Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 3 John · About this commentary
The Good, the Evil, and Demetrius
3 John 1:11-12
11 Beloved, don’t imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn’t seen God. · WEB
Between two examples the letter lays a rule: imitation is discipleship, and what a man does shows whose he is.
The counsel of verse 11 is one word deep: do not imitate — mimeomai G3401 — the evil, but the good. With Diotrephes in the previous sentence and Demetrius in the next, the abstractions have faces. The grounding is the first epistle's test. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God 1 John 3:6 1 John 3:10. Conduct is the visible side of sight.
Demetrius arrives in verse 12 with witnesses three deep: all who know him, the truth itself, and the elder's circle. That is the full count Scripture requires to establish a matter Deuteronomy 19:15. The truth itself is the strongest witness: set his life beside the message, and the two agree. A letter defending the reception of true workers would naturally carry a commendation Romans 16:1–2. Demetrius may be its bearer, though the text stops short of saying so. Gaius is asked to receive what Diotrephes rejects. The man at the door comes vouched for — by everyone, by the truth, and by the writer whose word Diotrephes would not take.
held with reason What this mark means