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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain 3 John 1:9:
III John 9
Excerpted from: 'I Will Pour Out My Spirit!'Sometimes a man in the ministry wants to lord it over the other brethren to dominate those who attend church, and this may lead to outright abuse or tyranny. We have seen it in the past over the last five decades or so. At times; not often, but often enough.
A prime biblical example in the New Testament is the person of Diotrephes, who according to the apostle John loves to be first there in III John 9. The name Diotrephes means "nourished by Jupiter." And I find that meaning of the name Jupiter very interesting. He loved to have authority. Jupiter means "authority or preeminence over people," which is interesting. So he loved to have authority, the preeminence. Desiring preeminence, he refused to see the letter sent by John, thereby declining to submit to his direction or acknowledge his authority. He circulated malicious slanders against the apostle and exercised an arbitrary and pernicious influence in the church.
The word preeminence occurs twice in the New Testament. In Colossians 1:18, Paul speaks of Christ having the preeminence in all things. As used about Christ, the Greek word proteon means to be first in rank or influence. Proteon is the Greek word from which preeminence is translated. However, when the term preeminence is used regarding Diotrephes in III John 9, it refers to the compound Greek word philoproteon, which means "loves to have the preeminence." It is literally "to be fond of being first," that is, being ambitious for distinction.
ArticlesA Distant Reflection (2)
Simplicity in Christ
EssaysPentecost's Two Leavened Loaves (Part Four)
SermonsThe Book of Joel (Part Two)
How Much Leaven Can God Take?
Where Did The Original Apostles Go?
Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen (Part One)
Letters to Seven Churches (Part Ten): The Church
Countering Presumptuousness
The Epistles of II and III John (Part Two)
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