Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 3 John (Hungarian)
This glossary compiles every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the entirety of 3 John (a single chapter, vv. 1–14). Terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] and must not be altered. All other terms are new proposals for this curriculum’s extension of the Language Package, pending formal addition to translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json in later PRD steps.
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s four-tier framework: Critical (human theologian review, every occurrence), High (human theologian review), Medium (native speaker review), Low (automated review sufficient).
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
| English term | Greek (translit.) | Hungarian rendering | Risk | Status | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truth | ἀλήθεια (alētheia) | igazság | Critical | New — flag for TM addition | Same Hungarian word as the baseline’s Critical-risk “righteousness” (δικαιοσύνη). Occurs 7× in 3 John as the letter’s central theme (vv. 1, 3×2, 4, 8, 12×2), including a near-personification in v.12. Every occurrence requires a teaching note distinguishing John’s relational/gospel “truth” sense from Paul’s forensic “righteousness” sense to prevent doctrinal cross-contamination between curricula. |
| True | ἀληθής (alēthēs) | igaz | Medium | New | Shares “igaz” (true) / “igaz” (righteous, just) double-duty risk with “igazság” above; same collision logic, lower frequency (1 occurrence, v.12). |
| Friend(s) | φίλος (philos) | barát(ok) | Medium | New | Distinct from ἀδελφός (brother) and ἀγαπητός (beloved); possible resonance with Johannine “friends of Christ” theme (John 15:14-15); note the distinction from casual modern usage of “barát.” |
| Fellowship (implicit, doctrinal) | κοινωνία-adjacent concept (not a distinct lexeme in 3 John; expressed via ἀδελφοί, φίλος, συνεργός) | közösség (contextual, not a single-verse lexical entry) | Low | New (conceptual) | No standalone Greek noun in 3 John; the fellowship doctrine is carried by the cluster of relational terms below. Baseline “fellowship” (Low risk, “közösség”) may be reused conceptually in teaching material. |
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
| English term | Greek (translit.) | Hungarian rendering | Risk | Status | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brothers (traveling ministers) | ἀδελφοί (adelphoi) | testvérek | Medium | New | Fictive-kinship term for fellow believers, here specifically itinerant gospel workers (vv. 3, 5, 10); gender-inclusive by default in Hungarian, but note this explicitly. |
| Stranger(s) | ξένος (xenos) | idegen(ek) | Medium | New | Modern Hungarian “idegen” carries stronger wariness/suspicion connotation than the NT’s positive hospitality-guest sense; requires clarifying note. |
| Faithful (of action) | πιστός (pistos) | hűséges | Medium | New | Adjectival “faithful/trustworthy conduct,” distinct from the baseline’s noun “faith” (πίστις/hit, saving trust in Christ); must not be conflated with sola fide vocabulary. |
| Send forth (equip for journey) | προπέμπω (propempō) | útjukra bocsátani / útnak indítani | Medium-High | New | Concrete material-support act, not mere permission to depart; core hospitality verb (v.6). |
| Worthily (of God) | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ (axiōs tou theou) | Istenhez méltó módon | Medium | New | Conduct reflecting God’s honor; align with any cross-curriculum “worthy” conventions. |
| Ought / obligated | ὀφείλω (opheilō) | köteles(ek) | Low-Medium | New | Moral obligation to support gospel workers (v.8). |
| Receive / support (materially) | ὑπολαμβάνω (hypolambanō) | befogadni és támogatni/eltartani | Medium | New | Must convey active material provision, not bare acceptance (v.8). |
| Fellow worker | συνεργός (synergos) | munkatárs | Low-Medium | New | Supporting hospitality makes the supporter a partner in gospel truth’s advance (v.8). |
| Receive / welcome (or refuse to) | ἐπιδέχομαι (epidechomai) | elfogad / befogad | Medium-High | New | Used both positively (implied ideal) and negatively of Diotrephes’s refusal (vv. 9-10); render consistently. |
| For the sake of the Name | ὄνομα (onoma, absolute) | a Névért / az Ő nevéért | High | New | Christological metonymy for Christ himself (v.7); must not be flattened to a generic “cause.” |
| Gentiles / pagans (non-believers, financial-independence context) | ἐθνικός (ethnikos) | pogányok [BASELINE LEXEME — REUSE, CONTEXT-SPECIFIC NOTE REQUIRED] | Medium-High | Reuse w/ note | Same Hungarian word as baseline “gentiles” (Medium risk), but here means non-Christian outsiders in a financial-independence context (v.7), NOT the Jew-Gentile unity doctrine of Romans 9-11; note required to prevent doctrinal cross-import. |
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
| English term | Greek (translit.) | Hungarian rendering | Risk | Status | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loves to be first / preeminence | φιλοπρωτεύω (philoprōteuō) | aki szeret első lenni (közöttük) | High | New | Rare NT hapax; must convey condemned self-exaltation, not neutral leadership ambition (v.9). Central term for this doctrine. |
| Works / deeds (of Diotrephes) | ἔργα (erga) | cselekedetek / tettek | Low-Medium | New | Must be distinguished by note from Pauline “works of the law” (Romans 3-4); purely descriptive here (v.10). |
| Evil (words) | πονηρός (ponēros) | gonosz | Low-Medium | New | Standard; describes Diotrephes’s malicious speech (v.10). |
| Slander / speak against | καταλαλέω (katalaleō) | rágalmaz | Medium | New | Must convey deliberate malice, not mere criticism (v.10). |
| Hinder / forbid | κωλύω (kōlyō) | megakadályoz / gátol | Low-Medium | New | Diotrephes obstructing others’ hospitality (v.10). |
| Cast out / expel | ἐκβάλλω (ekballō) | kiűz / kizár | High | New | Risk of evoking formal ecclesiastical excommunication (Catholic canon law / Reformed church discipline); note required that this describes Diotrephes’s illegitimate abuse of power, not sanctioned discipline (v.10). |
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
| English term | Greek (translit.) | Hungarian rendering | Risk | Status | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Testify / bear witness | μαρτυρέω (martyreō) | tanúskodik | Medium-High | New | Formal, credible attestation (vv. 3, 6, 12); consistent rendering required across all occurrences, applied to both Gaius and Demetrius. |
| Testimony | μαρτυρία (martyria) | tanúbizonyság / tanúságtétel | Medium | New | Noun form (v.12); keep consistent with μαρτυρέω family. |
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
| English term | Greek (translit.) | Hungarian rendering | Risk | Status | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Imitate | μιμέομαι (mimeomai) | követ (kövesd) | Low-Medium | New | Prefer “kövesd” (follow as example) over literal “utánozd” (mimic), which can sound derogatory (v.11). |
| Evil | κακός (kakos) | gonosz / rossz | Low | New | Standard (v.11). |
| Good | ἀγαθός (agathos) | jó | Low | New | Standard (v.11). |
| Does good | ἀγαθοποιέω (agathopoieō) | jót tesz | High | New | ”Is of God” as evidence-claim; touches the same grace/works fault line documented as Critical in the baseline (Romans 4; 11:5-6). Must not resolve toward either Catholic merit-cooperation or a bare Reformed evidence-of-regeneration reading; flag for theologian review (v.11). |
| Does evil | κακοποιέω (kakopoieō) | gonoszt tesz | High | New | Antithetical parallel to ἀγαθοποιέω; same review flag (v.11). |
Cross-Cutting / General Terms
| English term | Greek (translit.) | Hungarian rendering | Risk | Status | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός (theos) | Isten [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] | Critical | Reuse | No change from baseline (vv. 9 [implied], 11). |
| Church | ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) | egyház [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] | Medium | Reuse | Local gathered congregation sense, consistent with baseline’s Romans 16 note (vv. 6, 9, 10). |
| Peace | εἰρήνη (eirēnē) | béke [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] | Medium | Reuse w/ note | Here a relational/epistolary benediction (v.14), distinct from Romans 5:1’s soteriological “peace with God” sense; note required, lexeme unchanged. |
| Elder (self-designation) | πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) | Vén (proposed; “presbiter” rejected) | High | New | Collides with the technical Hungarian Reformed lay-elder office term “presbiter” (presbitérium/consistory); “Vén” follows Károli-tradition register and avoids the denominational-office collision (v.1). |
| Beloved | ἀγαπητός (agapētos) | szeretett | Low | New | Standard term of endearment (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11). |
| Love (verb/noun) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη (agapaō / agapē) | szeret / szeretet | Medium | New | Hungarian’s single general word for love spans romantic, familial, and covenantal senses; context must secure the Christian-covenantal reading (vv. 1, 6). |
| Prosper (epistolary wish) | εὐοδοῦσθαι (euodousthai) | jól menjen (mindenben) / (avoid “gyarapodik” root) | High | New | Classic prosperity-gospel proof-text (v.2); must avoid enrichment/wealth vocabulary; teaching note required. |
| Be in health | ὑγιαίνειν (hygiainein) | egészségben légy | Medium | New | Paired health-and-wealth collision risk with εὐοδοῦσθαι (v.2). |
| Soul | ψυχή (psychē) | lélek | Medium | New | Same root as “Lélek” (Holy Spirit, baseline “Szentlélek”); capitalization/context note required (v.2). |
| Joy / rejoice | χαρά / χαίρω (chara / chairō) | öröm / örül | Low | New | Standard (vv. 3, 4). |
| Walk (conduct) | περιπατέω (peripateō) | jár (viselkedik, él) | Low-Medium | New | Well-established Hungarian Bible idiom for conduct (vv. 3, 4). |
| Children (spiritual) | τέκνα (tekna) | gyermekeim | Medium | New | Pastoral spiritual fatherhood sense; must be distinguished from baseline’s “adoption” doctrine (Romans 8, örökbefogadás) (v.4). |
| Work / do (general action) | ἐργάζομαι (ergazomai) | cselekszik / tesz | Low-Medium | New | Standard (v.5). |
| Hope | ἐλπίζω (elpizō) | remél | Low | New | Standard epistolary closing (v.14). |
| Write | γράφω (graphō) | ír | Low | New | Standard epistolary formula, no doctrinal content (vv. 9, 13). |
Summary Risk Counts (3 John additions to Language Package)
| Risk tier | Count (new/flagged terms) |
|---|---|
| Critical | 2 (ἀλήθεια/igazság; θεός/Isten reused) |
| High | 7 (πρεσβύτερος, εὐοδοῦσθαι, ὄνομα, ἐθνικός-contextual, φιλοπρωτεύω, ἐκβάλλω, ἀγαθοποιέω/κακοποιέω) |
| Medium | 17 |
| Low | 11 |
Note: this glossary is a Phase 1 analysis deliverable. Formal addition of new entries to translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json occurs in a subsequent PRD step and must preserve every risk rationale documented above.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Isten
Transliteration: theos / Elohim / YHWH
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Standard and unambiguous. 3 John extension note: this is the ultimate ground of the good/evil contrast in v.11 (‘the one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God’) and the standard of ‘worthy’ conduct in v.6 (‘ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ’). No change to the baseline rendering or risk tier.
Truth
Approved rendering: igazság
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: igazság flattened to a bare adverbial ‘valóban’ (‘really’), erasing the v.12 near-personification, silently collapsing John’s relational/gospel-fidelity sense into Paul’s forensic ‘igazság’ (righteousness, δικαιοσύνη) sense without a distinguishing note
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth
CRITICAL: the letter’s thematic spine, occurring 7 times (vv.1, 3x2, 4, 8, 12x2). ‘Igazság’ is the exact same Hungarian word the baseline Romans package fixes at Critical risk for δικαιοσύνη (‘righteousness,’ forensic right-standing before God, Romans 3-5). Hungarian readers cannot distinguish Paul’s forensic justification-adjacent sense from John’s relational/gospel-fidelity sense by word form alone. At v.12, ἀλήθεια is near-personified (‘testified to by the truth itself,’ echoing John 14:6) and must not be flattened into ordinary consensus language. Every occurrence requires a teaching note distinguishing the two senses; this is the single highest-risk term in this curriculum and the structurally most important cross-curriculum risk in the Language Package.
High Risk Terms
Elder
Approved rendering: Vén
Transliteration: presbyteros
Doctrine: Pastoral Spiritual Fatherhood
Rejected alternatives: presbiter (the technical Hungarian Reformed lay-elder/consistory office term, presbitérium)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
HIGH: the author’s self-designation (v.1), likely signaling apostolic-era seniority and pastoral authority rather than a single formal congregational office. The natural Hungarian cognate ‘presbiter’ is the exact technical term for the ordained lay-elder office in Hungarian Reformed Church polity and would cause readers to assume the author claims a specific denominational governance office he never claims for himself. Render ‘A Vén’ (capitalized as a title, Károli-tradition honorific) with a translator note explaining its authoritative, non-office-specific sense. Also distinguish from Jehovah’s Witnesses’ congregational ‘vének’ usage per analysis/05_translation_landscape.md.
Prosper
Approved rendering: minden jól menjen veled
Transliteration: euodousthai (< euodoō)
Doctrine: Spiritual and Physical Well-Being
Rejected alternatives: gyarapodik/meggazdagodik word-family renderings implying material increase or enrichment
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι (< εὐοδόω)
Category: Wellbeing
HIGH: v.2’s conventional ancient epistolary greeting-wish is 3 John’s single most-cited verse by the Hungarian Word of Faith / prosperity movement (Hit Gyülekezete), which reads it as a health-and-wealth covenant promise. Hungarian vocabulary built on ‘gyarapodás/meggazdagodás’ roots must never be used. Use the periphrastic rendering and pair every occurrence with a mandatory teaching note against prosperity-gospel application.
Testify
Approved rendering: tanúskodik
Transliteration: martyreō
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Rejected alternatives: casual reporting verbs that lose the formal, legally-flavored weight of attestation
Original: μαρτυρέω
Category: Witness
HIGH: must retain the weight of formal, credible testimony, not casual reporting; applied to Gaius (vv.3, 6) and to Demetrius (v.12), and at v.12 joined to ‘the truth itself’ as a witness, intensifying its theological weight (see ‘truth’ entry). Must be rendered identically across all three occurrences so the letter’s deliberate parallel between Gaius’s and Demetrius’s commendations remains visible.
Send Forth
Approved rendering: útjukra bocsátani
Transliteration: propempō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: elküldeni (bare ‘send away/dismiss’, implying mere permission to leave rather than active material support)
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
HIGH: the concrete act of equipping and escorting a traveler with material provisions and support (v.6), central to the Hospitality doctrine. A bare ‘elküldeni’ would wrongly reduce a binding pastoral obligation to a vague gesture of permission. No single Hungarian verb carries the full sense; retain this periphrasis as a fixed phrase in translation memory rather than seeking a single-word substitute.
For The Sake Of The Name
Approved rendering: a Névért
Transliteration: onoma (absolute, to onoma)
Doctrine: Ministry for the Sake of the Name
Rejected alternatives: az ügyért (‘for the cause’), a de-Christologized generic rendering, expanding inline to ‘Jézus nevéért,’ which forecloses the text’s own reverent restraint
Original: ὄνομα (absolute, τὸ ὄνομα)
Category: Christology
HIGH: a christological title-by-metonymy — ‘the Name’ stands for Christ himself, the one for whose sake the missionaries went out (v.7; cf. Acts 5:41), directly touching the baseline’s Critical Lordship-of-Christ and Son-of-God categories. Must not be flattened to a generic ‘cause.’ Retain ‘a Névért’ (capitalized) with a mandatory footnote identifying Christ as the referent. Also distinguish explicitly from the Hungarian New World Translation’s (Jehovah’s Witnesses) ‘Jehova’-centered Name theology, which is foreign to this verse’s christological sense.
Receive Welcome
Approved rendering: befogad / elfogad
Transliteration: epidechomai
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Leadership
HIGH: to receive hospitably, or to accept someone’s authority/person; used of the ideal (implied) reception of gospel workers and, negatively, of Diotrephes’s deliberate personal refusal to receive the elder’s messengers (vv.9-10). Must be rendered consistently across both occurrences so the deliberate, personal nature of Diotrephes’s refusal — not mere administrative oversight — remains clear.
Loves To Be First
Approved rendering: aki szeret első lenni közöttük
Transliteration: philoprōteuō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: vezető szerepet vállal (‘takes a leadership role’), a neutral rendering erasing the condemned self-exaltation, single-word coinages such as ‘dicsvágyó’ or ‘hataloméhes,’ which narrow or misdirect the specific primacy-seeking nuance
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Leadership
HIGH: a rare NT hapax (found only here), meaning self-exalting ambition for primacy/preeminence — Diotrephes’s defining vice (v.9). Hungarian has no single-word equivalent; retain this fixed periphrastic phrase rather than coining a neologism. Must convey sinful self-exaltation explicitly, with a mandatory teaching note clarifying that pride/ambition is condemned, not legitimate church office or eldership as such — a distinction with real pastoral stakes given both Catholic hierarchical and Reformed presbyterial office structures present in Hungary.
Cast Out
Approved rendering: kiűz
Transliteration: ekballō
Doctrine: Illegitimate Abuse of Church Authority
Rejected alternatives: kizár/kiűz treated as formally equivalent to Catholic canon-law excommunication or Reformed presbytery discipline, without the mandatory clarifying note
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Leadership
HIGH: to drive out, banish, expel — Diotrephes illegitimately expelling faithful believers from the local congregation (v.10), an abuse of church authority. Hungarian ‘kiűz’/‘kizár’ risk evoking formal ecclesiastical excommunication procedures with weighty, structured meaning in both Catholic canon law and Reformed church-discipline practice. A mandatory teaching note must clarify this describes Diotrephes’s illegitimate personal abuse of power, not a description or endorsement of any formally warranted church discipline process, in either direction.
Does Good
Approved rendering: jót tesz
Transliteration: agathopoieō
Doctrine: Imitating Good Rather Than Evil
Rejected alternatives: resolving ‘is of God’ definitively toward Catholic merit-cooperation systematics, resolving ‘is of God’ definitively toward a bare Reformed evidence-of-regeneration systematics as the text’s only meaning
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Ethics
HIGH: to act rightly, do what is good/beneficial; presented in v.11 as evidence (‘is of God’) of one’s spiritual origin. Theologically load-bearing, touching the same grace-and-works fault line the baseline marks Critical in Romans 4 and 11:5-6. Translate the plain assertion without resolving this systematically; flag for theologian review, paralleling the baseline’s handling of grace/works tension.
Does Evil
Approved rendering: gonoszt tesz
Transliteration: kakopoieō
Doctrine: Imitating Good Rather Than Evil
Rejected alternatives: resolving ‘has not seen God’ definitively toward either community’s systematic theology
Original: κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
HIGH: to act wrongly, do harm; the antithetical parallel to ἀγαθοποιέω — ‘has not seen God’ (v.11). Shares the same grace-and-works tension and theologian-review flag as ‘does_good,’ as its negative case.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: egyház
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. The same word serves the hierarchical, sacramental Catholic ecclesiology and the presbyterian/congregational Reformed ecclesiology; keep Romans 16’s local gathered-congregation sense distinct from either institutional polity model. 3 John extension note: in 3 John (vv.6, 9, 10) this is likewise a concrete, local gathered congregation before whom Gaius’s love was testified and from which Diotrephes illegitimately expelled believers — not an abstract institution.
Peace
Approved rendering: béke
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Relational peace with God through justification, not merely inner calm. 3 John extension note: v.14’s ‘Εἰρήνη σοι’ is a conventional epistolary closing benediction of general relational/communal peace, distinct from Romans 5:1’s specifically soteriological ‘peace with God’ sense. Keep the lexeme identical per the Language Package’s cross-document consistency rule, but attach a brief clarifying note distinguishing the two senses wherever both curricula are used together.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: pogányok
Transliteration: ethnē / ethnikos
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Inherited from Romans package. ‘Pogányok’ literally means ‘pagans,’ carrying a stronger charge than the neutral English ‘Gentiles’; use ‘nemzetek’ (nations) where the more neutral sense is intended. 3 John extension note: see the separate entry ‘gentiles_financial_independence_context’ below for this book’s distinct, non-ecclesiological use of the same Greek root (ἐθνικός) at 3 John 1:7.
True
Approved rendering: igaz
Transliteration: alēthēs
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Truth
Shares the ‘igazság’ double-duty collision risk (true/truthful vs. righteous/just) at lower frequency (v.12 only, describing the elder’s testimony about Demetrius as ‘ἀληθής’). Apply the same distinguishing-note logic as ‘truth,’ scaled to this single occurrence.
Love
Approved rendering: szeret / szeretet
Transliteration: agapaō / agapē
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: reading as generic romantic/familial affection absent explicit covenantal, church-attested context
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: Fellowship
Hungarian ‘szeret/szeretet’ is a single general-purpose word covering romantic, familial, and covenantal love alike, unlike Greek’s differentiated ἀγάπη/φιλία/ἔρως vocabulary. Context must make explicit that this is Christian, brotherly/covenantal love (the elder’s love for Gaius, v.1; Gaius’s love publicly attested ‘before the church,’ v.6), not private personal affection alone. Not present in the baseline Romans translation memory; newly added for this curriculum.
Health
Approved rendering: egészségben légy
Transliteration: hygiainein
Doctrine: Spiritual and Physical Well-Being
Original: ὑγιαίνειν
Category: Wellbeing
Shares the health-and-wealth collision risk with ‘prosper’ above (v.2); must also not be conflated with the unrelated ‘sound doctrine’ (ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία) metaphor found elsewhere in the NT, which does not appear in 3 John.
Soul
Approved rendering: lélek
Transliteration: psychē
Doctrine: Spiritual and Physical Well-Being
Rejected alternatives: conflating lowercase ‘lélek’ with capitalized ‘Lélek’ (the Holy Spirit, per baseline ‘Szentlélek’) absent careful capitalization and context
Original: ψυχή
Category: Wellbeing
V.2: Gaius’s inner, spiritual well-being, set alongside but distinct from his physical health. Hungarian ‘lélek’ shares its root with ‘Lélek’ (Holy Spirit). Always render lowercase in this context with a clarifying note excluding any pneumatological reading.
Brothers
Approved rendering: testvérek
Transliteration: adelphoi
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀδελφοί
Category: Fellowship
Fictive-kinship term for fellow believers; in 3 John specifically the itinerant Christian workers Gaius hosted (vv.3, 5, 10). Hungarian ‘testvérek’ is gender-inclusive by default in ordinary usage; teaching notes should still explicitly affirm the inclusive ‘fellow believer’ sense, since this term is newly introduced by this curriculum.
Testimony
Approved rendering: tanúbizonyság
Transliteration: martyria
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Original: μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
Noun form (v.12); keep consistent with the μαρτυρέω/‘tanúskodik’ word family for cross-verse coherence.
Children Spiritual
Approved rendering: gyermekeim
Transliteration: tekna
Doctrine: Pastoral Spiritual Fatherhood
Original: τέκνα
Category: Church
The elder’s spiritual children — believers under his pastoral care, not biological offspring (v.4). Must be distinguished by teaching note from the baseline’s forensic ‘adoption’ doctrine (örökbefogadás, Romans 8), a distinct forensic-familial category.
Faithful Conduct
Approved rendering: hűséges
Transliteration: pistos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: hites/hívő vocabulary (which would conflate faithful service with saving faith itself)
Original: πιστός
Category: Ethics
Adjectival use describing Gaius’s hospitable action as trustworthy, faithful service (v.5) — distinct from the baseline’s noun ‘faith’ (πίστις/hit, saving trust in Christ). Must not reuse sola fide vocabulary.
Stranger
Approved rendering: idegen
Transliteration: xenos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
The itinerant, previously unknown Christian workers requiring hospitality (v.5). Hungarian ‘idegen’ carries a stronger everyday wariness/suspicion connotation (‘outsider,’ ‘foreign’) than the NT’s positive hospitality-guest sense; a teaching note must clarify these are trustworthy fellow gospel workers, not unknown threats.
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: Istenhez méltó módon
Transliteration: axiōs tou theou
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
In a manner fitting and honorable, reflecting God’s own character — the standard for how Gaius should support the traveling workers (v.6). Parallel to Romans 16-style ‘worthy’ language in the baseline package; align with any existing cross-curriculum ‘worthy’ conventions.
Gentiles Financial Independence Context
Approved rendering: pogányok
Transliteration: ethnikos
Doctrine: Financial Independence of Gospel Workers from Unbelievers
Rejected alternatives: importing Romans 9-11’s Jew-Gentile unity ecclesiology into this financial-independence context
Reuses the baseline lexeme fixed for ‘gentiles’ (‘pogányok’), whose stronger ‘pagan’ charge is appropriate here since this is not the neutral ‘nations’ sense. In 3 John 1:7, this describes non-Christian outsiders from whom the missionaries declined material support to preserve gospel credibility — a pastoral-financial statement, NOT the Jew-Gentile unity doctrine of Romans 9-11. A mandatory contextual note preventing doctrinal cross-import is required wherever this verse is taught alongside Romans material.
Receive Support
Approved rendering: befogad és támogat
Transliteration: hypolambanō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: elfogadni (bare ‘merely accept’, losing the sense of active material provision)
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
To take up, welcome hospitably, and support materially — the church’s active material/relational support of itinerant workers (v.8), consistent with ‘send_forth’ above.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: munkatárs
Transliteration: synergos
Doctrine: Partnership in Gospel Truth
Rejected alternatives: framing support of gospel workers as merit contributing to justification
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
A partner in labor, a ministry collaborator; supporting missionaries makes the supporting believer a genuine partner in the advance of the gospel truth (v.8). Add a note that this is active, participatory partnership, not passive donorship, and must not be framed as merit contributing to one’s own salvific standing.
Slander
Approved rendering: rágalmaz
Transliteration: katalaleō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: kritizál (‘criticize’), too mild to convey deliberate malice
Original: καταλαλέω
Category: Leadership
To defame, backbite, gossip maliciously — Diotrephes’s deliberate verbal abuse of the elder and his associates (v.10). Use a term conveying deliberate, malicious slander to preserve the moral gravity of the accusation.
Friend
Approved rendering: barát
Transliteration: philos
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
One bound by mutual affection/loyalty, distinct from ἀδελφός (brother, fictive kinship) and ἀγαπητός (beloved); a term for fellow believers in the local congregation (v.14). A teaching note may highlight the Johannine friendship-with-God/one-another resonance (cf. John 15:14-15), distinguishing it from the casual modern social sense of ‘friend.‘
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: közösség
Transliteration: koinōnia
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Inherited from Romans package. Shared participation in Christ; standard term across traditions. 3 John extension note: 3 John contains no standalone Greek noun corresponding to κοινωνία; the letter’s ‘Truth and Christian Fellowship’ doctrine is carried instead by the cluster of relational terms ἀδελφοί (brothers), φίλος (friend), and συνεργός (fellow worker). Use ‘közösség’ only as a curriculum/doctrine heading, never as a claimed verse-level translation.
Beloved
Approved rendering: szeretett
Transliteration: agapētos
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
Standard, unambiguous term of endearment marking a fellow believer as dearly and affectionately regarded (vv.1, 2, 5, 11).
Joy
Approved rendering: öröm / örül
Transliteration: chara / chairō
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Fellowship
Standard, unambiguous rendering; the elder’s joy at good reports of Gaius’s and the church’s faithfulness (vv.3, 4).
Conduct
Approved rendering: jár
Transliteration: peripateō
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
Metaphorically, to conduct oneself/live one’s life (vv.3, 4: ‘walking in truth’). Hungarian ‘jár’ used metaphorically for conduct (e.g., ‘igazságban jár’) is a well-established idiom in the Hungarian Bible tradition; low collision risk.
Work Do
Approved rendering: cselekszik
Transliteration: ergazomai
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐργάζομαι
Category: Ethics
Gaius’s concrete acts of hospitality (v.5); standard rendering, no independent doctrinal weight beyond context.
Ought
Approved rendering: köteles
Transliteration: opheilō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
Moral or financial obligation — the church’s duty to support traveling gospel workers (v.8). Standard rendering.
Works Deeds
Approved rendering: cselekedetek
Transliteration: erga
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἔργα
Category: Leadership
Actions, deeds — Diotrephes’s pattern of behavior, morally neutral in itself here given its negative content by context (v.10). Must be distinguished by note from the Pauline ‘works of the law’ soteriological freight (Romans 3-4); here it simply means ‘actions/conduct,’ with no works-vs-grace theological content.
Evil Words
Approved rendering: gonosz
Transliteration: ponēros
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: πονηρός
Category: Leadership
Morally evil, malicious, harmful — describing Diotrephes’s slanderous speech (v.10). Standard rendering.
Hinder
Approved rendering: megakadályoz
Transliteration: kōlyō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Leadership
To prevent, obstruct, forbid — Diotrephes actively obstructing others who wish to show hospitality (v.10). Standard rendering.
Imitate
Approved rendering: követ
Transliteration: mimeomai
Doctrine: Imitating Good Rather Than Evil
Rejected alternatives: utánozd (literal ‘mimic’, carrying a mechanical/slightly derogatory connotation in modern Hungarian)
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
To copy, follow as a model, emulate — the letter’s central verb contrasting the models of Diotrephes and Demetrius (v.11). Prefer ‘kövesd’ (follow as example) to preserve the positive discipleship register.
Evil
Approved rendering: gonosz / rossz
Transliteration: kakos
Doctrine: Imitating Good Rather Than Evil
Original: κακός
Category: Ethics
Morally bad — the negative model, embodied by Diotrephes (v.11). Standard rendering.
Good
Approved rendering: jó
Transliteration: agathos
Doctrine: Imitating Good Rather Than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός
Category: Ethics
Morally good, beneficial — the positive model, embodied by Demetrius (v.11). Standard rendering.
Hope
Approved rendering: remél
Transliteration: elpizō
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Peace Greeting
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Fellowship
To hope, expect — the elder’s hope for an imminent personal visit (v.14). Standard rendering.
Write
Approved rendering: ír
Transliteration: graphō
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Peace Greeting
Original: γράφω
Category: Epistolary
To write, compose in writing — standard epistolary vocabulary with no independent doctrinal content (vv.9, 13).
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gájus
Transliteration: Gaios
Doctrine: Proper Name
Standard established Hungarian Bible form for the letter’s recipient. Transliterate consistently across all occurrences.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrefész
Transliteration: Diotrephēs
Doctrine: Proper Name
Standard established Hungarian Bible form. Retain consistent spelling across all occurrences (vv.9, 10) despite the negative doctrinal weight of the surrounding material.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Démétriusz
Transliteration: Dēmētrios
Doctrine: Proper Name
Standard established Hungarian Bible form. Keep spelling fixed to avoid the appearance of referring to a different person across the commendation doctrine’s key verse (v.12).
Referenced passages