was suppressed by Diotrephes, and says that he intends to visit the church and to confront Diotrephes. "The church" is apparently known to Gaius, but he is likely not a member of it, since otherwise the Elder would not need to provide him with information about Diotrephes's activities. The dispute between Diotrephes and the Elder seems to be based on church leadership and authority rather than doctrine, since the Elder does not accuse Diotrephes of teaching heresy. Most scholars do not connect the letter the Elder mentions with 2 John, since 3 John does not contain any reference to the doctrinal controversy described in 2 John, and argue that the Elder is here referring to a previous letter of recommendation. John Painter, however, argues the Elder is in fact referring to 2 John, since there is overlap between 2 John 9 and the theme of hospitality in 3 John. The Elder closes this section with an entreaty to Gaius: "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God." This injunction is reminiscent of several passages in 1 John (2:3–5, 3:4–10, 4:7). Final greetings and conclusion Verse 12 introduces another man named Demetrius, who according to the Apostolic Constitutions VII.46.9 was ordained by John as bishop of Philadelphia (now Amman, Jordan). Demetrius was probably a member of the group of missionaries discussed earlier in the letter, and 3 John likely serves as a recommendation letter to Gaius about Demetrius. Recommendation letters were quite common in the early church, as evidenced by 2 Corinthians 3:1, Romans 16:1–2, and Colossians 4:7–8. The Elder, before ending the letter, says that he has many other things to tell to Gaius, and plans to make a journey to see him in the near future, using almost the exact language of 2 John 12. The closing verse, "Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, one by one", is typical of contemporary correspondence, with "Peace be to you" a greeting adopted by Christians from the Jews. Authorship 3 John was almost certainly written by the same author who wrote 2 John, and likely 1 John as well. This individual may have been John the Evangelist himself or someone else, perhaps John the Presbyter, though according to scholar C. H. Dodd, "If we attempt to ... identify the anonymous author of these epistles