Semantic Analysis
Semantic Analysis: 2 John (Full Book)
How to read this document
For every load-bearing term: original Greek word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants (as commonly rendered across English versions), contextual theological meaning in 2 John, and destination-language (Korean) rendering risk (tier + grounded reason). Where a term duplicates a baseline Romans translation_memory.json entry, the recorded Korean rendering is reused exactly and the entry states “REUSE (baseline).”
PART A — Core Passage Verse-by-Verse: 2 John 1:4–11
2 John 1:4
Greek: Ἐχάρην λίαν ὅτι εὕρηκα ἐκ τῶν τέκνων σου περιπατοῦντας ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καθὼς ἐντολὴν ἐλάβομεν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός. Gloss: “I rejoiced greatly that I found some of your children walking in truth, just as we received commandment from the Father.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐχάρην (< χαίρω) | echarēn | echarēn (aor. pass. of chairō) | “I was made glad / I rejoiced” | joy, gladness, delight; root also used as the epistolary greeting formula in 1:10-11 (χαίρειν) | “I rejoiced,” “I was overjoyed” | Personal pastoral joy at faithful believers; shares a root with the forbidden greeting of v.10-11, creating a literary wordplay (rejoicing over truth vs. withholding “greetings” from deceivers) that Korean cannot preserve lexically. | Medium. Render 기뻐하다/기뻤노라 (standard). Flag for teaching notes: the χαίρω/χαίρειν wordplay linking v.4 and v.10-11 is lost in Korean since 기뻐하다 (rejoice) and 인사 (greeting) share no root — note this as an unavoidable, non-doctrinal translation loss to explain in lesson commentary, not a translation error. |
| τέκνα | tekna | tekna | ”children” | biological children; by extension, spiritual “children” i.e. congregation members under an elder’s care | ”children,” “your children” | Members of the addressee’s household/congregation walking faithfully; connects to the “elect lady and her children” personification question (v.1, v.13). | Medium. 자녀 (janyeo). Risk: whether rendered with individual-family connotation or corporate-church connotation affects whether readers grasp the “elect lady = a church” reading option; recommend a teaching footnote rather than altering the base rendering. |
| περιπατοῦντας (< περιπατέω) | peripatountas | peripateō | ”walking” | metaphorical Hebraic idiom for the habitual conduct/course of one’s life, not literal locomotion | ”walking,” “living,” “conducting themselves” | Persevering, lived-out fidelity to apostolic truth — an ongoing lifestyle, not a single decision. Reused in v.6. | High. KRV convention renders this 행하다 (haenghada, “to do/conduct oneself”), not the literal 걷다 (geotda, “to walk”). Using literal 걷다 would sound like physical locomotion in Korean and lose the “conduct of life” idiom. Must render consistently across all “walk” occurrences in the letter (v.4, v.6) to preserve the letter’s rhetorical structure. |
| ἀλήθεια | alētheia | alētheia | ”truth” | that which is real/reliable as opposed to false; in Johannine usage, truth revealed in and centered on Christ, with moral/relational force, not mere factual accuracy | ”truth” | The apostolic gospel content about Christ (including his real incarnation, v.7) and the resulting way of life it produces; the letter’s dominant keyword (vv.1,2,3,4). | High. 진리 (jilli). Not present in the baseline Romans package (Romans thematizes “faith” more than “truth” as a standalone term) — this is a new required glossary term for this curriculum. Risk: 진리 in general Korean usage can register as abstract philosophical/factual “truth” (in the mode of academic or scientific “truth”); must be taught as the specific, revealed, Christ-centered truth opposed to the “deceivers” (πλάνοι) of v.7, not a generic truth-claim among many competing truth-claims. |
| ἐντολή | entolē | entolē | ”commandment” | a directive with binding authority, from a superior (here, from the Father) | “commandment,” “command” | The apostolic command to love, traced back to God the Father himself, not a human social rule. Reused throughout vv.4-6. | Medium. 계명 (gyemyeong), standard KRV term (cf. Ten Commandments = 십계명). Must be distinguished from Confucian ritual-propriety codes (禮, ye) already flagged under the baseline “law” (율법) entry — 계명 here is a moral-relational apostolic mandate, not an etiquette code. |
| πατήρ | patēr | patēr | ”father” | God as Father | ”the Father” | God the Father as the source and authority behind the commandment to love. | Critical — REUSE (baseline). 아버지 (abeoji). Per baseline “father” entry: teach with awareness of Korea’s jesa (제사) ancestor-rite history; God the Father here is the personal source of the apostolic commandment, not a venerated ancestor. |
2 John 1:5
Greek: Καὶ νῦν ἐρωτῶ σε, κυρία, οὐχ ὡς ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφων σοι ἀλλὰ ἣν εἴχομεν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους. Gloss: “And now I ask you, lady, not as though writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐρωτῶ | erōtō | erōtaō | ”I ask/request” | a personal appeal or request, gentler than a command (ἐντέλλομαι) | “I ask,” “I urge,” “I request” | The elder’s pastoral, relational appeal rather than an authoritarian directive — an important tonal signal for how the whole letter’s warnings should be received. | Low-Medium. 구하다/부탁하다 (guhada/butakhada). No major doctrinal collision, but flag the register: this frames vv.5-11 as pastoral appeal, not merely institutional decree, which affects how the later warnings (vv.8-11) should be taught (urgent pastoral concern, not legalistic gatekeeping). |
| κυρία | kyria | kyria | ”lady, mistress” (feminine form of κύριος) | a term of respectful address to a woman; possibly personifying a local congregation | ”lady,” “madam” | The addressee of the letter — either a literal individual or (many interpreters hold) a personification of a house-church, with “her children” as members. | High. KRV renders the phrase as 부녀 (“택하심을 받은 부녀,” v.1) not 주 or 여주인. Critical caution: κυρία shares a root with κύριος (Lord), the baseline’s Critical term (주님, 주인님 forbidden as a substitute for “Lord”). The Korean rendering must NOT use any 주-root word for κυρία, to avoid any visual/phonetic confusion with 주님 (Lord). Recommend consistent use of 부녀 or 여인 with an explanatory footnote on the personification question. |
| ἐντολὴν καινήν | entolēn kainēn | entolē kainē | ”new commandment” | a commandment newly introduced, as opposed to one already possessed | ”new commandment” | Explicitly denied here — the command to love is NOT a novel teaching but the original apostolic deposit “from the beginning,” countering any teacher claiming new revelation. | Medium. 새 계명 (sae gyemyeong). Must retain the negation “not as though…but” to preserve the anti-novelty argument central to the letter’s polemic against progressive/Gnostic-style “new teaching” claims (cf. v.9’s πλάνος/προάγων). |
| ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς | ap’ archēs | ap’ archēs | ”from the beginning” | the origin point of the apostolic message/tradition, or of creation, depending on Johannine context | ”from the beginning” | Grounds the command to love (and, in v.6, right conduct) in original, unchanging apostolic teaching — a key anti-deceiver argument (contrast with v.9’s “goes ahead/beyond”). | Medium. 처음부터 (cheoeumbuteo). Must be rendered consistently in both v.5 and v.6 to preserve the letter’s repeated appeal to apostolic originality against innovation. |
| ἀγαπῶμεν (< ἀγάπη) | agapōmen | agapaō | ”we should love” | self-giving, covenantal love; in Johannine usage, defined by obedience to God’s commandments (v.6), not mere sentiment | ”love one another” | The apostolic command at the heart of “walking in truth” — love expressed as obedient conduct, inseparable from doctrinal fidelity. | High. 사랑 (sarang) / verb 사랑하다. Not present in baseline Romans package as a standalone glossary term despite its centrality to Romans (5:5, 8:35, 13:8-10) — this is a required new glossary term, made urgent by this curriculum’s explicit doctrine “Walking in Truth and Love.” Risk: Korean 사랑 in everyday and popular-media usage strongly connotes romantic or generic familial affection; teaching must explicitly ground ἀγάπη in v.6’s definition (obedience to God’s commandments), preventing collapse into sentimental or K-drama-register “love.” |
| ἀλλήλους | allēlous | allēlōn | ”one another” | reciprocal, mutual action among believers | ”one another,” “each other” | Mutual love within the believing community, the concrete content of “the commandment.” | Low. 서로 (seoro). Standard reciprocal marker; no significant doctrinal risk. |
2 John 1:6
Greek: καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, ἵνα περιπατῶμεν κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ· αὕτη ἡ ἐντολή ἐστιν, καθὼς ἠκούσατε ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῇ περιπατῆτε. Gloss: “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη | hautē estin hē agapē | — | “this is the love” | a definitional formula | ”this is love” | Love is here explicitly DEFINED as obedient conduct according to God’s commandments — the letter’s controlling equation of love and doctrinal/ethical fidelity. | High. Direct extension of the ἀγάπη entry above. This definitional clause is the single most important verse for preventing a sentimental misreading of “love” in Korean; teaching materials must foreground this verse whenever 사랑 is used doctrinally elsewhere in the letter. |
| περιπατῶμεν / περιπατῆτε | peripatōmen / peripatēte | peripateō | ”we might walk / you should walk” | see v.4 | ”walk,” “conduct ourselves” | Reinforces v.4’s “walking in truth” — now explicitly tied to “his commandments” (God’s, or possibly Christ’s). | High — same as v.4 entry. Render consistently with 행하다 across both occurrences. |
| κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ | kata tas entolas autou | — | “according to his commandments” | plural commandments, as a body of instruction | ”according to his commandments” | The comprehensive apostolic ethical-doctrinal deposit, not an isolated single rule. | Medium. 그의 계명들을 따라. Standard; low collision beyond the ἐντολή entry already noted. |
2 John 1:7
Greek: ὅτι πολλοὶ πλάνοι ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πλάνος καὶ ὁ ἀντίχριστος. Gloss: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh; this one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| πλάνοι (< πλάνος) | planoi | planos | ”deceivers, wandering/misleading ones” | those who cause others to stray from truth; a false teacher actively misleading the community | ”deceivers,” “seducers,” “impostors” | False teachers denying the incarnation, actively working to draw believers away from apostolic truth — the letter’s chief antagonist category. | High. KRV established rendering: 미혹하는 자 (mihokhaneun ja). Must be distinguished from (a) a generic “liar” (거짓말쟁이), which lacks the sense of active doctrinal seduction, and (b) Korean shamanistic/folk-religious framing of “a spirit that leads astray” (귀신이 홀리다), which would wrongly recast a doctrinal-teaching problem as a spirit-possession/affliction phenomenon. This is false teaching, not folk-demonic affliction, even though NT theology elsewhere (1 John 4:1-3, 1 Tim 4:1) does link false teaching to deceiving spirits — that nuance requires careful, separate teaching, not conflation in the base rendering. |
| ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸν κόσμον | exēlthon eis ton kosmon | — | “went out into the world” | departure from the community of faith into public influence/activity | ”have gone out into the world” | Describes the visible, active spread of false teaching beyond an original community. | Medium. 세상에 나왔다. κόσμος (kosmos, “world”) here carries the Johannine moral-order sense (the God-opposed human system), not neutral “planet/globe” — low-medium risk, standard theological usage. |
| ὁμολογοῦντες (< ὁμολογέω), negated | homologountes | homologeō | ”confessing” (here: “not confessing” = denying) | to publicly acknowledge/affirm as true; the same verb family used for the salvation confession | ”confess,” “acknowledge,” (negated: “deny”) | The specific, defining test of true vs. false teachers: public confession or denial of Christ’s genuine incarnation. | High. KRV renders the negated construction as 부인하다 (denying), not literally “not confessing.” Cross-reference note: ὁμολογέω is the same verb family as Romans 10:9’s Critical salvation confession (예수는 주님이시다, ὁμολογήσῃς). Translators must preserve the conceptual link between confessing Christ’s Lordship (positive, Romans 10:9) and confessing/denying his incarnation (this verse) as two facets of the same essential gospel confession. |
| Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί | Iēsoun Christon erchomenon en sarki | — | “Jesus Christ coming in the flesh” | affirmation of the real, bodily, human coming/existence of the eternal Son | ”Jesus Christ come/coming in the flesh” | The doctrinal center of this entire curriculum. Direct scriptural anchor of the baseline’s Critical “incarnation” doctrine (성육신). Denial of this is definitionally the mark of “the deceiver and the antichrist.” | CRITICAL — directly grounds baseline “incarnation” entry (성육신). 예수 그리스도께서 육체로 오심. σάρξ (sarx, “flesh”) = 육체 (yukche), standard. MUST NOT be rendered or taught in any way suggesting a provisional, docetic, or repeatable manifestation — explicitly reuse baseline’s forbidden-substitution guidance: NEVER 화신 (a Buddhist avatar/incarnation-of-a-buddha concept describing a provisional, repeatable manifestation). Additional nuance for theologian review: the participle ἐρχόμενον (present/durative in some readings) vs. 1 John 4:2’s perfect ἐληλυθότα (“has come”) carries interpretive nuance among commentators (a timeless confession of incarnation’s reality vs. an ongoing bodily state); recommend the lay-audience rendering follow established KRV simplicity (“오심,” “having come”) without over-resolving the tense-aspect debate in the base translation, flagging the nuance only in theologian-facing notes. |
| ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | antichristos | ”antichrist” | one who opposes / stands in place of Christ; in Johannine letters, any present false teacher denying Christ’s incarnation, not exclusively a single future eschatological figure | ”antichrist” | Defines the doctrinal test for antichrist-identity: denial of the true incarnation, a present and recurring reality, not only a future end-times personage. | High. 적그리스도 (jeokgeuriseudo), established transliterated-compound term. Risk: Korean popular culture (apocalyptic film/media, as in many cultures) has popularized “Antichrist” as a single sensational end-times villain figure; teaching must clarify 1-2 John’s usage refers to a present, recurring doctrinal reality — any teacher denying the true incarnation — correcting popular eschatological-thriller associations. |
2 John 1:8
Greek: βλέπετε ἑαυτούς, ἵνα μὴ ἀπολέσητε ἃ εἰργασάμεθα ἀλλὰ μισθὸν πλήρη ἀπολάβητε. Gloss: “Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| βλέπετε ἑαυτούς | blepete heautous | blepō | ”watch/look to yourselves” | self-vigilance, guarding one’s own spiritual condition | ”watch yourselves,” “see to yourselves,” “look out” | An urgent exhortation to guard against the influence of the deceivers just described. | Low-Medium. KRV: 스스로 삼가라 (samgada, “be watchful/careful”). Standard exhortation term; no major collision. |
| ἀπολέσητε (< ἀπόλλυμι) | apolesēte | apollymi | ”you might lose/destroy” | forfeiting something previously gained | ”lose,” “forfeit” | The real danger of losing the fruit of apostolic labor through complicity with false teaching. | Low. 잃다 (ilta). Standard. |
| μισθὸν πλήρη | misthon plērē | misthos plērēs | ”a full reward” | a wage/recompense, here eschatological, for faithful labor/perseverance | ”full reward,” “complete reward” | Eschatological reward for perseverance in true teaching — genuinely tied to faithfulness, yet not equivalent to earning salvation itself. | High. 상 (sang), 온전한 상 / 상을 온전히 받다. Risk: in Korea’s broadly achievement-and-performance-oriented cultural context (already flagged in the baseline under “mission,” re: a success/growth-metric-driven missions culture), 상 risks being read through a merit-earned, performance-based lens (성과급-like achievement reward) rather than a gracious eschatological reward for grace-enabled perseverance. Must be taught alongside 은혜 (grace, Critical baseline term) to prevent an implied works-righteousness reading, while still preserving the genuine biblical teaching of differentiated reward for faithfulness (distinct from justification itself). |
2 John 1:9
Greek: πᾶς ὁ προάγων καὶ μὴ μένων ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει· ὁ μένων ἐν τῇ διδαχῇ, οὗτος καὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει. Gloss: “Everyone who goes ahead/beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| πᾶς ὁ προάγων (< προάγω) | ho proagōn | proagō | ”the one going ahead/before, going beyond, transgressing” | claiming spiritual/doctrinal advancement beyond established apostolic teaching | ”goes beyond,” “runs ahead,” “does not continue in” | Describes a false teacher’s claim to advance past or beyond Christ’s original teaching (a proto-Gnostic “progressive revelation” posture), framed here as spiritually catastrophic rather than praiseworthy. | High. KRV: 지나쳐 (jinachyeo, “going past/beyond”). Cultural collision risk: Korean religious and self-improvement culture (both Buddhist/folk 수행 and Confucian self-cultivation, already flagged under the baseline’s “sanctification” entry re: 수행/도 닦기) tends to valorize narratives of spiritual “advancement” or “progress.” This verse requires an important inversion for Korean readers: “going ahead/beyond” the teaching of Christ is here a NEGATIVE, doctrinally errant abandonment, not a virtuous spiritual advancement — the opposite of the culturally prized “progress” narrative. Must be taught explicitly to prevent a positive misreading. |
| μὴ μένων / ὁ μένων (< μένω) | mē menōn / ho menōn | menō | ”not abiding/remaining” / “abiding/remaining” | continuing steadfastly in a state or relationship; core Johannine theological term (cf. John 15, 1 John 2-4) | “abide,” “remain,” “continue” | Perseverance in apostolic doctrine as the condition of relationship with God — this is the letter’s central positive doctrine (“Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ”). Reused from v.2 (“the truth…abiding in us”). | High. KRV: 거하다 (georada). Must be rendered identically at v.2 and both occurrences in v.9 to preserve the letter’s key Johannine “abide” theology and its doctrinal through-line. This is the single most important recurring verb for the curriculum’s “Perseverance” doctrine and must never be varied for stylistic reasons. |
| διδαχῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ (διδαχή) | didachē tou Christou | didachē | ”the teaching of Christ” | the fixed, apostolic body of instruction about and from Christ (including his true incarnation) | “the teaching/doctrine of Christ” | Core term for “Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ” doctrine. The specific, bounded apostolic deposit that must be preserved unaltered — not augmented, not “progressed beyond.” | High. KRV renders διδαχή here as 교훈 (gyohun, “teaching/instruction”), not 교리 (gyori, “doctrine/dogma”). Must be distinguished from the Confucian classical-teaching/scholarly-transmission model (already flagged under the baseline’s “inspiration_of_scripture” doctrine, re: Confucian classics 경 gyeong transmitted through a scholarly lineage) — this is a fixed apostolic deposit about Christ personally, received once, not an evolving scholarly tradition refined over generations. |
| θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει | theon ouk echei | echō | ”does not have God” | a strong, exclusivist relational-possession statement | ”does not have God” | Denying Christ’s incarnation/teaching results in NOT having any relationship with God whatsoever — no partial access via generic monotheism. | Critical. Directly reinforces the baseline’s Critical “god” (하나님) and High “deity_of_christ”/“incarnation” entries. KRV notably renders ἔχει with the honorific verb 모시다 (mosida — “to have/attend/receive [a revered person]”), not the plain 가지다 (“to have/possess [a thing]”). Recommend preserving this honorific-verb choice: it correctly frames “having God” as a personal, reverent relationship, not mere possession of a doctrine or object, which matters for a Korean honorific-grammar system already sensitized to this distinction (see baseline honorific-grammar requirement). |
| τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱόν | ton patera kai ton huion | — | “the Father and the Son” | binitarian relational formula affirming shared access to both divine Persons | ”the Father and the Son” | Persevering in Christ’s teaching secures relationship with both the Father and the Son — reinforcing the unity and full deity of the Son alongside the Father. | Critical — REUSE (baseline). 아버지 (father, Critical) and 아들 (son, tied to baseline’s “son_of_god” 하나님의 아들, High). Note: here the bare “아들” (the Son) is used rather than the fuller “하나님의 아들” phrase; translators must ensure the bare “아들” is understood by readers as referring to the same divine Son identified elsewhere as 하나님의 아들, not a lesser or ambiguous referent. |
2 John 1:10
Greek: εἴ τις ἔρχεται πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ ταύτην τὴν διδαχὴν οὐ φέρει, μὴ λαμβάνετε αὐτὸν εἰς οἰκίαν καὶ χαίρειν αὐτῷ μὴ λέγετε· Gloss: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not say to him, ‘Greetings!’”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ταύτην τὴν διδαχὴν οὐ φέρει | tautēn tēn didachēn ou pherei | pherō | ”does not bring/carry this teaching” | failing to hold/present the specific apostolic teaching about Christ’s incarnation | ”does not bring this teaching” | Identifies the precise, narrow test for withholding hospitality: denial specifically of Christ’s incarnation/teaching, not general doctrinal disagreement or personal unfamiliarity. | High. 가지고 오다/가져오다. The word “this” (ταύτην) is doctrinally load-bearing — it must be rendered so as to clearly point back to v.7/v.9’s specific incarnation-teaching, preventing over-application to any minor doctrinal difference. |
| μὴ λαμβάνετε αὐτὸν εἰς οἰκίαν | mē lambanete auton eis oikian | lambanō / oikia | ”do not receive/welcome him into (your) house” | withholding hospitality, lodging, and material/social support | ”do not receive him into your house,” “do not welcome him” | Core term for “Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment” doctrine. Withholding household hospitality/support specifically from those denying the incarnation, so as not to lend material or social legitimacy to false teaching. | Critical/High — major cultural collision. λαμβάνω (receive/welcome) = 영접하다 (yeongjeophada), the same KRV verb used positively for receiving Christ (John 1:12, “영접하는 자”); οἰκία (house/household) = 집 (jip). Grounded risk: Korean culture places an unusually high social-honor value on hospitality toward guests and visiting religious teachers/missionaries (손님 접대, itinerant-preacher welcome customs historically treated as an honor-bound duty in Korean church life). Refusing hospitality to a visiting teacher risks being perceived as a severe breach of Korean social propriety, unkindness, or “un-Christian” coldness — precisely inverting the text’s intent. Teaching MUST tightly qualify the scope: this refusal applies ONLY to those actively promoting denial of Christ’s incarnation (v.7, v.9’s “this teaching”), not to strangers generally, minor theological differences, or ordinary hospitality obligations (which the NT elsewhere commands, e.g. Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2). Requires BOTH human theologian review (doctrinal scope) and native speaker/cultural review (hospitality-norm collision). |
| χαίρειν αὐτῷ μὴ λέγετε | chairein autō mē legete | chairein (infinitive used as greeting) | “do not say ‘Greetings!’ to him” | the standard opening salutation formula of Hellenistic letters (cf. Acts 15:23, 23:26, James 1:1), used here as a stand-in for any word of welcome/endorsement | ”do not even greet him,” “do not wish him well,” “do not say, ‘Welcome‘“ | Withholding not just lodging but any word of social/religious endorsement, so as not to legitimize the false teacher’s message. | High — idiom-handling case. KRV: 인사도 하지 말라 (“do not even give a greeting/insa”). A literal rendering of χαίρειν as “rejoice” (기뻐하라고 말하지 말라) would be confusing and lose the idiomatic force of a Hellenistic letter-greeting formula; must use the natural Korean equivalent 인사 (insa, greeting/salutation), matching established KRV convention. Note: this severs the literary χαίρω/χαίρειν wordplay with v.4 (see above) — an acceptable, flagged translation loss, not an error, to be explained in teaching commentary rather than forced into the base text. |
2 John 1:11
Greek: ὁ λέγων γὰρ αὐτῷ χαίρειν κοινωνεῖ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ τοῖς πονηροῖς. Gloss: “For the one who says ‘Greetings!’ to him shares/participates in his evil deeds.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| κοινωνεῖ (< κοινωνέω) | koinōnei | koinōneō | ”shares/participates/has fellowship in” | verb form of the same root as κοινωνία (fellowship/partnership); here deployed negatively | ”shares in,” “takes part in,” “becomes a partner in” | Extending even a greeting to a denier of the incarnation makes the greeter a complicit partner in that teacher’s evil work — hospitality/endorsement functions as real moral partnership. | High — collision with baseline’s positive “fellowship” term. The baseline Romans package establishes κοινωνία-family terms positively as 교제 (gyoje, “fellowship,” Low risk, “Christian Fellowship” doctrine — shared participation in Christ and other believers). Here the SAME Greek root is used NEGATIVELY. KRV correctly does NOT use 교제하다 here but instead 참여하다 (chamyeohada, “to participate/take part in”). Translators MUST use 참여하다, not 교제하다, in this verse to avoid implying the positive fellowship-doctrine term applies to complicity in evil — while noting for teaching purposes that the underlying Greek root is identical, reinforcing the point that “partnership” (whether framed as 교제 or 참여) always takes on the moral character of what/whom one partners with. |
| ἔργοις…πονηροῖς | ergois ponērois | ergon ponēron | ”evil works/deeds” | morally wicked actions, here specifically the false teacher’s doctrinal deception and its effects | ”evil deeds,” “wicked works” | The concrete moral content of the false teacher’s activity, from which the believer must remain unassociated. | Low-Medium. 악한 일 (akan il). Standard; no major collision beyond ensuring it clearly refers back to the doctrinal deception of vv.7-10, not unrelated general wrongdoing. |
PART B — Chapter 1: Remainder (vv.1–3, 12–13) — Completing Full-Book Coverage
2 John consists of a single chapter (13 verses). Having covered the core passage (vv.4-11) above, this section completes full-book coverage by treating the remaining verses (1-3, 12-13), per the PRD mandate that every part of the book — not only the core passage — receive documented analysis.
2 John 1:1–2
Greek: Ὁ πρεσβύτερος ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῆς, οὓς ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐγνωκότες τὴν ἀλήθειαν, διὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τὴν μένουσαν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ μεθ’ ἡμῶν ἔσται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Gloss: “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth — and not only I, but also all who have known the truth — because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ πρεσβύτερος | ho presbyteros | presbyteros | ”the elder” | a senior figure with recognized authority; could denote the apostle John himself, or a generic honorific self-designation of seniority/authority | ”the elder” | The author’s self-designation, signaling recognized apostolic-era pastoral authority over the recipients. | High — major cultural collision. KRV established rendering: 장로 (jangno). Grounded risk: 장로 is a highly salient, living Korean Protestant church-office title — especially prominent in Korean Presbyterianism, where 장로 designates an ordained lay leadership office with significant social status (the title has even entered wider Korean public discourse, e.g. popular references to a “elder-president” for Christian heads of state). Korean readers may impose this modern institutional-office connotation onto the author’s self-designation, whereas 2 John’s “elder” more likely denotes apostolic-era seniority/authority (possibly the apostle John) rather than a specific ordained committee office as structured in the modern Korean Presbyterian system. Recommend a teaching footnote clarifying this distinction whenever 장로 appears in this book’s lesson materials. |
| ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ | eklektē kyria | eklektos + kyria | ”elect/chosen lady” | either a specific individual woman of high standing, or (widely held view) a personification of a local congregation, with “children” = members | ”elect lady,” “chosen lady” | The letter’s addressee; the personification question affects whether readers understand this as a private letter to an individual household or a pastoral letter to a congregation. | High. KRV: 택하심을 받은 부녀. Cross-reference to baseline’s “election” entry (선택, High risk) — ἐκλεκτή shares the same root, reinforcing chosen/beloved covenant identity rather than a competitive, merit-based selection (a nuance the baseline already flags regarding Korea’s exam/hiring “selection” culture). Must avoid any κυρία-root rendering that risks confusion with 주님 (Lord) — see v.5 note above. Recommend footnoting both the personification-interpretation question and the κυρία/κύριος distinction. |
| τέκνοις | teknois | tekna | ”children” | see v.4 entry | ”children” | See v.4. | Medium — same as v.4 entry. |
| ἀγαπῶ (< ἀγαπάω) | agapō | agapaō | ”I love” | see ἀγάπη entry, v.5-6 | ”I love” | The elder’s pastoral love for the recipients, explicitly qualified “in truth” — love and truth are inseparable throughout the letter. | High — same as ἀγάπη entry above. 사랑하다. Note the phrase “ἐν ἀληθείᾳ” (in truth) qualifying love from the letter’s very first sentence — establishes the truth/love pairing that structures the whole book and the curriculum’s stated doctrine “Walking in Truth and Love.” |
| οἱ ἐγνωκότες τὴν ἀλήθειαν (< γινώσκω) | hoi egnōkotes tēn alētheian | ginōskō | ”those who have come to know the truth” | relational, experiential knowing (not merely intellectual assent) | “those who have known the truth” | All genuine believers share this relational knowledge of gospel truth, not merely the elder personally. | Medium. 진리를 아는 자들. Standard; connects to the ἀλήθεια entry’s epistemological dimension — knowing here is relational/experiential (cf. Hebrew yada), not simply propositional information-possession. |
| μένουσαν (< μένω) | menousan | menō | ”abiding, remaining” | see μένω entry at v.9 | ”abides,” “remains,” “dwells” | The truth’s permanent, indwelling presence in believers — introduces the letter’s key “abide” theology continued through v.2, v.9. | High — same as μένω entry, v.9. 거하다. Must render consistently with the v.9 occurrences. |
| εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα | eis ton aiōna | aiōn | ”forever, into the age” | unending duration; contrasted implicitly with impermanent or cyclical notions of time | ”forever” | The permanence of truth’s indwelling presence, a guarantee against the deceivers’ temporary, passing influence. | Medium. 영원히 (yeongwonhi). Low-medium risk; briefly distinguish from a cyclical-eternity or reincarnation-adjacent framing (cf. baseline’s “resurrection” entry’s caution against 윤회), though risk here is lower since this is a simple durational adverb, not a doctrine of the afterlife per se. |
2 John 1:3
Greek: ἔσται μεθ’ ἡμῶν χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη παρὰ θεοῦ πατρός, καὶ παρὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός, ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἀγάπῃ. Gloss: “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| χάρις | charis | charis | ”grace” | unmerited favor | ”grace” | God’s unearned favor as the ground of the greeting-blessing. | Critical — REUSE (baseline). 은혜 (eunhye). Full baseline forbidden-substitution guidance applies: never framed as a 기복신앙-style transactional exchange. |
| ἔλεος | eleos | eleos | ”mercy” | compassionate covenantal kindness toward those in need/distress, distinct from mere pity | ”mercy” | God’s compassionate covenant-kindness, paired with grace and peace in this greeting — a triad not found in this exact form elsewhere in Paul’s letters (which typically pair only “grace and peace”), giving 2 John (with 1-2 Timothy) a distinctive greeting formula. | Medium. 긍휼 (geunghyul), the standard established KRV term (distinct from generic pity/sympathy, 동정). Not in the baseline glossary; recommend adding as a new Medium-risk term given its recurrence potential across other curricula in this pipeline (1-2 Timothy also share this triad). |
| εἰρήνη | eirēnē | eirēnē | ”peace” | relational well-being/reconciliation; in epistolary greetings, a theological blessing-wish from God | ”peace” | Peace as a gift “from God the Father and Jesus Christ,” part of the greeting-blessing triad. | High — flag internal baseline tension. The baseline Romans “peace” entry fixes the rendering 화평 for the specifically relational peace-with-God sense (anchored to Romans 5:1’s justification context), explicitly distinguishing it from the “general well-being greeting sense of 평안.” However, the actual, established KRV rendering of 2 John 1:3 (and comparable epistolary greetings, e.g. Romans 1:7) uses neither 화평 nor 평안 but 평강 (pyeonggang) — the Korean Bible tradition’s own dedicated term for the epistolary grace-peace greeting-blessing formula. This is a genuine three-way distinction already present in Korean Bible usage (화평 = reconciled relational status; 평강 = epistolary greeting-blessing; 평안 = general well-being) that the baseline package did not fully capture, having only contrasted 화평 against 평안. Recommendation for Phase 2: extend translation_memory.json with a distinct entry for the epistolary-greeting sense of εἰρήνη using 평강, cross-referenced to (not overriding) the existing 화평 entry for Romans 5:1’s justification-peace sense, and flag this segment for native-speaker/theologian review to confirm correct term selection by context. |
| θεός πατήρ | theos patēr | — | “God the Father” | — | “God the Father” | See baseline entries. | Critical — REUSE (baseline). 하나님 / 아버지. |
| Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός | Iēsou Christou tou huiou tou patros | — | “Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father” | affirms Christ’s unique divine sonship in relation to the Father | ”Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father” | A distinctive Johannine variant of the baseline’s “Son of God” (하나님의 아들) formula — here phrased relationally as “the Father’s Son” rather than “God’s Son.” | High. Reuse 예수/그리스도 (Critical/Medium, baseline) for the proper names. For “τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός,” recommend “아버지의 아들” as a literal, faithful rendering, while cross-referencing the baseline’s “son_of_god” doctrine (하나님의 아들, High risk) so readers do not perceive these as two different sons or a lesser filial status — both phrases refer to the same eternal, unique, co-equal divine Son. |
| ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἀγάπῃ | en alētheia kai agapē | — | “in truth and love” | — | “in truth and love” | Frames the entire greeting-blessing within the letter’s governing truth/love pairing, established from v.1 and developed through v.6. | High — same as ἀλήθεια and ἀγάπη entries above. 진리와 사랑 안에서. This phrase functions almost as the letter’s thesis statement and should be rendered identically wherever it recurs conceptually across teaching materials for this curriculum. |
2 John 1:12
Greek: Πολλὰ ἔχων ὑμῖν γράφειν οὐκ ἐβουλήθην διὰ χάρτου καὶ μέλανος, ἀλλὰ ἐλπίζω γενέσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ στόμα πρὸς στόμα λαλῆσαι, ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡμῶν πεπληρωμένη ᾖ. Gloss: “Having many things to write to you, I did not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak mouth to mouth, so that our joy may be made full.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| διὰ χάρτου καὶ μέλανος | dia chartou kai melanos | chartēs / melan | ”with paper and ink” | material writing tools | ”with paper and ink” | A personal, practical detail underscoring the elder’s preference for direct fellowship over written correspondence alone. | Low. 종이와 먹(잉크). No doctrinal risk; minor stylistic choice between traditional 먹 and loanword 잉크, either acceptable. |
| στόμα πρὸς στόμα λαλῆσαι | stoma pros stoma lalēsai | stoma | ”to speak mouth to mouth” | Hebraic/Greek idiom for direct, personal, face-to-face conversation (cf. Numbers 12:8; compare 3 John 14’s parallel idiom πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον, “face to face”) | “speak face to face,” “talk in person” | Personal presence and direct conversation valued above even a full written letter — relational priority over written instruction alone. | Medium — idiom-handling case. KRV already naturalizes this idiom as 얼굴을 마주 대하여 (face to face), NOT a literal rendering of “mouth to mouth.” A literal rendering (입과 입을 마주하여) would risk sounding like a kiss or a resuscitation technique in modern Korean and must be avoided. This is a clear example of the pipeline’s general idiom-handling principle: find the natural equivalent, do not translate literally. |
| χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη | chara peplērōmenē | chara / plēroō | ”joy made full/complete” | the fullness of relational joy that comes through direct fellowship | ”our joy may be complete/full” | Echoes broader Johannine “fullness of joy” theology found in John 15:11, 16:24, and 1 John 1:4. | Low-Medium. 기쁨이 충만하다. No major collision; recommend a teaching cross-reference to other Johannine “fullness of joy” passages for curricular consistency if this curriculum later includes John or 1 John. |
2 John 1:13
Greek: Ἀσπάζεταί σε τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἀδελφῆς σου τῆς ἐκλεκτῆς. Gloss: “The children of your elect sister greet you.”
| Term | Original | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range | English variants | Contextual theological meaning | Korean rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀσπάζεταί (< ἀσπάζομαι) | aspazetai | aspazomai | ”greets, sends greetings/embraces” | the standard, legitimate closing greeting/salutation of a Hellenistic letter | ”greets you,” “sends greetings” | A genuine, warm, legitimate greeting extended between fellow believers — deliberately contrasted with the FORBIDDEN greeting (χαίρειν) of v.10-11 withheld from false teachers. | Medium — important literary/pastoral contrast to preserve. KRV: 문안하다 (munanhada). This is a different Greek verb and a different Korean term from v.10-11’s χαίρειν/인사, and that distinction should be preserved and taught explicitly: the letter closes by modeling genuine fellowship-greeting among the truly “elect,” in deliberate contrast to the greeting withheld from deceivers — reinforcing the doctrine of “Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment” through structural contrast. |
| τῆς ἀδελφῆς σου τῆς ἐκλεκτῆς | tēs adelphēs sou tēs eklektēs | adelphē + eklektē | ”of your elect sister” | parallels “elect lady” (v.1); likely another personified congregation, or a literal sister church/family member | ”your elect sister” | Reinforces the letter’s opening personification (or individual) and its “elect/chosen” framing of the recipient community. | Medium — same as ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ entry, v.1. 택하심을 받은 자매의. Treat consistently with the v.1 personification-question footnote. |
Full-Book Coverage Confirmation
2 John consists of exactly one chapter and thirteen verses. All thirteen verses (1:1–1:13) have been analyzed above: the core passage (1:4–11) received full verse-by-verse term analysis in Part A; the remainder of the chapter (1:1–3, 1:12–13) received the same term-level treatment in Part B, completing full-book coverage as mandated. No chapter of this book was skipped or summarized without term-level analysis; there is no “Chapter 2” or beyond to report.