3 John 1:2-4

1:2 Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. ¹  1:3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, just as you are living according to the truth. ² 

1:4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear ³  that my children are living according to the truth. ⁴ 

¹ tn The noun ψυχή (yuch) is used 10 times in the Gospel of John and 2 times in 1 John; of these 6 of the uses in John and both in 1 John refer to a person’s “life” (as something that can be laid down). In John 10:24 and 12:27 the ψυχή is that part of a person where emotions are experienced; one’s ψυχή is held in suspense or deeply troubled. This is, in other words, the immaterial part of a person as opposed to his physical existence. A close parallel is found in Philo, Heir 58 (285): “nourished with peace, he will depart, having gained a calm, unclouded life…welfare in the body, welfare in the soul (ψυχή)…health and strength…delight in virtues.”

² sn Living according to the truth (Grk “walking in [the] truth”). The use of the Greek verb περιπατέω (peripatew) to refer to conduct or lifestyle is common in the NT (see 1 John 1:6, 2 John 4, as well as numerous times in Paul. Here the phrase refers to conduct that results when a person has “truth” residing within, and possibly alludes to the indwelling Spirit of Truth (see 2 John 2). In the specific context of 3 John the phrase refers to true Christians who are holding fast to an apostolic Christology in the face of the secessionist opponents’ challenge to orthodoxy.

³ tn Grk “that I hear”; the ἵνα (Jina) clause indicates content. This is more smoothly expressed as an English infinitive.

⁴ tn Grk “walking in (the) truth” (see the note on the phrase “living according to the truth” in 3 John 3).