of the
people called out from the world to God, the whole assembly of believers.
"Send them
forward on their journey" in the Greek is propempo
which means send forward, assist and send, accompany, equip for a
journey, send before, send forth, helped on my way, fit him out with the
requisites for his journey. "In a
manner worthy" in the Greek is axios which
means suitable because recognized as fitting (have worth that matches an actual
value). 1 Thessalonians 2:12 states
"that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and
glory." Colossians 1:10 states
"that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful
in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Gaius has prepared the brethren and
strangers. He has outfitted them with
the supplies and wisdom in a manner valuable to God, who owns and sustains all
things. They are prepared for this
journey called life to please God by being fruitful in every good work.
"Well" in
the Greek is kalos which means nobly,
rightly, honorably, viewed as good, appealing, advantageous, winsomely
attractive, agreeable to the facts and words of the case, rightly so there is
no room for blame, act uprightly. If
Gaius outfits them for the journey in a manner honorable to God, he will act
uprightly so there is no room for blame.
Gaius is friendly
and generous when receiving guests, visitors, and strangers. He cares for them through his
hospitality. Being hospitable toward
guests is easy, toward visitors can be uncomfortable, and toward strangers can
be frightening and hard. How does Gaius
have this ability? The answer is simple,
the Holy Spirit. As a believer, the Holy
Spirit gives us gifts to conduct the ministry.
1 Peter 4:9 states "Be hospitable to one another without
grumbling." This thought is
concluded at the end of 1 Peter 4:11 which states "that in all things God
may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the
dominion forever and ever." When
you show hospitality, you shine Christ.
Luke 6:31 states
"And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them
likewise." If someone cuts you off
in traffic, take a breath, say a prayer for them, and continue to drive safely. You don't know what is going on with their
day. Give them the benefit of the
doubt. Judge them favorably in the
absence of full evidence. If we all show
this patience and caring for each other, how the Gospel would be
proclaimed. Be friendly, understanding,
and generous to everyone, even ones you don't know.
and they have
testified before the church of your love and friendship. You will do well to
[assist them and] send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.
Amplified Bible
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