1:9
John now mentions another person by name. Diotrephes seems to have had a leadership role of some sort, but was fulfilling the role not as a servant of Christ and the people, but as a means of self-aggrandisement. He did not recognise John. ESV has “does not acknowledge our authority”, NKJV has “does not receive us”. The practical implication of the two translations is the same. We may wonder why such short letters as 2 and 3 John appear in the Bible. They do not contain anything like the same grandeur of Romans, Ephesians or Hebrews, nor even of 1 John. However, they deal with issues that still are, and always have been, relevant in the church. In 2 John we have the matter of whether or not we should welcome false teachers, to which the answer is a resounding no. We would do well to question our current practices in the light of this. Here we are dealing with self-centered leaders. John deals with the matter head on, including naming the person concerned. Again, we have much to learn from this.
1:10
John says that if he visits then he will raise the matter directly. ESV has “talking wicked nonsense against us”, I prefer the NKJV “prating against us with malicious words”. In short, Diotrephes was a prat, and John was not afraid to say so. Diotrephes was a very controlling leader. He refused to welcome the faithful brothers, and if anyone did welcome them, they were put out of the church. We all know that this sort of controlling behaviour is still very much around in all branches of the church. As mentioned in my comments on the previous verse, these two short letters deal with very real problems that churches have to address.
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