Therefore if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. Not content with this, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those who would, he forbids and throws out of the assembly.
3 John 1:8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
3 John 1:9 I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn’t accept what we say.
3 John 1:10 Therefore if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. Not content with this, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those who would, he forbids and throws out of the assembly.
3 John 1:11 Beloved, don’t imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn’t seen God.
3 John 1:12 Demetrius has the testimony of all, and of the truth itself; yes, we also testify, and you know that our testimony is true.
The verse centers on "therefore", "come", "call", "attention", "deeds", "does", "unjustly", and "accusing". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "come", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 9's "I wrote to the assembly but Diotrephes..." into verse 11's "Beloved don t imitate that which is...", so "therefore" and "come" 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 "therefore" and "come" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.