Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 3 John (English → Hindi)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md. 3 John is a single-chapter, 14-verse epistle; the entire book is covered here (no chapters beyond the core passage exist). Terms already present in the baseline Romans/Galatians translation_memory.json are marked BASELINE REUSE and their recorded rendering is repeated exactly, per the hard rule that established renderings must not be altered.
| # | Term (English label) | Greek / Transliteration | Hindi Rendering | Doctrine(s) | Risk | Baseline Reuse? | Notes / Alternatives Rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elder | πρεσβύτερος / presbyteros | प्राचीन (prācīna) | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New | Established Hindi church-office term. Not a Hindu sadhu/ascetic-elder analog; authority is delegated/apostolic, not attained through personal asceticism or age alone. |
| 2 | beloved | ἀγαπητός / agapētos | प्रिय (priya) | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Low | New | Standard term of pastoral affection; recurs vv.1,2,5,11. |
| 3 | love (verb) | ἀγαπάω / agapaō | प्रेम करना (prema karanā) | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | Extends baseline ἀγάπη convention | Verb form of baseline’s established love vocabulary; retain willed/covenantal sense, not romantic love. |
| 4 | truth | ἀλήθεια / alētheia | सच्चाई (saccāī) | Truth and Christian Fellowship; all doctrines (controlling category) | High | Extends baseline “truth_of_the_gospel” (सुसमाचार की सच्चाई) | Reuses baseline सच्चाई root for consistency. The letter’s dominant theme (6 occurrences: vv.1,3,4,8,12 [x2]). Escalates to Critical at v.12’s personification — see entry #24. Must not be softened toward “one perspective” given India’s pluralist “many paths, one truth” assumptions (cf. baseline Galatians guardrail on truth_of_the_gospel). |
| 5 | prosper / go well | εὐοδόω / euodousthai | भला होना / कुशल रहना (bhalā honā) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers (greeting context) | Medium | New | Must be anchored by the soul/ψυχή comparison so it is not read as a prosperity-gospel promise of guaranteed material success; never भाग्य (fate/fortune, forbidden by baseline providence entries). |
| 6 | health | ὑγιαίνω / hygiainein | स्वस्थ रहना (svastha rahanā) | — (greeting formula) | Low | New | Literal physical health; no significant theological risk. |
| 7 | soul | ψυχή / psychē | प्राण (prāṇa) | — (greeting formula; benchmark for well-being) | Medium | New | Established BSI convention for “soul.” Caution: प्राण also denotes yogic vital life-force (prāṇāyāma); clarify here it means the whole inner person’s spiritual condition before God. |
| 8 | rejoice / joy | χαίρω / χαρά / echarēn, charan | आनन्दित होना / आनन्द (ānandita honā / ānanda) | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | आनन्द is established in Hindi Christian usage but echoes Vedantic sat-chit-ānanda (bliss as an attribute of the Absolute); anchor as relational joy over another believer’s faithfulness, not a self-attained meditative bliss-state. |
| 9 | brothers | ἀδελφός / adelphos | भाई (bhāī) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Low-Medium | New | Inclusive sense: fellow believers, not restricted to biological or exclusively male kin. |
| 10 | testify / testimony / witness | μαρτυρέω, μαρτυρία / martyreō, martyria | गवाही देना / गवाही (gavāhī denā / gavāhī) | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Truth and Christian Fellowship | High | New | Central structural device of the letter (vv.3,6,10 [implied],12 x3). Forensic/legal register (courtroom witness) is doctrinally apt but must retain full weight — not flattened to “people say nice things.” See entry #24 for the Critical-tier personified use in v.12. |
| 11 | walk (conduct/lifestyle) | περιπατέω / peripateō | सच्चाई में चलना (saccāī meṃ calanā) | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | Extends baseline walking-metaphor pattern (cf. walk_by_the_spirit) | Lifestyle idiom, not literal ambulation; recurs vv.3,4. Positive ideal later contrasted with Diotrephes’ conduct. |
| 12 | children (spiritual) | τέκνον / teknon | सन्तान (santān) | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Must be glossed as spiritual children (converts/disciples), not biological offspring. |
| 13 | faithful (deed/action) | πιστόν ποιεῖς / piston poieis | विश्वासयोग्य काम (viśvāsayogya kāma) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | Built on baseline विश्वास root | Faithful conduct flowing from faith; must not be read as a separate merit-earning category alongside/apart from विश्वास itself. |
| 14 | strangers | ξένος / xenos | अनजान भाई / परदेशी (anajāna bhāī) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Collides productively but riskily with India’s atithi devo bhava hospitality ethic; distinguish gospel-motivated hospitality from merit-generating (puṇya) ritual guest-duty. |
| 15 | love (noun) | ἀγάπη / agapē | प्रेम (prema) | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | BASELINE REUSE (cf. baseline brotherly_love, प्रेम root) | Selfless, willed, covenantal love made visible through hospitality; not sentiment alone. |
| 16 | church | ἐκκλησία / ekklēsia | कलीसिया (kalīsiyā) | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | BASELINE REUSE — exact | Never मंदिर (Hindu temple); per baseline entry. |
| 17 | send on their way (missionary support) | προπέμπω / propempō | आगे की यात्रा के लिये भेजना / विदा करना | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Conveys material/logistical support (provisions, funds, companions), not a bare farewell greeting. |
| 18 | worthy of God (conduct standard) | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ / axiōs tou theou | परमेश्वर के योग्य (Parameśvara ke yogya) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Conduct that honors/befits God’s character in response to grace; must not read as merit that earns divine favor (karma-adjacent misreading). |
| 19 | the Name (Christological, absolute) | τὸ ὄνομα / to onoma | नाम के लिये (with mandatory gloss: “अर्थात् मसीह के नाम के लिये”) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New | Distinctive early-church Christological idiom (cf. Acts 5:41); must not be left ambiguous, and must not resonate with nāma-japa/nāma-smaraṇa (name-repetition for spiritual merit). Mandatory translator note every occurrence. |
| 20 | Gentiles / pagans / outsiders | ἐθνικός / ethnikos | गैर-विश्वासी लोग (gair-viśvāsī loga) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New — explicitly NOT baseline अन्यजाति | Denotes non-Christian outsiders generally (regardless of ethnicity), a different sense from Romans/Galatians’ Jew-Gentile ethnic category. Reusing अन्यजाति here would wrongly import Paul’s unrelated ethnic-unity argument into a pastoral-missions verse. |
| 21 | support / take up hospitably | ὑπολαμβάνω / hypolambanō | सहायता करना / अपनाकर सहयोग देना | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Active material provision, stronger than mere social welcome (cf. entry #22). |
| 22 | receive / welcome (accept authority) | ἐπιδέχομαι / epidechomai | स्वीकार करना / ग्रहण करना | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New | In Diotrephes’ refusal (vv.9,10), carries the sense of rejecting apostolic authority, not mere social coldness. |
| 23 | fellow workers | συνεργός / synergos | सहकर्मी (sahakarmī) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Genuine gospel-mission partnership, not a subordinate-assistant relationship. |
| 24 | truth itself (personified witness) | αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας / autēs tēs alētheias | सच्चाई स्वयं भी उसकी गवाही देती है | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Truth and Christian Fellowship | CRITICAL | New (escalation of #4/#10) | Uniquely collides with India’s philosophical veneration of Satya as a near-absolute, quasi-divine impersonal reality (Satyameva Jayate; Advaita/Gandhian thought). Must be firmly anchored in the personal God/Christ of the gospel, never allowed to read as an impersonal cosmic-truth principle. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence. |
| 25 | love to be first / desire preeminence | φιλοπρωτεύω / philoprōteuō | अपने आपको प्रधान बनाना चाहनेवाला | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | High | New | Names the letter’s central leadership-sin. Risk of being read as merely “ambitious” (neutral/admired) in cultures with strong patron-client/guru-veneration church hierarchies. Flag for theologian AND native speaker review (honor/shame-adjacent, per baseline routing pattern). |
| 26 | talk maliciously / slander | φλυαρέω / phlyareō | झूठी बातें बनाकर दोष लगाना | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | Medium | New | Malicious, baseless slander, not neutral “talking” or fair criticism. |
| 27 | hinder / forbid | κωλύω / kōlyō | रोकना / मनाही करना | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | Low | New | — |
| 28 | cast out / expel | ἐκβάλλω / ekballō | कलीसिया से निकाल देता है | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | Medium-High | New | Formal congregational expulsion; must be framed as abuse of legitimate church-discipline authority, not a model of proper discipline. |
| 29 | imitate | μιμέομαι / mimeomai | अनुकरण करना (anukaraṇa karanā) | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Medium | New | Cultural bridge with guru-anukaraṇ devotional imitation tradition; must anchor to imitating moral character reflecting God, not a teacher’s personal ascetic technique for self-attainment. |
| 30 | good / evil | ἀγαθός / κακός / agathos, kakos | भलाई / बुराई (bhalāī / burāī) | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low | New | Basic moral-ethical vocabulary; low collision risk. |
| 31 | doer of good / doer of evil | ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω | भलाई करनेवाला / बुराई करनेवाला | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Medium | New | Good deeds are evidence of belonging to God, never the basis on which that belonging is earned — guard against karma-merit misreading. |
| 32 | has not seen God | οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν / ouch heōraken ton theon | परमेश्वर को नहीं देखा है | Imitating Good rather than Evil | CRITICAL | New | Use plain देखना only. NEVER दर्शन (already forbidden elsewhere in the Language Package for “revelation,” since it implies self-attained devotional/visionary sight of a deity). Johannine moral-epistemology claim: authentic knowledge of God is verified by moral fruit, not religious claim or inward experience. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence. |
| 33 | ink | μέλαν / melan | स्याही (syāhī) | — (material culture detail) | Low | New | — |
| 34 | pen / reed-pen | κάλαμος / kalamos | कलम (kalama) | — (material culture detail) | Low | New | — |
| 35 | hope | ἐλπίζω / elpizō | आशा रखना (āśā rakhanā) | Truth and Christian Fellowship (closing) | Low-Medium | New | Confident expectation grounded in relationship, not vague wishing/luck (भाग्य). |
| 36 | face to face | στόμα πρὸς στόμα / stoma pros stoma | आमने-सामने (āmane-sāmane) | Truth and Christian Fellowship (closing) | Low | New | Idiom — translate meaning, not the literal “mouth to mouth” image. |
| 37 | peace | εἰρήνη / eirēnē | शांति (śānti) | Truth and Christian Fellowship (closing) | Medium | BASELINE REUSE — exact | Per baseline entry; relational/covenantal peace, not mere psychological calm. |
| 38 | friends (fellow believers) | φίλος / philos | मित्र (mitra) | Truth and Christian Fellowship (closing) | Medium | New | Deliberate Johannine designation-shift from “brothers”; preserve distinctly (cf. John 15:15), do not flatten to a repeated “brothers.” |
| 39 | by name (individually) | κατ᾿ ὄνομα / kat’ onoma | नाम ले-लेकर / प्रत्येक को नाम से | Truth and Christian Fellowship (closing) | Low | New | Personal, individualized pastoral greeting. |
| 40 | Gaius (proper name) | Γάιος / Gaïos | गयुस (Gayus) | — | Low | New | Transliterated proper name; recipient of the letter. |
| 41 | Diotrephes (proper name) | Διοτρεφής / Diotrephēs | दियोत्रेफेस (Diyotrephesa) | Church Leadership and Pride | Low | New | Transliterated proper name; the letter’s antagonist. |
| 42 | Demetrius (proper name) | Δημήτριος / Dēmētrios | दिमेत्रियुस (Dimetriyusa) | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Low | New | Transliterated proper name; the letter’s positive exemplar. |
Summary of Escalation-Worthy Entries
Critical risk (mandatory theologian review, every occurrence):
- #4 truth (at its v.12 personified escalation, #24)
- #24 truth itself (personified witness) — collision with Indian Satya-as-absolute philosophy
- #32 has not seen God — collision with the baseline’s existing दर्शन prohibition
High risk (mandatory theologian review):
- #4 truth (general)
- #10 testify/testimony/witness
- #19 the Name (Christological, absolute)
- #20 Gentiles/pagans/outsiders (must not reuse baseline अन्यजाति)
- #25 love to be first / desire preeminence
Medium risk (native speaker review recommended): all remaining Medium-tier entries above, notably #5 prosper, #7 soul, #8 joy, #14 strangers, #18 worthy of God, #21 support, #22 receive/welcome, #26 slander, #28 cast out/expel, #29 imitate, #31 doer of good/evil, #38 friends.
Low risk (automated review sufficient): proper names (#40-42), material-culture terms (#33-34), and basic connective vocabulary (#6, #9 partially, #27, #30 partially, #35-36, #39).
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Parameśvara
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वर, भगवान
BSI OV standard for the one true, personal God. Inherited from Romans package. Central to 3 John 1:11’s Critical-risk moral-epistemology claim (‘he that doeth evil hath not seen God’).
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: Masīha
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: अभिषिक्त व्यक्ति, देव-दूत
Transliterated term; established in all Hindi Bible traditions. Inherited from Romans package. Used in the mandatory clarifying gloss for 3 John 1:7’s absolute ‘the Name’ (‘नाम के लिये, अर्थात् मसीह के नाम के लिये’).
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: Prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: स्वामी, ईश्वर
Exclusive, supreme Lordship. Inherited from Romans package. Relevant background for anchoring 3 John 1:12’s personified ‘truth itself’ testimony to the personal Lord/Christ, never to an impersonal Satya-absolute.
Jesus
Approved rendering: यीशु
Transliteration: Yīśu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईसा, ईशू
BSI OV standard form. Inherited from Romans package. Not directly named in 3 John’s text but essential background for glossing ‘the Name’ (1:7) and for anchoring the personified ‘truth itself’ (1:12) to Christ’s own person.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का पुत्र
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā putra
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वर का अंश, देव-पुरुष
Full phrase required; never metaphorical or honorary sonship. Inherited from Romans package. Background doctrine safeguarding 3 John 1:12’s anchoring of personified ‘truth itself’ testimony to Christ’s own unique, eternal identity as ‘the Truth’ (cf. John 14:6), never an impersonal Satya-absolute.
Has Not Seen God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर को नहीं देखा है
Transliteration: Parameśvara ko nahīṃ dekhā hai
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: दर्शन (FORBIDDEN — devotee’s visionary/ritual sight of a deity attained through devotional practice), परमेश्वर को जाना नहीं (ERV-HI-style drift toward a generic knowledge claim)
Original: οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν
Category: God
3 John 1:11. Johannine idiom (perfect tense οὐχ ἑώρακεν) for the absence of authentic relational knowledge of God, evidenced negatively by habitual evildoing (cf. 1 John 3:6). Use plain देखना ONLY; NEVER दर्शन, which is already forbidden elsewhere in the Language Package for ‘revelation’ precisely because it implies a self-attained mystical/devotional experience of the divine — the opposite of this verse’s point. Mandatory theologian review with translator note every occurrence.
Truth Itself Witness
Approved rendering: सच्चाई स्वयं भी उसकी गवाही देती है
Transliteration: saccāī svayaṃ bhī usakī gavāhī detī hai
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Rejected alternatives: unanchored bare personification implying an impersonal Satya-Absolute
Original: ὑπὸ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Witness
3 John 1:12. Rhetorical personification: Demetrius’s gospel-consistent character is such that ‘the truth itself’ bears witness. CRITICAL RISK: uniquely collides with India’s philosophical veneration of Satya as a near-absolute, quasi-divine impersonal reality (Satyameva Jayate; Advaita; Gandhian thought). Must never be rendered, glossed, or taught without explicit anchoring to the personal God/Christ of the gospel. Mandatory theologian review and translator note every occurrence.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: सुसमाचार
Transliteration: susamācar
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: खुशखबरी, शुभ सन्देश
Established BSI OV term. Do not use colloquial alternatives. Inherited from Romans package; relevant to 3 John as the underlying gospel category from which ‘truth of the gospel’ and this letter’s sixfold ἀλήθεια theme derive.
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: सुसमाचार की सच्चाई
Transliteration: susamācar kī saccāī
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: संदेश (message), दृष्टिकोण (perspective)
Galatians 2:5,14. Objective, non-negotiable gospel content, defended even against apostles. Inherited from Romans package (Galatians extension). Directly extended by 3 John’s सच्चाई (truth) term, the letter’s controlling theological category occurring six times (1:1,3,4,8,12x2); the same guardrail against ‘one perspective among many’ applies throughout 3 John, given India’s pluralist religious environment.
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: viśvāsa
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, आस्था, भरोसा
Trust in a specific person (Christ/God), not generalized religious devotion. Inherited from Romans package. Root vocabulary for 3 John 1:5’s ‘faithful deed’ (πιστὸν ποιεῖς), commending Gaius’s hospitality as faith-flowing conduct, not a separate merit category.
Known By God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर ने तुम्हें जान लिया
Transliteration: Parameśvara ne tumheṃ jāna liyā
Doctrine: Salvation
Divine relational initiative, not attainment of jñāna (liberating self-realization). Inherited from Romans package. Parallels 3 John 1:11’s concern that authentic knowledge of God is relational and evidenced by conduct, not a self-attained mystical realization.
Grace
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, दया, वरदान, भाग्य, कर्म-फल, पुण्य
Must convey unmerited favor apart from any human merit. Inherited from Romans package. Provides the grace/works guardrail framework invoked by 3 John’s ‘worthy of God’ (ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ, 1:6) and ‘doer of good’ (1:11) entries, both of which must read as responses to grace already given, never as merit-earning acts.
Walk By The Spirit
Approved rendering: आत्मा के अनुसार चलो
Transliteration: ātmā ke anusāra calo
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: प्राणायाम/साधना-शैली अभ्यास (yogic breath-discipline or meditative self-realization practice)
Spirit-empowered daily obedience, never a yogic or meditative self-discipline. Inherited from Romans package. Establishes the walking-metaphor pattern extended by 3 John’s new ‘walking_in_truth’ entry (περιπατέω ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᳫ, 1:3-4) — sustained lifestyle conduct, not literal ambulation.
Truth
Approved rendering: सच्चाई
Transliteration: saccāī
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: सत्य (bare, risks Advaitic/Satyameva-Jayate absolute-Truth reading without gospel anchor)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth
3 John 1:1,3,4,8,12(x2). The letter’s controlling theological category, occurring six times. Extends the baseline truth_of_the_gospel रेंडरिंग. Must never be softened toward ‘one perspective among many’ given India’s pluralist ‘many paths, one truth’ assumption. Escalates to Critical at its v.12 personification (see truth_itself_witness).
Testimony
Approved rendering: गवाही देना
Transliteration: gavāhī denā
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Rejected alternatives: लोग कहते हैं (flattened, casual report, losing forensic register)
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
3 John 1:3,6,12(x3). Forensic/legal term for formal witness, the letter’s central structural device, applied to Gaius, Demetrius, and personified Truth itself. Must retain full forensic weight; must not be flattened to casual ‘people say nice things.’ See truth_itself_witness for the v.12 Critical-tier escalation.
The Name
Approved rendering: नाम के लिये
Transliteration: nāma ke liye
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: bare नाम के लिये without the mandatory Christological gloss
Original: τὸ ὄνομα
Category: Christology
3 John 1:7. Early-church Christological shorthand for the name of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 5:41). Requires the mandatory clarifying gloss ‘अर्थात् मसीह के नाम के लिये’ on every occurrence, since a bare rendering leaves the referent unrecoverable and risks resonance with nāma-japa/nāma-smaraṇa devotional name-repetition practice rather than Christ-honoring mission.
Outsiders Ethnikos
Approved rendering: गैर-विश्वासी लोग
Transliteration: gair-viśvāsī loga
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: अन्यजाति (baseline Jew/Gentile ethnic-theological term — FORBIDDEN here)
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Mission
3 John 1:7. Non-believing outsiders in general, from whom the traveling missionaries deliberately accepted no support — a sense distinct from Romans/Galatians’ Jew-Gentile ethnic category. MUST NOT reuse baseline अन्यजाति, reserved exclusively for that unrelated ethnic-theological argument; conflating the two imports a foreign doctrinal argument into this pastoral-missions verse.
Love Of Preeminence
Approved rendering: अपने आपको प्रधान बनाना चाहनेवाला
Transliteration: apane āpako pradhāna banānā cāhanevālā
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: महत्वाकांक्षी (ambitious — neutral/positive register), आगे रहना चाहता है (ERV-HI-style softened drift)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:9. Rare compound (φιλοπρωτεύω) naming Diotrephes’ specific sin: craving first place/preeminence, self-exaltation usurping Christ’s headship. In Indian patron-client and guru-veneration church contexts, a softened rendering risks reading as admirable ambition rather than condemned sin. Flag for both theologian and native speaker review.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: कलीसिया
Transliteration: kalīsiyā
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: मंदिर, गिरजाघर
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Transliterated term; established in Hindi Christian usage. Never मंदिर (Hindu temple). Inherited from Romans package. Used in 3 John 1:6 (venue for public testimony about Gaius) and 1:10 (Diotrephes’ wrongful expulsion of believers from the congregation).
Peace
Approved rendering: शांति
Transliteration: śānti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: चैन, सुकून
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Relational covenant peace, not psychological calm achievable through meditation. Inherited from Romans package. Used in 3 John 1:14’s closing epistolary benediction (‘Εἰρήνη σοι’); relational/covenantal sense retained, not mere absence of conflict.
Brotherly Love
Approved rendering: भाईचारे का प्रेम
Transliteration: bhāīcāre kā prema
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Philadelphia, Romans 12:10, per BSI OV. Inherited from Romans package. Forms the vocabulary root extended by 3 John’s new love_verb/love_noun entries (ἀγαπάω/ἀγάπη), and provides background for the letter’s deliberate designation-shift from ‘brothers’ (ἀδελφοί) to ‘friends’ (φίλοι) at 1:14.
Revelation
Approved rendering: प्रकाशन
Transliteration: prakāśana
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: दर्शन (darshan, devotional sight of a deity), साक्षात्कार (mystical self-realization)
God’s objective disclosure, not a devotional/mystical attainment. Inherited from Romans package. The दर्शन prohibition recorded here is the direct basis for 3 John 1:11’s Critical-risk rule that ‘has not seen God’ must use plain देखना only, never दर्शन.
Elder
Approved rendering: प्राचीन
Transliteration: prācīna
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: संत, गुरु
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:1. Self-designation of authoritative apostolic/pastoral office, not mere age-seniority. Established Hindi Christian church-office term (cf. Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). Must not be read as analogous to a Hindu sadhu/aged spiritual guide whose authority rests on personal asceticism or age alone rather than delegated apostolic commission.
Love Verb
Approved rendering: प्रेम करना
Transliteration: prema karanā
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: प्यार करना (romantic/emotional love)
Original: ἀγαπάω
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:1. To love with selfless, willed, covenantal love (ἀγαπάω), qualified ‘in truth.’ Extends the baseline brotherly_love vocabulary root. Must retain the willed, truth-grounded sense, not romantic love.
Love Noun
Approved rendering: प्रेम
Transliteration: prema
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:6. Selfless, willed, covenantal love (ἀγάπη), made visible through Gaius’s concrete hospitality and reported before the church. Extends the baseline brotherly_love vocabulary root; must be understood as love made visible in action, not sentiment alone.
Prosper
Approved rendering: भला होना
Transliteration: bhalā honā
Doctrine: Holistic Well-Being and the Priority of the Soul
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य से भला होना (fate-based good fortune), समृद्ध होना (prosperity-gospel-style material wealth)
Original: εὐοδόω
Category: Wellbeing
3 John 1:2. Must be anchored by the accompanying ψυχή/soul clause so it is not read as a prosperity-gospel guarantee of material success, and must never carry भाग्य (fate/fortune) connotations, already forbidden by the baseline providence entries.
Soul
Approved rendering: प्राण
Transliteration: prāṇa
Doctrine: Holistic Well-Being and the Priority of the Soul
Rejected alternatives: आत्मा (reserved for Holy Spirit/inner-self contexts elsewhere in the Language Package)
Original: ψυχή
Category: Anthropology
3 John 1:2. Established BSI convention for ‘soul’; the benchmark against which all other prospering is measured. Caution: प्राण also denotes the yogic vital life-force manipulated through prāṇāyāma breath-discipline; a translator note must clarify that here it denotes the whole inner person’s spiritual condition before God, not a manipulable life-energy.
Joy
Approved rendering: आनन्द
Transliteration: ānanda
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαίρω / χαρά
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:3-4. Relational joy triggered specifically by a report of another believer’s gospel-faithfulness. Well-established in Hindi Christian hymnody but carries associations with the Vedantic sat-chit-ānanda (bliss as an attribute of ultimate reality/Brahman); must be anchored relationally, not presented as a self-attained meditative bliss-state.
Walking In Truth
Approved rendering: सच्चाई में चलना
Transliteration: saccāī meṃ calanā
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: περιπατέω ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᳫ
Category: Sanctification
3 John 1:3-4. Idiom for sustained, habitual gospel-shaped conduct/lifestyle, not a single act. Consistent with the baseline walk_by_the_spirit metaphor pattern; must preserve the conduct/lifestyle sense, later contrasted with Diotrephes’ conduct.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: सन्तान
Transliteration: santān
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: बच्चे (ambiguous, biological-offspring reading)
Original: τέκνον
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:4. The elder’s converts/disciples under his pastoral care, called ‘my children’ in a common NT pastoral idiom, not biological offspring. Must be glossed as spiritual children given the letter’s otherwise adult, peer-level tone toward Gaius.
Faithful Deed
Approved rendering: विश्वासयोग्य काम
Transliteration: viśvāsayogya kāma
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστὸν ποιεῖς
Category: Faith
3 John 1:5. Idiom commending an action as trustworthy/loyal — Gaius’s hospitality as concrete outworking of faith. Builds on the baseline विश्वास root; must be read as faithful conduct flowing from faith, not a separate merit-earning deed analogous to good karma.
Strangers
Approved rendering: अनजान भाई
Transliteration: anajāna bhāī
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: परदेशी (alone, without brotherly-family framing)
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:5. Traveling gospel workers personally unknown to Gaius yet welcomed purely on the basis of shared gospel mission. Resonates with India’s atithi devo bhava hospitality ethic, which also carries an implicit expectation of religious merit (puṇya) accruing to the host; a translator note should distinguish gospel-motivated hospitality from merit-generating ritual guest-duty.
Send On The Way
Approved rendering: आगे की यात्रा के लिये भेजना
Transliteration: āge kī yātrā ke liye bhejanā
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: विदा करना (bare farewell, without material-support sense)
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:6. To escort, equip, and provision a departing traveler — ancient hospitality practice of material and logistical missionary support. Must convey material/logistical support, not a bare polite goodbye.
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर के योग्य
Transliteration: Parameśvara ke yogya
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:6. Standard NT ethical formula for conduct that honors/befits God’s own character. Must not be read as an action that earns divine favor or merit (karma-adjacent misreading); the sense is conduct honoring God’s character in response to grace already given, paralleling the baseline grace/works guardrails.
Support Hospitality
Approved rendering: सहायता करना
Transliteration: sahāyatā karanā
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:8. To receive/support someone, undertaking active material care for traveling ministers — stronger than mere social welcome. Must convey active material support, not passive acceptance.
Fellow Workers
Approved rendering: सहकर्मी
Transliteration: sahakarmī
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: συνεργός
Category: Mission
3 John 1:8. Genuine gospel-mission partners; by supporting traveling ministers the host congregation becomes an active co-laborer in the truth’s advance. Must convey genuine partnership, not a subordinate assistant/servant relationship.
Receive Welcome
Approved rendering: स्वीकार करना
Transliteration: svīkāra karanā
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:9,10. To receive/welcome a person or, by extension, to accept someone’s authority or message; Diotrephes’ refusal is a refusal of apostolic authority, not mere social coldness. Must carry the authority-acceptance sense.
Slander
Approved rendering: झूठी बातें बनाकर दोष लगाना
Transliteration: jhūṭhī bāteṃ banākara doṣa lagānā
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: φλυαρέω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10. Malicious, baseless accusation-making (φλυαρέω); must convey malicious, baseless slander, not neutral ‘talking’ or fair criticism.
Cast Out
Approved rendering: कलीसिया से निकाल देना
Transliteration: kalīsiyā se nikāla denā
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10. Formal expulsion from the congregation (ἐκβάλλω); must be framed as an abuse of legitimate church-discipline authority for illegitimate self-serving ends, never as a model of proper discipline.
Imitate
Approved rendering: अनुकरण करना
Transliteration: anukaraṇa karanā
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: गुरु-अनुकरण-शैली आत्म-साधना (guru-imitation-style self-attainment technique)
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11. Direct command (μιμέομαι) to copy the pattern of another’s life. Offers a productive but risky cultural bridge to guru-anukaraṇa (a disciple’s devotional imitation of a guru’s ascetic practice); must be anchored to imitating moral character reflecting God’s own goodness, not a self-earned spiritual technique.
Doer Of Good Evil
Approved rendering: भलाई करनेवाला / बुराई करनेवाला
Transliteration: bhalāī karanevālā / burāī karanevālā
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11. Habitual doer of good/evil (ἀγαθοποιέω/κακοποιέω); good deeds are evidence of belonging to God, never the basis on which that belonging is earned — guard against a karma-merit reading.
Friends
Approved rendering: मित्र
Transliteration: mitra
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: भाई (flattening the deliberate designation-shift)
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:14. Deliberate shift from ‘brothers’ to ‘friends’ (φίλοι), echoing Johannine intimacy-with-Christ theology (cf. John 15:15). Must be preserved distinctly, not flattened to a repeated भाई.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: संगति
Transliteration: saṃgati
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: दोस्ती, भाईचारा
Shared participation in Christ. Inherited from Romans package. Conceptually underlies the ‘Truth and Christian Fellowship’ doctrine name used in this curriculum even though the Greek κοινωνία does not occur verbatim in 3 John’s 14 verses.
Beloved
Approved rendering: प्रिय
Transliteration: priya
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:1,2,5,11. Term of pastoral, covenantal affection. Standard, low-risk term of address.
Health
Approved rendering: स्वस्थ रहना
Transliteration: svastha rahanā
Doctrine: Holistic Well-Being and the Priority of the Soul
Original: ὑγιαίνω
Category: Wellbeing
3 John 1:2. Physical well-being, wished for Gaius alongside spiritual prospering. Standard, low-risk term.
Brothers
Approved rendering: भाई
Transliteration: bhāī
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
3 John 1:3,5,10. Fellow believers, specifically the traveling gospel workers Gaius hosted. Must be understood inclusively, not restricted to a biological or exclusively male in-group.
Hinder
Approved rendering: रोकना
Transliteration: rokanā
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10. To stop, restrain, forbid; Diotrephes actively obstructs believers who wish to show hospitality. Standard, low-risk verb.
Good Evil
Approved rendering: भलाई / बुराई
Transliteration: bhalāī / burāī
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός / κακός
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11. Basic moral categories embodied concretely by Demetrius (good) and Diotrephes (evil). Standard, low-risk terms.
Ink
Approved rendering: स्याही
Transliteration: syāhī
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: μέλαν
Category: Material Culture
3 John 1:13. Writing ink, a material-culture detail; no theological weight.
Pen
Approved rendering: कलम
Transliteration: kalama
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: κάλαμος
Category: Material Culture
3 John 1:13. Reed-pen, a writing implement; no theological weight.
Hope
Approved rendering: आशा रखना
Transliteration: āśā rakhanā
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Faith
3 John 1:14. Confident expectation, applied to the elder’s plan for a personal visit. Should be distinguished from vague wishing or भाग्य-style luck.
Face To Face
Approved rendering: आमने-सामने
Transliteration: āmane-sāmane
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: मुख से मुख (literal ‘mouth to mouth’ — sounds strange/comic in Hindi)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:14. Hebraic idiom (στόμα πρὸς στόμα, cf. Numbers 12:8 LXX) for direct, unmediated personal conversation. Translate the meaning, not the literal body-part image.
By Name
Approved rendering: नाम ले-लेकर
Transliteration: nāma le-lekara
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: κατ᾿ ὄνομα
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:14. Distributive phrase (κατ᾿ ὄνομα) — personal, individualized pastoral greeting of each believer by name.
Gaius
Approved rendering: गयुस
Transliteration: Gayus
Doctrine: General / Proper Names
Original: Γάιος
Category: Proper Names
Proper name of the letter’s recipient, a faithful, hospitable believer. Transliterated per established convention.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: दियोत्रेफेस
Transliteration: Diyotrephesa
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: Διοτρεφής
Category: Proper Names
Proper name of the letter’s antagonist, a local leader who rejects the elder’s apostolic authority. Transliterated per established convention.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: दिमेत्रियुस
Transliteration: Dimetriyusa
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Names
Proper name of the letter’s positive exemplar, commended by all and by ‘the truth itself.’ Transliterated per established convention.
Referenced passages