2. No Greater Joy (III John 2-4)

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Text and Translation

Greek Text

2 Ἀγαπητέ, περὶ πάντων εὔχομαί σε εὐοδοῦσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν, καθὼς εὐοδοῦταί σου ἡ ψυχή.

3 ἐχάρην γὰρ λίαν, ἐρχομένων ἀδελφῶν, καὶ μαρτυρούντων σου τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, καθὼς σὺ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιπατεῖς.

4 μειζοτέραν τούτων οὐκ ἔχω χαράν, ἵνα ἀκούω τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιπατοῦντα.

My English Translation

2 Beloved, I pray that, in all things, you prosper and be in good health, as your soul prospers.

3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brothers came and testified to the truth you hold, just as you walk in the truth.

4 No greater joy have I than these, that I should hear my children walking in the truth.

Graphical Grammar¹

Weighty Words

• εὔχομαί (verb 1st person, sg, present, middle, indicative) ➡️ εὔχομαι. It means “to speak to or to make requests of God, pray.”² This is clearly a middle form, not passive. The Elder is praying, which is active.
• εὐοδοῦσθαι (v pres pass infinitive) and εὐοδοῦταί (3rd Sg, pres pass ind) ➡️ εὐοδόω. The word means to “have things turn out well, prosper, succeed”³
• ἐρχομένων (Pres. Mid. Ptc. Masc. Pl Gen ➡️ ἔρχομαι) – It means to come, more particularly “of movement from one point to another, with focus on approach from the narrator’s perspective.”⁴ As relates to this verse, BDAG notes “Single forms of ἔ. are used w. other verbs to denote that a person, in order to do someth., must first come to a certain place: in parataxis….”⁵. This middle active participle indicates ongoing or continuous action in relation to the main verb’s time. So, ἐχομένων means “the ones coming” or “coming” (continuous aspect), with the subject performing the action.
• μαρτυρούντων (Pres. Act. Ptc. Masc. Pl Gen ➡️ μαρτυρέω) – in the first sense it means “to confirm or attest someth. on the basis of personal knowledge or belief, bear witness, be a witness; to offer testimony.”⁶
• In III John 3, both ἐρχομένων (“coming”) and μαρτυρούντων (“testifying”) are present participles with an active force (ἐρχομένων’s middle form functions actively). Thus, they describe the brothers as “the ones coming and testifying” with ongoing action relative to the main verb ἐχάρην (“I rejoiced,” aorist).
• μειζοτέραν (Adj Fem Sg Acc) (μέγας): μείζων and sometimes μειζότερος are the comparative forms of μέγας, which are irregularly formed. The word means “greater.”
• περιπατοῦντα (Pres Act Ptc Neut Pl Acc): The present participle περιπατοῦντα (“walking”) conveys ongoing action. BDAG’s definition at sense 2 for the lemma περιπατέω is “to conduct one’s life, comport oneself, behave, live as habit of conduct.” Along with ἐν (prep +dat) ἀληθείᾳ (Fem Sg Dat) (in the truth”) it reflects the Johannine motif. That preposition ἐν is critical to the definition here. As BDAG points out, when περιπατέω is followed by a prepositional phrase, the word refers to the sphere in which one lives or ought to live, so as to be characterized by that sphere.⁷ That is precisely the point that John wants to draw our attention to. He wants our lives to be characterized by the sphere of truth.

Syntax Sense

Verse 2

Ἀγαπητέ is a vocative that’s easy enough to diagram.

περὶ πάντων = adverbial prepositional phrase telling us in what sphere the Elder is praying.

εὔχομαί – see key word spotlight.

σε εὐοδοῦσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν

What does καθὼς clause modify? It could be both εὐοδοῦσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν or just one of the two? It modifies both here because the coordinating conjunction. The Elder is wishing or praying for Giaus to prosper the way his soul prospers and to be in good health to the level his soul prospers.

εὐοδοῦταί σου ἡ ψυχή.

Verse 3

To me, the most syntactically interesting part of this verse is the genitive absolute “ἐρχομένων ἀδελφῶν, καὶ μαρτυρούντων.” A genitive absolute is a (1) circumstantial participle (2) agreeing with a genitive noun or pronoun which (3) is not in the main construction of the sentence.⁸ A circumstantial (also called an adverbial) participle sets “forth some circumstance under which an action, generally the main action, takes place.”⁹ It “expresses time, cause, condition, concession, or simply any attendant circumstance.”¹⁰

Here we have two two genitive participles (ἐρχομένων, “coming,” and μαρτυρούντων, “testifying”) with their genitive subject (ἀδελφῶν, “brothers”), indicating a circumstantial action separate from the main clause (ἐχάρην, “I rejoiced”). It sets the reason or occasion for the elder’s joy: “when/as the brothers came and testified.”

Verse 4

I originally translated this as “No greater joy have I, than to hear my children walking in truth.” There were a number of problems here. First, like many translations, I omitted τούτων figuring that it was subsumed in the translation. It also simplified the comparative. The KJV and other major translations render it just as “than,” the NASB translates it as this. It reads smoothly, but felt interpretative to me, and then these translations have to render ἵνα as “to,” which seems justifiable but weak to me. BDAG notes that “after a demonstrative (Epict. 2, 5, 16 ἐν τούτῳ … ἵνα) εἰς τοῦτο [can be translated as] for this (purpose, namely) that….”.¹¹

By adding “than these,” I sought to restore the literal rendering of τούτων. This is more explicit, as τούτων (genitive plural demonstrative pronoun) refers to “these things” or “these joys,” emphasizing that no joy surpasses this one. This aligns with the Greek’s explicit comparison and avoids subsuming it into the English idiom.

Second, I initially had a miss with the subjunctive of ἀκούω τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα, translating it with an English infinitive construction (“to hear”), which is less precise for the ἵνα + subjunctive clause. The ἵνα clause typically indicates purpose or result (“that I may hear” or “that I hear”), and the present subjunctive ἀκούω suggests ongoing or potential hearing. The infinitive flattened this nuance slightly.
I revised to use “should” to reflect the subjunctive mood. It preserves the Greek’s nuance of potentiality or purpose.

τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα (“my children”): I tried to make sure the possessive ἐμὰ and the metaphor of spiritual children (τέκνα) were clear, and the article τὰ is subsumed in English idiom.

Demystifying the Discourse

What does it mean that the Elder wishes Gaius to prosper? What does it mean that the Elder wishes Gaius to be in good health? What does it mean that Gaius’s soul is prospering? Lots of questions arise from this brief verse. The grammar gets us only so far, but it here is what it gets us. John tells us that Giaus’s soul is already prospering. John is praying for Gaius to prosper or have success, but he’s not praying for spiritual prosperity as Gaius is already prospering in that sphere. Henry Halley stated it thusly:

Here is a prayer, from one who was very close to Christ, that a Christian might have temporal as well as spiritual blessings: an indication that it is not wrong, in the sight of Christ, for one to possess this world’s goods and benefits. John himself, in early life, had been a man of means. But this same John warns against loving the things of this world (1 John 2:15–17).

Henry Hampton Halley, Halley’s Bible Handbook with the New International Version., Completely rev. and expanded. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 891.

That John would pray for prosperity clearly means prosperity is permissible in God’s will, at least for Gaius. But is it in God’s will for us? See Field Note: John’s prayer for Gaius to Prosper. The same is true of good health and healing. God’s inspired Word and His most beloved apostle would not be praying for Gaius, and by extension us, to have something that is contrary to God’s will.

What does it mean to “walk in truth?” See this Field Note.

John was the “beloved” Apostle (Jn 19:26), closest to Jesus. So, it is surely not a surprise that his greatest joy is his children walking in God’s truth. As we discussed above, walking in the Bible refers to how we conduct our lives. John is overjoyed when his children’s lives are grounded in the truth. What a fascinating contrast from the moral relativity playing out in our daily lives where anybody can live their “own” truth. Want to dig deeper? See my Field Note on walking in the truth ->.

Your Turn!

For this passage, let’s concentrate on comparing the grammar. As always, this section is an optional, no-pressure way for you to engage with the Greek and practice your skills.

• Sit with verses 3 and 4 for a while. Compare them grammatically. Look at testimony vs. hearing. Consider the use of participles vs. the subjunctive. See if there are any other grammatical or syntactical observations you can make that bear on the discourse.
• Translate this verse two ways. First, stick as close to the text as possible, even if the translation is wooden and literal. Second, make a verbose translation (think Amplified Bible) that brings out with as many words as necessary “the full meaning” of the text. Read those translations side-by-side. What do you think about the difference between slavishly literal vs. expansive? What effect would reading these translations have on someone who has no familiarity with the Greek text?

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See complete translation of III John here.

1. I use the the grammatical diagramming method from Guthrie and Duvall in Biblical Greek Exegesis, modified with my “house rules,” which you can read about here. ↩︎
2. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [BDAG] (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 417. ↩︎
3. BDAG, 410. ↩︎
4. BDAG, 393. ↩︎
5. BDAG, 394. ↩︎
6. BDAG, 617 ↩︎
7. Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges (New York; Cincinnati; Chicago; Boston; Atlanta: American Book Company, 1920), §2070 (p. 459). “The adverbial or circumstantial participle is grammatically subordinated to its controlling verb (usually the main verb of the clause). Like an ordinary adverb, the participle modifies the verb, answering the question, When? (temporal), How? (means, manner), Why? (purpose, cause), etc.” Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 622. ↩︎
8. Smyth, A Greek Grammar, §2054 (p. 456). ↩︎
9. Smyth, A Greek Grammar, §2070 (p. 459). ↩︎
10. BDAG, 803. ↩︎
11. BDAG, 476. ↩︎