3 John 1:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

John says, "You act as a faithful man," meaning the following: you truly act as a faithful man, showing your faith by works.

"You act faithfully": you act according to the requirement of faith in Christ, in keeping with your calling to the faith. You act as a faithful son of the Church of Christ.

"For the brethren and for strangers." The brethren are all believers in Christ who, by this faith, have become brothers among themselves and have brotherly communion with one another. Strangers are those who come from other places, more or less distant, for some occasion.

The concept of neighbor is the general concept of believers. The concept of strangers is a more particular concept of believers who do not live in one definite place where believers live, but move from place to place for various reasons. Here, as is clear from what follows, the strangers meant are preachers of the faith of Christ.

Together with the general testimony to Gaius's piety, the preachers of the faith testified to the special charity that Gaius showed to the Apostles and to all kinds of strangers. Receiving strangers in general is an important and also difficult work. It was especially important in ancient times, because travel was then difficult.

This is why Abraham, the father of believers, was so zealous for hospitality that he went out to meet strangers. For this he was counted worthy to receive the Lord Himself in the person of strangers.

Praising the ascetic labor of hospitality, the Apostle calls it worthy of the Christian calling. Especially precious is the reception of unknown strangers, such as the heralds of Christianity were (cf. Heb 13:2; Rom 12:13; 1 Tim 3:2; Tit 1:6; 1 Pet 4:9).

Deeply honoring hospitality, the saints loved to establish special shelters for strangers, called xenodochia.