Pundayschool · Passage · New Testament
The Bible's shortest letter, a personal note from John to a friend named Gaius, closes on something small and deliberate: not a general hello, but a greeting passed on by name. Pundayschool has landed on its closing verse: greet the friends there by name.
3 John is the Bible's shortest book, a personal letter from "the elder" (traditionally the apostle John) to his friend Gaius, thanking him for hospitality and warning about a leader named Diotrephes who refused to welcome people at all. Pundayschool has covered one passage so far: 3 John 1:15, "greet the friends there by name," from the episode The Name-Amnesia Handshake, which comes with a free devotional and small group study guide about the difference between a warm nickname and actually knowing someone.
Episode 37 · 3 John 1:15
The mascot has known this person five years - coffee order memorised, name long forgotten, covered every week with "my friend," "brother," even a panicked "sir." 3 John 1:15: "greet the friends there by name." So today: ask again.
One passage so far. When another episode lands in 3 John, it will be filed on this page.
"Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name."
3 John 1:15, NIV
It is the closing line of the Bible's shortest letter. John sends peace, then moves from a general greeting to a specific one: greet the friends there by name, individually, not as a collective hello.
3 John is almost entirely about how people were treated as individuals, set against Diotrephes, a leader in the letter who refused to welcome people at all. Ending on "greet the friends by name" restates the letter's whole concern in its final line.
The episode pictures a mascot who has known someone for five years and covered a forgotten name with escalating generic warmth: "my friend," "brother," even a panicked "sir." 3 John 1:15 lands as the correction: not a warmer nickname, the name itself.