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Not Acknowledge The Apostles' Authority - 3 John
Not Acknowledge The Apostles' Authority - 3John
John writes that Diotrephes "loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say." The ESV translates it: "likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority." Rejecting the word of the Apostles is a major religious problem.
God has all authority by simple fact He is creator of all. Those whom God sends are backed by His authority. When they speak His word, to reject them is to reject God. Likewise, Jesus has all authority in heaven and upon earth. He came revealing the Father's word unto men and to reject Him was to reject God. Jesus, with the Father, selected and sent the apostles.
Jesus specifically told them: "I have chosen you... " (John 15:16, 19).
They were promised that their word would not be THEIR word, but the word of God speaking through them: "But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matt. 10:19-20, see also Luke 12:12). And again: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (John 14:26).
They were informed that people's acceptance / rejection of THEM was tantamount to accepting / rejecting Jesus and the Father:
"The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me" (Luke 10:16).
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me"(Matt. 10:40-42).
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me" (John 13:20).
To thus reject the apostles' teaching is to reject God.
Diotrephes is neither the first or the last to not accept the word of the Apostles. Before him, we see the rejection of the apostle's preaching throughout the book of Acts. In Acts 15, the apostles reported that "certain men were preaching things we did not command..." (Acts 15:24 ). Paul warned the Corinthian brethren: "If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment" (1 Corinthians 14:37). John had written concerning some: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us" (1Jn. 2:19).
On a positive note, Paul wrote concerning the Thessalonians: "we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers" (1Thes. 2:13).
It is all well and good to think about how these other people were treating the apostles' teaching, but the real question is how I am treating their word. Am I rejecting that parts I don't like? Am I changing the difficult commands into something easier? You would never be like Diotrephes, or would you?
Hugh DeLong
