Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 3 John (English–Gujarati)
This glossary catalogs every load-bearing theological/doctrinal term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across the whole of 3 John (a single chapter, verses 1-14). Terms marked REUSED (baseline) carry forward the exact rendering from the Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json and must not be altered. All other terms are NEW entries proposed for this curriculum and require entry into an updated translation memory before Phase 2 begins.
| # | English Gloss | Greek (Transliteration) | Gujarati Rendering (Transliteration) | Risk Tier | Doctrine(s) | Status | Occurrences (3 John) | Rationale / Collision Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elder | πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) | વડીલ (vaḍīl) | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 1 | Must denote a pastoral/spiritual office, not generic family/caste seniority. |
| 2 | Gaius (proper name) | Γάϊος (Gaios) | ગાયસ (Gāyas) | Low | — | NEW | 1, 5 (implied addressee throughout) | Fixed transliteration for consistency. |
| 3 | beloved | ἀγαπητός (agapētos) | પ્રિય (priya) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 1, 5, 11 | Term of covenant affection, not flattery; lower risk than ἀγάπη itself. |
| 4 | love (verb/noun) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη (agapaō / agapē) | પ્રેમ કરવો / પ્રેમ (prem karavo / prem) | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 1, 6 | Collision with Vaishnav bhakti prema devotional-romantic love (Krishna-Radha tradition, salient given Gujarat/Dwarka). Must be anchored as selfless, sacrificial, others-directed love, evidenced in concrete hospitality — not devotee-to-deity longing. |
| 5 | truth | ἀλήθεια (alētheia) | સત્ય (satya) | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Commendation of Faithful Witness | NEW | 1, 3 (×2), 4, 8, 12 (×2) | Collision with Jain satya-mahāvrata (ascetic vow of truthfulness) and Gandhian satyagraha — both frame truth as self-achieved moral discipline. Must convey the received, revealed gospel-reality centered in Christ. Dominant term of the letter (7 occurrences); highest-priority term for reviewer attention. |
| 6 | walk in truth (idiom) | ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιπατεῖν | સત્યમાં ચાલવું (satyamā chālavũ) | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 3, 4 | Inherits ἀλήθεια risk; must not be read as ascetic path-treading (mārga) common to Jain/Vaishnav vocabulary. |
| 7 | joy / rejoice | χαρά / χαίρω (chara / chairō) | આનંદ / આનંદ પામવો (ānand / ānand pāmavo) | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 3, 4 | Pastoral joy at spiritual growth; standard vocabulary. |
| 8 | brothers | ἀδελφοί (adelphoi) | ભાઈઓ (bhāio) | Medium | Hospitality; Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 3, 5, 10 | Risk of defaulting to biological/community/caste brotherhood rather than spiritual kinship extended even to personally-unknown travelers. |
| 9 | testify / bear witness | μαρτυρέω (martyreō) | સાક્ષી આપવી (sākṣī āpavī) | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness; Hospitality | NEW | 3, 6, 12 (×2) | Must retain sense of reliable, verified, public commendation of Christian character, not casual hearsay. |
| 10 | testimony / witness (noun) | μαρτυρία (martyria) | સાક્ષી (sākṣī) | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness | NEW | 12 | Same root/rendering as μαρτυρέω for consistency across the letter. |
| 11 | true | ἀληθής (alēthēs) | સાચું / સત્ય (sāchũ / satya) | High | Commendation of Faithful Witness | NEW | 12 | Adjectival cognate of ἀλήθεια; inherits its risk profile. |
| 12 | children (spiritual) | τέκνα (tekna) | બાળકો (bāḷako) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 4 | Requires “spiritual” qualifier in context to avoid implying literal biological offspring. |
| 13 | faithful (of an act) | πιστόν (ποιεῖς) (piston) | વિશ્વાસુ [કૃત્ય] (viśvāsu [kṛtya]) | Medium | Hospitality | NEW | 5 | Built on baseline વિશ્વાસ root; the act flows from faith in Christ, echoing baseline’s obedience-of-faith pattern. |
| 14 | stranger (traveling minister) | ξένος (xenos) | અજાણ્યા (ajāṇyā) | Medium-High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | NEW | 5 | Must convey a fellow gospel-worker personally unknown to the host, not a generic foreigner/outsider. |
| 15 | church | ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) | મંડળી (maṇḍaḷī) | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | REUSED (baseline) | 6, 9, 10 | Exact baseline rendering retained; never મંદિર/દેરાસર. |
| 16 | send on one’s way (support journey) | προπέμπω (propempō) | વળાવવું (vaḷāvavũ) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | NEW | 6 | Must retain material-support sense (funds/provisions/escort), not mere polite farewell. |
| 17 | worthy of God (phrase) | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ (axiōs tou theou) | પરમેશ્વરને છાજે એવી રીતે (Parmeśvarne chāje evī rīte) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | NEW | 6 | Standard = God’s own character, not social propriety/honor-culture reciprocity. |
| 18 | the Name (Christological title) | ὄνομα (onoma) | નામ (nām), contextually “[ખ્રિસ્તનું] નામ” | Medium | Hospitality; Commendation of Faithful Witness | NEW | 7 | Requires Christological anchor; bare “નામ” reads as generic reference to God’s reputation. |
| 19 | Gentiles / pagans / unbelievers | ἐθνικοί (ethnikoi) | અવિશ્વાસી લોકો (aviśvāsī loko) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | NEW | 7 | Distinct from baseline Romans “gentiles” (અન્ય પ્રજાઓ) — here means unbelieving outsiders in general, not the Jew/Gentile unity doctrine sense. Do not reuse અન્ય પ્રજાઓ. |
| 20 | ought / obligated | ὀφείλω (opheilō) | ફરજ છે (faraj chhe) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | NEW | 8 | Risk of reading as merit-earning ધાર્મિક ફરજ (per baseline caution on obedience-of-faith); anchor as obligation flowing from gospel partnership/gratitude. |
| 21 | support / receive | ὑπολαμβάνω (hypolambanō) | સહાય કરવી / સ્વીકારવું (sahāy karavī / svīkāravũ) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | NEW | 8 | Active material support, not passive tolerance. |
| 22 | fellow worker | συνεργός (synergos) | સહકાર્યકર (sahakāryakar) | Medium | Hospitality; Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 8 | Gospel partnership, not secular/commercial collaboration. |
| 23 | love of preeminence (self-exalting ambition) | φιλοπρωτεύω (philoprōteuō) | પ્રથમ પદ ચાહનાર (prathama pad chāhnār) | High | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 9 | Rare NT compound naming self-exalting hunger for status abusing church authority; must be distinguished from a socially respected guru/acharya role. |
| 24 | Diotrephes (proper name) | Διοτρέφης (Diotrephēs) | દિયોત્રેફેસ (Diyotrefes) | Low | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 9 | Fixed transliteration for consistency. |
| 25 | receive / welcome | ἐπιδέχομαι (epidechomai) | સ્વીકારવું (svīkāravũ) | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality | NEW | 9, 10 (×2) | Contrast term: rightly receiving (Gaius) vs. wrongly refusing (Diotrephes) persons/authority. |
| 26 | remind / expose | ὑπομιμνήσκω (hypomimnēskō) | યાદ કરાવવું / ખુલ્લું પાડવું (yād karāvavũ / khullũ pāḍavũ) | Low-Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 10 | Public accountability, not private grievance. |
| 27 | works / deeds | ἔργα (erga) | કામો / કૃત્યો (kāmo / kṛtyo) | Low | Church Leadership and Pride; Imitating Good rather than Evil | NEW | 10 | Concrete actionable conduct. |
| 28 | malicious/false speech (against authority) | λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν (logois ponērois phlyarōn) | ખોટા આરોપ મૂકવા (khoṭā ārop mūkavā) | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 10 | Retain baseless/malicious + against-legitimate-authority senses. |
| 29 | hinder / forbid | κωλύω (kōlyō) | અટકાવવું (aṭkāvavũ) | Low-Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 10 | Abuse of positional power over others’ free choice to show hospitality. |
| 30 | cast out / expel | ἐκβάλλω (ekballō) | બહાર કાઢી મૂકવું (bahār kāḍhī mūkavũ) | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | NEW | 10 | Distinguish from legitimate church discipline; here illegitimate, self-serving expulsion. |
| 31 | imitate | μιμέομαι (mimeomai) | અનુકરણ કરવું (anukaraṇ karavũ) | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | NEW | 11 | Distinguish from imitating a guru’s ascetic technique; here it is imitation of moral character grounded in relationship to God. |
| 32 | good (ethical) / do good | ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω (agathos / agathopoieō) | ભલું / ભલું કરનાર (bhalũ / bhalũ karnār) | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | NEW | 11 | Avoid શુભ/અશુભ (astrological auspicious/inauspicious framing); doing good is fruit of belonging to God, not merit accumulation (cf. baseline grace caution). |
| 33 | evil (ethical) / do evil | κακός / κακοποιέω (kakos / kakopoieō) | ભૂંડું / ભૂંડું કરનાર (bhũṇḍũ / bhũṇḍũ karnār) | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | NEW | 11 | Distinguish from baseline પાપ (sin) — broader “evil conduct/character,” not the specific universal-guilt doctrine. Avoid શુભ/અશુભ framing. |
| 34 | God | θεός (theos) | પરમેશ્વર (Parmeśvar) | Critical | Imitating Good rather than Evil | REUSED (baseline) | 11 (×3) | Exact baseline rendering retained; never ભગવાન. |
| 35 | Demetrius (proper name) | Δημήτριος (Dēmētrios) | દેમેત્રિયસ (Dēmetriyas) | Low | Commendation of Faithful Witness | NEW | 12 | Fixed transliteration for consistency. |
| 36 | soul | ψυχή (psychē) | જીવ (jīv) | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship (v.2 well-being) | NEW | 2 | Collision with Jain jīva-substance metaphysics (individual soul-particle bound in karmic cycle). Must denote whole-person spiritual well-being before God, not the Jain ontological category. આત્મા avoided (reserved for પવિત્ર આત્મા/Holy Spirit per baseline). |
| 37 | prosper | εὐοδόω (euodoō) | સફળ થવું / આબાદ થવું (safaḷ thavũ / ābād thavũ) | Medium | — | NEW | 2 | Risk of prosperity-gospel misreading; must stay tied to soul-prosperity as the standard, per v.2’s own logic. |
| 38 | health | ὑγιαίνω (hygiainō) | તંદુરસ્ત રહેવું (tandurast rahevũ) | Low | — | NEW | 2 | Standard term. |
| 39 | peace | εἰρήνη (eirēnē) | શાંતિ (śānti) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | REUSED (baseline) | 14 | Exact baseline rendering retained. |
| 40 | friend(s) | φίλος (philos) | મિત્રો (mitro) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 14 | Johannine near-title for fellow believers (cf. John 15:15); flat rendering risks understating covenantal depth — contextual framing as fellow believers recommended, per baseline’s caution distinguishing સંગત (fellowship) from mere મિત્રતા. |
| 41 | greet | ἀσπάζομαι (aspazomai) | શુભેચ્છા પાઠવવી / સલામ કહેવી (śubhecchā pāṭhavavī / salām kahevī) | Low | — | NEW | 14 | Standard epistolary greeting. |
| 42 | face to face (idiom) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα (stoma pros stoma) | સામસામે વાત કરવી (sāmsāme vāt karavī) | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | NEW | 14 | Render idiomatically, not literally (“mouth to mouth”). |
New Terms Requiring Translation Memory Update Before Phase 2
All rows marked NEW above (38 of 42 entries) are not present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and must be added — with risk tier, alternatives rejected, and notes — before any Phase 2 segment translation of 3 John begins, per the Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md. Priority order for theologian review follows risk tier:
Critical: (none new; θεός reused from baseline)
High — require human theologian review:
- ἀλήθεια → સત્ય (truth)
- ἀγάπη → પ્રેમ (love)
- φιλοπρωτεύω → પ્રથમ પદ ચાહનાર (love of preeminence)
- ψυχή → જીવ (soul)
- ἀληθής → સાચું/સત્ય (true, cognate of truth)
- ἐν ἀληθείᾳ περιπατεῖν → સત્યમાં ચાલવું (walk in truth)
Medium — require native speaker review: all remaining NEW entries in the table above (πρεσβύτερος, ἀγαπητός, ἀδελφοί, μαρτυρέω, μαρτυρία, τέκνα, πιστόν, ξένος, προπέμπω, ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ, ὄνομα, ἐθνικοί, ὀφείλω, ὑπολαμβάνω, συνεργός, ἐπιδέχομαι, λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν, ἐκβάλλω, κωλύω, μιμέομαι, ἀγαθός/ἀγαθοποιέω, κακός/κακοποιέω, εὐοδόω, φίλος).
Low — automated review sufficient: proper names (Gaius, Demetrius, Diotrephes), χαρά/χαίρω, ἔργα, ὑπομιμνήσκω, ἀρκέω, ὑγιαίνω, ἀσπάζομαι, στόμα πρὸς στόμα, γράφω, μέλαν καὶ κάλαμος.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: પરમેશ્વર
Transliteration: Parmeśvar
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: ઈશ્વર, ભગવાન
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: never ભગવાન, applied colloquially in Gujarat to any Hindu deity and, among Jains, to the perfected Tirthankaras. In 3 John 1:11, doing good/evil is evidence of relationship to this one true, personal God — never a Tirthankara-like perfected teacher.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: વિશ્વાસ
Transliteration: viśvāsa
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: શ્રદ્ધા, ભક્તિ
Inherited from Romans package. Root term underlying ‘faithful_act’ (3 John 1:5), where Gaius’s hospitality is itself an act flowing from personal trust in Christ, echoing the baseline’s obedience-of-faith pattern (વિશ્વાસનું આજ્ઞાપાલન).
Love
Approved rendering: પ્રેમ
Transliteration: prem
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: ભક્તિ, પ્રેમાસક્તિ
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Fellowship
HIGH RISK: in Gujarat’s dominant Vaishnav bhakti culture (centered on Dwarka, already flagged in the baseline for અવતાર/incarnation collision), પ્રેમ carries strong devotional-romantic connotations from Krishna-bhakti (prema-bhakti, Radha-Krishna devotional longing). In 3 John (1:1, 1:6), ἀγάπη must be anchored as selfless, sacrificial, others-directed love made concrete in hospitality — never devotee-to-deity romantic longing.
Truth
Approved rendering: સત્ય
Transliteration: satya
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth
HIGH RISK, dominant term of the letter (7 occurrences: 1:1, 3×2, 4, 8, 12×2). સત્ય is one of the five Jain mahāvratas (ascetic vow of self-disciplined truthfulness) and the foundation of Gandhian satyagraha, both framing truth as a self-achieved moral discipline. In 3 John, ἀλήθεια is the received, revealed gospel-reality centered in Christ that grounds fellowship and love. Every occurrence requires contextual Christological anchoring (e.g. ‘ખ્રિસ્તનું સત્ય’).
Walk In Truth
Approved rendering: સત્યમાં ચાલવું
Transliteration: satyamā chālavũ
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: સાચા માર્ગે ચાલવું
Original: ἐν ἀληθεί�ᾳ περιπατεῖν
Category: Truth
Johannine idiom for a whole manner of life shaped by gospel truth (1:3, 1:4). Never use માર્ગ (‘path’) phrasing — માર્ગ is the operative word for Jain mokṣa-mārga and Hindu/Jain path-to-liberation vocabulary, which would recast this as ascetic self-directed path-treading rather than living out a received gospel reality.
True
Approved rendering: સાચું / સત્ય
Transliteration: sāchũ / satya
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Witness
Adjectival cognate of ἀλήθεια (1:12); inherits its collision with Jain satya-mahāvrata and Gandhian satyagraha. John’s testimony is objectively reliable, consistent with received gospel-truth, not merely sincere in intention.
Love Of Preeminence
Approved rendering: પ્રથમ પદ ચાહનાર
Transliteration: prathama pad chāhnār
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: મહત્વાકાંક્ષી
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
HIGH RISK: rare NT hapax (φιλοπρωτεύω, 1:9) naming self-exalting ambition abusing church authority. Must be sharply distinguished from the socially respected status of a guru/acharya seeking elevated spiritual rank within Gujarat’s devotional guru-shishya culture, where this is an honored, expected pattern. A flattened rendering like મહત્વાકાંક્ષી (‘ambitious’) loses the specifically ecclesial, sinful character of abusing a position of trust within Christ’s church.
Soul
Approved rendering: જીવ
Transliteration: jīv
Doctrine: Spiritual Well-Being before God
Rejected alternatives: આત્મા
Original: ψυχή
Category: Anthropology
HIGH RISK: the whole-person spiritual well-being of Gaius before a personal God (1:2). જીવ is a precise technical term in Jain metaphysics (jīva-substance, one of jīva/ajīva, bound mechanically in the karmic cycle); must be anchored contextually to relational well-being before God, not the Jain ontological category. આત્મા is never used here — reserved exclusively for પવિત્ર આત્મા (Holy Spirit) per baseline convention.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: મંડળી
Transliteration: maṇḍaḷī
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: મંદિર, દેરાસર
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Never મંદિર (Hindu temple) or દેરાસર (Jain temple). In 3 John this is the local congregation under Diotrephes’ unauthorized dominance — a people, not a building or ritual institution.
Peace
Approved rendering: શાંતિ
Transliteration: śānti
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Personal Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: મનની શાંતિ
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Used as the closing epistolary benediction (3 John 1:14). Distinguish from the inner tranquility sought through ahimsa-based discipline or meditation, a prominent Gujarati cultural value.
Elder
Approved rendering: વડીલ
Transliteration: vaḍīl
Doctrine: Apostolic Pastoral Authority (Eldership)
Rejected alternatives: ગુરુ, આચાર્ય, સંદેશવાહક
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
The author’s self-designation (1:1). વડીલ also names any respected senior relative or caste-community elder in Gujarati social life whose authority rests purely on age/seniority. Must be anchored to a spiritual, pastoral office — the very authority Diotrephes wrongly resists — not generic family/caste seniority.
Beloved
Approved rendering: પ્રિય
Transliteration: priya
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: વ્હાલો
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
Term of covenantal Christian affection (1:1, 5, 11), lower risk than ἀγάπη itself, but should still be understood as covenant affection rooted in shared faith, not flattery or mere warm personal regard.
Brothers
Approved rendering: ભાઈઓ
Transliteration: bhāio
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀδελφοί
Category: Fellowship
Traveling missionaries received by Gaius (1:3, 1:5, 1:10). In Gujarati social life ભાઈઓ readily defaults to biological, caste-, or community-based brotherhood; must convey spiritual kinship in Christ extended even to travelers personally unknown to the host.
Testify
Approved rendering: સાક્ષી આપવી
Transliteration: sākṣī āpavī
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Rejected alternatives: વખાણ કરવું
Original: μαρτυρέω
Category: Witness
Reliable, verified, public commendation of Christian character (1:3, 1:6, 1:12), not casual hearsay or flattering praise (વખાણ કરવું).
Testimony
Approved rendering: સાક્ષી
Transliteration: sākṣī
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
Noun form used consistently with the verb સાક્ષી આપવી (1:12), preserving the letter’s deliberate triple-witness structure (echoing the two-or-three-witness principle of Deut 19:15).
Children
Approved rendering: બાળકો
Transliteration: bāḷako
Doctrine: Spiritual Parentage and Discipleship
Original: τέκνα
Category: Fellowship
Spiritual, not biological, offspring (1:4). Without an explicit qualifier (‘મારાં આત્મિક બાળકો’), Gujarati readers default to literal biological children, obscuring the pastoral-parental relationship.
Faithful Act
Approved rendering: વિશ્વાસુ કૃત્ય
Transliteration: viśvāsu kṛtya
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: વિશ્વાસપાત્ર કૃત્ય
Original: πιστόν (ποιεῖς)
Category: Hospitality
Gaius’s hospitality (1:5) is a deed flowing from faith in Christ, built on the baseline’s established root વિશ્વાસ. Must not be read as generic personal reliability/trustworthiness detached from faith in Christ.
Send On Way
Approved rendering: વળાવવું
Transliteration: vaḷāvavũ
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: વિદાય આપવી
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
The concrete, material dimension of hospitality (1:6) — equipping and sending a traveler onward with provisions, funds, or escort — not a merely polite farewell (વિદાય આપવી).
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: પરમેશ્વરને છાજે એવી રીતે
Transliteration: Parmeśvarne chāje evī rīte
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: સામાજિક રીતે યોગ્ય
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
The standard for hospitality (1:6) is God’s own character, not social propriety or honor-culture reciprocity (સામાજિક રીતે યોગ્ય), a strong organizing value in Gujarati social life.
The Name
Approved rendering: નામ
Transliteration: nām
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: યહોવાનું નામ
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Christology
Reverential Johannine shorthand for Christ himself and his authority (1:7) — ‘they went out for the sake of the Name.’ Bare ‘નામ’ requires a Christological anchor in context, e.g. ‘[ખ્રિસ્તના] નામને માટે.’ NEVER echo the Jehovah’s Witness New World Translation (Gujarati)‘s redirection of this verse toward the Tetragrammaton (‘યહોવાનું નામ’) — a documented sectarian bias risk (see analysis/05_translation_landscape.md §2-4).
Gentiles Unbelievers
Approved rendering: અવિશ્વાસી લોકો
Transliteration: aviśvāsī loko
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: અન્ય પ્રજાઓ
Original: ἐθνικοί
Category: Hospitality
Unbelieving outsiders from whom traveling missionaries refuse support (1:7). DISTINCT from the baseline Romans rendering of ‘Gentiles’ (અન્ય પ્રજાઓ, non-Jewish peoples in the Jew/Gentile unity doctrine). Never reuse અન્ય પ્રજાઓ in this letter — it would wrongly import the Jew-Gentile theological frame.
Ought
Approved rendering: ફરજ છે
Transliteration: faraj chhe
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: ધાર્મિક ફરજ
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
A moral obligation flowing from gospel partnership and gratitude (1:8), not a merit-earning duty (ધાર્મિક ફરજ), which reads close to Hindu dharma or Jain vrata frameworks, per the baseline’s parallel caution on obedience-of-faith.
Support Receive
Approved rendering: સહાય કરવી / સ્વીકારવું
Transliteration: sahāy karavī / svīkāravũ
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: સહન કરવું
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
Active material support and hospitality of traveling gospel workers (1:8), not passive tolerance (સહન કરવું).
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: સહકાર્યકર
Transliteration: sahakāryakar
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: ધંધાકીય ભાગીદાર
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
Active partnership in gospel ministry (1:8), not secular business collaboration (ધંધાકીય ભાગીદાર), a strong alternate frame in Gujarat’s mercantile/trading culture.
Receive Welcome
Approved rendering: સ્વીકારવું
Transliteration: svīkāravũ
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
Diotrephes’ refusal to receive the elder’s representatives/authority (1:9, 1:10) is the concrete act of rebellion. Contrast with rightly receiving persons/authority (Gaius) must remain visible across both terms.
Malicious Speech
Approved rendering: ખોટા આરોપ મૂકવા
Transliteration: khoṭā ārop mūkavā
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: ગપસપ
Original: λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν
Category: Church Leadership
Baseless, malicious speech against legitimate apostolic authority (1:10), not generic gossip (ગપસપ).
Cast Out
Approved rendering: બહાર કાઢી મૂકવું
Transliteration: bahār kāḍhī mūkavũ
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: જાતિ બહાર મૂકવું
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
Diotrephes’ illegitimate, self-serving expulsion of faithful believers (1:10). Must be kept distinct from the familiar and socially sanctioned Gujarati community practice of caste/community expulsion (જાતિ બહાર મૂકવું), a wholly different social-purity mechanism, and from legitimate biblical church discipline.
Imitate
Approved rendering: અનુકરણ કરવું
Transliteration: anukaraṇ karavũ
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: ગુરુની સાધનાનું અનુકરણ કરવું
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
Modeling one’s conduct on the observed moral character of named believers (1:11) — Demetrius’s good, not Diotrephes’ evil. Must be distinguished from imitating a guru’s ascetic technique or practice (ગુરુની સાધનાનું અનુકરણ), a strong discipleship pattern in Jain monastic and Hindu guru-shishya traditions implying self-attained spiritual advancement.
Good
Approved rendering: ભલું / ભલું કરનાર
Transliteration: bhalũ / bhalũ karnār
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: શુભ
Original: ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Ethics
Moral goodness as fruit of belonging to God (1:11), not merit accumulation. Never શુભ, the astrological auspicious/inauspicious pairing (muhurat/panchang) prevalent in Gujarati culture, which recasts moral character as ritual-cosmic timing.
Evil
Approved rendering: ભૂંડું / ભૂંડું કરનાર
Transliteration: bhũṇḍũ / bhũṇḍũ karnār
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: અશુભ
Original: κακός / κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
Moral wrongdoing evidencing one has not truly known God (1:11). Never અશુભ (astrological inauspicious). Distinguish from the baseline’s પાપ (sin) — this is the broader category of evil conduct/character to avoid imitating, not the specific universal-guilt doctrine.
Prosper
Approved rendering: સફળ થવું / આબાદ થવું
Transliteration: safaḷ thavũ / ābād thavũ
Doctrine: Spiritual Well-Being before God
Rejected alternatives: સમૃદ્ધ થવું
Original: εὐοδόω
Category: Fellowship
Circumstantial well-being prayed for as an echo of Gaius’s already-flourishing soul (1:2). Risk of prosperity-gospel misreading; the verse’s own logic (bodily prosperity mirroring, not causing or preceding, soul-prosperity) must be preserved.
Friend
Approved rendering: મિત્રો
Transliteration: mitro
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Personal Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: ભાઈઓ
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
Johannine near-title for fellow believers in covenant relationship (1:14; cf. John 15:15), not ordinary social friendship or Vaishnav satsang’s devotee-to-deity/guru center of gravity. Keep distinct from ભાઈઓ (ἀδελφοί) — the letter deliberately uses two distinct Greek terms and Gujarati should preserve two distinct words. Frame in context as fellow believers in Christ, echoing the baseline’s સંગત-vs-મિત્રતા distinction.
Low Risk Terms
Gaius
Approved rendering: ગાયસ
Transliteration: Gāyas
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Proper Names
The letter’s addressee. Fixed transliteration for consistency across all lessons referencing 3 John.
Joy
Approved rendering: આનંદ / આનંદ પામવો
Transliteration: ānand / ānand pāmavo
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Fellowship
Pastoral joy grounded in a verified report of spiritual faithfulness (1:3, 1:4), not generalized happiness. Standard vocabulary.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: દિયોત્રેફેસ
Transliteration: Diyotrefes
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: Διοτρέφης
Category: Proper Names
The letter’s antagonist (1:9). Fixed transliteration for consistency.
Works
Approved rendering: કામો / કૃત્યો
Transliteration: kāmo / kṛtyo
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἔργα
Category: Ethics
Diotrephes’ concrete, actionable wrongdoing (1:10), not merely an attitude.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: દેમેત્રિયસ
Transliteration: Dēmetriyas
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Names
The commended faithful minister/witness (1:12), model of doing good in contrast to Diotrephes. Fixed transliteration for consistency.
Health
Approved rendering: તંદુરસ્ત રહેવું
Transliteration: tandurast rahevũ
Doctrine: Spiritual Well-Being before God
Original: ὑγιαίνω
Category: Fellowship
Ordinary bodily well-being, paired with prosperity in the author’s opening prayer-wish (1:2). Standard term.
Greet
Approved rendering: શુભેચ્છા પાઠવવી / સલામ કહેવી
Transliteration: śubhecchā pāṭhavavī / salām kahevī
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Personal Fellowship
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Fellowship
Standard epistolary greeting conveying concrete community bonds beyond the immediate correspondents (1:14).
Face To Face
Approved rendering: સામસામે વાત કરવી
Transliteration: sāmsāme vāt karavī
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Personal Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: મોઢે મોઢ
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Fellowship
Idiom for direct, personal, unmediated communication, prized over written correspondence (1:14). Render idiomatically; never literally as ‘mouth to mouth’ (મોઢે મોઢ), which sounds alien in Gujarati.
Medium-High Risk Terms
Stranger
Approved rendering: અજાણ્યા
Transliteration: ajāṇyā
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: વિદેશી
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
Traveling gospel-workers personally unknown to the host (1:5), to be welcomed as fellow-laborers for the truth, not generic foreigners (વિદેશી). Gujarat’s own atithi devo bhava guest-honor tradition is a ready but doctrinally thin frame; pair with contextual gospel-partnership framing (e.g. ‘પરોણા’ plus reference to shared mission) at every occurrence.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Remind Expose
Approved rendering: યાદ કરાવવું / ખુલ્લું પાડવું
Transliteration: yād karāvavũ / khullũ pāḍavũ
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: ગુપ્ત ફરિયાદ
Original: ὑπομιμνήσκω
Category: Church Leadership
John’s public exposure of Diotrephes’ conduct (1:10) is accountable church leadership, not private grievance or gossip (ગુપ્ત ફરિયાદ).
Hinder
Approved rendering: અટકાવવું
Transliteration: aṭkāvavũ
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
Diotrephes actively obstructs members who want to show hospitality (1:10) — abuse of positional power over others’ choices.
Referenced passages