3 John 1:9

I wrote somewhat unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

I wrote somewhat unto the church ... Presumably, John had written to the church to which both Gaius and Diotrephes belonged; but as there were usually household churches in every city, they might have belonged to different groups with the church in the larger sense. The letter mentioned here has not come down to us, perhaps being destroyed by Diotrephes. At any rate, John wrote to Gaius, a person totally independent of the evil influence of Diotrephes, and also promised a visit with the evident purpose of counteracting the work of Diotrephes.

But Diotrephes ... Nothing is known of this character except what is stated in these two verses. "The name Diotrephes is very rare, meaning Zeus-reared nurseling of Zeus, and was only to be found in noble and ancient families."[24] This suggests that he might have been wealthy or of high social standing. With it, however, he was proud, arrogant and insensitive.

Receiveth not us ... Some have thought these words mean that he rejected both the missionaries and John who associated himself with the travelling preachers in these words; but it is more likely that John here used "us" in the sense of the apostles; for it was apostolic authority that Diotrephes rejected.

Who loveth to have the preeminence among them ... This prideful and arrogant attitude of Diotrephes was the sin which disturbed the church to which the apostle wrote; but commentators, in some instances, cannot allow that this was the trouble. No! They believe that, `Diotrephes' radical intransigence was due ... to theological partisanship."[25] "Diotrephes could have been an elder who was determined to champion the autonomy of the local church."[26] All such evaluations of the root of the trouble are based upon blindness to the sin of Diotrephes (the true cause of the trouble) which John specifically mentioned. Could it be that "loving to have the preeminence" is not considered sinful in some circles? "Pride was his sin ... and a violent jealousy."[27] "One masterful, power-loving man in a church may work incalculable mischief and injury."[28] "He had slandered (one of the apostles) ... and broken the fellowship of the church."[29] May we take a closer look at:

THE SIN OF DIOTREPHES

It was through pride that Satan fell. It leads the procession of the things God hates (Proverbs 6:16f). Fellowship within the sacred fold of the church itself cannot prevail where the poison ivy of pride is enthroned. The spirit of Diotrephes not only rejected the authority of an apostle, arrogantly turned away the Lord's missionaries from his gates, and slandered the apostle who sat next to Jesus and leaned upon his breast; but it in time placed a Diotrephes in the saddle of authority in every urban community on earth (in the rise of metropolitan bishops), and at last repudiated the word of all the apostles, making a man to be the head on earth of the universal church! Yes indeed, as Paul put it, "the mystery of iniquity" was already at work; and this little gem of a letter gives a close-up of the very tap root of the spirit of Lucifer.

[24] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 225.

[25] Amos N. Wilder, op. cit., p. 311.

[26] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 227.

[27] Robert Law, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Chicago: Howard-Severance Company, 1915), p. 1719.

[28] W. Jones, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22,3John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 11.

[29] Leon Morris, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 1273.