I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.
III John 1:9-10 NKJV
This letter was written by the Apostle John near the end of his life. He ended up being the last living one of the original disciples.
This letter represents the very first generation of the Christian church. Even in the first generation there were problems and people that had to be corrected. Here Diotrephes has to be corrected, and John has to deal with him when he gets there.
People say, ‘I wish the church was more like the early church’. We’re probably more similar than we realize. The first century church had its challenges too.
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