3 John 1:11

Beloved The address again marks transition to a new subject, but without any abrupt change. The behaviour of Diotrephes will at least serve as a warning.

follow not that which is evil, but that which is good More simply, imitate not the ill, but the good. The word for -evil" or -ill" is not that used in the previous verse (πονηρός), but a word, which, though one of the most common in the Greek language to express the idea of -bad," is rarely used by S. John (κακός). Elsewhere only John 18:23; Revelation 2:2; Revelation 16:2: in Revelation 16:2 both words occur. Perhaps -ill" is hardly strong enough here, and the -evil" of A.V. had better be retained. Nothing turns on the change of word, so that it is not absolutely necessary to mark it. For -imitate" comp. 2 Thessalonians 3:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:9; Hebrews 13:7: the word occurs nowhere else in N.T.

He that doeth good is of God He has God as the source (ἐκ) of his moral and spiritual life; he is a child of God. In its highest sense this is true only of Him who -went about doing good; but it is true in a lower sense of every earnest Christian. See on 1Jn 2:16; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:8-9; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 4:6-7.

hath not seen God See on 1 John 3:6. Of course doing good and doing evil are to be understood in a wide sense: the particular cases of granting and refusing hospitality to missionary brethren are no longer specially in question.