That this third epistle was written by the author of the second, is agreed. The writer is "The Elder;" the closing verses are almost a verbatim copy of those of the second. All that has been said concerning the authorship of the second, therefore, applies to the third. The only hypothesis which is more than baseless conjecture is that which ascribes it to John the apostle, in his extreme old age, during his residence at Ephesus. Like the second this is addressed to an individual of whose personality we are uncertain, as the name Gaius, or Caius, occurs several times in the New Testament. [397]

[PNTB 397]