Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary
Koine Greek → Filipino | 3 John | Language Package Extension
This glossary catalogs every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning the whole of 3 John (a single chapter, 1:1–14). Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [REUSED] and their recorded rendering is carried over exactly, unmodified. All other terms are new to this curriculum and are proposed as additions to translation memory, following the same field structure as the baseline package.
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s four-tier framework (Critical / High / Medium / Low) and its review-routing convention (Critical & High → human theologian review; Medium → native speaker review; Low → automated review).
Glossary Table
| # | Term (English) | Greek Original | Transliteration | Filipino Rendering | Doctrine | Risk | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elder | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | matanda | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New |
| 2 | beloved / love (verb) | ἀγαπητός / ἀγαπάω | agapētos / agapaō | minamahal / iniibig | Truth and Christian Fellowship | High | New |
| 3 | love (noun) | ἀγάπη | agapē | pag-ibig | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality | High | New |
| 4 | truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | katotohanan | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New |
| 5 | Gaius (proper name) | Γάϊος | Gaios | Gayo | — | Low | New |
| 6 | soul | ψυχή | psychē | kaluluwa | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New |
| 7 | brothers/brethren | ἀδελφοί | adelphoi | mga kapatid | Hospitality; Fellowship | Low | New |
| 8 | testify/witness (verb & noun) | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | nagpatotoo / patotoo | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Medium | New |
| 9 | walk (conduct) | περιπατέω | peripateō | lumalakad (sa katotohanan) | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Low | New |
| 10 | children (spiritual) | τέκνα | tekna | mga anak | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New |
| 11 | faithful(ly) | πιστόν | piston | matapat | Hospitality | Low | New |
| 12 | strangers | ξένοι | xenoi | mga taga-ibang lupa | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New |
| 13 | church | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | iglesia | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | [REUSED] |
| 14 | send forward / help on journey | προπέμπω | propempō | tulungan sa kanilang paglalakbay | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New |
| 15 | worthily of God | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ | axiōs tou theou | sa paraang nararapat sa Diyos | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New |
| 16 | name (for the Name’s sake) | ὄνομα | onoma | Pangalan (ni Kristo) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New |
| 17 | Gentiles/pagans (pejorative) | ἐθνικοί | ethnikoi | mga hindi mananampalataya | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New |
| 18 | receive/support | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | tumanggap (at tumustos) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New |
| 19 | fellow workers | συνεργοί | synergoi | mga kamanggagawa | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Low | New |
| 20 | receive/welcome | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | tinatanggap | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality | Medium | New |
| 21 | Diotrephes (proper name) | Διοτρεφής | Diotrephēs | Diotrepes | Church Leadership and Pride | Low (name) / High (doctrine) | New |
| 22 | loves to be first / preeminence | φιλοπρωτεύων | philoprōteuōn | nagnanais na manguna sa lahat | Church Leadership and Pride | High | New |
| 23 | malicious/evil words; prating | λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν | logois ponērois phlyarōn | pinagwiwikaan ng masasamang salita | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New |
| 24 | cast out | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | itinataboy / pinalalayas | Church Leadership and Pride | High | New |
| 25 | imitate/follow | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | tularan | Imitating Good rather than Evil | High | New |
| 26 | good / evil | ἀγαθόν / κακόν | agathon / kakon | mabuti / masama | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low | New |
| 27 | doing good / doing evil | ἀγαθοποιῶν / κακοποιῶν | agathopoiōn / kakopoiōn | gumagawa ng mabuti / gumagawa ng masama | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low | New |
| 28 | has not seen God | οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν | ouch heōraken ton theon | hindi nakakita/nakakilala sa Diyos | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Medium | New |
| 29 | Demetrius (proper name) | Δημήτριος | Dēmētrios | Demetrio | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Low (name) / High (doctrine) | New |
| 30 | good report / has been testified of | μεμαρτύρηται | memartyrētai | pinatotohanan / may mabuting patotoo | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Medium | New |
| 31 | true (adjective) | ἀληθής | alēthēs | tunay / totoo | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Low-Medium | New |
| 32 | ink | μέλαν | melan | tinta | — (incidental) | Low | New |
| 33 | pen/reed | κάλαμος | kalamos | panulat | — (incidental) | Low | New |
| 34 | peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | kapayapaan | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | [REUSED] |
| 35 | friends | φίλοι | philoi | mga kaibigan | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New |
High and Critical Risk Term Detail (Grounded Reasons)
The following terms require human theologian review per the baseline’s escalation convention. Each reason below is specific to this curriculum’s content and cultural context.
love / beloved (ἀγαπάω, ἀγάπη, ἀγαπητός) — High
Filipino “pag-ibig”/“minamahal” carries strong romantic-love connotations in ordinary usage. 3 John uses this word family to describe both the elder’s pastoral affection (v. 1) and Gaius’s hospitable generosity (v. 6) — a covenantal, self-giving love that must not collapse into either romantic sentiment or, following the baseline’s grace/utang-na-loob concern, a reciprocal social debt requiring repayment. Since hospitality itself is a culturally loaded category in Filipino social life (pakikisama, utang na loob), this risk is structurally identical to the baseline’s flagged grace/utang-na-loob collision and deserves the same review rigor.
send forward / help on the journey (προπέμπω) — High
This is the letter’s operative hospitality term and the doctrinal center of “Hospitality to Traveling Ministers.” A thin rendering (a mere farewell or escort) would strip out the material-support and gospel-partnership sense that Scripture intends, reducing an act of sacrificial gospel investment to a courtesy gesture.
name / for the Name’s sake (ὄνομα) — High
Christ’s “Name” here means his person, authority, and reputation being advanced through gospel proclamation. Given the baseline’s already-documented Filipino folk-Catholic risk of treating spiritually potent objects or invoked names (anting-anting) as sources of supernatural power in themselves, this term requires a teaching note anchoring “the Name” to Christ’s person and mission, not to name-invocation as a source of protective or supernatural benefit.
Gentiles/pagans, pejorative sense (ἐθνικοί) — High
This is a different Greek word from the baseline’s ἔθνη (“mga Hentil,” the neutral ethnic-inclusion term central to Romans’ Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine). Here it carries a narrower, pejorative sense — unbelieving outsiders whose patronage was deliberately refused. Reusing “mga Hentil” without a clarifying note would collapse two distinct doctrinal points (ethnic inclusion in Romans vs. missionary financial independence in 3 John) into one term and must be explicitly distinguished.
loves to be first / preeminence (φιλοπρωτεύω) — High
This is the letter’s central diagnostic term for illegitimate church leadership. The Filipino rendering must clearly name an inordinate, self-serving ambition for supremacy — distinct from the legitimate church office of “matanda” (elder) affirmed positively elsewhere in this same letter — so the term functions as a critique of prideful self-exaltation, not of church authority as such.
cast out (ἐκβάλλω) — High
Diotrephes’s expulsion of fellow believers from the congregation is presented as an abuse of authority, not a legitimate exercise of church discipline. The Filipino rendering must convey unjust, authority-abusing exclusion as the negative model in this doctrine, distinguished from any legitimate biblical process of church discipline.
imitate/follow (μιμέομαι) — High
“Tularan” (imitate) risks collision with the existing Filipino Catholic devotional practice of imitating the life of a canonized saint as an act of devotion directed toward a venerated figure. This doctrine instead calls for imitation of ordinary, observable good conduct modeled by named individuals within the letter’s own narrative (Gaius, Demetrius) — a teaching note distinguishing ethical imitation from devotional veneration is required.
Diotrephes / Demetrius (doctrine-level flags) — High (doctrine), Low (as proper names)
While the names themselves carry low translation risk, both figures anchor High-risk doctrines (Church Leadership and Pride; Commendation of Faithful Witness respectively) and every passage referencing their conduct should be routed for human theologian review to ensure the positive/negative moral contrast Scripture draws is preserved without softening.
Reused Baseline Terms (Exact Carry-Over)
| Term | Filipino Rendering | Source |
|---|---|---|
| church (ἐκκλησία) | iglesia | baseline translation_memory.json |
| peace (εἰρήνη) | kapayapaan | baseline translation_memory.json |
No baseline term is altered, reinterpreted, or contradicted by this glossary. All new entries above are proposed additions to translation memory for Phase 2 processing of the 3 John curriculum, to be assigned incremented version numbers and doctrine-risk-registry entries per the baseline’s established conventions.
This glossary extends the baseline Romans Language Package for the destination language filipino and must be loaded alongside translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json before any Phase 2 translation of 3 John curriculum materials.
High Risk Terms
Beloved Love
Approved rendering: minamahal / iniibig
Transliteration: minamahal / iniibig
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: pag-ibig na romantiko (romantic love framing), utang na loob
Original: ἀγαπητός / ἀγαπάω
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
3 John 1:1. Covenantal, self-giving love and affection (‘the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth’). Everyday Filipino minamahal/iniibig carry strong romantic-love connotations that must be set aside. This love must also not be reframed as a reciprocal social debt requiring repayment, mirroring the baseline’s grace/utang-na-loob concern; Filipino hospitality culture readily recasts relational obligation this way, and 3 John’s love-motivated hospitality (v.6) makes this collision especially live.
Cast Out
Approved rendering: itinataboy / pinalalayas
Transliteration: itinataboy / pinalalayas
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
3 John 1:10. Diotrephes’s forcible expulsion of believers who wished to welcome the traveling brothers. Must convey an unjust, authority-abusing act of exclusion, clearly distinguished from any legitimate biblical process of church discipline, so readers neither excuse this abuse as ordinary discipline nor become suspicious of all church discipline as such.
Gentiles Pagans
Approved rendering: mga hindi mananampalataya
Transliteration: mga hindi mananampalataya
Doctrine: Missionary Financial Integrity and the Name
Rejected alternatives: mga Hentil (reserved exclusively for Romans’ neutral ethnic-inclusion term ἔθνη)
Original: ἐθνικοί
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:7. A distinct Greek word (ethnikoi) from Romans’ ethnē (‘mga Hentil’), carrying a narrower, pejorative sense: unbelieving outsiders whose financial patronage was deliberately refused. Reusing ‘mga Hentil’ without a mandatory clarifying note would collapse two distinct doctrinal points (Romans’ ethnic inclusion vs. 3 John’s missionary financial independence) into one term across the curriculum library.
God
Approved rendering: Diyos
Transliteration: Diyos
Doctrine: Spiritual Perception of God through Conduct
Rejected alternatives: Bathala
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE: Diyos is shared across Catholic and Protestant Filipino usage with well-established, non-ambiguous doctrinal content. Avoid Bathala, the pre-colonial Tagalog supreme-being concept. Reused exactly in 3 John 1:6 (‘worthily of God’) and 1:11 (‘has not seen God’).
Imitate
Approved rendering: tularan
Transliteration: tularan
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: pagtularan sa buhay ng mga santo (devotional imitation of a canonized saint’s life)
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
3 John 1:11. The letter’s central ethical exhortation, contrasting Gaius/Demetrius (good) with Diotrephes (evil). Tularan collides directly with the established Filipino Catholic devotional practice of imitating a canonized saint’s life as an act of veneration. A teaching note must clarify this is imitation of ordinary, observable good conduct modeled by named individuals within the letter’s own narrative, not devotion directed toward a sanctified or intercessory figure.
Love Noun
Approved rendering: pag-ibig
Transliteration: pag-ibig
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: utang na loob
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:6. Describes the character of Gaius’s hospitality, reported before the church. Must be taught as freely given, self-giving love, not a reciprocal obligation being repaid or built up for future repayment (utang na loob), the same framework the baseline flags for ‘grace’.
Loves To Be First
Approved rendering: nagnanais na manguna sa lahat
Transliteration: nagnanais na manguna sa lahat
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: mapagmataas na pinuno (too generic, loses the specific preeminence-seeking sense), ambisyoso (too generic, loses the church-community-specific target)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύων
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
3 John 1:9. A rare Greek compound (philoprōteuōn) naming an inordinate personal desire for primacy within the church. Must clearly name illegitimate, self-serving ambition, distinct from the legitimate church office of matanda (elder) affirmed positively elsewhere in the same letter. Filipino deference norms toward age/authority (paggalang sa nakatatanda, patron-client loyalty) risk either excusing this conduct as ordinary seniority privilege or letting the critique bleed backward onto legitimate eldership; both must be guarded against.
Name For The Name
Approved rendering: Pangalan (ni Kristo)
Transliteration: Pangalan (ni Kristo)
Doctrine: Missionary Financial Integrity and the Name
Rejected alternatives: anting-anting-style name invocation for supernatural benefit, bare Pangalan without explicit referent
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:7. Shorthand for Christ’s person, authority, and cause; the missionaries traveled ‘for the sake of the Name.’ A bare ‘Pangalan’ risks folk-devotional association with name-invocation believed to carry supernatural power in itself, extending the baseline’s already-flagged Holy-Spirit/anting-anting collision. Must never be reframed around Watchtower/NWT-style reinterpretation of ‘the Name’ as a distinct divine title (Jehovah) rather than Christ’s person and mission. A teaching note anchoring ‘the Name’ to Christ’s person and gospel mission is mandatory.
Prosper And Be In Health
Approved rendering: umunlad sa lahat ng bagay at malusog ang katawan
Transliteration: umunlad / malusog
Doctrine: Testimony and Reputation within the Church
Rejected alternatives: pangako ng kasaganaan sa pananalapi (a guaranteed material/financial prosperity promise)
3 John 1:2. A conventional ancient epistolary wish for the recipient’s general well-being, paired with a wish for physical health because Gaius was apparently physically taxed by his hospitality labors; NOT a doctrinal promise of financial increase. This verse is the single most common proof-text used by the health-and-wealth/prosperity-gospel wing of Filipino charismatic and independent-church movements. Every occurrence requires an explicit teaching note distinguishing this ordinary epistolary greeting from a prosperity-gospel guarantee.
Send Forward
Approved rendering: tulungan sa kanilang paglalakbay
Transliteration: tulungan sa kanilang paglalakbay
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: magpaalam (say goodbye), ihatid (escort)
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:6. A technical early-church term (propempō) for materially provisioning and escorting traveling gospel ministers to continue their mission — the operational center of the Hospitality doctrine. A thin rendering reduces this to a polite farewell gesture, losing the material-support and gospel-partnership sense the doctrine requires.
Medium Risk Terms
Children
Approved rendering: mga anak
Transliteration: mga anak
Doctrine: Pastoral Authority and Spiritual Fatherhood
Original: τέκνα
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
3 John 1:4. The elder’s spiritual children — those he led to faith or nurtured. Must be kept distinct from the baseline’s pag-ampon (adoption into God’s family) doctrine, which concerns legal sonship before God; this instead names a pastor-to-disciple relationship of spiritual fatherhood, a related but distinct sense. Never conflate these two doctrines in teaching notes.
Church
Approved rendering: iglesia
Transliteration: iglesia
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: simbahan
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE: Iglesia (the gathered body of believers) is preferred over simbahan, which in everyday usage names the physical church building and its parish institution rather than the people themselves. Reused exactly in 3 John 1:6, 1:9, 1:10 (Gaius’s hospitality reported before the church; Diotrephes’s rejection of authority and unjust expulsion of believers from the church).
Elder
Approved rendering: matanda
Transliteration: matanda
Doctrine: Pastoral Authority and Spiritual Fatherhood
Rejected alternatives: presbitero, pari, obispo
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:1. Self-designation of the author, a recognized pastoral office, not a remark about age. Matanda is also the ordinary Filipino word for ‘an old person’; context must make clear this names a leadership title. Must not be confused with Catholic clerical titles pari (priest) or obispo (bishop), which name different offices within a different church structure. Reject presbitero as a transliterated loanword because it would import a foreign-sounding clerical term absent from established Filipino Bible usage.
Friends
Approved rendering: mga kaibigan
Transliteration: mga kaibigan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλοι
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
3 John 1:14. Personal friendship bonds (philoi, distinct from agapē), naming individual, named relationships within the wider fellowship of truth. Should be kept distinct from mga kapatid (brothers, covenantal-family language) so the text’s own distinction is not flattened.
Good Report
Approved rendering: pinatotohanan / may mabuting patotoo
Transliteration: pinatotohanan / may mabuting patotoo
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μεμαρτύρηται
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
3 John 1:12. An established, standing reputation confirmed by everyone, including ‘the truth itself’ personified as a witness. Must convey an ongoing, settled reputation, not a single past compliment.
Has Not Seen God
Approved rendering: hindi nakakita/nakakilala sa Diyos
Transliteration: hindi nakakita/nakakilala sa Diyos
Doctrine: Spiritual Perception of God through Conduct
Original: οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
3 John 1:11. A Johannine idiom: habitual evildoing demonstrates the absence of genuine relational knowledge of God, regardless of outward profession. Must not be read literalistically, as though physical sight of God were ever possible; given Filipino devotional culture’s emphasis on visual/tactile encounter with the divine (e.g., the Santo Niño, reported apparitions), a clarifying note is needed.
Malicious Words
Approved rendering: pinagwiwikaan ng masasamang salita
Transliteration: pinagwiwikaan ng masasamang salita
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
3 John 1:10. Baseless, malicious accusations (logois ponērois phlyarōn) spoken against the elder by Diotrephes. Must capture slanderous, groundless accusation, not casual complaint or ordinary disagreement.
Peace
Approved rendering: kapayapaan
Transliteration: kapayapaan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE: Relational, covenantal peace, not merely the absence of conflict achievable through one’s own effort. Reused exactly as the closing greeting in 3 John 1:14.
Receive Support
Approved rendering: tumanggap (at tumustos)
Transliteration: tumanggap (at tumustos)
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:8. To take up material/financial responsibility for gospel workers, not merely passive social welcome.
Receive Welcome
Approved rendering: tinatanggap
Transliteration: tinatanggap
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes); Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
3 John 1:9. Diotrephes’s refusal to receive/welcome the elder’s authority and messengers. Context must make clear this is an act of rebellion against recognized apostolic authority, not a minor social snub.
Soul
Approved rendering: kaluluwa
Transliteration: kaluluwa
Doctrine: Testimony and Reputation within the Church
Original: ψυχή
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
3 John 1:2. Gaius’s ongoing spiritual health and well-being, against which the elder’s prayer for physical prosperity is measured. Carries the same folk-associative risk the baseline already flags for kaluluwa in relation to the Holy Spirit (association with a wandering soul/ghost, multo); a teaching note should clarify this names Gaius’s spiritual health, not a disembodied spirit.
Strangers
Approved rendering: mga taga-ibang lupa
Transliteration: mga taga-ibang lupa
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ξένοι
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:5. Traveling gospel workers personally unknown to Gaius. Everyday Filipino cultural instinct may read ‘stranger’ through a wariness-of-outsiders lens; teaching must clarify these are itinerant gospel workers deserving gospel-partnership support, and that this hospitality is a specific ministry partnership, not generic Filipino social courtesy (pagpapatuloy) alone.
Testify Witness
Approved rendering: nagpatotoo / patotoo
Transliteration: nagpatotoo / patotoo
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Testimony and Reputation within the Church
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
3 John 1:3, 1:6, 1:12. Must retain the sense of a public, verifiable report of character, not vague or generic praise. Preserve this word family consistently across all three witness-sources in v.12 (everyone, the truth itself, the elder) rather than varying vocabulary for stylistic reasons, so the accumulating-witness structure remains visible in Filipino.
True
Approved rendering: tunay / totoo
Transliteration: tunay / totoo
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
3 John 1:12. The factual accuracy of the elder’s own testimony about Demetrius (alēthēs), distinct from the thicker theological ‘truth’ (alētheia, katotohanan) used elsewhere in the letter. Keep the two visibly distinct so they are not collapsed into one undifferentiated idea.
Truth
Approved rendering: katotohanan
Transliteration: katotohanan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
3 John 1:1, 1:3, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12. Functions almost as a proper designation for the gospel and the whole gospel-shaped Christian life, not simple factual correctness (the everyday sense of katotohanan). Recurs seven times across fourteen verses; requires a standing teaching note given this high frequency.
Worthily Of God
Approved rendering: sa paraang nararapat sa Diyos
Transliteration: sa paraang nararapat sa Diyos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:6. A standard of conduct measured against God’s own character. Must not be softened into a general courtesy standard measured against ordinary Filipino social hospitality norms.
Low Risk Terms
Brothers
Approved rendering: mga kapatid
Transliteration: mga kapatid
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀδελφοί
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:3, 1:5, 1:10. Fellow believers, here the traveling ministers received hospitably by Gaius. Established, well-understood Filipino Bible term. Must be kept distinct from ‘mga kaibigan’ (friends, v.14) so the letter’s own distinction between fictive-kinship and personal-friendship relationships is not flattened.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Demetrio
Transliteration: Demetrio
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Name
3 John 1:12. Proper name; low translation risk in itself, but the associated doctrine is High. Every passage referencing his conduct should be routed for human theologian review to preserve the letter’s deliberate positive contrast with Diotrephes.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrepes
Transliteration: Diotrepes
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: Διοτρεφής
Category: Proper Name
3 John 1:9, 1:10. Proper name; low translation risk in itself, but the associated doctrine is High. Every passage referencing his conduct should be routed for human theologian review to preserve the letter’s negative characterization without softening.
Doing Good Evil
Approved rendering: gumagawa ng mabuti / gumagawa ng masama
Transliteration: gumagawa ng mabuti / gumagawa ng masama
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιῶν / κακοποιῶν
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
3 John 1:11. A habitual practitioner of good or evil, a settled pattern of conduct, not an isolated act.
Faithful
Approved rendering: matapat
Transliteration: matapat
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστόν
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:5. Trustworthy, reliable conduct describing Gaius’s consistent hospitality. Standard term; shares a root with pananampalataya (faith) but functions here as a description of trustworthy conduct, not belief.
Fellow Workers
Approved rendering: mga kamanggagawa (sa katotohanan)
Transliteration: mga kamanggagawa
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: συνεργοί
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
3 John 1:8. Hosting and supporting traveling ministers makes the host an active participant in gospel work, not a passive bystander or financier.
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gayo
Transliteration: Gayo
Doctrine: N/A (proper name)
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Proper Name
3 John 1:1. Established Filipino Bible proper-name form for the letter’s addressee, commended for faithful hospitality.
Good Evil
Approved rendering: mabuti / masama
Transliteration: mabuti / masama
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθόν / κακόν
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
3 John 1:11. Standard, low-risk vocabulary for moral goodness/badness.
Ink
Approved rendering: tinta
Transliteration: tinta
Doctrine: N/A (incidental)
Original: μέλαν
Category: Incidental
3 John 1:13. Standard, non-doctrinal vocabulary.
Pen Reed
Approved rendering: panulat
Transliteration: panulat
Doctrine: N/A (incidental)
Original: κάλαμος
Category: Incidental
3 John 1:13. Standard, non-doctrinal vocabulary; a reed used as a writing implement, paired with ink.
Walk
Approved rendering: lumalakad (sa katotohanan)
Transliteration: lumalakad
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
3 John 1:3, 1:4. Idiom for a settled, ongoing pattern of conduct consistent with the gospel; already well established in Filipino Bible usage.
Referenced passages