JOim, EPISTLES OF
JOHN, EPISTLES OF
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which, in addition to other difficulties, makes the person in question the bearer of two strau^'e uaiiies. On the whole, there is most to favour the render- ing ' to the elect lady,' and the idea tliat the Ep. is addressed to a Christian matron, who was held in liij,'h esteem in a wide Christian circle, and about whose children the apostle had something to write, partly in praise, partly in caution. 15ut ot thiji laily we know nothing beyond what is told us here. The supposition that the person addressed may have been Martha of Bethany has nothing to support it but the I'anciful idea that Kijria in Gr. is like Martha in Ileb., both being feminine forms of the word for 'Lord.' The designation in ques- tion, however, has been understood bj' not a few to be a figurative e.\pression for a Christian society, rather than a literal description of an individual Christian. The reason for this is found partly in John's way of using symbolical terms, partly in the idea that the salutation would come more naturally from a Church to a Church, but chielly in the fact that there is comparatively little in the Ep. that applies distinctly to an individual, and much that runs in plural terms — loving ' one another,' lookin" ' to yourselves,' etc. Hence Jerome, followed by Hilgenfeld, LUnemann, and Schmiedel, held the letter to be addressed to the Church generally. But this surely is excluded by the mention of the ' elect sister. Others, with more probability, have supposed the Ep. to be directed to a p.articular Church ; and some have attempted to iilentify the Church as that of Jeru- salem (Whitby), or that of Philadelphia (Whiston), or that of Corinth (Serrarius). Hut it is doubtful whether any writer would naturally introduce such a symbolism into a brief private letter like this. And as it admits of no douut that the Third Ep. is addressed to an individual, it seems most reason- able to suppose that the companion letter is also written to an individual. In this case we have another e.xample, and a very interesting one, of the private correspondence of the apostles, and an instructive instance of John's pastoral concern for an individual believer and her children.
LiTBRATrRB. — Amone the Commentariefl, especially those by Huther, Dupterrlieck, Lucke, AUord, Ebrard, Westrott : amon^j the hooks of Introduction, those jjiven under the Kir^t Epistle ; and in addition, Kitnteier, de Electa Domina\ Krigele, fU Kc/p/dc Joannim; U. O. 11. iluller, C'omrn. in Sec. Ep. Juan.\ Ranibonnet, de Srx. Kp. Joantiea ; Kn:mi'r, Studifn u. Kritikcn, 1833 ; S.Coi, The Private Letters q/ St. Paul and St. John.
The Tnmo Epistle.— 1. Contents.— This Ep. is also very brief. The writer e.xplains that it is 80, not "because he has little to say, but be- cause he expects shortly to see the person addressed, and to 'speak face to face' with him (vv."-") It is occupied mostly with things of personal and circumstantial interest, but it touches some im- portant principles, and gives us glim|)ses of the condition of the early Christian societies which are of great value. It has all the marks of a letter, in freedom of style, and in the use of in- scription, benediction, and salutation. It is written with much point and spirit, with some dramatic force, and also with singular tact. It begins with an expression of the writer's love for the friend ad- dressed, his interest in his welfare, and his joy in the reports brought him by others of his truth and his consistent walk. It then praises hira specially for the kindness which he hiul shown to certain ' brethren and strangers,' and commends these men further to his hosjiitable care. In strong terms it then condemns the action of a certain Diotrephes who had acted in a very dillerent spirit, Betting himself arrogantly against the writer, and gra»iiing at authority, neither himself receiving such stranger brethren, nor allowing othei'S to do BO. Such ambitious arid uiibrolhetly conduct, it Bays, is not to be imitated, aud cannot be favoured
by one who is of God. Passing from this unwel- come subject, it .speaks a good word for a certaiii Demetrius, with whom perhaps the letter was to go, and closes with some personal explanations, a brief benediction, and mutual greetings.
2. Time, Place, Destination. — This Ep. raises no doubt about its cUstimition. It is addressed to an individual, and is of a private character all through. iJut beyond the fact that his name was Gauus, that he had the conhdence of the writer, and that he had a large and generous sense of Christian duty to strangers, we know nothinjj of the recipient. There is nothing to identify hun with the Gaius or Caius, one of the ' men ot Macedonia ' who were ' Paul's companions in travel' (Ac lU-') ; with the Gaius of Derbe who acconii)anied Paul into Asia (Ac 20^) ; with the Corinthian Gaius who was one of the few baptized by Paul (1 Co I'*), and is de- scribed as I'aul's ' host ' and that ' of the whole Church' (Ro 10^); or with another of the same name who is said to have been made bishop of Pcrgauios by John (Const. Ajiostol. vii. 46). The fact that the Gaius of this Lp. and the Gaius of Corinth have both the character of hospitality, is a very slender basis on which to establish the identity of the two. The name Gaius was one of the commonest personal names, and the prominent men in the Churches of Asia Minor may not have been the same in Jolin's time as in Paul's. The Ep. itself, indeed, does not show that this Gaius was a presbyter or held any ollicial position. He may very well have been a simple member, though one of influence and repute. Nor does the Ep. make it possible for us to identify the Church to which he belonged. Some, indeed., have thou^'ht it to be the Church of Pergamos, a Gaius bemg mentioned in the Apost. Const, as bishop of that place (Wolf, Thoma) ; and some have taken it to be the Church of Corinth, supposinjj this Gaius to be the (iaius of Corinth referred to m the Pauline Epp. (Koenen). We can only say that in all proba- bility it was one in the Ephesian circle.