Dispute Over Hospitality and Church Authority

A network of traveling teachers relies on local hosts for shelter and daily supplies. They carry letters of recommendation across the Roman road system in Asia Minor. Local church leaders fiercely debate who receives this vital financial and physical support.

The author dispatches this message around 90 a.d. from the bustling port of Ephesus. A courier carries it roughly 50 miles inland to a specific local congregation. A prominent householder named Gaius receives the papyrus document directly at his estate.

Gaius earns high praise for offering food and a secure bed to visiting strangers. A rival leader named Diotrephes vigorously rejects this established practice of hospitality. He actively expels anyone from the group who provides a simple meal to these travelers. The elder promises to confront this severe disruption of order in person.

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

The frustrated author abruptly cuts his dictation short to avoid writing further. He refuses to express his deepest concerns using black ink and a common reed pen. He prepares to make the difficult overland journey to settle the dispute face to face.