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Artwork for No Greater Joy

3 John 1:3-4

No Greater Joy

Lyrics · 3 John

No Greater Joy

3 John 1:3-4

Lyrics

About this song

About this song

This song belongs to the 3 John collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
3 John
Collection
3 John
Musical styles
Uncategorized
[Intro - guitar pickup] Bring me the news again. Not praise for my name, tell me where truth is walking. [Verse 1 - letter voice] Brethren came and bore witness to the truth that lives in Gaius. Their report crossed the distance: you walk in the truth. I did not stand beside the road; I heard, and greatly rejoiced. [Verse 2 - waltz turns warmer] There are many words that bring delight, many reports that brighten for a moment. Yet none rises higher in this old heart than hearing that my children still walk in truth. [Bridge - held note] Bring me the news again: not that the road was easy, not that every voice approved, but that truth was in them and truth shaped every step. [Verse 3 - shortened] The brethren remain the witnesses. Gaius remains the one reported. The elder remains far away, listening as the message arrives. [Refrain - appears once] No greater joy, to hear my children walk in truth. No brighter word for the evening: they walk, they walk in truth. [Outro - compact cadence] Bring me the news again. Let it be true.

About the passage

3 John 1: Truth is received at an open door

Truth in 3 John is something people can report seeing. Gaius receives praise because brethren have watched him “walk in the truth,” and that walk becomes tangible when he welcomes traveling believers, including strangers, and helps them continue their journey. The letter calls such support becoming “fellowhelpers to the truth,” giving a quiet household a share in work happening on the road. Diotrephes turns the same issue of reception in the opposite direction. His love of preeminence becomes malicious speech, refusal of the brethren, interference with willing hosts, and expulsion from the church. Demetrius then appears with a good report resting on witnesses beyond himself. The chapter closes by refusing to let correspondence replace presence: the elder has more to say “face to face,” sends peace, and asks that the friends be greeted “by name.”

Study 3 John 1 in depth