Objection: If Healing Were in the Atonement, John Would Have Just Reminded Gaius That He Was Healed

This objection probably assumes that John PRAYED for Gaius to be healed, which is not necessarily true.  He may have expressed a WISH instead, as the King James Version says.

Is there really a contradiction in believing that someone is legally healed by Jesus’ stripes and wishing that the person walks in health?  If you believe that the person is legally healed, of course you would want that person to walk in the health that already belongs to him!

Notice that there was no indication that Gaius was sick, and there certainly is nothing in 3 John 2 that even hints, “Gaius, I’m praying that GOD will heal you!”

Would be wrong to express your wish that someone who to you is not just “beloved” but “well-beloved” walk in health and prosper?  I hope that YOU, the reader, walk in health and prosper too – and I believe that healing is in the atonement!

John did not make a statement either way about healing being or not being in the atonement.

However, if you’ve been taught that this is only a greeting that means nothing doctrinally, you need to read the reply to that objection.