Third John 9 and 10 say, “I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he does, babbling against us with evil words; and not being satisfied with these, neither does he receive the brothers, and those intending to do so he forbids and casts them out of the church.” Diotrephes’ loving to be first was against the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 20:25-27 and 23:8-11, which place all His believers on the same level, that of brothers.
In 2 John 9 the Cerinthian Gnostics took the lead to advance in doctrine beyond the teaching concerning Christ. Here in 3 John 9 is one who was under the influence of Gnostic heretical doctrine, loving to be first in the church. The problem of Gnostic doctrine was one of intellectual arrogance; the problem of loving to be first was one of self-exaltation in action. These two evils are sharp weapons used by God’s enemy, Satan, to execute his evil plot against God’s economy. One damages the believers’ faith in the divine reality; the other frustrates their work in God’s move. Loving to be first brings in degradation.
The principle was the same both with the Cerinthian Gnostics in their desire to be advanced in doctrine and with Diotrephes’ love to be first: they wanted to be above others. The Cerinthians wanted to be above others in advanced thought, and Diotrephes wanted to be first.
Third John 10 exposes how domineering and evil Diotrephes was: he babbled against the Apostle John with evil words. The Greek word translated “babbling,” phluareo, comes from phluo, to boil over, to bubble up, to overflow with words, to talk idly; hence, to babble, to talk folly or nonsense. The babbling of Diotrephes was with “evil words.” The Greek word for “evil” here is poneros, which denotes something pernicious, something harmfully evil that affects and influences others to be evil and vicious.
In the degradation of the church some forsook the faith. This was the reason Jude wrote, “Beloved, using all diligence to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, entreating you to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). The faith in this verse is not subjective; it is objective. It does not refer to our believing, but refers to our belief, to what we believe. The faith denotes the contents of the New Testament as our faith (Acts 6:7; 1 Tim. 1:19; 3:9; 4:1; 5:8; 6:10, 21; 2 Tim. 2:18; 3:8; 4:7; Titus 1:13), in which we believe for our common salvation. This faith, not any doctrine, has been delivered once for all to the saints. For this faith we should contend (1 Tim. 6:12).
In verse 4 Jude goes on to say, “Certain men have crept in unnoticed, who of old have been written of beforehand for this judgment, ungodly men, perverting the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Literally, the Greek words translated “crept in unnoticed” mean to get in by the side, or to slip in by a side door. As the enemy crept in to sow tares among the wheat (see Matt. 13:25, 27-28), the apostates crept in unnoticed.
In this verse Jude speaks of ungodly men who pervert the grace of God into licentiousness and deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The evil of these heretical apostates is twofold: perverting the grace of God into wantonness, that is, into the abuse of freedom (see Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:16), and denying the headship and lordship of the Lord. These two go together. Turning the grace of God into an abused freedom for wantonness requires denying the Lord’s rule and authority.
In verse 11 Jude speaks of the way of Cain, the error of Balaam, and the rebellion of Korah. “Woe to them! Because they have gone in the way of Cain, and poured themselves out in the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.” The way of Cain is the way of serving God religiously after one’s own will and rejecting heretically the redemption by blood required and ordained by God. Those who follow the way of Cain are according to the flesh and envy God’s true people because of their faithful testimony to God (Gen. 4:2-8).
Jude says that the apostates have “poured themselves out in the error of Balaam for reward.” For the apostates to have poured themselves out in this way means that they gave themselves up to this error, rushed headlong into it, ran riotously in it. The error of Balaam is the error of teaching wrong doctrine for reward, although the one teaching knows that it is contrary to the truth and against the people of God. The error of Balaam also involves abusing the influence of certain gifts to lead the people of God astray from the pure worship of the Lord to idolatrous worship (Num. 22:7, 21; 31:16; Rev. 2:14). Balaam knew that what he taught was against God’s truth and against His people, and he knowingly taught it for gain.
In verse 11 Jude also speaks of those who perished in the rebellion of Korah. The Greek word translated “rebellion” here literally means contradiction, speaking against. The rebellion of Korah was a rebellion against God’s deputy authority in His government and His word spoken by His deputy (like Moses). This brings in destruction (Num. 16:1-40). God always speaks through a deputy authority. To rebel against this authority and speaking is, in principle, to be in the rebellion of Korah.
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