The Diotrephes Affect

What is it that kills churches? There are a number of factors that can be detrimental to the health and well-being of churches – gossip, infighting, lack of vision or mission, lack of evangelism, poor discipleship practices, irrelevant worship philosophy, doctrinal heresy, and false teaching, to name but a few. Yet, I believe one of the scariest things any local church faces is the presence of a Diotrephes in their midst. The apostle John deals with the deadliness of the Diotrephes affect in 3 John 1-11.

Identity of Diotrephes

We really don’t know anything about Diotrephes except for what John says about him in 3 John 9-11. We’ll examine the particulars shortly, but given what John says about him, he may have been an ordained overseer or a lay-leader in the church to which John wrote (v. 9), we simply do not know. Which church was this? John doesn’t say, but Paul mentions a Gaius who was from Corinth but ministering in the Roman church (Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 1:14), Luke records a Gaius in Macedonia [Greece] (Acts 19:29) and a Gaius in Derbe [Asia Minor / modern day Turkey] (Acts 20:4-5). Needless to say, Gaius was a common Roman name and we’re not given any more specific information about either him or the church in which both he and Diotrephes were.

The Danger of a Diotrephes

The epistle of 3 John begins encouragingly with John’s esteem of Gaius and thanksgiving for the way the truth characterizes his life (vv. 1-4) and how that life has impacted others (v. 5a); so much so that the recipients of Gaius’ efforts told those inside and outside the church about it (v. 5b). It was those kinds of people, those committed to the truth sent from John, whom John encourages Gaius to help on their way as coworkers for the truth (vv. 6-8).

In contrast to the commendability of a church leader like Gaius stands Diotrephes. John has nothing good to say about Diotrephes, which is quite informative, but what he doesn’t say is just as important. John never accuses Diotrephes of teaching false doctrine, heresy, or a lack of orthodoxy in the faith. In John’s mind, Diotrephes was not a false teacher, or antichrist, like those mentioned in the epistles of 1 and 2 John. Yet, what John says about Diotrephes is scary for any church to have to deal with.

John accuses Diotrephes of ignoring and directly challenging the Apostle’s authority (v. 9) by refusing to recognize the apostolic authority present behind a letter John had written to the church. Furthermore, Diotrephes falsely accused John and those in authority sent from John with slanderous words and unjustified gossip (v. 10a). Not only did Diotrephes refuse to recognize John’s apostolic authority, the senior authority of the church, and unjustifiably accused anyone in authority over him in the church, but also those sent from John to minister to the church (v. 10b); going so far as to encourage the church to throw them out of their fellowship, possibly excommunicating them (v. 10c).

John doesn’t stop at merely leveling such heinous accusations at Diotrephes, but calls to the church’s attention the core reason underlying Diotrephes’ actions. Diotrephes wanted to be in charge; he wanted to be the leader, the one whose influence and authority reigned supreme in the church (v. 9).

Anyone who is willing to threaten the health of a church by jockeying for preeminence and manipulating himself into the authority structure of a church to realize an agenda is a scary thing for any church. Yet, it happens way too often. Too many times professing believers seek out a position of influence and power so they can control others and fulfill whatever agenda they have set for themselves. These kinds of people are easily spotted by their arrogant stubbornness, accusatory tone toward the leadership, and outright opposition against the God-established and recognized authority within the church.

What Is to Be Done About a Diotrephes?

John definitely tells Gaius how to handle a Diotrephes, but does so in veiled terms. It’s interesting that John tells Gaius not to imitate evil people right on the heels of his blatant and forthright accusations against Diotrephes (v. 11). John then goes on to make one final accusation, but in very general terms. In verse 11, John says that the one who is doing what is good or helpful, beneficial to the church is from God, but the one who does badly, the evildoer, the criminal has never seen God. This is obviously a reference to Diotrephes. John is indirectly calling into question the legitimacy of Diotrephes’ conversion. This is nothing new for John. In another epistle, John clearly states that those who do not love believers are not believers themselves, and uses some very direct language in the doing of it.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. (1Jo 3:14-15)

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (1Jo 4:20)

The New Testament is clear that such persons should be removed from the fellowship of the local church. People like this have schismatic tendencies and will destroy a church from the inside out faster than almost anything else. Why? They tend to be sneaky, underhanded, agenda-minded, and unsupportive of those whom God has put in the prominent role of leadership. That John uses the same vigor to warn against The Diotrephes Affect as he does blatant false teaching, doctrinal heresy, and unorthodoxy should warn those who flirt with becoming a Diotrephes and give strength to those who must confront them.