Who Was Diotrephes?
A dangerous individual in the church.
Diotrephes only appears in 3 John, but what is written about him places him among the “infamous” characters of Scripture.
John begins his short letter addressed to Gaius by rejoicing over Gaius’ faithfulness to the truth (3 John 3-4). Gaius was someone who loved others and demonstrated his faithfulness by helping his fellow Christians, even though he didn’t really know them that well (3 John 5-8). By receiving those sent by John, Gaius showed his loyalty to God and the truth.
Gaius’ response of faith and love is contrasted with a very different response from a Christian named Diotrephes.
Diotrephes loved to put himself first.
John wrote a letter to the church - perhaps requesting the church to help those he had sent. But Diotrephes refused to “receive us,” John said. This was because he loved “to have the preeminence among them” (3 John 9).
The Greek word John uses for “preeminence” is philoprōteuō and means “to love or desire to be first or chief” (Mounce) or to be “ambitious of distinction” (Strong).
I think it’s important to point out here that ambition is not wrong - to serve as shepherds of the church, qualified men must first desire that position (1 Timothy 3:1). Scripture condemns selfish ambition, which focuses on self rather than others (Philippians 2:3-4).
It seems Diotrephes viewed the ones John sent - as well as John himself - as a potential challenge to his authority and distinction in the church. While Gaius was devoted to the truth and cared for others, Diotrephes cared for himself and was dedicated to advancing and maintaining his standing in the church.
Diotrephes made false, empty accusations.
John was aware that Diotrephes brought unjustified charges against them with evil words (3 John 10). John wrote that if he visited this church, he would deal with Diotrephes’ evil deeds.
Just as the religious leaders of the Jews made false, unjust accusations about Jesus when they delivered Him to Pilate (Luke 23:2-5), so Diotrephes made false accusations about those who were serving Jesus.
But why would anyone do this?
Mark tells us that Pilate knew the religious leaders handed Jesus over to him because of envy (Mark 15:10). As King Saul grew envious when people loved anyone other than himself (1 Samuel 18:6-9), so Diotrephes’ envy must have grown when anyone other than himself was praised and received the church’s attention.
John was a dearly beloved apostle of Jesus Christ, and Diotrephes was a self-centered individual who no doubt viewed John’s messengers as John “meddling” with “his turf.” And so, he made false accusations to try to get “his people” to focus on himself once more.
Diotrephes acted like the church belonged to him.
John wrote Diotrephes was “not content” with speaking against them with “malicious words.” He took action against anyone he perceived as a threat to himself and his standing in the church. He did not receive those John sent, and he forbade anyone else from receiving them - and whoever didn’t “get in line” he threw them out of the church (3 John 10).
Diotrephes set himself up as the “head man” of the church, and whatever he wanted - well, that’s just the way it was going to be. If you didn’t like it or criticized what he was doing, he pushed you out the door.
It seems likely from the context that Gaius had been thrown out of the church by Diotrephes for receiving and helping those John sent (3 John 5-8).
No doubt, there was some confusion among the rest of the church over what occurred - whose “side of the story” was right? Who should they follow? So John wrote this short letter to identify who was walking faithfully and doing good (Gauis), who was doing evil (Diotrephes), and to encourage the church to “imitate what is good.”
Beware of Diotrephes.
Sadly, the spirit of Diotrephes is still something the Lord’s church must endure at times. There are congregations of the Lord’s people who have been torn apart by those who “love the preeminence.” Only God knows how many Christians have been spiritually shaken and made to stumble because they witnessed the evil actions of a Diotrephes in their midst.
Rather than allowing Diotrephes to continue his reign of terror by ignoring it or encouraging Christians like Gaius to start a new church down the road, John exposes and rebukes Diotrephes’ evil behavior (Ephesians 5:11). The purity of Christ’s bride - the church (Ephesians 5:22-33) - matters and when sin is in the church, it must be dealt with (1 Corinthians 5).
To guard against the evil of Diotrephes, may we remember Paul’s admonition to let the mind of Christ be in us - a mindset of humility and selflessness.
Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:1-4)
Rather than allowing our faith to be overcome and shattered when Diotrephes appears, may we remember the example of Gauis and John’s command to the church.
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 11)
Wise counsel. As Martin suggests, the case of Diotrephes may not always have been so clear as it became by the time John wrote his letter. I ponder how to recognize and counteract those tendencies in earlier stages, not to mention how to fight the temptation to act similarly myself.
Thanks Jameson, a very important and well written post.
It is very difficult to deal with such people as Diotrephes, as they work hard to promote themselves and ingratiate themselves with the other leaders, then take over the group.
It is so amazing that Diotrephes even opposed John- it would be very interesting to see what happened when John visited the Church and sorted him out!