| − | '''III John''' (also commonly written '''3 John''') is the sixty-fourth book of the [[Bible]]. It was written by [[John]] between A.D. 85 and A.D. 95.<ref>''The Holy Bible, Today's New International Version'', Zondervan (2007)</ref> It was written to John's friend [[Gaius]]. It is the second shortest book in the Bible, with only 15 verses. | + | '''III John''' (also commonly written '''3 John''') is the sixty-fourth book of the [[Bible]]. It was written by [[John]] between A.D. 85 and A.D. 95.<ref>''The Holy Bible, Today's New International Version'', Zondervan (2007)</ref> It was written to John's friend [[Gaius]]. It is the second shortest book in the Bible, with only 14 verses. John wrote this book to: |
| | + | Like the rest of the [[New Testament]], III John is written in [[Koine Greek]]. It was originally written as a letter. John only addresses himself as "the elder", because when he wrote III John church leaders were called elders. As in II John, he writes that he does not want to write all he wants to tell in a letter. This may explain the small size of III John. |