THIRD JOHN
                       ABOUT A.D. 85 TO 90

                      BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

        Certainly III John is addressed to an individual, not to
a church, though which Gaius we do not know. There are three
friends of Paul with this name; Gaius of Corinth ( 1Co 1:14 ),
Gaius of Macedonia ( Ac 19:29 ), Gaius of Derbe ( Ac 20:4 ), but
it is unlikely that this Gaius of Pergamum (Findlay would call
him) is either of these, though the _Apostolical Constitutions_
does identify him with Gaius of Derbe. It is possible that in
 3Jo 1:9  there is an allusion to II John and, if so, then both
letters went to individuals in the same church (one a loyal
woman, the other a loyal man). Three persons are sharply sketched
in III John (Gaius, Diotrephes, Demetrius). Gaius is the
dependable layman in the church, Diotrephes the dominating
official, Demetrius the kindly messenger from Ephesus with the
letter, a vivid picture of early church life and missionary work.
John is at Ephesus, the last of the apostles, and with an eagle's
eye surveys the work in Asia Minor. The same Gnostic deceivers
are at work as in the other Johannine Epistles. Pergamum is
described in  Re 2:13  as the place "where Satan's throne is."