² tn Or “King Herod had some from the church arrested.”

³ sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.

² sn Which church does the author refer to here? The church where Gaius is, the church where the author is, a different local church where the “brothers” are, or the ‘universal’ church, the church at large? Since the suggestion in 3 John 3 is that the “brothers” have come and testified in the author’s church about what Gaius has done for them, it seems most likely that the “church” mentioned here is also the author’s church, where he is currently located. Other possibilities cannot be ruled out, but seem unnecessarily complicated.

³ tn Grk “the church in her house.” The meaning is that Paul sends greetings to the church that meets at Nympha’s house.

³ sn They sent. The Jerusalem church with the apostles was overseeing the expansion of the church, as the distribution of the Spirit indicates in vv. 15-17.

⁵ tn Grk “and gave him as head over all things to the church.”

² tn Grk “the brother of whom the praise in the gospel [is] throughout all the churches.”

¹ tn Grk “as I directed the churches of Galatia, so also you yourselves do.”

⁶ tn Grk “it”; the referent (the church) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn The idea of all in all is either related to the universe (hence, he fills the whole universe entirely) or the church universal (hence, Christ fills the church entirely with his presence and power).

¹ sn These instructions refer to the instructions about local church life, given in 1 Tim 2:1-3:13.

³ sn Pillars is figurative here for those like James, Peter, and John who were leaders in the Jerusalem church.

⁴ sn Philip was one of the seven deacons appointed in the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:1-7).

⁵ sn The attack took place at Jason’s house because this was probably the location of the new house church.

³ sn This is the first occurrence of the term church (ἐκκλησία, ekklēsia) in Acts. It refers to an assembly of people.

¹ sn The church mentioned here, which the author says he may visit (3 John 10) is not the same as the one mentioned in 3 John 6, to which the author apparently belongs (or of which he is in charge). But what is the relationship of this church in v. 9 to Gaius, to whom the letter is addressed? It is sometimes suggested that Gaius belongs to this church, but that seems unlikely because the author uses a third person pronoun to refer to the other members of the church (among them). If Gaius were one of these it would have been much more natural to use a second person pronoun: “Diotrephes, who loves to be first among you.” Thus it seems probable that Gaius belongs to (or is in charge of) one local church while Diotrephes is in another, a church known to Gaius but to which he does not belong.

¹ tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.

¹ sn The expression I planted is generally taken to mean that Paul founded the church at Corinth. Later Apollos had a significant ministry there (watered). See also v. 10.

² sn Agabus also appeared in Acts 11:28. He was from Jerusalem, so the two churches were still in contact with one another.

² tn Grk “they”; the referent (the church, or the rest of the believers at Antioch) has been specified to avoid confusion with the Judaizers mentioned in the preceding clause.