Who is…
Gaius
also known as: Caius (Roman spelling)
Greek: Γάϊος —transliteration: Gaios
This was a common Roman first name for male children in the 1st century. Some men called Gaius are mentioned in the Biblical record.
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Gaius of Derbe
He is another companion of Paul who accompanied Paul into Asia Minor (Turkey) on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4).
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Gaius of Macedonia
He was Paul’s fellow-traveller (Acts 19:29), and his host at Corinth when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans (Romans 16:23).
During a heathen outbreak against Paul at Ephesus the mob seized Gaius and Aristarchus because they could not find Paul, and rushed with them into the theatre.
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Gaius of Corinth
He with his household were baptized by Paul (1 Corinthians 1:14).
Paul says he baptized only a few in Corinth—Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas—precisely so no one could claim they belonged to “Paul’s party” rather than to Christ.
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, not in wisdom of word, so that the cross of Christ will not be made empty. —1 Corinthians 1:14–17 NASB
Paul founded the church in Corinth. Stephanas and Crispus were among its earliest and most important members.
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Gaius who hosted Paul
Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother. —Romans 16:23 NASB
A Christian tradition says that this Gaius is the Bishop of Ephesus.
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Gaius to whom the 3rd Epistle of John is addressed
This is a Gentile Christian to whom the Apostle John wrote a short personal letter.
The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. —3 John 1:1 NASB
John greets him as “the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth,” prays that he would prosper and be in health as his soul already prospers, and rejoices that traveling brothers have testified that Gaius “walks in the truth.” John even calls him one of his “children,” which most naturally means John had converted him or stood in a close pastoral/fatherly relationship with him.
The letter’s main praise is practical: Gaius had shown faithful hospitality to itinerant missionaries who had gone out “for the sake of the Name” and accepted nothing from unbelievers. John urges him to keep sending them on “in a manner worthy of God,” so that believers become “fellow workers for the truth.” That generosity is set against Diotrephes, a local leader who loved preeminence, rejected John’s authority, refused the same missionaries, and put people out of the church for receiving them. A 3rd man, Demetrius, is warmly commended and is usually taken to be the letter’s bearer.
Some traditionally believe that this Gaius is the Bishop of Ephesus.
He is not clearly identified in Scripture. He might be one of the above men, or else yet another.
Gaius appears to be a respected, relatively well-off member (or house-church host) of a congregation in Asia Minor under John’s care—most likely in the orbit of Ephesus in the later 1st century.
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