Core Glossary
Core Glossary
English → French | 3 John 1:1–14 | Term Risk Table
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological/cultural term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from the full text of 3 John (its single, fourteen-verse chapter — the entire book). Risk tiers follow the baseline Romans doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions:
- Critical — Mistranslation alters or destroys essential doctrine. Human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — Mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or denominational-conflation risk. Human theologian review required.
- Medium — Mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning. Native speaker review recommended.
- Low — Mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding or imprecision. Automated review sufficient.
Terms marked [BASELINE REUSE] already exist in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and MUST use that exact recorded French rendering; they are repeated here for completeness of book coverage, not as new entries.
| # | Concept (EN) | Greek Original | Transliteration | Proposed French Rendering | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Rationale / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elder (self-designation) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | l’ancien | High | Church Leadership and Pride | French “ancien” is Reformed-tradition standard; risk of Catholic-reader conflation with “prêtre”/“évêque” hierarchy, or flattening to mere old age. Central to legitimate-vs-illegitimate authority contrast with Diotrephes. |
| 2 | beloved (address) | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | bien-aimé | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Stable across French Bible tradition; structural marker (vv.1,2,5,11). |
| 3 | love (verb) | ἀγαπάω | agapaō | aimer | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | French “aimer” defaults toward romantic/erotic sense; context (“dans la vérité”) must anchor covenantal love. |
| 4 | truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | vérité | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Secular French risks relativizing “la vérité”; must anchor as fixed gospel reality and resulting conduct. |
| 5 | to pray/wish | εὔχομαι | euchomai | prier / souhaiter | Low | (epistolary convention) | Stable. |
| 6 | to prosper | εὐοδοῦσθαι | euodousthai | prospérer | High | (epistolary convention; risk of prosperity-gospel proof-texting) | 3 John 2 is a classic prosperity-gospel (“évangile de la prospérité”) proof text, a documented and growing movement in francophone Christianity; must frame as greeting convention subordinate to the soul’s prospering, not a material-blessing doctrine. |
| 7 | to be in health | ὑγιαίνειν | hygiainein | être en bonne santé | Low | (paired with #6 — same high-risk framing note applies as compound) | Stable phrase; see #6 for compound risk. |
| 8 | soul | ψυχή | psychē | âme | Medium | (whole-person spiritual life) | French “âme” skews poetic/psychological; must retain whole-person spiritual-life sense. |
| 9 | to rejoice / joy | χαίρω / χαρά | chairō / chara | se réjouir / joie | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Stable vocabulary. |
| 10 | brother(s) | ἀδελφός | adelphos | frères | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Stable; note inclusive-language style option (“frères et sœurs”) for teaching use without altering Scripture citation. |
| 11 | to testify / testimony (verb) | μαρτυρέω | martyreō | témoigner | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness | French “témoigner” carries legal/media connotations; retain character-reference sense rooted in observed conduct. |
| 12 | to walk (conduct) | περιπατέω | peripateō | vivre / se conduire (selon la vérité) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Literal “marcher” risks a physical-motion reading; idiomatic conduct rendering required. |
| 13 | children (spiritual) | τέκνα | tekna | enfants | Medium | (pastoral/spiritual fatherhood) | “Enfants” defaults biological/legal; must clarify spiritual-discipleship sense. |
| 14 | faithful (of an act) | πιστός | pistos | fidèle | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Must not import Romans-package works/merit debate; here commends observable faithful action. |
| 15 | to work/do | ἐργάζομαι | ergazomai | faire / accomplir | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Stable. |
| 16 | stranger(s) | ξένος | xenos | étrangers | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Contemporary French “étrangers” carries heavy immigration-policy connotation; clarify referent as itinerant Christian ministers, not a civic/political category. |
| 17 | love (noun) | ἀγάπη | agapē | amour | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Same romantic-connotation caution as #3; must remain tied to concrete hospitality action in context. |
| 18 | church (local assembly) | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | Église | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship / Church Leadership and Pride | [BASELINE REUSE] Exact rendering “Église” required per baseline TM. Must be clarified as the local gathered congregation (site of both Gaius’s praise and Diotrephes’ abuse), not the universal institutional Church. |
| 19 | to send on one’s way (provisioning) | προπέμπω | propempō | pourvoir à leur voyage / les aider à poursuivre leur route | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Flat “envoyer” loses the material-provisioning sense essential to the hospitality doctrine. |
| 20 | worthily | ἀξίως | axiōs | d’une manière digne de Dieu | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Stable. |
| 21 | the Name (Christ’s) | ὄνομα | onoma | le Nom | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Must be capitalized/contextualized as referring to Christ, not read as a bare generic identifier. |
| 22 | pagans / outsiders | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | païens | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Related to but distinct from baseline ἔθνη→“païens” entry (different Greek lexeme, narrower “outsider-to-the-faith” sense, cf. Matt 18:17); reuse “païens” for lexical consistency but flag the distinction for reviewers. |
| 23 | ought / obligated | ὀφείλω | opheilō | devoir | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Stable. |
| 24 | to support/receive (hospitality) | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | accueillir / soutenir | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Must select the “welcome/support” sense, not this verb’s unrelated “suppose/think” sense elsewhere in the NT (e.g. Luke 7:43). |
| 25 | fellow worker | συνεργός | synergos | collaborateur(s) (de la vérité) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Truth and Christian Fellowship | Avoid an awkward reification of “truth” as a literal co-worker; convey partnership in gospel truth-work. |
| 26 | to love preeminence | φιλοπρωτεύω | philoprōteuō | celui qui veut être le premier / qui aime dominer | High | Church Leadership and Pride | Do not use the noun “primauté” — it is the exact French Catholic ecclesiological term for papal primacy (“la primauté du pape/de Pierre”); using it here risks a serious, specific denominational-conflation collision. Use a verbal phrase instead. Core term for the Diotrephes doctrine unit. |
| 27 | to receive/welcome (or refuse) | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | accueillir / recevoir | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride / Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Must be clearly distinguished by context from other “welcome” vocabulary so the positive/negative hospitality contrast (vv.6,8 vs. vv.9–10) remains legible. |
| 28 | works/deeds (descriptive) | ἔργα | erga | œuvres / actes | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | Must not import Romans-package works-vs-grace theological freight; here purely descriptive of Diotrephes’ conduct. |
| 29 | evil, wicked | πονηρός | ponēros | mauvaises / méchantes (paroles) | Low-Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | Do not soften to merely “unkind.” |
| 30 | to talk maliciously/baselessly | φλυαρέω | phlyareō | tenir des propos malveillants et sans fondement | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | Avoid trivializing (“commérages”) or over-formalizing (“calomnie”) the informal but serious Greek term (NT hapax legomenon). |
| 31 | to hinder/prevent | κωλύω | kōlyō | empêcher | Low | Church Leadership and Pride | Stable. |
| 32 | to cast out/expel | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | chasser / exclure (de l’Église) | High | Church Leadership and Pride | Risk of sounding like a legitimate canonical “excommunication” process; must remain clearly an abusive, unilateral act (contrast Matthew 18:15–17), not valid church discipline. |
| 33 | to imitate | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | imiter | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | No false-friend risk, but must retain weight of deliberate moral patterning after an example, not passive influence. |
| 34 | evil (general) | κακός | kakos | le mal | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Risk of secular ethical-relativism reading disconnected from the verse’s own God-relational anchor. |
| 35 | good (general) | ἀγαθός | agathos | le bien | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Same relativism caution as #34; anchor in God’s character, not autonomous ethics. |
| 36 | to do good | ἀγαθοποιέω | agathopoieō | faire le bien | Low-Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Stable compound rendering. |
| 37 | to do evil | κακοποιέω | kakopoieō | faire le mal | Low-Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Preserve strength of “has not seen God” clause; do not soften to mild moral commentary. |
| 38 | testimony/witness (noun) | μαρτυρία | martyria | témoignage | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Retain character-reference/reputation sense validated by gospel-consistent conduct, not a legal deposition. |
| 39 | true (of a report) | ἀληθής | alēthēs | vraie | Low | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Stable. |
| 40 | ink | μέλαν | melan | encre | Low | (cultural/material detail) | No doctrinal weight; ancient writing-implement vocabulary. |
| 41 | reed-pen | κάλαμος | kalamos | plume / calame | Low | (cultural/material detail) | No doctrinal weight. |
| 42 | to hope | ἐλπίζω | elpizō | espérer | Low | (closing convention) | Stable. |
| 43 | peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | paix | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | [BASELINE REUSE] Exact rendering “paix” required per baseline TM; relational/covenantal peace within the congregation, not mere psychological calm. |
| 44 | friend(s) | φίλος | philos | amis | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Deliberate register shift from “frères” (used throughout) to “amis” in the closing; note for teaching so the shift is not lost as mere stylistic variation. |
| 45 | to greet | ἀσπάζομαι | aspazomai | saluer | Low | (closing convention) | Stable. |
| 46 | God | θεός | theos | Dieu | Critical | Imitating Good rather than Evil / Church Leadership and Pride | [BASELINE REUSE] Exact rendering “Dieu” required per baseline TM; retained at baseline’s Critical tier given foundational doctrinal centrality wherever it occurs. |
| 47 | Gaius (proper name) | Γάιος | Gaios | Gaïus | Low | — | Established French Bible transliteration (Segond/TOB). |
| 48 | Diotrephes (proper name) | Διοτρέφης | Diotrephēs | Diotrèphe | Low | Church Leadership and Pride | Established French Bible transliteration. |
| 49 | Demetrius (proper name) | Δημήτριος | Dēmētrios | Démétrius | Low | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Established French Bible transliteration. |
Summary Statistics
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 1 | Human theologian (baseline-inherited: “Dieu”) |
| High | 5 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 22 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 21 | Automated review |
| Total terms | 49 |
Note on baseline-reused terms: items #18 (Église), #43 (paix), and #46 (Dieu) are governed by the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and must not be redefined or re-negotiated within the 3 John curriculum; they are listed here solely to confirm full-book term coverage.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil; Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Exact baseline rendering and Critical risk tier retained without modification. In 3 John, God is the relational reality named as the standard of worthy conduct (1:6) and as the one either seen or not seen depending on whether a person does good or evil (1:11).
High Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: Église
Transliteration: Église
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes); Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: temple (building only, per baseline)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Exact baseline rendering and High risk tier retained. 3 John-specific addition: in this letter ‘l’Église’ must be read on every occurrence (1:6, 1:9, 1:10) as the single local congregation shared by Gaius and Diotrephes — the concrete site of the letter’s leadership conflict — never generalized to the universal institutional Church. This is critical so that Diotrephes’ abuse of a local congregation is not read as commentary on ‘the Church’ as an institution.
Elder
Approved rendering: l’ancien
Transliteration: presbyteros
Doctrine: Apostolic and Pastoral Authority (the Elder)
Rejected alternatives: prêtre (imports sacerdotal/ordination connotations absent from the Greek self-designation), évêque (imports episkopos-derived hierarchical connotations; different Greek root), vieillard (flattens the term to mere old age, losing the office/authority sense)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
The author’s understated self-designation, denoting apostolic-era pastoral authority. French ‘ancien’ is the established Reformed/Protestant lay-elder term; Catholic-majority readers lack an intuitive equivalent and may default to hearing it as either mere old age or import ‘prêtre/évêque’ sacerdotal connotations. Must be glossed on first occurrence (1:1) as a recognized title of pastoral oversight, grounding John’s standing to rebuke Diotrephes. Also distinct from the Jehovah’s Witness congregational ‘ancien’ title tied to a central Governing Body; teaching notes must clarify this is not a modern organizational-hierarchy reference.
Prosper
Approved rendering: prospérer
Transliteration: euodousthai
Doctrine: The Soul’s Well-Being versus Material Prosperity
Rejected alternatives: réussir (financially-coded register, reinforces a stand-alone material-blessing misreading)
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι
Category: Epistolary Convention
3 Jean 1:2 is among the most frequently proof-texted verses for the francophone ‘évangile de la prospérité’ (health-and-wealth gospel), a movement with substantial and growing presence in African- and Caribbean-diaspora congregations in France. MUST NEVER be quoted, excerpted, or displayed (memory-verse cards, callout boxes, sermon graphics) without the full comparative subordination clause ‘comme prospère ton âme’ attached. Frame as an epistolary greeting convention subordinated to the soul’s true prospering, never as a stand-alone material-blessing promise.
Love Preeminence
Approved rendering: celui qui veut être le premier / qui aime dominer
Transliteration: philoprōteuō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: primauté (the noun) — collides directly with the French Catholic ecclesiological doctrine of papal/Petrine primacy (‘la primauté du pape/de Pierre’); risks appearing to caricature a specific denomination’s doctrine via a condemned NT figure, primer (the TOB/Bible de Jérusalem verb choice) — shares the Latin root primus with ‘primauté’; risks subconsciously importing the same papal-primacy association for readers already primed by Catholic ecclesiology
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
To love to be first, to love preeminence — self-exalting ambition for status/rank; a NT hapax legomenon (1:9) describing Diotrephes’ defining character flaw. MANDATORY: verbal-phrase rendering only; the noun form is permanently excluded from this curriculum. Human theologian review required on every occurrence.
Cast Out
Approved rendering: chasser / exclure (de l’Église)
Transliteration: ekballō
Doctrine: Abuse of Church Authority and Illegitimate Exclusion
Rejected alternatives: excommunier — implies a valid, formal canonical due-process procedure; contrary to the text’s description of an illegitimate, unilateral act of abuse
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
Diotrephes’ unilateral expulsion of dissenting believers from the local congregation (1:10) — the climactic abuse of pastoral power in the letter. In French Catholic ecclesial vocabulary this readily evokes formal excommunication with due process; must remain unmistakably an abusive, illegitimate act, contrasted with Matthieu 18:15-17’s due process. Given the 2021 Sauvé/CIASE report on French Catholic clergy abuse, contemporary readers are likely to read this passage through that lens; the rendering must remain faithful to the text without suppressing or manufacturing that resonance.
Medium Risk Terms
Love Verb
Approved rendering: aimer
Transliteration: agapaō
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: chérir (too weak; loses covenantal weight of agapaō)
Original: ἀγαπάω
Category: Fellowship
French ‘aimer’ defaults toward the romantic/erotic register in ordinary usage, unlike Greek’s lexical distinction between agapē and erōs. The qualifying phrase ‘dans la vérité’ (1:1) must never be dropped; its presence is the sole safeguard against a romantic misreading in this letter.
Truth
Approved rendering: vérité
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
The organizing theme of the letter (occurs 6x). Secular French intellectual culture readily relativizes ‘la vérité’ (‘à chacun sa vérité’); must anchor as the fixed gospel reality and its resulting way of life. Always pair with a conduct-verb phrase (see ‘walk_conduct’) rather than leaving the noun to stand alone.
Soul
Approved rendering: âme
Transliteration: psychē
Doctrine: The Soul’s Well-Being versus Material Prosperity
Original: ψυχή
Category: Anthropology
The seat of one’s whole inner life and spiritual condition, not merely an immaterial ghost. French ‘âme’ in ordinary secular usage skews poetic/psychological (‘état d’âme’, ‘âme sœur’); must be anchored explicitly to whole-person spiritual well-being before God, not a literary or purely emotional state.
Testify
Approved rendering: témoigner
Transliteration: martyreō
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: μαρτυρέω
Category: Witness
To bear witness or formally attest to a person’s observed character/conduct (1:3, 1:6, 1:12). French ‘témoigner’ carries strong legal/courtroom and media connotations; must retain the sense of a character reference rooted in observed Christian conduct, not a factual deposition.
Walk Conduct
Approved rendering: vivre / se conduire (selon la vérité)
Transliteration: peripateō
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: marcher (bare) — literal physical-motion reading; loses the Hebraic walk=conduct idiom
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
A Hebraic idiom for habitual, observable manner of life/conduct (1:3, 1:4). Literal French ‘marcher’ risks a purely physical-motion reading; must be idiomatically rendered to preserve the behavioral-conduct sense.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: enfants
Transliteration: tekna
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood
Original: τέκνα
Category: Pastoral Care
Spiritual children — converts/disciples under John’s pastoral care (1:4), echoing Pauline ‘my child’ language. French ‘enfants’ defaults to the biological/legal sense; must be clarified as spiritual-paternal language so readers do not assume a literal biological or legal claim, and must not be read as implying John held sacramental/ordained authority over Gaius by virtue of the ‘father’ language.
Faithful Act
Approved rendering: fidèle
Transliteration: pistos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality
Describes Gaius’s hospitality (1:5) as dependable, gospel-consistent conduct. Must not be pulled into the Romans-package works/merit debate (cf. baseline ‘obedience_of_faith’ cautions); here it commends observable faithful action, not a claim about the basis of salvation.
Strangers
Approved rendering: étrangers
Transliteration: xenos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: inconnus (loses the missionary/ministerial specificity of the referent)
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
Itinerant Christian ministers unknown to the host personally but known through shared faith (1:5). Contemporary French ‘étrangers’ carries heavy immigration-policy and national-identity connotations (lois sur les étrangers, débats migratoires) absent from the Greek. MUST be glossed at first occurrence as itinerant Christian ministers, never left to stand as an unqualified civic/political category.
Love Noun
Approved rendering: amour
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Fellowship
Covenantal, self-giving love expressed concretely through material provision for traveling ministers (1:6). Same romantic-connotation caution as ‘love_verb’; must remain tied to concrete hospitality action in context.
Send On Way
Approved rendering: pourvoir à leur voyage / les aider à poursuivre leur route
Transliteration: propempō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: envoyer (bare) — directional only; loses the provisioning/equipping sense essential to the hospitality doctrine
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
Concrete material and logistical support for departing travelers (1:6): funds, provisions, an escort. A flat ‘envoyer’ loses this component entirely.
The Name
Approved rendering: le Nom
Transliteration: onoma
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: le nom (lowercase, bare) — reads as a generic identifier, obscures the Christological referent
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Christology
Christ’s name/identity/authority, for whose sake the traveling missionaries went out (1:7). Must be capitalized and contextualized as referring to Christ. Watch Tower (Jehovah’s Witness) materials in francophone circulation sometimes redirect Johannine ‘name’ language toward an unrelated divine-personal-name doctrine (‘Jéhovah’); teaching material must make the Christological referent explicit and unambiguous to foreclose that redirection.
Outsiders Ethnikos
Approved rendering: païens
Transliteration: ethnikos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality
One outside the community of faith (1:7) — a narrower ‘outsider-to-the-faith’ sense distinct from ethnē (‘the nations/Gentiles’ as an ethnic category, cf. Matthew 18:17). This is a DIFFERENT Greek lexeme from the baseline Romans TM’s ‘gentiles’ entry (ethnē→‘païens’); reusing ‘païens’ here for lexical consistency is contextually apt, but reviewers should note this is not a direct citation of the same baseline term.
Support Receive
Approved rendering: accueillir / soutenir
Transliteration: hypolambanō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: supposer / penser (an unrelated sense this same verb carries elsewhere in the NT, e.g. Luke 7:43) — wrong lexical sense, flattens the hospitality doctrine into a cognitive statement
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
To receive, welcome, and materially support traveling gospel workers (1:8) — the doctrinal core of hospitality to traveling ministers. Must select the ‘welcome/support’ sense exclusively.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: collaborateur(s) (de la vérité)
Transliteration: synergos
Doctrine: Partnership in Gospel Truth
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
A partner sharing in the same gospel task/labor (1:8); Gaius’s hospitality makes him an active partner in the mission, personified as partnership ‘with the truth itself’. French ‘collaborateur’ carries a residual WWII Vichy-collaboration shadow in historical memory, though fully neutralized in ordinary contemporary usage (‘nos collaborateurs’ = staff); minor translator-awareness flag only, not blocking. Must avoid sounding like an odd reification of an abstraction.
Receive Welcome
Approved rendering: accueillir / recevoir
Transliteration: epidechomai
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes); Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
To receive, welcome, or accept — including accepting a person’s authority or message; here Diotrephes’ refusal to receive John and his messengers (1:9). Must be clearly distinguished by context from the positive hospitality vocabulary elsewhere in the letter (1:6, 1:8) so the contrast between right and wrong hospitality remains legible.
Works Deeds
Approved rendering: œuvres / actes
Transliteration: erga
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἔργα
Category: Church Leadership
Observable conduct/behavior (1:10) — Diotrephes’ concrete, exposable pattern of abusive behavior, purely descriptive rather than soteriological. Must NOT import the Romans-package ‘works vs. grace/merit’ theological freight; here erga simply means observable conduct/deeds.
Wicked
Approved rendering: mauvaises / méchantes (paroles)
Transliteration: ponēros
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: peu aimables (too weak; trivializes malicious intent as mere unkindness)
Original: πονηρός
Category: Church Leadership
Evil, wicked, malicious (1:10) — the harmful intent behind Diotrephes’ words against John. Must not be softened.
Malicious Talk
Approved rendering: tenir des propos malveillants et sans fondement
Transliteration: phlyareō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: commérages (trivializes the offense as mere gossip), calomnie (overstates as a formal legal defamation category absent from the informal Greek)
Original: φλυαρέω
Category: Church Leadership
To talk nonsense or make baseless/malicious accusations (1:10) — a rare NT word occurring only here. Aim for a phrase capturing malicious, baseless public accusation, neither trivialized nor over-formalized.
Imitate
Approved rendering: imiter
Transliteration: mimeomai
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
To imitate, to model oneself deliberately on an example (1:11; root of English ‘mimic’). Lexically stable but must retain the weight of deliberate moral patterning after a demonstrated life, not passive influence or superficial copying.
Evil
Approved rendering: le mal
Transliteration: kakos
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακός
Category: Ethics
The pattern (exemplified by Diotrephes) not to be imitated (1:11). Risk of a secular-relativist ‘bien et mal’ ethics reading disconnected from the verse’s own theological anchor (having seen or not seen God); must always remain tied to that anchor in surrounding text.
Good
Approved rendering: le bien
Transliteration: agathos
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός
Category: Ethics
The positive pattern exemplified by Demetrius (1:11), rooted in God’s character. Same relativism caution as ‘evil’; context must tie ‘le bien’ to God’s own character, not autonomous human ethics.
Testimony
Approved rendering: témoignage
Transliteration: martyria
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
The threefold commendation of Demetrius — by everyone, by the truth itself, and by John (1:12). French ‘témoignage’ carries strong legal/courtroom and journalistic connotations; must retain the sense of a Christlike reputation validated by observed conduct, not a legal deposition.
Friends
Approved rendering: amis
Transliteration: philos
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
An affectionate relational bond, distinct from ‘frères’ (fellow-believer by covenant status) used throughout the rest of the letter. John’s closing (1:14) deliberately shifts vocabulary; the register shift should be preserved/noted for teaching purposes so it is not lost as mere stylistic variation.
Low Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: paix
Transliteration: paix
Doctrine: Peace within the Congregation
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Fellowship
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Exact baseline rendering and Low risk tier retained. In 3 John 1:14 this is a closing benediction, contextually significant as relational peace within a congregation recently strained by Diotrephes’ conduct, not merely a liturgical formula or psychological calm.
Beloved
Approved rendering: bien-aimé
Transliteration: agapētos
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
A term of affectionate address among believers, used structurally to introduce each new exhortation (1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:11). Stable across the French Bible tradition (Segond, TOB, Bible de Jérusalem); no false-friend risk.
Pray Wish
Approved rendering: prier / souhaiter
Transliteration: euchomai
Doctrine: The Soul’s Well-Being versus Material Prosperity
Original: εὔχομαι
Category: Epistolary Convention
A formal epistolary wish/prayer, here adapted by John into genuine pastoral prayer for Gaius (1:2). Stable, standard vocabulary.
Good Health
Approved rendering: être en bonne santé
Transliteration: hygiainein
Doctrine: The Soul’s Well-Being versus Material Prosperity
Original: ὑγιαίνειν
Category: Epistolary Convention
Paired with ‘prosper’ in a standard ancient letter-greeting formula (1:2). Stable phrase; inherits the compound prosperity-gospel framing risk noted under ‘prosper’.
Joy
Approved rendering: se réjouir / joie
Transliteration: chairō / chara
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαίρω / χαρά
Category: Fellowship
Pastoral joy at good news (1:3) and the deepest joy of spiritual fatherhood (1:4). Stable vocabulary.
Brothers
Approved rendering: frères
Transliteration: adelphos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
Fellow believers/members of the Christian community, here traveling ministers known to Gaius as members of the faith family. Stable; inclusive-address teaching option (‘frères et sœurs’) is available for non-Scripture-citation contexts only, not for Scripture text itself.
To Work
Approved rendering: faire / accomplir
Transliteration: ergazomai
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐργάζομαι
Category: Hospitality
Active service/labor; practical hospitality (1:5). Stable.
Worthily
Approved rendering: d’une manière digne de Dieu
Transliteration: axiōs
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως
Category: Hospitality
Conduct matching the dignity of God (1:6), not minimal courtesy. Stable phrase, fixed idiom in French Bible tradition; retain exactly.
Obligated
Approved rendering: devoir
Transliteration: opheilō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
Moral/relational obligation (1:8); the church’s hospitality framed as a duty flowing from shared mission. Stable.
Hinder
Approved rendering: empêcher
Transliteration: kōlyō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes); Abuse of Church Authority and Illegitimate Exclusion
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
Diotrephes actively blocking other believers who wish to extend hospitality (1:10). Stable.
Do Good
Approved rendering: faire le bien
Transliteration: agathopoieō
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Ethics
Active practice of good conduct, grounding identity (‘is of God’) in observable action (1:11). Stable two-word French compound.
Do Evil
Approved rendering: faire le mal
Transliteration: kakopoieō
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
Active practice of evil conduct, showing one has not truly known God (1:11). Stable; ensure the strong epistemic/relational clause ‘has not seen God’ is not softened into mild moral commentary.
True Report
Approved rendering: vraie
Transliteration: alēthēs
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Witness
The veracity of John’s testimony about Demetrius (1:12). Stable.
Ink
Approved rendering: encre
Transliteration: melan
Doctrine: (epistolary/cultural convention)
Original: μέλαν
Category: Epistolary Convention
Ancient writing ink (1:13); purely cultural-historical vocabulary, no doctrinal weight.
Reed Pen
Approved rendering: plume / calame
Transliteration: kalamos
Doctrine: (epistolary/cultural convention)
Original: κάλαμος
Category: Epistolary Convention
An ancient writing implement (1:13); minor cultural-note only, no doctrinal weight.
Hope
Approved rendering: espérer
Transliteration: elpizō
Doctrine: (closing convention)
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Epistolary Convention
Confident expectation of a personal visit and face-to-face fellowship (1:14). Stable.
Greet
Approved rendering: saluer
Transliteration: aspazomai
Doctrine: (closing convention)
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Epistolary Convention
The conventional epistolary closing formula, personalized ‘by name’ in 1:14. Stable.
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gaïus
Transliteration: Gaios
Doctrine: (proper name)
Original: Γάιος
Category: Proper Names
The letter’s recipient, commended for faithful hospitality. Established French Bible transliteration (Segond/TOB).
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrèphe
Transliteration: Diotrephēs
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: Διοτρέφης
Category: Proper Names
The local leader rebuked for loving preeminence, refusing hospitality, and expelling believers. Established French Bible transliteration.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Démétrius
Transliteration: Dēmētrios
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Names
The believer commended by everyone, by the truth itself, and by John as a model of faithful witness. Established French Bible transliteration.