The Diotrephes Trap

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. – 3 John 1v9-10

Diotrephes was quite a guy. He was a leader in the church along with Gaius. Whereas Gaius was well know for his testimony of being faithful in taking care of others. He met needs and just ‘did’ for people he came in contact with.

Next we hear about Diotrephes. He was a bit different. John writes that he ‘loves the pre-eminence.’ He was ‘found of being first.’ He was ‘ambitious for distinction.’ This was a guy who just loved for everyone to recognise him. He had to be the top dog, the ‘go to guy,’ the one was always recognised as number one. We can tell from the passage that he was a ‘my way or the highway’ kind of guy. He railed against John and he would not receive the brethren. Not only that, he practiced ‘secondary non-reception’ because he put out those who would receive the brethren. The fact that he had the power to do that leads me to believe that he was in a major leadership position; perhaps what we may now call the senior pastor. Yes, even pastors can get caught in the Diotrephes trap.

This guy sounds like a real jerk. He felt like the best way to make himself look good was to attack others and get rid of any opposition.

We need to be very, very careful that this fondness for being first does not take root in our lives. We all like a little recognition. We all like to feel important. We all like to be appreciated. There is nothing wrong when that is kept in balance.

But when we begin to love those things and put them before others we get ourselves in trouble. We can’t love God and pre-eminence at the same time. We can’t love others and pre-eminence at the same time. Loving pre-eminence is the absolute opposite of the humility God desires from us.

The Diotrephes trap is a nasty, vicious, and destructive trap. We must daily be on guard to avoid it.