independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)
The elder to Gaius: prayer and joy 1:1–4
1
Ὁ πρεσβύτερος Γαΐῳ τῷ ἀγαπητῷ,independent — the superscription — Ὁ πρεσβύτερος, the same self-designation as 2 John; no verb, no grace-formula: the barest letter opening in the NT
ὃν ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ.relative — ἐγώ emphatic; ἐν ἀληθείᾳ — the keyword sounds at once: six times in the first four verses
2
Ἀγαπητέ, περὶ πάντων εὔχομαίindependent — the first Ἀγαπητέ (again vv. 5, 11) — περὶ πάντων read with the wish: 'in all respects'
σε εὐοδοῦσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν,content — the wish — the conventional health-wish of the Hellenistic papyrus letter, about to be christianized
καθὼς εὐοδοῦταί σου ἡ ψυχή.comparative — the measure — Gaius's prospering soul is the benchmark his body is prayed up to
3
ἐχάρην γὰρ λίανcause — γάρ — how the elder knows the soul prospers: the ground of the confident prayer
ἐρχομένων ἀδελφῶνparticipial — genitive absolute — present participle: brothers kept arriving, visit after visit
καὶ μαρτυρούντων σου τῇ ἀληθείᾳ,participial — the coordinate genitive absolute — σου τῇ ἀληθείᾳ: the truth that is Gaius's own
καθὼς σὺ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιπατεῖς.comparative — the fact matching the report — σύ emphatic: you really do so walk
4
μειζοτέραν τούτων οὐκ ἔχω χαράν,independent — μειζοτέραν — a double comparative ('more greater'): the elder's emphasis outruns his grammar
ἵνα ἀκούω τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ περιπατοῦντα.content — epexegetic ἵνα — the content of the joy, not its aim; τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα: Gaius counted among them
Commendation of Gaius's hospitality 1:5–8
5
Ἀγαπητέ, πιστὸν ποιεῖςindependent — the second Ἀγαπητέ — πιστὸν ποιεῖς: fidelity shown in deeds, the letter turned to its business
ὃ ἐὰν ἐργάσῃ εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺςrelative — indefinite relative (ὃ ἐάν) — whatever the labor, it counts as faithful work
καὶ τοῦτο ξένους,phrase modifier — ascensive καὶ τοῦτο — 'and that, strangers': brothers Gaius had never met
6
οἳ ἐμαρτύρησάν σου τῇ ἀγάπῃ ἐνώπιον ἐκκλησίας,relative — the travelers' report — testimony to Gaius's ἀγάπη, delivered before the elder's assembled church
οὓς καλῶς ποιήσεις προπέμψας ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ·relative — the relative sliding into request — καλῶς ποιήσεις + participle, the papyri's polite-imperative idiom ('please send them on'); ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ sets the standard of provision
7
ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐξῆλθονcause — γάρ — why God-worthy provision is owed: ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος, the Name absolute
μηδὲν λαμβάνοντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνικῶν.participial — the missionaries' policy — nothing from the pagans they evangelize; support must come from the churches
8
ἡμεῖς οὖν ὀφείλομεν ὑπολαμβάνειν τοὺς τοιούτους,independent — οὖν — the inference; ἡμεῖς emphatic: we, not the ἐθνικοί, are the ones obliged; ὑπολαμβάνειν answers λαμβάνοντες
ἵνα συνεργοὶ γινώμεθα τῇ ἀληθείᾳ.purpose — the aim — συνεργοὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ: the host becomes co-worker of the truth itself
Diotrephes, who loves preeminence 1:9–10
9
Ἔγραψά τι τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ·independent — the lost letter — ἔγραψά τι: something written to the church, evidently suppressed on arrival
ἀλλ' ὁ φιλοπρωτεύων αὐτῶν Διοτρέφης οὐκ ἐπιδέχεται ἡμᾶς.independent — the adversative — φιλοπρωτεύων, 'who loves to be first' (a NT hapax): the ambition named before the man; οὐκ ἐπιδέχεται ἡμᾶς — the elder's emissaries, and his authority, refused
10
διὰ τοῦτο, ἐὰν ἔλθω,conditional — protasis — leans on ὑπομνήσω below; διὰ τοῦτο points back at the refusal of v. 9; ἐὰν ἔλθω anticipates the visit hoped for at v. 14
ὑπομνήσω αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργαindependent — the apodosis — ὑπομνήσω: not vengeance but public exposure, deeds recited before the church
ἃ ποιεῖ,relative — the deeds specified — present tense: ongoing conduct
λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν ἡμᾶς·participial — φλυαρῶν — 'prating': bubbling malicious nonsense against us
καὶ μὴ ἀρκούμενος ἐπὶ τούτοιςparticipial — the escalation — words were not enough; leans on the three indictments below
οὔτε αὐτὸς ἐπιδέχεται τοὺς ἀδελφοὺςindependent — first indictment — αὐτός: he refuses the traveling brothers in his own person
καὶ τοὺς βουλομένους κωλύειindependent — second — τοὺς βουλομένους: members willing to host are prevented
καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐκβάλλει.independent — third — ἐκβάλλει: excommunication wielded by the man who loves to be first
Imitate good, not evil: the witness to Demetrius 1:11–12
11
Ἀγαπητέ, μὴ μιμοῦ τὸ κακὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀγαθόν.independent — the third Ἀγαπητέ — the letter's one command to Gaius: a choice between the example just shown and the one about to be named
ὁ ἀγαθοποιῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν·independent — the positive maxim — asyndeton: doing good is the family mark of being ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
ὁ κακοποιῶν οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν.independent — the antithesis — Johannine idiom (cf. 1 Jn 3:6, 10): the evildoer has never seen God
12
Δημητρίῳ μεμαρτύρηται ὑπὸ πάντωνindependent — Demetrius — likely the letter's bearer, commended sight unseen; μεμαρτύρηται perfect: testimony on standing record
καὶ ὑπὸ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας·phrase modifier — the second witness — αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας: the letter's keyword now personified as a character witness
καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ μαρτυροῦμεν,independent — the third witness — καὶ ἡμεῖς δέ: the elder adds his own attestation
καὶ οἶδαςindependent — the appeal to Gaius's own knowledge
ὅτι ἡ μαρτυρία ἡμῶν ἀληθής ἐστιν.content — echo of Jn 21:24 / 19:35 — 'and you know that our testimony is true'
Closing: hope to see you, peace, greetings 1:13–15
13
Πολλὰ εἶχον γράψαι σοι,independent — the close begins — nearly verbatim with 2 Jn 12; εἶχον imperfect: much was there to say
ἀλλ' οὐ θέλω διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου σοι γράφειν·independent — the adversative — διὰ μέλανος καὶ καλάμου: ink and reed pen, the epistolary tools declined
14
ἐλπίζω δὲ εὐθέως σε ἰδεῖν,independent — the hope — the visit threatened toward Diotrephes (v. 10) is desire toward Gaius
καὶ στόμα πρὸς στόμα λαλήσομεν.independent — στόμα πρὸς στόμα — 'mouth to mouth', as in 2 Jn 12: presence preferred over paper
15
εἰρήνη σοι.independent — the shalom-greeting — verbless, in place of the usual grace-benediction
ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ φίλοι.independent — οἱ φίλοι — 'the friends', a rare NT name for believers (cf. Jn 15:14–15)
ἀσπάζου τοὺς φίλους κατ' ὄνομα.independent — κατ' ὄνομα — by name, one by one (cf. Jn 10:3: the shepherd calls his own sheep by name)
Analysis. The shortest book of the New Testament reads here as a study in flush-left plainness interrupted by exactly one deep sentence. The letter's spine is its three vocatives — Ἀγαπητέ at vv. 2, 5, and 11 — each opening a movement (prayer, commendation, command), while the keyword ἀλήθεια threads every section: loved in truth, walking in the truth, co-workers with the truth, the truth itself called as witness. The one chaining period is the hospitality sentence of vv. 5–7, where πιστὸν ποιεῖς steps down through the indefinite relative, the ascensive καὶ τοῦτο ξένους, the paired relatives οἳ/οὕς, and a γάρ-ground to the letter's greatest depth (four columns) at μηδὲν λαμβάνοντες — the whole case for supporting the missionaries built as one descent. Interpretive choices the layout takes a side on: the ἵνα of v. 4 is epexegetic (the content of the joy, not its purpose) and hangs under χαράν; the genitive absolutes of v. 3 attach to ἐχάρην as its occasion, with the καθώς-clause tied to the testifying, not the rejoicing; οὓς καλῶς ποιήσεις (v. 6) is kept one line and read as the papyri's polite-request idiom, with v. 7's γάρ grounding that request rather than the whole paragraph; in v. 10 the finite verbs after μὴ ἀρκούμενος ἐπὶ τούτοις are set flush-left as three coordinate indictments, with the participle leaning forward on them (like a protasis) rather than anchored back; and the antithetical maxims of v. 11 stand as asyndetic main clauses — implicit grounds for μὴ μιμοῦ but not subordinated to it. Diotrephes and Demetrius thus sit at the same depth, all main verbs: the layout's point is that the letter judges the two men side by side and asks Gaius only to choose whom to imitate.