Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis
St. John writes to Caius, his familiar friend, and praises him for his hospitality, in that he received faithful strangers into his home, cherished them, and treated them kindly and bountifully. Then, at verse 9, on the contrary he accuses the inhospitality and arrogance of Diotrephes, in that he does not receive the faithful, and casts those who do receive them out of the Church. Finally, at verse 12, he commends Demetrius by the public testimony of all and by his own, and signifying that he will be present shortly, he bids that his friends be greeted.
Vulgate Text: 3 John 1-14
1 The ancient to the dearly beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. 2 Dearly beloved, concerning all things I make it my prayer that thou mayest proceed prosperously, and fare well as thy soul doth prosperously. 3 I was exceedingly glad when the brethren came and gave testimony to the truth in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4 I have no greater grace than this, to hear that my children walk in truth. 5 Dearly beloved, thou dost faithfully whatever thou dost for the brethren, and that for strangers, 6 Who have given testimony to thy charity in the sight of the church: whom thou shalt do well to bring forward on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 Because, for His name they went out, taking nothing of the Gentiles. 8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow helpers of the truth. 9 I had written perhaps to the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, doth not receive us. 10 For this cause, if I come, I will advertise his works which he doth, with malicious words prating against us. And as if these things were not enough for him, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and them that do receive them he forbiddeth, and casteth out of the church. 11 Dearly beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doth good, is of God: he that doth evil, hath not seen God. 12 To Demetrius testimony is given by all, and by the truth itself, yea and we also give testimony: and thou knowest that our testimony is true. 13 I had many things to write unto thee: but I would not by ink and pen write to thee. 14 But I hope speedily to see thee, and we will speak mouth to mouth. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Salute the friends by name.
Verse 1: The Elder to Caius
1. THE ELDER, — that is, the greatest in age, most ancient, supreme both in age and in the dignity of Episcopate, Apostolate, and Patriarchate. See what was said on epistle II, verse 1.
TO CAIUS. — Who is Caius? First, Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle judges that he was the son of Caius Oppius the Centurion; for he has it thus: "In the year of Christ 70, in Arabia Felix, the martyrdom of the three Magi, who adored Christ at Bethlehem. About these times St. John, surnamed the Theologian, having now been brought into Asia, was teaching at Ephesus, whence he wrote to Caius the Spaniard, son of C. the Centurion of Malaga, brother of Demetrius the hospitable man, whose father was afterwards Bishop of Milan; Diotrephes, however, was hindering guests coming for pilgrimage to the Spains. But this bad Bishop on account of his crimes and pride was deposed." Dexter continues: "Pilgrimage to the holy places of Spain, made from many earlier places from the Apostolic times themselves," and at that time C. Oppius the Centurion supported pilgrims. This Caius, of Corinthian household, but Spanish by birth, also generously received the Lord Paul on his return from there into his house and roof, and visited John on his return from exile into the Spains. Thence he came to Milan, and having been made Pontiff there, died in the Lord. So also Onuphrius in his Chronicle makes Caius the third Bishop of Milan, but says he was a Roman, not a Spaniard. For thus he records under the year of Christ 92: "Caius the Roman, third Bishop of Milan, sat for 22 years," that is, up to the year of Christ 114, which is about as long as C. Oppius seems to have lived, unless you say he had become decrepit, as did St. Dionysius the Areopagite and others of that age; for Helecas, Bishop of Caesaraugusta, who continued the Chronicle of L. Dexter down to his own times, asserts that C. Oppius Cornelius was that Centurion whose servant Christ raised, and who afterwards joined the Apostles, was present at the death of Stephen, accompanied Peter and Paul into Spain to preach there, and while preaching to the Sceptinienses near Ida died there. And L. Dexter holds that C. Oppius, the father of this Caius to whom St. John writes, was that Centurion who stood by and guarded Christ on the cross, who, on seeing the earthquake and other prodigies, exclaimed: "Truly this was the Son of God," Matthew chapter xxvii, 54; for thus he writes: "In the year of Christ 34, Christ the Savior of the world is brought as a defendant to Pilate. Claudia Procula, Pilate's wife, having been warned through a dream, believes in Christ and obtains salvation. Our Lord Christ being driven to the cross on the eighth before the Kalends of April, the failure of the sun and darkness covered the earth, Caius Oppius, the Spanish Centurion, believes in Christ as He dies on the cross." He then adds that this C. Oppius preached Christ throughout Spain, along with the miracles wrought by Christ on the cross before his eyes, and that for this reason the Spaniards were the first to receive the faith of Christ, and asked that one of the Apostles be sent to them, and that St. James was sent. So Dexter; concerning whose credibility and authority I have spoken in the Preface to the Acts, at the end of the Chronotaxis.
Secondly, Bede, the Gloss, Hugo, Lyranus, Dionysius here, Ambrosiaster on Romans chapter xvi, and others generally (except Cajetan and Catharinus who hesitate), hold that this Caius was that Corinthian of whom St. Paul, writing from Corinth to the Romans, says in chapter xvi, verse 23: "Caius my host, and the whole Church, salutes you;" or, as the Greek and Bede have it, "and of the whole Church," because he received any members of the Church into his house; for in like manner St. John here highly commends his Caius for his hospitality. Of the same Paul says, I Corinthians I, 14: "I baptized none of you except Crispus and Caius." Moreover that this Caius was familiar with St. John is attested by St. Athanasius in his Synopsis, where he says that this same man, with St. John dictating, wrote his Gospel; and Metaphrastes in the Life of St. John asserts that St. John, after composing the Gospel in his exile on Patmos, when he had returned from there to Ephesus, handed it over to Caius to read and review.
Mariana and Serarius add that this is the same Caius as the one to whom the first four extant epistles of St. Dionysius the Areopagite are addressed, which he inscribes to Caius the Therapeut, that is, the Essene, Ascetic, Monk. This is favored by what St. John writes to this Caius in verse 11: "He that does good is of God; he that does evil has not seen God." For the Therapeuts, by assiduously devoting themselves to piety and contemplation, saw God through it; whence they were also called seers, as the Prophets were of old. The same opinion is held by Maximus and Georgius Pachymeres, the Paraphrast of St. Dionysius, and Dionysius the Carthusian in the same place. For from those epistles of St. Dionysius it is clear that this Caius was a sublime man, and familiar with the Apostles, nor does monasticism stand in the way of the hospitality which St. John here commends in Caius; for both of old and now, hospitality has been and is dear to religious and monks; especially if we believe Dorotheus in his Synopsis, and Sedulius on Romans chapter xvi, who relate that the Caius mentioned by Paul in Romans xvi was made a Bishop, either, as Dorotheus says, of Ephesus, or, as Sedulius says, the first of Thessalonica; for from among the Therapeuts and Ascetics, as perfect men, Bishops were customarily chosen, indeed the Bishops were Therapeuts, as is clear in St. Dionysius, St. Basil, St. Nazianzen, St. Chrysostom, St. Gregory, and St. Augustine, who joined the contemplative life with the active. For the proper endowment and praise of Bishops is hospitality, which therefore St. Paul commends to them in I Timothy III, 2, and Titus I, 8.
Verse 2: I Make Prayer That Thou Mayest Prosper
2. CONCERNING ALL THINGS I MAKE PRAYER THAT THOU MAYEST PROSPER AND BE IN HEALTH, EVEN AS THY SOUL PROSPERS. — Pagninus and the Zürich version, omitting the τὸ σε, that is, "thee," translate thus: concerning all (your faithful) I wish that they may prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers, as if to say: I wish all to be in good health and to prosper, just as you are in good health and prosper. But all the Greek, Syriac and Latin texts read τὸ σε, that is, "thee." Therefore for the genuine sense, note: For "concerning all," the Greek is περὶ πάντων, which can be translated, before all things, above all things, or all things. Our version more simply renders, concerning all, that is, in all, through all; the Syriac, in every matter I pray for thee, that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers; Vatablus, as thou art well in soul, so I wish thee to be well in all things. Or, I wish thee in all things always to be in health and to prosper, just as in fact thy soul now is, that is, thou thyself in all things art in good health and prosperest. For God prospers and makes fortunate all thy affairs; for He brings it about that thou art well both in body and in soul, and He likewise blesses and enriches thy family, servants, friends, business, wealth, income and all thy possessions, because thou spendest them in obedience to God, and on the support of the Church's ministers, of guests and the poor, so that there may be fulfilled in thee that blessing of the Psalmist, indeed of God: "Thou wilt bless the crown of the year of Thy goodness, and Thy fields will be filled with abundance," Psalm LXIV, 11; and: "With the shield of Thy good will Thou hast crowned us," Psalm V, 13; and: "Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion," Psalm CII, 4. Thus God blessed and surrounded with all good things His beneficent friends. Noah Genesis IX, 1; Abraham Genesis XXII, 17; Isaac Genesis xxv, 11; Jacob Genesis xxxii, 29; Ruth III, 10; Obed-edom II Kings, vi, 11; Judith xiii, 23; Job I, 10, and XLII, 12. He does the same with those like them, who are inclined to compassion and beneficence, according to that promise of the Wise Man, Proverbs chapter xxviii, verse 27: "He that giveth to the poor shall not want; he that despiseth the suppliant shall suffer penury;" and that of Paul II Corinthians IX, 6: "He who soweth sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who soweth in blessings, will also reap of blessings."
I MAKE PRAYER — εὔχομαι, that is, I pray, or wish, as Vatablus translates; for what we wish for, this we also pray for. Nyssen adds, in oration 2 On the Lord's Prayer, that prayer in Greek is called εὐχήν, that is, a choice and vow, because those pray to God confidently for goods who have vowed to Him something good. Again, εὔχομαι means I make vows, I vow; for the prayers of St. John were not verbal and cold, but earnest, votive, efficacious and fervent.
THAT THOU MAYEST PROSPER, — as if to say: I pray that in all thy affairs and acts thou mayest prosper. The Interlinear Gloss: that what thou doest well thou mayest bring to a good end. The Greek is εὐοδοῦσθαι, that is, to enter well, to advance on a prosperous way, to be happily directed, to be conducted on a prosperous journey: for it signifies the prosperous success and outcome of a matter, which God gives to His own. Thus in Wisdom xi, 1, it says εὐώδωσε, that is, He happily directed their works (the Hebrews') by the hand of the holy Prophet, namely by Moses, whom He gave them through the desert as a guide of the way. And in Psalm I, 3, it is said of the just man: "Whatever he shall do shall prosper," that is, shall obtain a happy outcome, in Greek εὐοδωθήσεται. Wherefore what Œcumenius and Bede say is mystical: To prosper, they say, is the same as to order one's life by the norm and precepts of the Gospel.
AND TO BE IN HEALTH, — ὑγιαίνειν, to be sound, to be in good health. For health is required for good works, especially of hospitality and beneficence.
EVEN AS THY SOUL PROSPERS, — as thou art well in soul, so mayest thou also be well in body and in all things; or, "thy soul," that is, thou thyself, as I have already said. He praises Caius, and by praising him spurs him on to increases of hospitality and virtue. For, as St. Augustine says, homily 25, among the 50: "Praised virtue grows, and to praise is the keenest spur of motion." Moreover Pliny, in book III of his Epistles: "If any virtue," he says, "liberality needs this spur of praise." And indeed Seneca, in book II On Anger, chapter xxi, says, "that genius rises up if it is praised, and is led to a good hope of itself."
Verse 3: I Rejoiced Greatly When the Brethren Came
3. I REJOICED GREATLY WHEN BRETHREN CAME AND BORE WITNESS TO THY TRUTH. — "Truth" here, first, is of faith, as if to say: They bear witness that thou perseverest constantly in the Christian faith and in the doctrine of Christ amid all persecutions. Secondly, this "truth" is of morals, as if to say: They bear witness that thou livest according to the faith and truth of the Gospel, that thy morals are conformable to the faith and Gospel which thou professest. Whence thirdly, truth here can be taken as true charity and beneficence: for this is what the truth of the Gospel especially teaches and sanctions, and this John praises in Caius in verses 5 and 6. Fourthly, truth can be taken as sincerity and candor, which is opposed to hypocrisy and dissimulation, as if to say: They bear witness that thou art sincere and candid before all. Fifthly, "truth" can be taken as simplicity in giving, and true and simple liberality, of which Paul speaks in Romans XII, 8; and II Corinthians VIII, 2.
Verse 4: I Have No Greater Grace Than This
4. GREATER THAN THESE (that is, than these; it is a Grecism) I HAVE NO GRACE, as if to say: Nothing more pleasing can happen to me, no greater grace can they show me, than if they cause me to hear that they are walking in the truth already mentioned. The translator reads χάριν, that is, grace, and so the Greeks read; some however read χαράν, that is, joy: whence the Complutensian and Royal editions read, I have no greater joy than this; and the Syriac, no greater joy than this is mine, than to hear my children walking in the truth. Both readings come to the same. St. Jerome in chapter v on Ephesians celebrates that axiom of Christ: "Never rejoice, except when you see a brother in charity."
Moreover how much joy the progress of disciples is wont to bring to teachers, Seneca beautifully shows in epistle 34: "I grow," he says, "and exult, having shaken off old age I grow warm again, since from what you do and write I understand how much you surpass yourself (for you had long since left the crowd behind). If a tree brought to fruit delights the farmer, if a shepherd takes pleasure in the offspring of his flock, if no one regards his pupil otherwise than as judging the youth's age to be his own: what do you suppose happens to those who have educated minds, and suddenly see grown up what they shaped while tender? I claim you for myself, you are my work. I, when I had seen your character, laid my hand on you; I exhorted, I added spurs, nor did I allow you to go slowly, but I goaded you on continually, and now I do the same. But now I exhort one already running, and exhorting me in turn."
Verse 5: Thou Doest Faithfully Whatever Thou Workest for the Brethren
5. DEARLY BELOVED, THOU DOEST FAITHFULLY WHATEVER THOU WORKEST FOR THE BRETHREN, AND THAT FOR STRANGERS. — "Faithfully," that is, thou actest in a Christian manner. The Greek πιστὸν ποιεῖς, that is, thou doest what becomes a faithful man; Vatablus, thou doest a thing worthy of thy faith, thou doest what a Christian ought to do, thou doest what wonderfully illustrates the faith of Christ, by hosting, feeding, cherishing the brethren, that is, the faithful, especially strangers. For hospitality was of old most highly commended to Christians, and was a certain sign and mark of the Christian faith: witness Lucian, though a Gentile, in his Peregrinus.
Secondly, by the force of "faithfully" he signifies here not only the faith but also the fidelity of Caius, as if to say: Thou art faithful to Christ; the fidelity which thou pledgest to Christ in baptism, thou actually fulfillest. For thou pledgedst that thou wouldst order thy life according to the precepts of Christ, among which the first is that of charity and beneficence toward Christians, as toward brethren and partners in the same faith and religion. Hear Tertullian, when listing among the marks of the faithful the joint-token of hospitality; for thus he says in book On Prescription, chapter xx: "Therefore so many and such great Churches are one — that first one from the Apostles, from which all came; so all are first, and all Apostolic, while all approve their one unity. The communication of peace, and the appellation of brotherhood, and the joint-token of hospitality: which rights are governed by no other rule than the one tradition of the same Sacrament." He calls "contesseration" the token or sign which Christians exhibited to Christians, to show themselves to be Christians, so that they might be received in hospitality as brethren. For the Gentiles also had a token of hospitality and friendship. But when the Gentiles came to recognize this token of Christians and deceitfully usurped it, as Lucian shows that Peregrinus did, the Council of Nicaea instituted in place of the token letters, which they called Formed letters, concerning which see Baronius.
AND THAT FOR STRANGERS, — καὶ εἰς τοὺς ξένους, that is, and toward guests or strangers, where the τὸ καί, that is, "and," means the same as "especially"; therefore Our [translator] renders it "and that." Thus Christ says: "Tell the disciples, and," that is especially, "Peter," Mark xvi, 7. Similar phrases are in Zephaniah I, 16; Matthew XIII, 41, and elsewhere. Moreover by "strangers" here understand both Apostolic men, who in their travels disseminated the Gospel, as Bede holds; and those who, banished by the Gentiles, were wandering as exiles, as Hugo and the interlinear Gloss hold; and the faithful traveling on any other title or cause, as Dionysius holds. For God commended care for these to the faithful by His own example, saying in Deuteronomy x, 18: "God loves the stranger, and gives him food and clothing; therefore you also love strangers, because you yourselves were sojourners in the land of Egypt."
Verse 6: Who Have Given Testimony to Thy Charity
6. WHO HAVE GIVEN TESTIMONY TO THY CHARITY IN THE SIGHT OF THE CHURCH. — For of old it was customary for Bishops and presbyters to invite the guests who came to them to give a sermon or exhortation in the church, and while they did this, they at the same time celebrated the hospitality and charity of Caius, which they had experienced elsewhere. This rite of inviting guests is handed down by St. Clement in book II of the Constitutions, chapter LXII, and is sanctioned by the IV Council of Carthage, chapter III, and St. Ambrose used it at Milan, as is clear from homily 48, and St. Cyril at Alexandria, as is clear from homilies 7 and 8.
WHOM DOING GOOD THOU SHALT CONDUCT ON THEIR WAY WORTHILY OF GOD. — Hugo reads, thou conductest. The sense is, as if to say: To whom if thou continuest to do good, by receiving them in hospitality, feeding, helping, directing, giving them provisions for the road, "thou shalt conduct them on their way worthily of God," as if to say: Thou shalt see to it that they can comfortably continue their journey, and travel to wherever they are heading, which is a pious work and worthy of God. The Greek is, οὓς καλῶς ποιήσεις προπέμψας, that is, whom thou shalt benefit, that is, wilt affect with kindness, conducting them on their way worthily of God, and so the Complutensian and Royal editions read. Hence both the Zürich and Pagninus translate, Whom thou shalt benefit, if thou conductest them on their way worthily of God; St. Jerome in chapter I on Titus translates, Whom thou shalt treat most well, if thou sendest them ahead (for this is προπέμψας) worthily of God. All these come to the same thing; the "thou shalt conduct," as is clear from the Greek word, signifies not so much a bodily leading or accompaniment, as if St. John wished Caius to personally accompany his departing guests and conduct them on the way; as it includes the provision for the road and other things suitable for the journey, e.g., guides for the route, companions against robbers, letters of recommendation to friends, etc. So "thou shalt conduct" means, thou shalt send them off comfortably, securely, liberally. So the Romans, to those to whom they gave public hospitality, also bestowed lautia, that is, hospitable gifts. This is what Paul writes to the Romans in chapter xvi, verse 2, concerning Phoebe: "That you receive her," he says, "in the Lord as becomes saints, and assist her in whatever business she may have need of you."
WORTHILY OF GOD. — First, as if to say: As it is fitting that worshipers of God be treated by a worshiper of God, by honoring them as ministers of God, and God in them; treating them as charitably and reverently as it befits the servants and members of Christ to be treated, says Dionysius.
Secondly, as if to say: Thou shalt do what is worthy of God, pleasing and honorable to Him.
Thirdly, as if to say: Thou shalt repay as it were a return to God, because as He is liberal toward thee, so thou also pourest forth thy goods liberally upon God's ministers.
Fourthly, as if to say: Thou shalt gain great favor and reward with God; for thou shalt deserve that God should compensate thy liberality toward His ministers with a greater liberality of goods toward thee, both bodily and spiritual. For an action is reckoned worthy of God which deserves a reward and compensation from God. For he who does things worthy of God is worthy that God should repay him with equal, indeed greater things, according to that promise of Christ, Matthew x, 40: "He who receives you, receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, shall receive a Prophet's reward; and he who receives a just man in the name of a just man, shall receive a just man's reward."
Fifthly, "worthily of God," that is, in such a manner as may be reckoned worthy of God, as if to say: Divinely, royally, liberally. So our Lorinus: whence the Syriac translates, as is fitting for God.
Sixthly, the same, "worthily of God," he says, that is, in that manner and dignity in which God Himself would do it, the proportion being preserved; thus to speak in the tongues of angels, I Corinthians xiii, is to speak with that elegance which an angel would use if he spoke.
Morally, let every faithful man examine himself and see whether his works are full, perfect, and so excellent as to be worthy of God, whether his charity is like the charity of God and Christ; whether he acts and lives worthily of Christ. The gift which thou offerest to a king ought not to be of just any kind, but excellent and royal, that it may be worthy of a king; what then ought that to be which is offered to God, to that supreme, I say, sanctity and majesty, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords? Of whom Job says, chapter xxxvii, 23: "We cannot worthily find Him: He is great in strength, and in judgment, and in justice, and cannot be described." That thou mayest live worthily of God, thou must be full of God and the Holy Spirit; for God alone works divine works worthy of Himself. Invoke therefore continually the Holy Spirit, and cry out from the depth of thy heart: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love." Let this then be thy spur in every work, that thou mayest do it excellently: "Do this worthily of God;" and, as the Wise Man says, Ecclesiasticus xxxiii, 23: "In all thy works be excellent." This is what he advises the Ephesians chapter iv, 1: "I beseech you, I a prisoner in the Lord, that you walk worthily of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility," etc.; and Philippians I, 27: "Only behave worthily of the Gospel of Christ;" and Colossians I, 10: "That you may walk worthy of God in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God," etc.; and Thessalonians, epistle I, chapter II, verse 12: "We have testified that you should walk worthily of God, who has called you into His kingdom and glory." Let us therefore in our measure walk worthily of God, for adequately and physically only Christ was able to do this and did so: for He alone is ἰσόθεος, that is, equal to God, because He is God-man; whence also His actions alone were theandric, that is, of God-manly working, as St. Dionysius says, who in epistle 4 to Caius: "He performed," he says, "divine things not insofar as He is God, nor human things insofar as He is man; but after God became man, He instituted among us a certain new θεανδρικήν, that is, an operation composed of the divine and the human."
Verse 7: For for His Name They Went Forth
7. FOR FOR HIS NAME'S SAKE THEY WENT FORTH, — namely, that they might evangelize the name of God and Christ, says Bede, or because they were punished with exile for His name's sake, or undertook this journey for some other cause of piety and of God; therefore it is fitting that they be "received worthily of God" by you and conducted on their way. The first cause, namely that they went forth to propagate the Gospel, the words themselves and what follows signify more clearly.
TAKING NOTHING OF THE GENTILES, — because they preach the Gospel to the Gentiles freely, lest they seem to be hunting after gain from the Gospel. Or because they have been despoiled of their goods by the Gentiles for the faith of Christ. Or because, being Christians, they were unwilling to have any commerce with the Gentiles, as being idolaters, nor to accept anything offered by them: therefore it is fitting that they be supported by you, O Christians, worthily of Christ. Whence he adds:
Verse 8: We Therefore Ought to Receive Such
8. WE THEREFORE OUGHT TO RECEIVE SUCH. — The Greek καταλαμβάνων, that is to seize, to grasp, to hold fast, so that we should not wait until they come to us, but anticipate them, invite them to our house, indeed compel them, says Œcumenius, as the disciples compelled Christ at Emmaus, Luke xxiv, 29; and Abraham his guests, Genesis xviii, 12; and Lot, Genesis xix, 1. Moreover "to receive" and "reception" in Scripture signify every duty, every service, every protection, every aid and care.
THAT WE MAY BE FELLOW-WORKERS OF THE TRUTH, — by ministering necessary things to those who preach the truth, and to those who suffer tribulations and exiles for the truth of the faith, says Lyranus.
Moreover St. John, exhorting Caius to continue in hospitality, uses the first person, not the third, and associates himself with him, saying: "We therefore ought," not: Thou therefore oughtest; that the exhortation might be sweeter and more efficacious. Indeed there is no doubt that St. John was very hospitable to strangers: for he was Bishop of Ephesus, and accordingly dispensed the goods of the Ephesian Church to the poor and to strangers. Bede adds that St. John, like Paul in Acts xx, verse 34, lived by the labor of his hands, and from this aided others, that he might fulfill that saying of Christ: "It is more blessed to give than to receive," Acts chapter xx, verse 35.
Note: St. John strikes and incites Caius with many arguments and spurs to continue his liberality toward strangers. The first is, by praising his liberality, which the guests themselves had praised before the whole Church, verse 3. The second, that this is a faithful work and proper to a Christian, verse 5. The third, that this is a work worthy of God, verse 6. The fourth, that it is conferred on those who preach or propagate the name of God, verse 7. The fifth, that it is conferred on those who have been deserted or despoiled by the rest of the Gentiles, verse 7. The sixth, that through this we cooperate with the truth and the Gospel, and proclaim and profess it through the preachers or confessors whom we receive and feed. See what I have said about the excellence of hospitality on I Peter iv, 9, and Hebrews XIII, 2.
Verse 9: I Had Written Perhaps to the Church
9. PERHAPS I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN TO THE CHURCH. — The Greek ἔγραψα, that is, I wrote. So Erasmus, Vatablus, Clarius, Cajetan, who hold that our Vulgate is here corrupt. But Gagneius, Serarius and others hold that the Translator read ἔγραψα ἄν, or at least understood the τὸ ἄν, as others sometimes understand it, and therefore rendered more correctly "I would have written perhaps"; and this is proven first, because this sense is more congruent, as if to say: I would indeed have written, but for this reason I did not write, because that proud Diotrephes does not receive us nor our letters. Secondly, because no letters of St. John written to the Church are extant, and he would have written them in vain, since he knew they would not be received, but indeed those who would have received them would be harassed by Diotrephes, as is clear from verse 10. Thirdly, this is plainly confirmed by the Syriac which translates, bohe havith, that is, I was seeking, asking, desiring to write to the Church, but he who loves to be first among you, Diotrephes, does not receive us.
BUT HE WHO LOVES TO BEAR THE PRIMACY AMONG THEM, — in it, namely the Church; but he says "among them," because he understands the faithful who are in the Church, and who compose and form it. For the Church is a collective name signifying a multitude, a gathering and assembly of the faithful; congruously therefore is a plural pronoun or designation given it. The Greek is φιλοπρωτεύων, that is, ambitious of the primacy, wishing to hold the first place. Wherefore it seems that Diotrephes was either a Bishop, as some think, because a Bishop by his own right holds the first place in the Church; or certainly a powerful, insolent and arrogant man, who wished to be over the faithful in the Church, and at the same time was striving to arrogate to himself episcopal jurisdiction. Bede adds that he was a heresiarch; but St. John insinuates nothing of the sort here, indeed rather the contrary; for if he had been a heresiarch, St. John would have dealt with him more sharply, would have excommunicated him, and would have cast him out of the Church, as Paul excommunicated Hymenaeus and Alexander I Timothy I, 20. Therefore Diotrephes hated St. John, not because he was a heretic, "but because he was ambitious;" for he saw John resisting his primacy, which he coveted. Furthermore Diotrephes was so proud and arrogant that he dared to oppose himself to St. John, and to excommunicate his faithful, and to cast them out of the Church. For St. John, although by episcopal right he presided only over the Ephesian Church, yet by Apostolic right, that is, as an Apostle, was over all the Churches of Asia, indeed of the whole world.
DIOTREPHES. — Vatablus thinks it is an appellative name, as if to say: Boastful, arrogant; for of old those who were puffed up by nobility of birth used to be called διοτρεφεῖς, that is, nourished by Jove, and this fits with the fact that he called him an aspirant after the ecclesiastical primacy.
Better L. Dexter in his Chronicle, and others generally, hold it to be a proper name, or rather an appropriated one; for he himself, boasting of his lineage and wealth among the Gentiles, called himself by a gentile name Diotrephes, that is, nourished by Jove, son of Jove. So Homer calls kings διοτρεφέες καὶ διογενέες, that is, foster-children of Jove, and begotten by Jove. So Castor and Pollux are called διόσκουροι, that is, sons of Jove, Acts xxviii, 11. L. Dexter adds that this Diotrephes was a Bishop, but on account of his pride and inhospitality was deposed from the episcopate: I recited Dexter's words at the beginning of the chapter.
Wrongly therefore Bede: "Diotrephes," he says, "is the same as showy, foolish, or beauty going mad, so that he marked the perfidy of his heart even in his name."
Morally, those imitate this Diotrephes who covet benefices and prelacies, and reckon that they are owed to themselves on account of nobility and wealth, when Christ called the ignoble and poor, indeed chose them as Apostles: see I Corinthians I, 26; see also Tiraquellus On Nobility, chapter xx, number 10 and following. Again, Diotrephes is imitated by secular princes and nobles who, not having the right of patronage in conferring benefices, usurp and invade it, or abuse it, wishing to lord it over the Clergy.
Finally, learn here how the Apostles and great men have their rivals and enemies: thus St. Peter had as rival Simon Magus, St. Paul Elymas, St. John Diotrephes and Apollonius of Tyana teaching magic at Ephesus.
HE DID NOT RECEIVE US, — our apostleship, our authority, our brethren, our letters, our precepts. The Bishop was accustomed to receive the letters sent to his Church, and to read them to the faithful in the church, as the head of the Church, the first and chief; in the Bishop's absence, his Vicar performed this, or whoever arrogated to himself the episcopal jurisdiction: but if the Bishop did not approve the letters, he would suppress them, and not read them. St. John therefore says that he is not writing to the Church, because the ambitious Diotrephes presides over it, who, arrogating to himself the primacy, would submit to no one, not even to St. John, and therefore would not read his writings in the church, nor permit them to be read.
Verse 10: I Will Admonish His Works
10. I WILL ADMONISH HIS WORKS. — Less rightly do some read "commoveam," that is, I will move. For the Greek is ὑπομνήσω, that is, I will admonish, recall to memory, bring to light, make known to all, set before the eyes; Vatablus and Pagninus, I will indicate. Here note the gentleness of St. John in correcting and chastising. Budaeus in his Commentaries on the Greek Language translates, I will judge: for it is a forensic word; Œcumenius, I will threaten, I will punish, and repay evil for evil; the Syriac, I will remember his works, I will recall those things which he does. Whence L. Dexter says that this Diotrephes was deprived and deposed from his office and bishopric, as I have already said.
PRATING AGAINST US WITH MALICIOUS WORDS. — The Syriac, who makes evil words against us, casting calumnies against me, detracting me, defaming me, which is proper to heretics; the Greek is φλυαρῶν, which signifies to trifle, be silly, prate, babble. Aptly, despising the calumnies of Diotrephes, he calls them prating; for, as Seneca says in epistle 92: "Demetrius elegantly used to say, the voices of the ignorant were to him in the same place as the noises rendered from the belly. For what, he says, does it matter to me whether they sound from above or from below? What madness it is to fear being defamed by the infamous!" The same Seneca, in book On the Remedies of Fortune: "Men think ill of you," he says, "but they are bad men; I would be moved if M. Cato, if Laelius the wise, if the other Cato, if the two Scipios were saying these things ill of me: now, to displease the bad is to be praised. No opinion can have any authority, where he who deserves to be condemned condemns. They speak ill of you; I would be moved if they did this by judgment, now they do it by disease; they do not speak of me, but of you. They speak ill of you, they do not know how to speak well; they do not do what I deserve, but what they are accustomed to; for it is innate to certain dogs to bark not from ferocity but from custom." Thus Demosthenes in Stobaeus, sermon 40, used to say that "calumny for a while indeed confirms the opinion of the hearers, but with the progress of time nothing is more feeble than it itself"; and Socrates, to one wondering why he was not at all moved by one who attacked him with abuses: "He does not curse me," he says, "since the things he says are not in me nor cling to me."
NEITHER DOES HE HIMSELF RECEIVE THE BRETHREN, — Christians, the orthodox; because he receives only the pseudo-Christians and the cacodox of his own sect: this was the crime of avarice, of envy and hatred; but what follows, of pride and arrogance.
AND THOSE WHO RECEIVE THEM. — He reads ἐπιδεχομένους. And so some codices have it; but more have τοὺς βουλομένους, that is, those who wish, namely to receive.
HE CASTS OUT OF THE CHURCH, — both from the place and assembly of the Church, especially in the agape and banquet after the Eucharist: so Hugo; and from the very congregation of the faithful, by excommunicating them: so Dionysius; whereas rather he himself ought to be excommunicated. For thus has the Council of Gangra chapter xi, and it is contained in the chapter Si quis despicit, distinction XLII: "If anyone," it says, "despises those who faithfully exhibit agapas, that is, suppers to the poor, and for the honor of God call together the brethren, and is unwilling to communicate in such invitations, making little of what is being done, let him be anathema."
Verse 11: Do Not Imitate Evil
11. DO NOT IMITATE EVIL. — The Syriac, do not become like in evil, but in good, as if to say: Do not imitate the proud, impious, avaricious and inhospitable Diotrephes, even though he occupies the primacy in the church, such a one as the rest of his followers commonly imitate; but rather imitate the humble, pious, liberal and hospitable Demetrius, of whom verse 12. Great is the force of example to provoke onlookers to imitate it, and greater is the force of evil than of good, on account of the corruption of nature. "The imitation of evil men is more inclined," says Jerome, epistle 7, "and you quickly imitate the vices of those whose virtues you cannot attain." Wherefore St. John here admonishes, that everyone should set before himself the example of good men to imitate, not of bad men. As St. Paul I Corinthians xi, 1: "Be imitators of me," he says, "as I am also of Christ." And Hebrews xiii, 7: "Remember your Prelates, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation." For this reason the Church celebrates the feasts of the Saints, that she may set them forth as examples of life for imitation; hence also it is most useful to read and meditate on the lives of the Saints. Thus from reading the Life of St. Anthony, those two courtiers were converted, whom St. Augustine recounts in book VIII of the Confessions, chapter vi; indeed St. Augustine himself in the same place, chapter vii. From reading the Life of St. Mary of Egypt, St. John Columbinus, founder of the Order of the Jesuates, was converted; by reading the Lives of the Saints, our St. Ignatius was converted.
HE WHO DOES GOOD IS OF GOD; HE WHO DOES EVIL HAS NOT SEEN GOD. — The Syriac: He who does good, is from God; and he who does evil, has not seen God. This sentence can be taken in two ways. First, generally of any good and evil of any virtue or vice, as if to say: He who does good works is of God; he who does evil, has not seen God. Secondly and more aptly, you may take this specifically of the good of beneficence and beneficence, and the evil of maleficence and maleficence. And the Greek words signify this more: for ἀγαθοποιεῖν is to do good to someone, to bestow a benefit on another; and ἀγαθοποιός is beneficent, munificent, liberal; conversely κακοποιεῖν is to do evil, to deserve ill of someone. For John is treating of beneficence and hospitality, and praises it in Caius; but he blames and condemns maleficence in Diotrephes. St. John alludes to what he said in epistle I, chapter 3, verse 6, and chapter iv, 7: "Everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God; for God is charity." See what is said there. The sense therefore is, as if to say: He who does good to the needy, e.g., by receiving and cherishing guests and strangers, as thou doest, O Caius, this man is of God, and knows Him, loves Him, imitates Him and worships Him; but he who does ill to his neighbor, as Diotrephes does, is not of God, nor has he seen or does he see God, that is, he does not practically know God, because he does not love Him, does not imitate and worship Him, nor obey Him commanding beneficence. Although therefore every virtue is from God, nevertheless to charity and beneficence is attributed and appropriated this, that it is from God, because it is itself a divine virtue, and makes us similar to God. For it is proper to God to communicate Himself and His goods, and to do good.
The reason for which is, that it is proper to God to abound in every good so much that it overflows, and to pour it into others by doing good. He therefore who does good, is the like and imitator of God the beneficent Father. Whence alluding to these words of St. John, St. Dionysius, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chapter III: "Of all things it is most divine," he says, "as the sacred oracles say, to become a fellow-worker of God, and to show the divine action shining forth in himself." Hence that adage about doing good: "Man is a god to man." It is divine, says Pliny, book II, chapter vii, "for a mortal to help a mortal, and this is the way to eternal glory." Nazianzen, On the Care of the Poor: "Be a god," he says, "to the calamitous." The Gentiles too saw this. Ovid, in the book Of Pontus, elegy 9, to Cotys:
"This thou hast in common with the gods, that when asked / Thou art wont to bring help to thy suppliants. / For what reason will there be that we should deem the divinities / Worthy of their accustomed honor, if thou take away the will of the gods to help?"
In the word "to help" he alludes to the etymology of Jove, who was the greatest of the gods; for Jupiter was so called from helping, as if "helping father"; whence Cicero says, that he was called the best on account of his benefits, as the greatest on account of his power. Ovid concludes:
"Utility therefore makes men and gods great, / Helping with its aids also in their favors."
Hence Virgil, in eclogue I, calls Augustus Caesar, who had preserved his fields for him, his god:
"For he will always be a god to me."
Cicero, in his epistle to P. Lentulus, calls him the parent and god of his life, fortune, memory, and name. Martial, book VIII, epigram 24:
"He who fashions sacred faces in gold or marble, / He does not make gods; he who prays, he makes them."
To this purpose is that saying of Aristotle, I Ethics, chapter II: "The more common, the more divine the good." See what is said on Acts xx, 34.
HE WHO DOES EVIL HAS NOT SEEN GOD. — He alludes to that passage in the first Epistle, chapter III, 6: "Whoever sins has not seen God." The antithesis would have required Him to say: "Is not of God;" but by way of intensification He says something stronger, as if to say: He who does evil is so far from being of God that he does not even see God, that is, he does not practically know Him, although God is a measureless light, because the evildoer acts in darkness while he performs the works of darkness, namely sins. Again, this man does not know God, because he lives as if he had not known God, as if God did not see his crimes, as if there were no Deity, no judge and avenger of crimes — all of which are utterly foreign to God. "For in every place the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil," Prov. xv, 3. Again, he who is a wrongdoer and harms his neighbor properly does not see, that is, does not know God practically, because he does not acknowledge God's measureless and perpetual benefits toward himself, so as to be grateful for them, doing good to others out of love for God — since he cannot do good to God, who has no need of our goods, and cannot make Him a return. Hence God in turn does not know such people, that is, does not approve them, and will say to them on the day of judgment: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity," Matth. VII, 23.
On these words of St. John, St. Dionysius alludes when writing to the same Caius the Therapeut, the seer and contemplative (for which reason St. John here says: "He has seen God"), in epistle 1, where he explains how the good and perfect, especially Therapeuts of the kind Caius was, see God: "If anyone," he says, "having seen God has understood what he beheld, he has not seen Him but something of His which both is and is known; whereas He Himself, set on high above mind and above every substance, etc., far surpasses the grasp of the mind." For God, in Himself invisible, transcends all things and dwells in inaccessible light, which to us is impenetrable darkness, as the same author teaches in the same place. The same author, in epistle 2, when Caius asked him: "How is it that God is exalted above the very source of deity and goodness," answers, as Pachymeres interprets: "Because deity is such a gift as is derived from God into us, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature. By deity understand the bountiful grace of God, which makes us good and gods. For this gift is both the origin and the cause by which we are made gods, and likewise good; moreover, this good, which is the source of our deification, God Himself transcends." He adds that our deification is the inimitable imitation of God: for since we are not made gods except by imitating the divine majesty, it is therefore called imitation; but because we cannot reach in any part to that primary exemplar of divinity, hence His deity and goodness are rightly said to be inimitable by men and angels. The same author, epistle 3, to the same: "God is hidden," he says, "even after His very manifestation, or to speak more divinely, in His very manifestation." The same, in epistle 5 to Hierotheus: "The divine darkness," he says, "is the light to which there is no access, in which God is said to dwell, which can neither be seen, on account of its surpassing brightness, nor approached, on account of the outpouring of its singular divine light. In this is engaged everyone who is held worthy to know and see God; by the very fact that he neither beholds nor knows, he truly surpasses sight and knowledge in Him; and so knowing this very thing, which is above all things, both those that are perceived by sense and those that are understood by reason; and he says with the Prophet: 'Thy knowledge has become wonderful for me; it is strong, and I cannot reach it.'" He then proves the same by the example of St. Paul, who although caught up into God, nevertheless asserts that God surpasses all understanding and knowledge. Hence our John also, in the Gospel chapter 1, 18, says: "No one has ever seen God," namely by clear vision; yet he saw Him by an obscure knowledge, that is, by faith, according to that saying of St. Paul: "We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face," I Corinth. XIII, 12.
Verse 12: To Demetrius Testimony Is Given by All
12. TESTIMONY IS GIVEN TO DEMETRIUS BY ALL, — concerning his hospitality, integrity, and the other Christian virtues. Therefore he sets him forth to Caius as one to be imitated and assisted, just as he sets forth Diotrephes the inhospitable as one to be avoided. Our Serarius conjectures that this Demetrius is the same who, having once been the chief of the craftsmen of Diana, stirred up the sedition against St. Paul at Ephesus, Acts xix, 24; that afterward, repenting of his sin, he atoned by fervor for his persecution by the propagation of the faith — although the histories of the ancients reveal nothing of the sort. Catharinus and Salmeron suggest that this Demetrius was a Bishop. L. Dexter in his Chronicle asserts that this Demetrius was the brother of Caius, to whom St. John writes this epistle. I cited the words of Dexter at the beginning of the chapter.
AND BY THE TRUTH ITSELF, — as if to say: the testimony of the people and of the crowd can be deceived, but the testimony of the truth cannot be deceived. "The crowd," says Cicero in his speech For Roscius the Comic Actor, "judges few things from truth and many from opinion."
But the truth itself bears witness to Demetrius, as if to say: Demetrius truly lives in a Christian manner and performs Christian works. His life therefore gives a true testimony of his virtue. The truth, that is, the thing itself, proclaims that he is a true and upright Christian both in fact and in name. Blessed is he who has testimony from the truth; for such a one has testimony from God, who is the first and highest truth. The worldly have testimony, but from flattery and falsehood; for, as the common saying has it: "Many Laudenses, few Veronenses" — that is, many praisers, namely flatterers, few truth-tellers.
BUT WE ALSO BEAR WITNESS, — which is certainly weightier and more certain, since it is Episcopal, Apostolic, and canonical, being that of a hagiographic writer. Truly Cicero in his speech For Plancius: "Weightier and more valid is the judgment of ten good men than that of the whole untrained multitude."
Verse 13: I Had Many Things to Write
13. I HAD MUCH TO WRITE TO THEE, BUT I WOULD NOT THROUGH INK AND PEN WRITE TO THEE, — as if to say: I had many things to communicate to thee, but I did not wish to commit them to paper, because shortly I shall speak to thee mouth to mouth. See what was said in epistle II, 12. The Syriac: "Many things there were for me to write to thee, but I do not wish that I should write to thee with the hand of ink and pen."
Verse 14: Peace Be to Thee
PEACE TO THEE. — The Syriac: peace be with thee.
14. THE FRIENDS GREET THEE. GREET THE FRIENDS BY NAME. — The Syriac: "The friends pray peace for thee. Pray peace for the friends," namely in his own name, for the common greeting of the Hebrews was "shalom lachem," that is, "Peace be to you," which Christ and the Apostles used according to the custom of the people. Here again note the courtesy and affability of St. John, who wishes friends to be greeted by name, yet does not name them, because they were very many, and lest he should give offense by passing over anyone through forgetfulness, or by preferring one to another.