3 John 1:8

We therefore -We" is in emphatic contrast to the heathen just mentioned. The Apostle softens the injunction by including himself: comp. 1 John 2:1.

ought to receive such Or, ought to support such, to undertakefor them: the verb (ὑπολαμβάνειν not ἀπολαμβάνειν) occurs elsewhere in N.T. only in S. Luke's writings, and there with a very different meaning. Comp. Xen. Anab.I. i. 7. There is perhaps a play upon words between the missionaries takingnothing fromthe Gentiles, and Christians being therefore bound to undertakefor them.

that we might be fellowhelpers to Rather, that we may become fellow- workers with. -Fellow-workers" rather than -fellow-helpers" on account of 3 John 1:5; see also on 2 John 1:11. Cognate words are used in the Greek, and this may as well be preserved in the English. -Fellow-workers" with what? Not with the truth, as both A.V. and R.V. lead us to suppose; but with the missionary brethren. In N.T. persons are invariably said to be -fellow-workers of" (Romans 16:3; Romans 16:9; Romans 16:21; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 1:24; Philippians 2:25; Philippians 4:3; [1 Thessalonians 3:2;] Philemon 1:24), never -fellow-workers to" or -fellow-workers with:" those with whom the fellow-worker works are put in the genitive, not in the dative. The dative here is the dativus commodi, and the meaning is; that we may become their fellow-workers for the truth. Sometimes instead of the dative we have the accusative with a preposition (Colossians 4:11; comp. 2 Corinthians 8:23).