3 John 1:7 (LSB)

Passage

For they went out for the sake of the Name, receiving nothing from the Gentiles.

Nearby Context

3 John 1:5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever work you do for the brothers, and are doing this though they are strangers;

3 John 1:6 and they bore witness to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.

3 John 1:7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, receiving nothing from the Gentiles.

3 John 1:8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.

3 John 1:9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not welcome what we say.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "went", "sake", "name", "receiving", "nothing", and "gentiles". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "went" and "sake", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "and they bore witness to your love..." into verse 8's "Therefore we ought to support such men...", so "went" and "sake" belong inside that flow. In 3 John context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "went" and "sake" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.