Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 3 John
Destination Language: Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia)
This glossary extends the baseline Romans Language Package for the 3 John curriculum. It does not duplicate baseline entries except where a 3 John occurrence requires an added distinguishing note (marked “Reuse — baseline”). All new entries follow the same risk-tier conventions defined in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json:
- Critical — Mistranslation alters or destroys essential doctrine. Human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — Mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or syncretism/collision risk. Human theologian review required.
- Medium — Mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning. Native speaker review recommended.
- Low — Mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding or imprecision. Automated review sufficient.
3 John is a single chapter (vv.1–14), fully coextensive with the core passage; every term below is drawn from that full-book coverage. No chapter is omitted, because none exists beyond chapter 1.
New Terms Introduced by 3 John
| English Term | Indonesian Rendering | Greek Original | Transliteration | Doctrine | Risk | Baseline Status | Rationale / Collision Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| elder (self-designation) | penatua | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New | Established Protestant office term; risk that it narrows the author’s apostolic/pastoral authority to a merely local congregational office. Translator note recommended. |
| beloved | (yang) terkasih | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Must not use kekasih (romantic “sweetheart” in modern Indonesian). Use terkasih/dikasihi consistently at 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:11. |
| love (verb/noun) | mengasihi / kasih | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη | agapaō / agapē | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | No standalone baseline entry exists for ἀγάπη as a term; recommend formal addition. Distinguish from φιλία (sahabat, friendship-love, v.14). |
| truth | kebenaran | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | Truth and Christian Fellowship | High | New — collides with baseline “righteousness” | Same Indonesian word (kebenaran) already fixed in baseline for δικαιοσύνη (“righteousness,” Critical risk in Romans). Every 3 John occurrence (1:1, 1:3 [×2], 1:4, 1:8, 1:12) requires a contextual gloss distinguishing “fidelity to sound gospel teaching / truthful conduct” from the Romans forensic-justification sense. |
| walk (in truth) | hidup (dalam kebenaran) | περιπατέω | peripateō | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Hebraic conduct-idiom; render idiomatically as “live,” not literally “walk,” to preserve the behavioral sense for Indonesian readers. |
| testify / testimony | bersaksi / kesaksian | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Medium | New | Native (non-Arabic-loan) Indonesian vocabulary; low collision risk with Islamic syahadat/syahid roots, but doctrinal weight (formal public character-vouching, vv.6, 12) merits native-speaker review. |
| true (predicate adjective) | benar | ἀληθής | alēthēs | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Medium | New | Shares root with ἀλήθεια/kebenaran; less prone to the justification collision since used as an ordinary truth-predicate, but flagged for consistency review. |
| faithful (of a deed/act) | setia | πιστός (adjectival, “faithful/loyal” sense) | pistos | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New — false-friend risk against baseline “faith” | πιστός shares its root with the baseline High-risk noun πίστις/iman (“faith”). In 3 John 1:5 it describes a loyal, trustworthy act of hospitality, not a profession of belief. Must render setia, never build on the iman word family, to avoid conflating “Gaius does a faithful/loyal deed” with “Gaius has faith.” |
| brothers (fellow believers) | saudara-saudara (seiman) | ἀδελφός | adelphos | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Add gloss “seiman” (in the faith) to avoid a purely biological reading; functions inclusively for the whole believing community. |
| stranger / guest | orang asing / tamu yang tidak dikenal | ξένος | xenos | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Modern Indonesian orang asing trends toward immigration/foreigner sense; gloss toward “traveling guest/minister in need of hospitality” required. |
| send on their way (provision for travel) | menolong dalam perjalanan / membekali untuk perjalanan | προπέμπω | propempō | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium–High | New | A literal “mengantar” (mere escort) badly under-translates the material-provisioning sense (funds, supplies) central to this doctrine. |
| support / sustain | mendukung / menopang | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Prefer “sustain/uphold” sense over flat “menerima” (accept) to preserve the material-support nuance and its link to v.7’s refusal of pagan support. |
| fellow worker | rekan sekerja | συνεργός | synergos | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | New | Elevates hospitality to active gospel partnership; standard compound term, doctrinally weighted. |
| the Name (of Christ) | Nama itu / Nama-Nya | ὄνομα (as christological title) | onoma | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Evangelism | High | New | Implicit Christological reference (cf. Acts 5:41); must be capitalized and glossed, or readers may read it as generic reputation rather than a title for Christ. |
| pagans / unbelieving outsiders | orang-orang yang tidak mengenal Allah | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | New — explicit false-friend flag against baseline “gentiles” | Distinct Greek word and sense from ἔθνη (“Gentiles,” baseline bangsa-bangsa lain, ethnic non-Jews in the Jew–Gentile unity doctrine). Here it means unbelieving outsiders from whom missionaries refused support. Must never be rendered bangsa-bangsa lain. Follows established Alkitab TB precedent for this verse. |
| loves to be first / preeminence-seeking | (descriptive) yang suka menjadi yang terutama/paling terkemuka | φιλοπρωτεύω | philoprōteuō | Church Leadership and Pride | High | New | NT hapax legomenon (only occurrence, 3 John 9). No single Indonesian word suffices; a flat sombong (arrogant) loses the specific status-seeking/leadership-ambition nuance. Doctrinal center of the Diotrephes doctrine; requires a translator note contrasting with Christlike servant leadership. |
| does not receive (a person/authority) | tidak mau menerima | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New | Refusal of apostolic authority/messengers, not a mere social snub; flag for native-speaker review to preserve gravity. |
| gossip / malicious slander | memfitnah / menjelek-jelekkan dengan kata-kata yang tidak benar | φλυαρέω | phlyareō | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium–High | New | NT hapax legomenon; a flat “berbicara” (talking) badly under-translates the malicious, false-accusation force. |
| forbids / hinders | melarang / menghalangi | κωλύω | kōlyō | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | New | Abuse of positional power blocking others’ generosity; standard vocabulary, doctrinally weighted context. |
| casts out (of the church) | mengusir / mengeluarkan dari jemaat | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium–High | New | Institutional-expulsion sense distinct from the more familiar exorcism sense of the same verb elsewhere in the NT; note required to avoid importing an unrelated demonic connotation. |
| imitate | meneladani | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Medium | New | Anchor verb of the doctrine; use the established Indonesian church-vocabulary term meneladani (“model one’s conduct on”), not a bare meniru (“copy/mimic”). |
| do good / do evil | berbuat baik / berbuat jahat | ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω | agathopoieō / kakopoieō | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low–Medium | New | Standard vocabulary; flag to ensure the evidentiary link between conduct and standing “of/from God” is not overstated into a works-based salvation claim, keeping consistency with baseline’s Critical “salvation” framing. |
| has not seen God (idiom) | belum/tidak pernah melihat Allah | ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν | heōraken ton theon | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Medium | New | Johannine idiom for lacking relational knowledge of God, not literal visibility; note recommended given Islamic theology’s own strong doctrine of divine invisibility (tanzih). |
| friend | sahabat | φίλος | philos | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Distinct relational term from ἀδελφός (saudara) and ἀγάπη (kasih); marks a deliberate vocabulary shift at the letter’s close. |
| soul | jiwa | ψυχή | psychē | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Low | New | Standard, well-established term; no significant collision risk. |
| prosper / be in health | berhasil / sehat | εὐοδοῦσθαι / ὑγιαίνειν | euodousthai / hygiainein | (epistolary greeting; supports Truth and Christian Fellowship) | Medium | New | Risk of prosperity-gospel over-reading in contemporary Indonesian charismatic usage; anchor to holistic well-being subordinate to the soul’s greater priority. |
| joy / rejoice | sukacita / bersukacita | χαρά / χαίρω | chara / chairō | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Low | New | Standard vocabulary. |
| children (spiritual) | anak-anak(ku) | τέκνον | teknon | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | New | Ordinary pastoral-relational metaphor; must be explicitly distinguished from the baseline’s Critical-risk Anak Allah (Son of God) and Bapa (Father) entries so the two are never conflated. |
| ink / pen (reed) | tinta / kalam (pena) | μέλαν / κάλαμος | melan / kalamos | (material/cultural detail only) | Low | New | Cultural-material vocabulary; no theological content. |
| face to face | berhadapan muka / bertatap muka | στόμα πρὸς στόμα | stoma pros stoma | (relational/pastoral tone) | Low–Medium | New | Hebraic idiom (“mouth to mouth”); render with the natural Indonesian idiom, not literally. |
Terms Reused Exactly from the Baseline Romans Package
| English Term | Indonesian Rendering (unchanged) | Baseline Risk | 3 John Occurrence(s) | Added Note for 3 John Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| church | jemaat | Medium | 1:6, 1:9, 1:10 | No change; reuse exactly per baseline church entry. |
| peace | damai sejahtera | Medium | 1:14 | Reuse exactly, but add a distinguishing note: this is an epistolary shalom-style closing greeting/blessing, not the Romans 5:1 doctrinal “Peace with God” (justification) sense. Do not teach the two as identical in theological weight. |
| gentiles (contrast term — see caution below) | bangsa-bangsas lain | Medium | not applicable to ἐθνικός in 1:7 | Do not apply this baseline rendering to ἐθνικός in 3 John 1:7 (see the new “pagans / unbelieving outsiders” entry above). The baseline term remains correctly reserved for ἔθνη in its established Romans contexts. |
Proper Names (Established Indonesian Bible Transliteration Forms)
| English Name | Indonesian Form | Greek Original | Transliteration | Risk | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaius | Gayus | Γάϊος | Gaïos | Low | Letter’s recipient; commended for hospitality. |
| Demetrius | Demetrius | Δημήτριος | Dēmētrios | Low | Positive case study; flagged for theologian review given doctrinal pairing with Diotrephes. |
| Diotrephes | Diotrefes | Διοτρεφής | Diotrephēs | Low (name itself) / High (doctrine attached) | Negative case study; the name is low-risk to transliterate, but the doctrine built around his conduct (φιλοπρωτεύω, ἐκβάλλω) is High risk — see corresponding entries above. |
Risk Summary for 3 John New Entries
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 0 | — |
| High | 6 | Human theologian (ἀλήθεια/truth; πιστός-as-faithful; ὄνομα/“the Name”; ἐθνικός/pagans; φιλοπρωτεύω/loves to be first; and the reused peace note where it touches Romans 5:1 consistency) |
| Medium | 20 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 8 | Automated review |
Note: 3 John contains no Critical-risk terms under the baseline’s definition (a doctrine whose mistranslation destroys essential doctrine, e.g., justification, salvation, sonship of Christ, incarnation). Its highest risks are instead collision risks — cases where an Indonesian word already fixed for one Greek term in the baseline Romans package (kebenaran for righteousness; iman for faith; bangsa-bangsa lain for ethnē/Gentiles) would be wrongly reused for a different Greek term in 3 John with a materially different sense (ἀλήθεια/truth; πιστός/faithful; ἐθνικός/pagans). All such collisions are flagged High above and require a theologian-reviewed distinguishing note at every occurrence in Phase 2 translation.
This glossary extends, and must be read alongside, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json. All new entries are proposed for formal addition to those registries prior to Phase 2 segment translation of the 3 John curriculum.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: kebenaran
Transliteration: kebenaran
Doctrine: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. CRITICAL COLLISION WARNING: 3 John’s ἀλήθεια (‘truth’) is, by established Bible-Indonesian convention, also rendered kebenaran (see new entry ‘truth’ below). This produces a genuine intra-Indonesian lexical collision between two different Greek terms (δικαιοσύνη vs. ἀλήθεια) and two different doctrines (forensic justification vs. sincere gospel-fidelity/truthful conduct). Every 3 John occurrence of kebenaran-for-truth (1:1, 1:3 x2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12) requires a contextual gloss distinguishing it from this Romans sense.
Justification
Approved rendering: pembenaran
Transliteration: pembenaran
Doctrine: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Not itself used in 3 John’s text, but retained for cross-curriculum guardrail purposes: kebenaran (righteousness) and pembenaran (justification) together form the Romans forensic-salvation word family from which 3 John’s distinct ethical use of kebenaran-for-truth must be carefully and consistently distinguished across both curricula.
Salvation
Approved rendering: keselamatan
Transliteration: keselamatan
Doctrine: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Referenced as the guardrail doctrine for 3 John’s ‘Imitating Good rather than Evil’ (1:11): Indonesia’s dominant Islamic deeds-and-mercy soteriological framework must not be allowed to displace this grace-secured, once-for-all salvation doctrine when teaching ἀγαθοποιέω/‘does good’ and κακοποιέω/‘does evil.‘
Jesus
Approved rendering: Yesus
Transliteration: Yesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Nabi Isa
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Though ‘Jesus’ does not appear by name within 3 John’s 14 verses, this entry and its forbidden-substitution rule (never Nabi Isa) govern any teaching material that unpacks 1:7’s implicit, absolute Christological title ‘the Name’ (τὸ ὄνομα, cf. Acts 5:41), which refers to Christ himself. See new entry ‘the_name’ below.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: iman
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Retained here specifically as a FORBIDDEN root family for rendering 3 John 1:5’s adjectival πιστός (‘faithful act,’ describing Gaius’s loyal hospitality-deed, not a profession of belief). Do NOT render any 3 John 1:5 segment with iman-family vocabulary (e.g., ‘beriman,’ ‘orang yang beriman’); use the distinct new entry ‘faithful_act’ (setia) below. Any iman-root hit in a 3 John 1:5 segment is an automatic Phase 2 validation flag.
Grace
Approved rendering: anugerah
Transliteration: anugerah
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: rahmat, pahala
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Referenced in 3 John’s ‘Imitating Good rather than Evil’ doctrine (1:11) as the necessary contrastive anchor: the statement ‘the one who does good is of God’ must be taught as good conduct evidencing a relationship with God already secured by anugerah, never as pahala-style merit that generates or earns divine favor.
God
Approved rendering: Allah
Transliteration: Allah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Occurs in 3 John at 1:6 (‘worthy of God’/‘demi Allah’), 1:11 (‘is of God’; ‘has not seen God,’ twice). The term itself carries the same baseline risk profile; surrounding vocabulary (e.g., ‘has not seen God’) carries the doctrine-specific risk, tracked under the new entry ‘has_not_seen_god’ below.
Lord
Approved rendering: Tuhan
Transliteration: Tuhan
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Relevant background for 3 John 1:7’s implicit Christological title ‘the Name,’ understood in teaching material as referring to the person and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, not a generic divine title or the missionaries’ own reputation.
Truth
Approved rendering: kebenaran
Transliteration: kebenaran
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW — HIGHEST-DENSITY COLLISION RISK IN THE LETTER. ἀλήθεια, occurring six-plus times (1:1, 1:3 x2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12), meaning fidelity to sound apostolic teaching and truthful, sincere conduct — NOT δικαιοσύνη/‘righteousness’ (Critical-risk, forensic right-standing, see inherited ‘righteousness’ entry above). No viable single-word Indonesian substitute exists; retain kebenaran but mandate a contextual gloss at EVERY occurrence (e.g., ‘kebenaran di sini berarti kesetiaan pada ajaran Injil dan kejujuran hidup, bukan status yang dibenarkan Allah secara hukum seperti dalam Roma’).
Faithful Act
Approved rendering: setia
Transliteration: setia
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: beriman, orang yang beriman
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW — FALSE-FRIEND COLLISION WITH INHERITED ‘FAITH’ ENTRY. πιστός (1:5), ‘faithful/trustworthy/loyal,’ describing Gaius’s reliable act of hospitality-service, not a profession of belief. Shares its root with the baseline High-risk πίστις/‘iman.’ Must render setia, explicitly NOT built on the iman word family, to avoid recasting a commendation of a loyal deed as a claim about Gaius’s inner belief-state.
Send On Their Way
Approved rendering: menolong dalam perjalanan / membekali untuk perjalanan
Transliteration: menolong dalam perjalanan / membekali untuk perjalanan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: mengantar
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW — DOCTRINAL UNDER-TRANSLATION RISK. προπέμπω (1:6), to materially provision and equip someone for onward travel (funds, supplies, companions), not merely to accompany them courteously to the door. A literal mengantar (mere escort) guts this doctrine’s central concrete act of costly material support. Requires a translator note clarifying material provision is meant.
The Name
Approved rendering: Nama itu / Nama-Nya
Transliteration: Nama itu / Nama-Nya
Doctrine: Ministry for the Sake of the Name
Rejected alternatives: nama (uncapitalized, generic reputation)
Original: τὸ ὄνομα
Category: Christology
NEW — IMPLICIT CHRISTOLOGY EASILY MISSED. τὸ ὄνομα (1:7), an absolute, unqualified NT title for Christ himself (cf. Acts 5:41), naming the missionaries’ motive for sacrificial, unpaid gospel travel. Indonesian nama is an entirely ordinary common noun; without capitalization and a mandatory translator note identifying the referent as Christ, readers will read this as the missionaries’ own reputation. Never permit a gloss redirecting this toward a generic divine covenant name (see cult/sect caution re: Jehovah’s Witnesses NWT in analysis/05_translation_landscape.md).
Unbelieving Outsiders
Approved rendering: orang-orang yang tidak mengenal Allah
Transliteration: orang-orang yang tidak mengenal Allah
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: bangsa-bangsa lain, orang kafir
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW — EXPLICIT FALSE-FRIEND COLLISION, HARD BLOCK. ἐθνικός (1:7), unbelieving outsiders to the Christian community, from whom the missionaries deliberately refused financial support; a distinct word and sense from ἔθνη (‘nations/Gentiles’). MUST NEVER be rendered bangsa-bangsa lain (reserved for ἔθνη in the Jew-Gentile unity doctrine). Consistent with established Alkitab TB and BIS precedent for this verse.
Loves To Be First
Approved rendering: yang suka menjadi yang terutama / paling terkemuka di antara mereka
Transliteration: yang suka menjadi yang terutama / paling terkemuka di antara mereka
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: sombong
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW — DOCTRINAL CENTER OF A NAMED RISK CATEGORY. φιλοπρωτεύω (1:9), a NT hapax legomenon: self-promoting ambition for status/preeminence, describing Diotrephes specifically. No Indonesian translation surveyed (TB, BIS, FAYH) uses a single fixed term; a flat sombong (‘arrogant’) loses the specific status-seeking, leadership-ambition nuance anchoring this doctrine’s contrast with Christlike servant leadership (cf. Mark 10:43-44). Requires the full descriptive phrase plus a mandatory translator note.
Casts Out
Approved rendering: mengusir / mengeluarkan dari jemaat
Transliteration: mengusir / mengeluarkan dari jemaat
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: mengusir (bare, without ‘dari jemaat’)
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW — VERB-SENSE COLLISION IN DESTINATION LANGUAGE. ἐκβάλλω (1:10), formal expulsion of persons from congregational fellowship — the most severe accusation against Diotrephes, distinct from this verb’s far more common NT sense of exorcism. Indonesian church vocabulary commonly uses the identical root for casting out demons (‘mengusir setan’); the qualifier ‘dari jemaat’ must always be attached, with an explicit note excluding any demonic connotation, so the reader correctly understands this as abusive church discipline against fellow believers.
Does Good
Approved rendering: orang yang berbuat baik
Transliteration: orang yang berbuat baik
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
NEW — SOTERIOLOGICAL COLLISION RISK IN A MUSLIM-MAJORITY CONTEXT. ἀγαθοποιέω (1:11), habitual doer of good, presented as evidence of belonging to God. Without a theologian-reviewed note distinguishing ‘evidence of an existing grace-secured relationship’ from ‘merit that earns standing’ (cf. Indonesia’s dominant deeds-and-mercy soteriological framework and the baseline’s Critical anugerah/keselamatan entries), this verse risks being read or taught as contradicting the curriculum’s own grace-based soteriology.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: jemaat
Transliteration: jemaat
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: gereja
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Jemaat (the gathered congregation) is preferred over gereja (building/institution) when the text refers to the body of believers. In 3 John occurs at 1:6, 1:9, 1:10: the public congregational context in which Gaius’s hospitality is testified and Diotrephes’s refusal of apostolic authority and expulsion of believers occurs.
Peace
Approved rendering: damai sejahtera
Transliteration: damai sejahtera
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. In Romans 5:1 this is the doctrinally loaded state of reconciliation with God secured through justification. In 3 John 1:14 it functions instead as an ordinary epistolary shalom-style closing benediction/greeting. Add a distinguishing note at 3 John 1:14 so the two occurrences are never taught as identical in theological weight, even though both ultimately flow from God.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: bangsa-bangsa lain
Transliteration: bangsa-bangsa lain
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: orang kafir
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Retained here specifically as a FORBIDDEN rendering for 3 John 1:7’s ἐθνικός (‘unbelieving outsiders’), a distinct Greek word and sense from ἔθνη. Applying this Romans Gentiles-unity term to 1:7 would import an unrelated doctrine (Jew-Gentile ethnic unity) into a verse actually about financial independence from unbelievers. Use the distinct new entry ‘unbelieving_outsiders’ below instead; this is a hard-block validation rule, not merely a flag.
Elder
Approved rendering: penatua
Transliteration: penatua
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority of the Elder
Rejected alternatives: presbiter (transliterasi asing, tidak lazim)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW. πρεσβύτερος, the author’s self-designation (1:1, and implicit throughout as the letter’s voice, e.g. 1:9-10, 1:13). Penatua is the established Indonesian Protestant congregational-office term, but risks narrowing the author’s broader pastoral/apostolic authority (sufficient to rebuke Diotrephes, threaten confrontation, and expect obedience across multiple churches) to a merely local eldership seat. A note clarifying the wider scope of authority is required.
Beloved
Approved rendering: terkasih
Transliteration: terkasih
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: kekasih
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. ἀγαπητός, vocative term of pastoral address to Gaius (1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:11). Kekasih is now understood almost exclusively as a romantic ‘sweetheart’ in contemporary Indonesian and must never be used. Use terkasih consistently at every occurrence to preserve pastoral, non-romantic affection.
Love
Approved rendering: mengasihi / kasih
Transliteration: mengasihi / kasih
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: menyukai, mencintai
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. ἀγαπάω (verb, 1:1) / ἀγάπη (noun, 1:6). Selfless, committed, valuing love, distinct from φιλία (sahabat, 1:14) and absent ἔρως. Never render with menyukai (‘like/enjoy’) or mencintai (romantic-leaning in contemporary usage). No standalone baseline entry existed for ἀγάπη as a noun; this entry formalizes kasih for cross-curriculum consistency.
Walk In Truth
Approved rendering: hidup dalam kebenaran
Transliteration: hidup dalam kebenaran
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: berjalan (literal rendering of περιπατέω)
Original: περιπατέω (ἐν τῇ ἀληθεί�ᾳ)
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. περιπατέω (‘to walk about’) used as a Hebraic/NT idiom for manner of life (1:3, 1:4). Render idiomatically as hidup dalam kebenaran (live in truth), not literally berjalan, to preserve the behavioral/conduct sense for Indonesian readers.
Testify
Approved rendering: bersaksi / kesaksian
Transliteration: bersaksi / kesaksian
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
NEW. μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία, to bear witness or give formal, public commendation of another’s Christian character (1:3, 1:6, 1:12 x3). Native, non-Arabic-loan Indonesian vocabulary with low collision risk against Islamic syahadat/syahid roots, but the doctrinal weight — formal, church-wide character-vouching as the basis for cooperation and support — requires a register that is not flattened into casual personal opinion.
True
Approved rendering: benar
Transliteration: benar
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
NEW. ἀληθής, describing the reliability of the elder’s own testimony about Demetrius (1:12). Shares a root with ἀλήθεια/kebenaran (see ‘truth’ entry) but functions here as an ordinary predicate truth-claim about testimony’s accuracy, reducing (not eliminating) the justification-collision risk; flagged Medium for consistency review only.
Brothers
Approved rendering: saudara-saudara (seiman)
Transliteration: saudara-saudara (seiman)
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀδελφοί
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW. ἀδελφοί, fellow believers, specifically the traveling ministers under discussion (1:3, 1:5, 1:10). Render with the clarifying gloss ‘seiman’ to avoid a purely biological reading and preserve the term’s inclusive, gender-neutral community sense.
Stranger Guest
Approved rendering: orang asing / tamu yang tidak dikenal
Transliteration: orang asing / tamu yang tidak dikenal
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: orang asing (bare, immigration/visa sense)
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW. ξένος (1:5), an unfamiliar traveling guest in need of hospitality (cf. Matt 25:35; Heb 13:2), here itinerant ministers personally unknown to Gaius. Bare orang asing has drifted toward the modern immigration/foreigner-visa sense in contemporary usage; use the compound gloss to recover the hospitality/guest-reception referent.
Support
Approved rendering: mendukung / menopang
Transliteration: mendukung / menopang
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: menerima
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW. ὑπολαμβάνω (1:8), to take up and materially sustain someone’s ongoing gospel work, the church’s positive obligation matching the ministers’ refusal of pagan support (1:7). Prefer the ‘sustain/uphold’ sense over the flatter menerima (‘accept’) to preserve the material-support link to v.7.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: rekan sekerja
Transliteration: rekan sekerja
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW. συνεργός (1:8), a partner in a shared task; hospitable supporters become partners in gospel ministry itself. Standard compound term, but doctrinally weighted: elevates material hospitality to the same category as direct gospel labor.
Does Not Receive
Approved rendering: tidak mau menerima
Transliteration: tidak mau menerima
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW. ἐπιδέχομαι (1:9), refusal to receive a person, message, or delegated authority — Diotrephes’s rejection of the elder’s messengers and authority, escalated further in 1:10. Standard vocabulary, but flag for native-speaker review to preserve the gravity (refusal of apostolic/pastoral authority, not a mere social snub).
Malicious Slander
Approved rendering: memfitnah
Transliteration: memfitnah
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: berbicara
Original: φλυαρέω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW. φλυαρέω (1:10), a NT hapax legomenon: malicious, baseless verbal accusation, stronger than casual gossip, closer to defamation. A flat berbicara (‘talking’) badly under-translates the maliciousness; use memfitnah, consistent with established Alkitab TB/BIS sense, flagged as a hapax requiring careful, non-literal rendering.
Forbids
Approved rendering: melarang / menghalangi
Transliteration: melarang / menghalangi
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW. κωλύω (1:10), Diotrephes actively blocking congregants who wish to extend hospitality to the traveling brothers. Standard vocabulary; flag the abuse-of-authority context for native-speaker review so the rendering does not soften this into ordinary disagreement.
Imitate
Approved rendering: meneladani
Transliteration: meneladani
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: meniru
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
NEW. μιμέομαι (1:11), the letter’s anchor ethical verb: do not imitate evil, but good. Use the established Indonesian church-vocabulary meneladani (‘model one’s conduct on’), not a bare meniru (‘copy/mimic’), which lacks the moral-pattern weight required.
Does Evil
Approved rendering: orang yang berbuat jahat
Transliteration: orang yang berbuat jahat
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακοποιέω
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
NEW. κακοποιέω (1:11), habitual doer of evil, epitomized by Diotrephes, paired with ‘has not seen God.’ Same doctrinal caution as ‘does_good’ applies but at lower risk, since the negative pole is less prone to being read as a positive merit claim.
Has Not Seen God
Approved rendering: belum/tidak pernah melihat Allah
Transliteration: belum/tidak pernah melihat Allah
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
NEW. οὐχ ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν (1:11), a Johannine idiom equating persistent evildoing with a total absence of genuine relational knowledge of God (cf. 1 John 3:6, 4:20), not a claim about literal ocular vision. Given Islamic tanzih theology’s own strong doctrine of divine invisibility, a note clarifying the relational-knowledge sense (not a claim that the righteous normally see God) is recommended.
Friend
Approved rendering: sahabat
Transliteration: sahabat
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: saudara (collapsing the distinction)
Original: φίλος
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. φίλος (1:14), warm mutual companionship-love (φιλία), distinct from ἀδελφός (saudara, kinship-fellowship) and ἀγάπη (kasih, committed valuing love); marks a deliberate vocabulary shift at the letter’s close. Preserve the distinction; do not collapse into saudara or kasih.
Prosper
Approved rendering: berhasil
Transliteration: berhasil
Doctrine: Prosperity of the Soul
Rejected alternatives: diberkati secara materi
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι (εὐοδόω)
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. εὐοδοῦσθαι (1:2), to have things go well (originally a travel metaphor), a conventional epistolary well-wish applied to Gaius’s whole life. Risk of prosperity-gospel over-reading in contemporary Indonesian charismatic/Pentecostal usage; anchor to holistic well-being subordinate to the soul’s greater priority (1:2b), never a promise of material wealth.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: anak-anak(ku)
Transliteration: anak-anak(ku)
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Care
Original: τέκνον
Category: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Care
NEW. τέκνον (1:4), spiritual children — converts/disciples under the elder’s pastoral care, ordinary Johannine/Pauline pastoral metaphor. Must be explicitly distinguished from the baseline’s Critical-risk Anak Allah (Son of God) and Bapa (Father, of God) entries, so ordinary pastoral metaphor is never conflated with the eternal Sonship of Christ or the Fatherhood of God in the Godhead.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrefes
Transliteration: Diotrefes
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: Διοτρεφής
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW — proper name, elevated to Medium given the doctrinal weight attached. Διοτρεφής, the letter’s negative case study in church leadership abuse (1:9-10). Transliterate as Diotrefes per established Indonesian Bible convention; the associated High-risk doctrinal vocabulary (loves_to_be_first, casts_out) carries the actual translation risk, not the name itself.
Low Risk Terms
Soul
Approved rendering: jiwa
Transliteration: jiwa
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ψυχή
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. ψυχή (1:2), the inner life-principle/self, the standard of spiritual well-being by which physical/circumstantial prosperity is measured. Standard, well-established Indonesian Bible term, no significant collision risk.
Sound Health
Approved rendering: sehat
Transliteration: sehat
Doctrine: Prosperity of the Soul
Original: ὑγιαίνειν (ὑγιαίνω)
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. ὑγιαίνειν (1:2), physical health/soundness, paired conventionally with εὐοδοῦσθαι as a standard letter-greeting wish. Standard, no significant theological risk.
Joy
Approved rendering: sukacita / bersukacita
Transliteration: sukacita / bersukacita
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. χαρά/χαίρω (1:3, 1:4), the elder’s superlative joy at hearing of faithful conduct. Standard vocabulary, no significant collision risk.
Face To Face
Approved rendering: berhadapan muka / bertatap muka
Transliteration: berhadapan muka / bertatap muka
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: mulut ke mulut (literal)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. στόμα πρὸς στόμα (1:14), a Hebraic idiom (‘mouth to mouth’) for direct, personal communication (cf. Num 12:8 LXX). Render idiomatically, not literally, since a literal rendering would sound strange/non-idiomatic in Indonesian.
Ink And Pen
Approved rendering: tinta / kalam (pena)
Transliteration: tinta / kalam (pena)
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: μέλαν / κάλαμος
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
NEW. μέλαν/κάλαμος (1:13), writing ink and reed-pen, a material/cultural detail of ancient letter-writing paralleling the closing of 2 John 12. No theological content; standard cultural-material vocabulary.
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gayus
Transliteration: Gayus
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW — proper name. Γάϊος, the letter’s recipient, a faithful, hospitable layman commended for supporting traveling ministers (1:1-8). Use the established Indonesian Bible (Alkitab TB) form Gayus.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Demetrius
Transliteration: Demetrius
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
NEW — proper name. Δημήτριος, the letter’s positive case study, commended by the truth itself and the elder personally, contrasted with Diotrephes (1:12). Transliterate as Demetrius per established Indonesian Bible convention; flagged for theologian review given its doctrinal pairing with Diotrephes.
Referenced passages