john was writing to john 3 in 3 john.
who is john writing to in 3 john?
john 3
the third epistle of john, often referred to as third john and written 3 john or iii john, is the antepenultimate book of the new testament and attributed to john the evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the gospel of john and the other two epistles of john. the third epistle of john is a private letter composed to a man named gaius, recommending to him a group of christians led by demetrius, which had come to preach the gospel in the area where gaius lived. the purpose of the letter is to encourage and strengthen gaius, and to warn him against diotrephes, who refuses to cooperate with the author of the letter.
third epistle of john
3 john is also linguistically similar to both 2 john and other johannine works. of 99 different words used, 21 are unimportant words like "and" or "the", leaving 78 significant words. 23 of these do not appear in 1 john or the gospel of john, of which four are unique to 3 john, one is common to 2 and 3 john, and two are found in both 2 and 3 john as well as in other new testament writings. approximately 30% of the significant words in 3 john do not appear in 1 john or the gospel, compared to 20% for 2 john. these considerations indicate a close affinity between 2 and 3 john, though 2 john is more strongly connected with 1 john than it is with 3 john. a minority of scholars, however, argue against common authorship of 2 and 3 john, and rudolf bultmann held that 2 john was a forgery based on 3 john.
third epistle of john