The Spirit of Diotrephes: An Ever Present Threat to Churches Today
The apostle John, in his little letter of 3 John, discusses a man by the name of Diotrephes.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to put himself first among them, did not accept us. Because of this, if I come, I will bring up what kinds of works he does: ranting against us with malicious words. Not content with that, he does not accept the brothers, and stops those who want to, and throws them out of the church. 3 John 9-10
This man had obviously infiltrated a local church, and through carefully calculated actions, had managed to take it over. He had managed to chase off anybody who didn’t agree with him. He had usurped authority of this church to the point that the apostle John had written a letter to the church, but Diotrephes intercepted the letter and would not allow John to have contact with the church body. John said that Diotrephes “…does not accept us.” Diotrephes may not have even been the pastor, but he was clearly in control of that local church.
Let’s be clear – this can happen quickly in a local church! Especially when there is weak leadership or a void in leadership. I see this often in my work with churches and pastors. Unfortunately there are many today that possess the spirit of Diotrephes. They rise up in churches and usurp power. They become the central figure and are even praised by many for their dedication.
Many times they can be very tough to identify for the average Christian. Like the Pharisees, they look so good on the outside!
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” Matthew 23:25
Paul also warned the Ephesian elders of the same thing in Acts 20:29-30…
“For I know that after my departure, dreadful wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among you men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw the disciples away after them.”
Paul warned the local church that after he left there would be political type power struggles. This happens way too often in local churches. Paul said that there would be those with the spirit of Diotrephes trying to gain a following. The result would be that they would rip the church apart and scatter the flock. It is very ugly when this happens.
Those with the spirit of Diotrephes are excellent at self-promotion and know how to “look” in order to get what they want.
- Diotrephes loves to put himself first among them. MEV
- Diotrephes loves to put himself first. ESV
- Diotrephes loves to have the preeminence among them. KJV (1769)
The word “preeminence” in the KJV (1769) means “having paramount rank, dignity, or importance.” If a person loves to have the preeminence this simply means that they love to have superiority over everybody else. What is the middle letter in “preeminence?” It is the same as the middle letter in the word “pride.” Diotrephes had an “I” problem! Diotrephes even sought to keep the people away from John because Diotrephes was a lording leader that had to be the center of everything.
The spirit of Diotrephes is alive and well in churches today. Unfortunately, so many church members are immature in their faith and extremely gullible. I have seen many Diotrephes through my 35 years of pastoring and they usually have some common traits. They love to be seen and heard, they love to make a big splash, they come across as a Bible “expert”, they are bombastic and self-promoting, while presenting an outward façade of humility – they give the impression, “I’m just a humble servant that loves the Word, and loves to teach the Word.”
The sad and awful truth is that those with the spirit of Diotrephes are out for themselves. It isn’t that they are one dimensionally evil, but they are very dangerous. They are narcissists. They need recognition, attention, affirmation, and most of all – power! They want influence. They want to control and dictate. They want a “following.” They want people to look at them with respect and admiration. They feel that their opinions and preferences are far superior and anybody who would disagree they try to silence by being louder or more intimidating.
Many times they achieve power and further their platform of personal preferences through private meetings and behind the scenes maneuvering. Before long, even though they may not have the title, they are in the driver’s seat and in control of the church. They have the pastor backed in a corner and the pastor feels helpless to do anything about it. Many pastors enable them. The worst thing a pastor can do is to give a public platform to a Diotrephes. Once this happens it is virtually impossible to ever reign them back in. But pastors make this mistake in order to try and appease or “win over” the Diotrephes. I made this mistake several times over my 30 years of pastoring. I allowed people to take positions of influence that I knew in my heart was a mistake. Deep down I knew there was a spirit of Diotrephes at work. It always came back to bite me – every time!
Sometimes the pastor himself becomes a Diotrephes. This is extremely dangerous. When you take a person with the spirit of Diotrephes and then give them power and authority, the results are disastrous. Then there are times when you can get two people in the same local church with the spirit of Diotrephes. This results in a struggle between the two, which usually ends in a nasty church split with a lot of hurt and wounded people.
We need to beware of the spirit of Diotrephes. We need to be on constant guard. We also need spiritual discernment from the Lord to identify those with this spirit, lest we follow a Diotrephes, thus enabling them. Ask God for discernment. If we ask, God will give us the wisdom that we lack and the wisdom that we need.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally and without criticism, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without wavering. James 1:5-6
Next week we will examine this text in 3 John and take a closer look at the marks of a Diotrephes!