3 John 1-4

I, the Elder, write to you, Gaius, whom I truly love. I ask God that you will do well in all respects. I am happy because of the way you conduct your lives.

1You(sg) know me as the chief Elder. I am writing this letter to you, my dear friend Gaius, whom I truly love.

2Dear friend, I ask God that things may go well for you in every way, specifically, that you will be physically healthy just like you are spiritually healthy [MTY].

3I am very happy because some fellow believers have come here and told me that you conduct your life in a manner that is consistent with God’s true message.

4I am very happy when I hear that ◄people whom I helped to believe in Christ/my spiritual children► are conducting their lives like you are!

Continue receiving the visiting fellow believers, as you have been doing.

5Dear friend, you are serving Jesus loyally/faithfully whenever you do things to help fellow believers, even those whom you do not know, who are traveling around doing God’s work.

6Some of them have reported before the congregation here how you have showed that you love them. You should continue to help such people in their travels in a way that is pleasing to God.

Especially provide for them financially.

7When those fellow believers went out to tell people about Jesus [MTY], the people who do not believe in Christ did not give them anything to help them.

8So we who believe in Christ ought to give food and money to such people to help them as they teach others God’s true message.

Because Diotrephes does not recognize my authority, I will publicly expose what he does in opposing us.

9I wrote a letter to the congregation telling them to help those fellow believers. However, Diotrephes does not ◄acknowledge my authority/pay any attention to what I wrote►, because he ◄desires to be in charge/wants to be the leader► of the congregation.

10So, when I arrive there, I will publicly tell what he does: He tells others evil nonsense about us in order to harm us by what he says, and he is not content with only doing that. He himself refuses to receive the fellow believers who are traveling around doing God’s work, and he also stops those who want to receive them by expelling them from the congregation.

Do not imitate a bad example; imitate good ones.

11Dear friend, do not imitate a bad example like that. Instead, keep imitating good examples. Remember that people who do good deeds ◄truly belong to God/are spiritual children of God►, but those who do what is evil do not ◄know/have fellowship with► God.

You will do well to receive Demetrius, who is highly recommended.

12All the believers who know Demetrius say that he is a good person. The fact that he conducts his life in a way that is consistent/in accordance with God’s true message shows that he is a good person, and we also say the same thing about him. You know that what we say about him is true. So it will be good if you welcome him and help him. He is the one who will be bringing this letter to you.

Instead of writing more, I expect to visit you soon, and we will speak directly with one another. Our mutual friends here send their greetings to all of you.

13When I began to write this letter, I had much more that I intended to tell you. But now I do not want to say it in a letter [MTY].

14Instead, I expect to come and see you soon. Then we will talk directly with one another.

15I pray that God will enable you to experience inner peace. Our friends here ◄send you their greetings/say that they are thinking affectionately about you► [MTY]. Tell our friends there that we ◄send our greetings to/are thinking fondly about► them.