Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 3 John (English–Greek–Javanese)
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (from Romans translation_memory.json)
| Term | Greek | Javanese Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Verse Refs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | Gusti Allah | Critical | Deity of Christ / God | 3Yoh 1:11 | Baseline (reused) |
| church | ἐκκλησία | pasamuwan | Medium | Church as God’s People | 3Yoh 1:6, 1:9, 1:10 | Baseline (reused) |
| peace | εἰρήνη | katentreman | Medium | Peace with God/greeting | 3Yoh 1:14 | Baseline (reused) |
B. New Terms Proposed for 3 John Curriculum
| # | English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Javanese Rendering | Risk Tier | Doctrine Category | Verse Refs | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | truth | ἀλήθεια / alētheia | kayektosan | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:1, 1:3(×2), 1:4, 1:8, 1:12(×2) | kasunyatan sejati, ngèlmu sejati | NEVER frame as esoteric reality attained through mystical/ascetic practice (parallels the kasampurnan collision already forbidden for “righteousness” in the Romans baseline). Kayektosan is the objective, received gospel reality held in common by the church, evidenced in conduct and love. Controlling term of the whole letter (6 occurrences in 14 verses); require teaching note in every Critical-doctrine passage. |
| 2 | elder (self-designation of author) | πρεσβύτερος / presbyteros | pinituwa | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:1 | sesepuh (rejected as primary; too tied to village adat/spiritual-guardian authority) | Anchor to pastoral, relational, apostolic authority; contrast deliberately with Diotrephes’ self-exalting behavior (v. 9). |
| 3 | beloved (vocative address) | ἀγαπητός / agapētos | kang kinasih | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:11 | kekasih | Avoid kekasih (romantic-partner connotation in modern Javanese/Indonesian usage). |
| 4 | love (verb) | ἀγαπάω / agapaō | nresnani / ngasihi (krama) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:1 | — | Keep distinct from sih-rahmat (Critical baseline term for grace); this is relational affection between believers, not unmerited divine favor. |
| 5 | love (noun) | ἀγάπη / agapē | katresnan | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:6 | — | Outward, demonstrable love-in-action (proven by hospitality); distinguish from sih-rahmat and from purely romantic “tresna.” |
| 6 | soul | ψυχή / psychē | jiwa | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:2 | — | Distinguish from kejawen kasampurnaning jiwa (mystically attained soul-perfection); soul-prospering here is Spirit-evidenced condition shown in love/truth, not self-cultivated attainment. |
| 7 | prosper / go well | εὐοδόω / euodousthai | lumampah kanthi rahayu | Medium | (general well-being; supports Truth and Fellowship greeting) | 1:2 (×2) | — | Root “rahayu” overlaps with karahayon, explicitly REJECTED as an alternative for “salvation” (kaslametan) in the baseline. Flag to prevent confusion between ordinary circumstantial prospering here and the Critical soteriological term elsewhere. |
| 8 | be in good health | ὑγιαίνω / hygiainein | sehat | Low | — | 1:2 | — | Standard term. |
| 9 | rejoice / joy | χαίρω, χαρά / chairō, chara | bungah / kabungahan | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:3, 1:4 | — | Keep separate from rejected TM alternative “kabar kabungahan” (reserved-against rendering for “gospel”). |
| 10 | testify / testimony | μαρτυρέω, μαρτυρία / martyreō, martyria | nekseni (v.) / paseksi (n.) | High | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius) | 1:3, 1:6, 1:12 (×2) | — | Foundational for the Demetrius doctrine; verified reputation for godly character within the believing community, not legal deposition nor wali-tomb-style veneration validation (cf. baseline “saints” warning). |
| 11 | walk (conduct) | περιπατέω / peripateō | lumampah (metaphorical) | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:3, 1:4 | — | Metaphor for lived conduct must be explicitly taught; literal rendering alone may not convey ethical-lifestyle sense. |
| 12 | children (spiritual) | τέκνα / tekna | para putra kula | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:4 | — | Human spiritual fatherhood (discipleship), distinct from the baseline’s “adoption” doctrine (divine sonship) and from “Rama” (reserved for God the Father). |
| 13 | faithful (adj., reliable action) | πιστός / pistos | setya | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:5 | — | Distinguish from pitados (baseline term for saving faith/trust in Christ); describes trustworthy character/action, not the act of believing. |
| 14 | work / do | ἐργάζομαι / ergazomai | nglampahi / nindakaken | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:5 | — | Standard term. |
| 15 | stranger / guest | ξένος / xenos | tamu (qualified: tamu ingkang ngambah lelampahan pekabaran Injil) | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:5 | wong asing | Must specify itinerant gospel workers; bare “tamu” or “wong asing” loses the specific referent and risks connoting suspicion of an outsider. |
| 16 | send on one’s way (provision for journey) | προπέμπω / propempō | ngeteraken kanthi paring pitulungan | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:6 | ngeteraken (bare) | Technical hospitality term for material provisioning of missionaries, not mere polite farewell; retain fuller phrase or add teaching note. |
| 17 | worthy of God (adverbial standard) | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ / axiōs tou theou | kanthi patut ing ngarsanipun Gusti Allah | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:6 | — | Must use full “Gusti Allah” per baseline Critical rule (never bare Gusti). |
| 18 | the Name (= Christ) | ὄνομα / onoma (absolute use) | Asmanipun Gusti | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Truth and Fellowship | 1:7 | jeneng (generic, uncapitalized) | Absolute “the Name” is early-church shorthand for Christ’s name/authority (cf. John 20:31); must not be rendered as a bare, uncapitalized, generic noun. Requires teaching note identifying the Christological referent. |
| 19 | Gentiles / pagans (= unbelieving outsiders) | ἐθνικός / ethnikos | tiyang ingkang dereng pitados | CRITICAL | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:7 | kapir (forbidden), bare “bangsa liya” (insufficient without qualification) | CRITICAL — NEVER use kapir, the Arabic-derived Islamic term for “infidel,” which carries strong pejorative/political connotations in Javanese Muslim-majority society and would import a foreign polemical framework. Distinct sense from baseline’s ethnē/“bangsa liya” (positive mission-field category in Romans); here it names those from whom missionaries refuse financial support. NEW forbidden-substitution entry — add to the AI Translation Requirements’ Critical Forbidden Substitutions list. |
| 20 | ought / be obligated | ὀφείλω / opheilō | wajib | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:8 | — | Standard term. |
| 21 | receive / support (material) | ὑπολαμβάνω / hypolambanō | nampani lan nyengkuyung | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:8 | — | Distinguish from ἐπιδέχομαι (below), which concerns accepting authority, not material support. |
| 22 | fellow worker | συνεργός / synergos | kanca nyambut damel | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Truth and Fellowship | 1:8 | — | Pair explicitly with kayektosan (“fellow workers for the truth”) to keep gospel-partnership sense, not generic teamwork. |
| 23 | loves to be first / self-exalting ambition | φιλοπρωτεύων / philoprōteuōn | remen ngunggul-unggulaken piyambak | High | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | 1:9 | — | Hapax legomenon naming Diotrephes’ core sin. Requires deliberate teaching contrast against Javanese hierarchical honor-culture (priyayi status-seeking, krama deference conventions) to ensure the rebuke targets self-seeking ambition, not the register’s ordinary respect-structures. |
| 24 | receive / accept / acknowledge (authority) | ἐπιδέχομαι / epidechomai | nampani (qualified: nampani panguwaosipun/kawibawanipun) | High | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | 1:9, 1:10 (×2) | — | Concerns refusal to submit to legitimate apostolic authority/delegation, not mere social hospitality (cf. ξένος, ὑπολαμβάνω above). Bare “nampani” undersells the authority-conflict dimension. |
| 25 | remind / bring up | ὑπομιμνήσκω / hypomimnēskō | ngengetaken | Low | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | 1:10 | — | Standard term. |
| 26 | prate/slander with wicked words | λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν / logois ponērois phlyarōn | ngala-ala kanthi tembung awon | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | 1:10 | — | Concrete evidence of Diotrephes’ pride manifesting as malicious slander, not mere disagreement. |
| 27 | hinder / forbid | κωλύω / kōlyō | ngalang-alangi | Low | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | 1:10 | — | Standard term. |
| 28 | cast out / expel | ἐκβάλλω / ekballō | nundhung saking pasamuwan | Medium-High | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | 1:10 | — | Condemned here as an ABUSE of church authority for self-serving reasons; teaching note needed to avoid implying all church discipline is wrong. |
| 29 | imitate | μιμέομαι / mimeomai | niru | High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | — | Central ethical command of the letter (hinge between Diotrephes/evil and Demetrius/good examples). Must be distinguished from Javanese guru-murid devotional imitation of a spiritual teacher’s practice as a path to mystical attainment (kasampurnan-adjacent); here it concerns moral character flowing from one’s identity as “of God,” not spiritual technique. |
| 30 | good / evil (moral binary) | ἀγαθός / κακός / agathos, kakos | becik / ala | Low | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | — | Standard ethical vocabulary. |
| 31 | do good / do evil | ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω / agathopoieō, kakopoieō | tumindak becik / tumindak awon | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | — | Must not be taught through the lens of Javanese ngundhuh wohing pakarti (karma-adjacent deed-consequence proverb); the Johannine logic runs from identity (“is from God”) to conduct as evidence, not from conduct to earned divine favor. Flag for theologian review when taught alongside grace/justification material. |
| 32 | has [not] seen (God) | ὁράω / horaō (ἑώρακεν) | sampun mirsani | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | — | Johannine idiom for relational/experiential knowledge of God, not literal vision; requires explanatory teaching note. |
| 33 | hope | ἐλπίζω / elpizō | kula ngarep-arep | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:14 | — | Ordinary usage here (travel plans); note theological register elsewhere in Scripture for cross-reference only. |
| 34 | face to face (idiom) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα / stoma pros stoma | rai adhep-adhepan | Low-Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:14 | cangkem lawan cangkem (literal, rejected as crude/inappropriate register) | Natural Javanese idiom required per idiom-handling rule; literal “mouth to mouth” is inappropriate in formal krama register. |
| 35 | friend(s) | φίλος / philos | mitra | Low-Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:14 | — | Distinguish from sedherek (spiritual-family “brothers” elsewhere in the letter); mitra is the wider local-congregation circle of greeting. |
| 36 | greet | ἀσπάζομαι / aspazomai | ngaturaken salam | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:14 | — | Standard epistolary greeting formula. |
| 37 | pray / wish (greeting) | εὔχομαι / euchomai | ndedonga | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:2 | — | Personal intercessory greeting. |
| 38 | write / ink / pen | γράφω, μέλαν, κάλαμος | mangsi lan pena | Low | (cultural-material detail) | 1:13 | — | Literal rendering; no doctrinal weight. |
C. Proper Names
| English | Greek | Javanese Rendering | Risk | Verse Refs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaius | Γάϊος / Gaios | Gayus | Low | 1:1 | Established Indonesian/Javanese Bible form. |
| Diotrephes | Διοτρέφης / Diotrephēs | Diotrefes | Low | 1:9, 1:10 | Established Indonesian/Javanese Bible form. |
| Demetrius | Δημήτριος / Dēmētrios | Demetrius | Low | 1:12 | Established Indonesian/Javanese Bible form. |
D. Risk Summary for 3 John New Terms
| Risk Tier | Count | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 1 | Gentiles/unbelievers (ethnikos) — new forbidden-substitution entry (kapir) |
| High | 6 | truth, testify/testimony, the Name (=Christ), loves to be first (philoprōteuōn), receive/acknowledge authority (epidechomai), imitate |
| Medium | 18 | elder, beloved, love (verb/noun), soul, prosper, children, faithful, stranger/guest, send on journey, worthy of God, receive/support, fellow worker, prate/slander, cast out, do good/do evil, has seen, friend(s), (face-to-face borderline Low-Medium) |
| Low | 13 | be in good health, rejoice/joy, walk, work/do, ought, remind, hinder, good/evil, hope, greet, pray/wish, write/ink/pen, proper names |
| Total new terms proposed | 38 | — |
Review routing recommendation (consistent with baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions):
- Critical and High risk terms above → Human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- Medium risk terms → Native speaker review recommended.
- Low risk terms → Automated review sufficient.
This glossary extends, and must be merged into, the project’s translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json for 3 John Phase 2 processing. No entry in Section A may be altered; all Section B entries are proposed additions pending Phase 1 doctrinal sign-off.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / God
Rejected alternatives: Gusti (alone)
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, unchanged. CRITICAL: never shorten to bare Gusti, which is also ordinary address for a feudal lord or palace master; the full compound is required. In 3 John this term appears only once, in the ethical maxim of 1:11 (‘is from God’ / ‘has not seen God’), with no accompanying Christological title — do not import Romans-style Christ-vocabulary that is absent from this letter’s Greek text.
Gentiles Unbelievers
Approved rendering: tiyang ingkang dereng pitados
Transliteration: tiyang ingkang dereng pitados
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: kapir, bare bangsa liya (insufficient without qualification)
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality
CRITICAL: NEW forbidden-substitution entry. NEVER render as ‘kapir,’ the Arabic-derived Islamic term for ‘infidel,’ carrying strong pejorative, religio-political, and potentially inflammatory connotations in Javanese Muslim-majority society; using it imports a foreign polemical framework into a pastoral-missions text (1:7). Do not reuse bare ‘bangsa liya’ (the baseline’s positive Romans mission-field term for ethnē) without qualification, since it carries the opposite, welcoming sense there. This term names unbelieving outsiders whose financial support traveling missionaries deliberately refused.
High Risk Terms
Truth
Approved rendering: kayektosan
Transliteration: kayektosan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: kasunyatan sejati, ngèlmu sejati
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Fellowship
NEW TERM. The controlling word of 3 John (6 occurrences in 14 verses: 1:1, 1:3 x2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12 x2). NEVER teach as an esoteric reality attained through mystical/ascetic discipline (the kejawen parallel kasunyatan sejati / ngèlmu sejati, feeding toward kasampurnan, already forbidden as a rendering of ‘righteousness’ in the baseline). Kayektosan is the objective, received gospel reality held in common by the whole church, evidenced in ordinary conduct and love. Require a teaching note at every Critical/High-doctrine occurrence.
Testify Testimony
Approved rendering: nekseni (v.) / paseksi (n.)
Transliteration: nekseni / paseksi
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
NEW TERM. Verified, truthful testimony to a believer’s godly character, given by the community, by ‘the truth itself,’ and by the Elder (1:3, 1:6, 1:12). Foundational for the Demetrius doctrine. Teach as verified reputation for godly character within the believing community, not legal deposition, and never as validation analogous to seeking a wali’s endorsement or grave-blessing (cf. baseline’s ‘saints’/wali warning). The threefold-witness structure in v.12 must not be flattened into mere popularity.
The Name
Approved rendering: Asmanipun Gusti
Transliteration: Asmanipun Gusti
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: jeneng (generic, uncapitalized)
Original: ὄνομα (absolute use, τοῦ ὀνόματος)
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Early-church absolute shorthand for Christ’s own name and authority (1:7; cf. John 20:31) — the ONLY (oblique) Christological reference in 3 John. A bare, generic, uncapitalized ‘jeneng’ loses the referent entirely and reduces a Christ-honoring missionary principle to an empty grammatical antecedent. Mandatory translator note identifying Christ as the referent.
Loves To Be First
Approved rendering: remen ngunggul-unggulaken piyambak
Transliteration: remen ngunggul-unggulaken piyambak
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύων
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. Hapax legomenon (philoprōteuōn) naming Diotrephes’ core sin: ambition for preeminence, self-promoting rivalry for the top position (1:9). This concept sits against the grain of Javanese hierarchical honor-culture (krama register itself, priyayi status-consciousness). Teaching must make unmistakably clear that Scripture condemns self-seeking ambition for position, not the ordinary respect-language or leadership structures the register itself uses.
Receive Accept Authority
Approved rendering: nampani (qualified: nampani panguwaosipun/kawibawanipun)
Transliteration: nampani
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. To acknowledge/accept legitimate apostolic delegation or authority, refused by Diotrephes (1:9, 1:10 x2). A bare ‘nampani’ (receive) undersells the authority-conflict dimension; must be qualified and taught as refusal to submit to legitimate apostolic oversight, distinct from ordinary social hospitality (stranger_guest) and material support (receive_support).
Cast Out
Approved rendering: nundhung saking pasamuwan
Transliteration: nundhung saking pasamuwan
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. Forceful expulsion of faithful believers from the congregation, the climactic evidence of Diotrephes’ abuse of authority (1:10). Must be carefully distinguished from legitimate biblical church discipline exercised elsewhere in Scripture; condemned here as a self-serving abuse of power, not because church discipline itself is wrong. A teaching note preventing the over-generalization ‘all expulsion from church is always wrong’ is required.
Imitate
Approved rendering: niru
Transliteration: niru
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
NEW TERM. The letter’s central ethical command (1:11) — the hinge between the Diotrephes (evil) and Demetrius (good) examples. Javanese guru-murid (teacher-disciple) devotional imitation, present in both pesantren and kejawen mystical schools, treats imitating a teacher’s practice/inner state as a path toward mystical attainment (kasampurnan-adjacent). Teaching must clarify that 3 John 11 concerns moral character rooted in identity (‘of God’), not devotional imitation of a guru’s practice as a means to spiritual advancement.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: pasamuwan
Transliteration: pasamuwan
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: punden
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, unchanged. Never use punden (a village guardian-spirit shrine site). In 3 John this is the very body Diotrephes abuses his position within (1:9, 1:10); the corporate, relational sense must be reinforced, not a building or ritual site.
Peace
Approved rendering: katentreman
Transliteration: katentreman
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, unchanged. In 3 John this is the closing epistolary peace-greeting (1:14), a standard letter-closing blessing rather than a developed doctrinal statement; still distinguish from meditative inner calm sought through spiritual discipline per the baseline note.
Elder
Approved rendering: pinituwa
Transliteration: pinituwa
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood in Ministry
Rejected alternatives: sesepuh
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. The author’s self-designation (1:1). Avoid sesepuh, which in Javanese village life carries adat/spiritual-guardian authority connotations (custodian of ancestral or territorial-spirit protocol). Anchor to pastoral, relational, apostolic authority within the pasamuwan, deliberately contrasted with Diotrephes’ self-exalting behavior (v.9).
Beloved
Approved rendering: kang kinasih
Transliteration: kang kinasih
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: kekasih
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Vocative address to Gaius (1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:11). Never use kekasih, which in contemporary Javanese/Indonesian usage primarily denotes a romantic sweetheart.
Love Verb
Approved rendering: nresnani / ngasihi (krama)
Transliteration: nresnani / ngasihi
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπάω
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. ‘Whom I love in truth’ (1:1). Keep distinct from sih-rahmat (Critical baseline term for God’s unmerited saving grace); this names relational affection between believers, not divine favor toward sinners.
Love Noun
Approved rendering: katresnan
Transliteration: katresnan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. The love publicly testified to before the church, proven concretely through Gaius’s hospitality (1:6). Distinct from sih-rahmat (grace) and from the romantic connotation bare ‘tresna’ can carry.
Soul
Approved rendering: jiwa
Transliteration: jiwa
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ψυχή
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Gaius’s inner/spiritual condition, the true measure of his well-being (1:2). Distinguish from kejawen kasampurnaning jiwa (mystically attained soul-perfection); the soul’s ‘prospering’ here is a Spirit-evidenced condition shown in love and truth, not a self-cultivated attainment.
Prosper
Approved rendering: lumampah kanthi rahayu
Transliteration: lumampah kanthi rahayu
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: εὐοδόω
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Circumstantial/material well-being wished for Gaius, subordinated to the state of his soul (1:2 x2). The root ‘rahayu’ overlaps with karahayon, an alternative explicitly REJECTED for ‘salvation’ (kaslametan) in the baseline. Flag whenever this verse is taught alongside salvation material, to prevent conflating ordinary circumstantial prospering with soteriological rescue.
Walk
Approved rendering: lumampah (metaphorical)
Transliteration: lumampah
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. A Johannine idiom for one’s manner of life (1:3, 1:4). Truth is not merely believed but lived; the metaphor must be explicitly taught, since a literal rendering alone risks readers missing the ethical-lifestyle sense.
Children Spiritual
Approved rendering: para putra kula
Transliteration: para putra kula
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood in Ministry
NEW TERM. The Elder’s spiritual children — converts/disciples under his pastoral care (1:4). Must be distinguished from the baseline’s ‘adoption’ doctrine (pengangkatan dadi putra, divine sonship, Romans 8) and from ‘Rama’ (reserved for God the Father); here the fatherhood is human, pastoral discipleship-fatherhood.
Faithful
Approved rendering: setya
Transliteration: setya
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. Trustworthy, reliable conduct commending Gaius’s hospitality as covenant faithfulness (1:5). Must be kept distinct from pitados (the baseline’s term for saving faith/trust in Christ); setya describes reliable character/action, not the act of believing. Flag wherever both terms appear in the same lesson.
Stranger Guest
Approved rendering: tamu (qualified: tamu ingkang ngambah lelampahan pekabaran Injil)
Transliteration: tamu
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: wong asing
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. A traveling believer/missionary personally unknown to the host congregation, welcomed for the gospel’s sake (1:5). Bare ‘tamu’ or ‘wong asing’ loses the specific referent (itinerant gospel ministers) and could connote suspicion toward an outsider; context must specify these are gospel workers.
Send On Journey
Approved rendering: ngeteraken kanthi paring pitulungan
Transliteration: ngeteraken kanthi paring pitulungan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: ngeteraken (bare)
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. A technical early-church term for equipping/provisioning a traveling minister with food, money, and companionship for the next leg of the journey (1:6). A literal rendering limited to ‘escort’ or ‘farewell’ loses this technical sense; retain the fuller phrase or add an explanatory note.
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: kanthi patut ing ngarsanipun Gusti Allah
Transliteration: kanthi patut ing ngarsanipun Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. An adverbial standard: conduct measured against, and befitting, God’s own honor (1:6). Must use the full ‘Gusti Allah’ per the baseline’s Critical rule; never bare ‘Gusti.‘
Receive Support
Approved rendering: nampani lan nyengkuyung
Transliteration: nampani lan nyengkuyung
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. To receive gospel workers hospitably with material support (1:8). Keep distinct from ἐπιδέχομαι (see receive_accept_authority), which in this letter carries the additional freight of accepting/rejecting apostolic authority, not merely material hospitality.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: kanca nyambut damel
Transliteration: kanca nyambut damel
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. A partner sharing in gospel labor; hosting itinerant ministers makes the host an active participant in the mission (1:8). Should be paired explicitly with kayektosan (‘fellow workers for the truth’) to ensure gospel partnership, not generic teamwork, is in view.
Slander
Approved rendering: ngala-ala kanthi tembung awon
Transliteration: ngala-ala kanthi tembung awon
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. Malicious, baseless slander against the Elder, evidence of Diotrephes’ pride (1:10). Ensure the rendering reads as active, malicious slander, not mere disagreement or legitimate criticism.
Do Good Do Evil
Approved rendering: tumindak becik / tumindak awon
Transliteration: tumindak becik / tumindak awon
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
NEW TERM. Habitual moral practice as diagnostic evidence of spiritual identity (‘is from God’ / ‘has not seen God’), not a means of earning standing with God (1:11). Must not be taught through the lens of the Javanese folk proverb ngundhuh wohing pakarti (karma-adjacent deed-consequence logic); the Johannine logic runs from identity to conduct-as-evidence, not from conduct to earned favor. Flag for theologian review when taught alongside grace/justification material.
Has Seen
Approved rendering: sampun mirsani Gusti Allah
Transliteration: sampun mirsani Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ὁράω (ἑώρακεν)
Category: Ethics
NEW TERM. A Johannine idiom for lacking genuine relational/experiential knowledge of God, not literal visual perception (1:11). A literal rendering risks readers wondering how anyone ‘sees’ God; a teaching note explaining the idiom is required.
Low Risk Terms
Good Health
Approved rendering: sehat
Transliteration: sehat
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: ὑγιαίνω
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Physical health, paired with the wish for prosperity (1:2). Standard devotional vocabulary.
Rejoice
Approved rendering: bungah / kabungahan
Transliteration: bungah / kabungahan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: kabar kabungahan (reserved for ‘gospel’ in Romans baseline)
Original: χαίρω / χαρά
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Joy caused by a report of another believer’s faithfulness (1:3, 1:4). Keep separate from the rejected TM alternative ‘kabar kabungahan,’ which remains reserved-against for Injil (‘gospel’).
Work
Approved rendering: nglampahi / nindakaken
Transliteration: nglampahi / nindakaken
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐργάζομαι
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. Deliberate, costly effort expended in hospitality (1:5). Standard term.
Ought
Approved rendering: wajib
Transliteration: wajib
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
NEW TERM. Moral obligation/duty; hospitality to gospel workers framed as binding duty, not optional generosity (1:8). Standard term.
Remind
Approved rendering: ngengetaken
Transliteration: ngengetaken
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ὑπομιμνήσκω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. To publicly recall specific conduct for correction; the Elder’s intended confrontation of Diotrephes (1:10). Standard term.
Hinder
Approved rendering: ngalang-alangi
Transliteration: ngalang-alangi
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW TERM. Active obstruction of others who wish to show hospitality (1:10). Standard term.
Good Evil
Approved rendering: becik / ala
Transliteration: becik / ala
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός / κακός
Category: Ethics
NEW TERM. The basic moral binary underlying the imitation command (1:11). Standard ethical vocabulary.
Hope
Approved rendering: kula ngarep-arep
Transliteration: kula ngarep-arep
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Confident expectation of an imminent visit, ordinary travel sense (1:14). Note the term’s weightier theological register elsewhere in Scripture for cross-reference purposes only.
Face To Face
Approved rendering: rai adhep-adhepan
Transliteration: rai adhep-adhepan
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Rejected alternatives: cangkem lawan cangkem (literal, rejected as crude/inappropriate register)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. A Hebraic/Johannine idiom for direct, unmediated communication (1:14; cf. Numbers 12:8 LXX). The literal ‘mouth to mouth’ rendering would sound crude in formal krama Javanese; the natural idiomatic equivalent is required.
Friend
Approved rendering: mitra
Transliteration: mitra
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. The wider circle of local believers sending greetings to Gaius, distinct from the traveling ‘brothers’ (1:14). Distinguish from ‘sedherek’ (spiritual-family ‘brothers’ used elsewhere in the letter).
Greet
Approved rendering: ngaturaken salam
Transliteration: ngaturaken salam
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Standard epistolary greeting formula closing the letter (1:14).
Pray Wish
Approved rendering: ndedonga
Transliteration: ndedonga
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: εὔχομαι
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. A personal intercessory greeting-wish for Gaius’s well-being, not a liturgical formula (1:2).
Write Ink Pen
Approved rendering: mangsi lan pena
Transliteration: mangsi lan pena
Doctrine: Christian Greeting and Benediction
Original: γράφω / μέλαν / κάλαμος
Category: Fellowship
NEW TERM. Literal ancient writing materials, expressing the Elder’s preference for face-to-face fellowship over written correspondence (1:13). Purely cultural-material detail; render literally.
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gayus
Transliteration: Gayus
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM. The letter’s recipient (1:1). Established Indonesian/Javanese Bible proper-name form.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrefes
Transliteration: Diotrefes
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Διοτρέφης
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM. The self-exalting church figure rebuked in 1:9-10. Established Indonesian/Javanese Bible proper-name form.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Demetrius
Transliteration: Demetrius
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM. The believer commended in 1:12 as the letter’s positive example. Established Indonesian/Javanese Bible proper-name form.
Referenced passages