Steve Kitchens

When we become Christians, born again into the family of God by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, we are indwelt for the rest of our lives by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 1:14). God has given to us the Holy Spirit as “the guarantee of our inheritance” for eternal salvation with our Lord (Eph. 1:14). It is because the Holy Spirit is in us that we have the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22-23) and the “gifts of the Spirit” (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-10; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Pet. 4:10-11

In this passage from 3 John, the Apostle John is writing to his friend and brother in Christ, Gaius (3 John 1:1). We don’t know the church John is referencing where Gaius was a member, but it is most probably a church in Asia Minor close to Ephesus where John could have preached and had influence. It is quite possible that Gaius came to faith in Christ through the evangelism of John and why John “rejoiced greatly when brethren came” to tell him about Gaius.

The difference between being an unbeliever and a believer in Jesus Christ is the difference between darkness and light. There are no shades of gray. You are either blinded by darkness and alienated from God, or you have the light of Christ and reconciled to God through Him.