3 John 1:11
3 John 1:1111Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
Applied as general moral counsel — imitate good conduct, avoid bad, and recognise that a person's works reveal their relationship with Jehovah. In practice the standard is often applied outward, to Christendom and to those who have left the organisation.
Read the immediate context, because John is not speaking in the abstract. Two verses earlier he describes Diotrephes, who likes to have first place, refuses to receive the brothers, stops those who want to, and puts them out of the congregation. That is a named case of a leader using expulsion to control a congregation, and John's verdict on it is this verse: do not imitate what is bad. It is worth reading the whole short letter with a Witness — it takes two minutes — and simply asking what John objects to in Diotrephes' conduct. He is not accused of immorality or of false doctrine. He is accused of dominating, refusing hospitality, and expelling people who did not agree with him. Set that beside the disciplinary text everyone cites, , which lists behaviours — immorality, greed, idolatry, abusive speech, drunkenness, swindling — and has no entry for disagreement. Then let the question sit without pressing it. Compare , , .