Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — 3 John
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json for the 3 John curriculum. It does not alter or override any baseline entry. Terms already fixed by the baseline (神, 教会, 平安) are listed first for completeness and must be reused exactly. All subsequent terms are new to this curriculum, proposed for addition to translation memory at Phase 2 handoff, and require the review routing indicated.
Section A — Reused Baseline Terms (No Deviation Permitted)
| English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Mandarin Rendering | Pinyin | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Verse(s) | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός / theos | 神 | Shén | Critical | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 6, 11 | Reused exactly from baseline. Monotheism must be made explicit; 神 is also the generic noun for any deity/spirit in folk usage. |
| church | ἐκκλησία / ekklēsia | 教会 | jiàohuì | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 6, 9, 10 | Reused exactly from baseline. Never 庙/寺/道观 (folk/Buddhist/Daoist temple terms). |
| peace | εἰρήνη / eirēnē | 平安 | píng’ān | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 14 | Reused exactly from baseline. Closing benediction sense is relational/covenantal, not the generic amulet-blessing sense of everyday 平安. |
Section B — New Terms: Core Doctrinal Vocabulary (Critical/High Risk)
| English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Mandarin Rendering | Pinyin | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Verse(s) | Rationale / Collision Notes | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the Name (of Christ) | ὄνομα / onoma | ”name” | 主的名 (full: 那名 / 主的名) | zhǔ de míng | Critical | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 7 | ”For the sake of the Name” is a Christological title-metonym standing for Christ’s own person and authority (cf. baseline’s Critical treatment of 主/Lord and 神的儿子/Son of God). Must never be flattened into a generic reference to “reputation,” “cause,” or “the movement” — that would strip Christ’s own Name of its personal, authoritative weight. Requires a translator note on first occurrence. | Human theologian |
| elder | πρεσβύτερος / presbyteros | ”older one, elder” | 长老 | zhǎnglǎo | High | Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 1 | 长老 is also the standard Chinese Buddhist term for a senior monk (translating Pali thera/Sanskrit-derived monastic seniority), and independently denotes a secular clan/village elder whose authority rests on age and lineage standing rather than an entrusted spiritual office. Must be introduced with a note: this is a term of pastoral, apostolic-era church office/relational authority, not Buddhist monastic seniority nor Confucian clan-elder gerontocracy. | Human theologian |
| truth | ἀλήθεια / alētheia | ”that which is unconcealed; truth” | 真理 | zhēnlǐ | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 1, 3 (×2), 4, 8, 12 (×2) | 真理 risks two collisions: (1) Buddhist usage for metaphysical/ultimate truth (e.g., renderings of the Four Noble Truths), and (2) 20th-century Chinese political-ideological usage of “truth” as Party-verified objective doctrine (e.g., the well-known slogan “practice is the sole criterion of truth”). In 3 John, ἀλήθεια is the personal, revealed reality of Christ that governs a believer’s whole conduct and relationships — not abstract philosophical Truth, not scientific/ideological “objective truth,” and not a mystical realization attained through practice. Every occurrence requires this distinction to be teachable. | Human theologian |
| faithful (of loyal conduct) | πιστός / pistos | ”faithful, trustworthy” | 忠心 | zhōngxīn | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 5 | πιστός shares its root with πίστις (“faith”), whose baseline Mandarin rendering 信心 is reserved (Critical risk) exclusively for saving trust in Christ (Romans 4, 10). Here the term describes loyal, dependable action in hospitality, not the article of saving faith. Rendering as 信心 would blur the baseline’s carefully guarded faith/works distinction; CUV tradition correctly renders this sense as 忠心. Must never be rendered 信心 in this context. | Human theologian |
| strangers / traveling ministers | ξένος / xenos | ”stranger, foreigner, guest” | 客旅 | kèlǚ | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 5 | 客旅 (traveler/sojourner) is the correct CUV-tradition term, but risks being read as any ordinary traveler, tourist, or generic charity-recipient. Must be taught as specifically itinerant gospel workers sent out “for the sake of the Name” (v.7) — hospitality here is gospel partnership, not generic almsgiving to strangers. | Human theologian |
| receive/support (hospitality) | ὑπολαμβάνω / hypolambanō | ”to take up, receive, support” | 接待 | jiēdài | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 8 | 接待 is extremely common in secular Chinese for hosting any guest, client, or visitor (e.g., business hospitality, government “接待” protocol). Must be taught as active material and relational support of gospel workers that makes the host “a fellow worker with the truth” (v.8) — not mere social courtesy or reciprocal-favor etiquette (人情, rénqíng), which carries its own culturally loaded expectation of return obligation. | Human theologian |
| welcome/accept (of church authority) | ἐπιδέχομαι / epidechomai | ”to receive, welcome, accept” | 接纳 | jiēnà | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 9, 10 | Used negatively of Diotrephes’ refusal to receive both the elder’s representatives and the traveling brothers. Overlaps semantically with 接待 (ὑπολαμβάνω) but carries an added note of accepting someone’s authority/legitimacy, not just their physical presence. Refusal to 接纳 is simultaneously a hospitality failure and an authority usurpation. | Human theologian |
| loving to be first / craving preeminence | φιλοπρωτεύω / philoprōteuō | ”to love being first” (φιλέω + πρῶτος) | 好为首 | hào wéishǒu | High | Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 9 | This rare NT compound diagnoses Diotrephes’ specific sin as a disordered love of top-position status and control, not a doctrinal error. Directly parallels the baseline’s caution on 荣耀/glory collapsing into 面子 (social face) and 光宗耀祖 (family/clan honor-seeking): 好为首 must be taught as illegitimate craving of ecclesial preeminence, a specific warning against status-seeking church leadership within a culture where hierarchical face and rank-consciousness are strong social defaults. | Human theologian |
| cast out (of the church) | ἐκβάλλω / ekballō | ”to cast out, expel, drive out” | 赶出教会 | gǎnchū jiàohuì | High | Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 10 | Describes Diotrephes’ illegitimate exercise of church discipline out of personal pride. Risk of collision with the Chinese concept of expulsion from a clan/lineage register (出族, chū zú) — a socially and ritually severe act affecting a person’s standing in ancestor veneration and family inheritance. Must be taught as an abuse of proper church discipline for illegitimate personal motives, distinct from (and worse than) any legitimate biblical church discipline process, and distinct from clan-lineage expulsion’s ancestral-ritual implications. | Human theologian |
| imitate | μιμέομαι / mimeomai | ”to imitate, model oneself after” | 效法 | xiàofǎ | High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 3 John 11 | 效法 is the standard Chinese term for emulating moral exemplars, heavily associated in Confucian tradition with “modeling oneself after the sages” (效法先贤) as a program of self-cultivation toward moral perfection. Parallels the baseline’s caution on 成圣/sanctification: 效法 here means patterning one’s observable conduct after godly examples (Gaius, Demetrius) as fruit of one’s relationship with God, not a self-effort technique of moral cultivation that itself produces standing before God. | Human theologian |
| good (doing good) | ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω / agathos / agathopoieō | ”good; to do good” | 善 / 行善 | shàn / xíngshàn | High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 3 John 11 | 善/恶 (good/evil) sit at the center of the Chinese folk-Buddhist karma-retribution worldview (“善有善报，恶有恶报” — good deeds are rewarded, evil deeds punished) and of Mencian Confucian moral-nature theory (性善论, the doctrine of innate human goodness). Romans 3 John 11 uses this pair not as a karma-ledger (“doing good earns reward”) but as evidence of an already-existing relationship with God (“the one who does good is of God”). This is the same grace-versus-merit collision the baseline documents for 恩典/功德 (Critical); every occurrence requires a note preventing readers from hearing a merit-accumulation claim. | Human theologian |
| evil (doing evil) | κακός / κακοποιέω / kakos / kakopoieō | ”bad, evil; to do evil” | 恶 / 行恶 | è / xíngè | High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 3 John 11 | Paired directly with 善/行善 above; same karma-worldview collision risk applies in reverse — “the one who does evil has not seen God” must be taught as evidence of an absent relationship with God, not merely the accrual of bad karma (报应) that could in principle be offset by future merit. | Human theologian |
| soul | ψυχή / psychē | ”soul, inner life” | 灵魂 | línghún | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 2 | 灵魂 in Chinese folk religion is associated with a detachable soul-substance subject to loss, wandering, or capture (folk practices such as 收魂/丢魂 concerning a frightened or displaced soul, and the multiple-soul cosmology of 三魂七魄). Must be taught as the whole inward spiritual condition of a believer flourishing before God, not a semi-physical soul-essence vulnerable to external ritual manipulation. | Human theologian |
Section C — New Terms: Supporting Vocabulary (Medium/Low Risk)
| English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Mandarin Rendering | Pinyin | Risk Tier | Doctrine | Verse(s) | Rationale / Collision Notes | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| beloved | ἀγαπητός / agapētos | ”dearly loved” | 亲爱的 | qīn’ài de | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 1, 2, 5, 11 | Standard CUV term of address; minimal collision risk. | Automated review |
| love (verb/noun) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη / agapaō / agapē | ”to love / love” | 爱 / 爱心 | ài / àixīn | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 1, 6 | Must be distinguished contextually from romantic love (爱情) and from mere sentiment; ἀγάπη here is covenantal, verifiable-by-testimony love, publicly recognized before the church (v.6). | Native speaker review |
| brothers | ἀδελφός / adelphos | ”brother” | 兄弟 | xiōngdì | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 3, 5, 10 | Distinguish from ritualized sworn-brotherhood bonds (结拜兄弟, cf. baseline fellowship note) and from purely biological/clan sibling relation; this is spiritual family in Christ, including strangers not previously known personally. | Native speaker review |
| testify / testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία / martyreō / martyria | ”to bear witness / testimony” | 见证 / 作见证 | jiànzhèng / zuò jiànzhèng | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness; Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 3, 6, 12 (×3) | 见证 is also used secularly (legal witness) and in various contemporary new-religious-movement “testimonial” contexts (e.g., promotional testimony to a technique’s efficacy). Must be taught as verified, truthful eyewitness testimony to a person’s Christian character consistent with “the truth,” not a promotional endorsement. | Native speaker review |
| send on their way (with provision) | προπέμπω / propempō | ”to send forward, escort, provision for a journey” | 送行 | sòngxíng | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 6 | Active provisioning of gospel workers for continued travel and ministry, not merely a farewell courtesy. | Native speaker review |
| fellow worker | συνεργός / synergos | ”co-laborer” | 同工 | tónggōng | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 8 | 同工 is also standard secular workplace vocabulary (cf. 同工同酬, “equal pay for equal work”); must be anchored to gospel-ministry partnership specifically. | Native speaker review |
| pagans / outsiders | ἐθνικός / ethnikos | ”pertaining to a nation; pagan” | 外邦人 | wàibāngrén | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 7 | Reuses the baseline’s established rendering of the cognate ἔθνη (外邦人) for consistency across curricula, but flag the sense shift: in Romans, 外邦人 marks the Jew/Gentile redemptive-historical category; in 3 John 7 it denotes non-believing outsiders in general, from whom missionaries deliberately declined support. Teach the contextual difference explicitly to avoid importing Romans’ ethnic-inclusion theology where it is not in view. | Native speaker review |
| worthy of God | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ / axiōs tou theou | ”worthily of God” | 配得过神 / 合乎神的心意 | pèidéguò Shén / héhū Shén de xīnyì | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 6 | Standard fixed CUV-style phrase; ensure it is not read as Gaius earning merit before God, but as a description of conduct consistent with God’s own generous character. | Native speaker review |
| spiritual children | τέκνα / tekna | ”children” | 儿女 | érnǚ | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 4 | Distinguish from biological offspring and from clan lineage/heir language (cf. baseline caution on 过继 under adoption); this is pastoral-spiritual fatherhood through gospel ministry. | Native speaker review |
| friends | φίλος / philos | ”friend” | 朋友 | péngyou | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 14 | Notable shift from family language (兄弟) to friendship language (朋友) for the same community; teach both as describing the same non-hierarchical Christian fellowship. | Automated review |
| slander | καταλαλέω / katalaleō | ”to speak against, defame” | 毁谤 | huǐbàng | Low | Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 10 | Standard term; distinguish from legitimate public accountability or rebuke. | Automated review |
| hinder / forbid | κωλύω / kōlyō | ”to hinder, prevent” | 阻止 | zǔzhǐ | Low | Church Leadership and Pride | 3 John 10 | Standard term; no significant collision. | Automated review |
| joy | χαρά / chara | ”joy, gladness” | 喜乐 | xǐlè | Low | Commendation of Faithful Witness | 3 John 4 | Standard Christian term distinguished from generic happiness (快乐); minimal risk. | Automated review |
| ought / obligation | ὀφείλω / opheilō | ”to owe, be obligated” | 应当 | yīngdāng | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 3 John 8 | Standard obligation term; no significant collision. | Automated review |
| greet | ἀσπάζομαι / aspazomai | ”to greet, send greetings” | 问安 | wèn’ān | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 3 John 14 | Standard CUV epistolary-closing term. | Automated review |
| ink / pen | μέλαν / κάλαμος / melas / kalamos | ”ink / reed pen” | 笔墨 | bǐmò | None | (material culture only) | 3 John 13 | No theological content; standard Mandarin equivalents suffice without doctrinal note. Included for full-verse coverage only. | Not required |
Risk Summary for 3 John Curriculum
| Risk Tier | Count (new terms) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 1 | Human theologian |
| High | 12 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 8 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 6 | Automated review |
| None (material culture) | 1 | Not required |
Total new terms proposed for translation memory addition: 28, plus 3 reused baseline terms (神, 教会, 平安) requiring no new entry.
All Critical- and High-risk terms above require a [TRANSLATOR NOTE: ...] flag per the format established in the baseline 12_ai_translation_requirements.md whenever the segment makes a non-obvious doctrinal choice, and must be routed to human theologian review before approval in Phase 2 Step 17. Medium-risk terms follow native speaker review routing consistent with baseline convention. This glossary must be loaded alongside the baseline translation_memory.json for all Phase 2 processing of 3 John segments; it extends but never overrides baseline entries.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Shén
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship; Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 上帝, 天, 老天爷
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation. Occurs in 3 John 6, 11 as the standard against which conduct is measured (‘is of God’ / ‘has not seen God’). Monotheism must remain explicit; 神 is also the generic noun for any deity/spirit in folk usage.
Name Of Christ
Approved rendering: 主的名
Transliteration: zhǔ de míng
Doctrine: The Name of Christ and Gospel Mission
Rejected alternatives: 那名字（无基督指代）, 他们的名誉, 这个事业的名
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Christology
NEW. 3 John 7. ‘The Name’ (τὸ ὄνομα) is a Christological title-metonym for Christ’s own person and authority, structurally parallel to the baseline’s Critical treatment of 主 (Lord) and 神的儿子 (Son of God). NEVER generalize to ‘reputation,’ ‘the cause,’ or ‘the movement.’ NEVER assimilate to Pure Land Buddhist name-invocation practice (念佛) or generic folk deity-name invocation formulas, which treat the name itself as independently ritually efficacious. Requires translator note on first occurrence.
High Risk Terms
Elder
Approved rendering: 长老
Transliteration: zhǎnglǎo
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 大师, 族长, 长辈
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1, author’s self-designation. 长老 is also the standard Chinese Buddhist term for a senior monk (translating Pali thera) and independently denotes a secular clan/village elder whose authority rests on age and lineage. Must be introduced with a note distinguishing apostolic-era pastoral office and relational, entrusted authority from Buddhist monastic seniority or Confucian clan-elder gerontocracy. Do NOT insert the author’s traditional identification (约翰/John) into translated verse text; the Greek withholds the name.
Truth
Approved rendering: 真理
Transliteration: zhēnlǐ
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 道理, 实情, 真相
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth
NEW. 3 John 1, 3 (x2), 4, 8, 12 (x2) — the letter’s dominant recurring term. Risks two collisions: (1) Buddhist usage for metaphysical/ultimate truth attained through practice (e.g. Four Noble Truths idiom); (2) 20th-century Chinese political-ideological usage of ‘truth’ as Party-verified objective doctrine (‘实践是检验真理的唯一标准’). Every occurrence must anchor 真理 as the personal, revealed reality of Christ governing conduct and relationships.
Faithful Conduct
Approved rendering: 忠心
Transliteration: zhōngxīn
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 信心, 虔诚, 忠诚
Original: πιστός
Category: Christian Conduct
NEW. 3 John 5. πιστός shares its root with πίστις (‘faith’), whose baseline rendering 信心 is reserved (Critical risk) exclusively for saving trust in Christ. This term describes loyal, dependable action in hospitality, not the article of saving faith. NEVER render as 信心 in this context — doing so would blur the baseline’s carefully guarded faith/works distinction.
Strangers
Approved rendering: 客旅
Transliteration: kèlǚ
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 外国人, 游客, 陌生人
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 5. Correct CUV-tradition term but risks being read as any ordinary traveler, tourist, or generic charity recipient. Must be taught as specifically itinerant gospel workers sent out ‘for the sake of the Name’ (v.7); should co-occur with surrounding-context language identifying them as gospel workers, since the single word alone loses the technical sense if extracted.
Receive Support
Approved rendering: 接待
Transliteration: jiēdài
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 招待, 款待
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 8 (ὑπολαμβάνω — material/relational support). 接待 is extremely common in secular Chinese for hosting any guest, client, or visitor (business hospitality, government protocol) and carries the culturally loaded reciprocity expectation of 人情 (rénqíng, a favor creating a debt of future return). Must be taught as active material support making the host ‘a fellow worker with the truth,’ not social courtesy or favor-banking. Distinct from 接纳 (ἐπιδέχομαι, authority-acceptance) — do not treat as interchangeable.
Welcome Accept
Approved rendering: 接纳
Transliteration: jiēnà
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 接受, 承认
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 9, 10 (ἐπιδέχομαι), used negatively of Diotrephes’ refusal. Overlaps semantically with 接待 (ὑπολαμβάνω) but carries an added sense of accepting a person’s authority/legitimacy, not merely their physical presence. Diotrephes’ refusal to 接纳 is simultaneously a hospitality failure and an authority usurpation; both senses must be preserved and distinguished from 接待.
Love Of Preeminence
Approved rendering: 好为首
Transliteration: hào wéishǒu
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 争第一, 好胜, 出风头
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 9 (φιλοπρωτεύω, a rare NT compound with no independent Mandarin currency — a controlled coinage for this doctrinal warning). Parallels the baseline’s caution on 荣耀/glory collapsing into 面子 (social face) and 光宗耀祖. Must be taught as illegitimate craving of ecclesial preeminence and control, not ordinary leadership ambition — especially given Chinese hierarchical face-culture (面子文化, 长幼有序) that could otherwise normalize Diotrephes’ conduct as unremarkable status-deference. Mandatory translator note at every occurrence.
Cast Out
Approved rendering: 赶出教会
Transliteration: gǎnchū jiàohuì
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 逐出族谱, 开除
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 10 (ἐκβάλλω). Risk of collision with clan/lineage expulsion (出族, chū zú), a socially severe act with ancestor-veneration and inheritance consequences. Must be taught as an abuse of church discipline for illegitimate personal (pride-driven) motives, distinct from both legitimate biblical church discipline and clan-lineage ritual expulsion.
Imitate
Approved rendering: 效法
Transliteration: xiàofǎ
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: 模仿, 学习
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Christian Conduct
NEW. 3 John 11 (μιμέομαι). Heavily associated with Confucian self-cultivation (‘效法先贤’, ‘见贤思齐’ — modeling oneself after sages as a moral-improvement program). Must be taught as patterning conduct after godly examples (Gaius, Demetrius) as fruit of an already-existing relationship with God, not a self-effort technique that itself produces standing before God — parallels the baseline’s caution on 成圣/sanctification.
Good Doing Good
Approved rendering: 善 / 行善
Transliteration: shàn / xíngshàn
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 好事
Original: ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Christian Conduct
NEW. 3 John 11 (ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω). Sits at the center of the folk-Buddhist karma-retribution proverb (‘善有善报，恶有恶报’) and Mencian innate-goodness doctrine (性善论). Used here as evidence of an already-existing relationship with God (‘is of God’), not a merit-ledger claim. Same grace-versus-merit collision the baseline documents for 恩典/功德 (Critical). Requires a note preventing a merit-accumulation reading at every occurrence.
Evil Doing Evil
Approved rendering: 恶 / 行恶
Transliteration: è / xíngè
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: 报应, 坏事
Original: κακός / κακοποιέω
Category: Christian Conduct
NEW. 3 John 11 (κακός / κακοποιέω). Paired directly with 善/行善; the same karma-worldview collision risk applies in reverse — ‘has not seen God’ must be taught as evidence of an absent relationship with God, not merely bad karma (报应) that could in principle be offset by future merit.
Soul
Approved rendering: 灵魂
Transliteration: línghún
Doctrine: Prayer for Holistic Well-Being
Rejected alternatives: 魂魄, 精神
Original: ψυχή
Category: Anthropology
NEW. 3 John 2 (ψυχή). Chinese folk religion associates 灵魂 with a detachable, multi-part soul-substance vulnerable to loss, wandering, or ritual capture (三魂七魄 cosmology; 收魂/丢魂 practices). Must be taught as the believer’s whole inward spiritual condition before God, not a semi-physical soul-essence subject to ritual manipulation. Verse structure (outward prospering measured against soul’s prospering) must not be taught as a prosperity-gospel formula.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: 教会
Transliteration: jiàohuì
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 庙, 寺, 道观
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation. Occurs in 3 John 6, 9, 10 as the local assembly — the setting for both Gaius’s public commendation and Diotrephes’ abuse of authority. Never render with folk/Buddhist/Daoist temple terms.
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: píng’ān
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 安宁, 平安符式的平安
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation. Occurs in the closing benediction (3 John 14). Clarify as relational, covenantal peace grounded in shared standing before God, not the generic protective-amulet sense of everyday 平安 usage (e.g. on 平安符).
Love
Approved rendering: 爱 / 爱心
Transliteration: ài / àixīn
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 爱情
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1, 6 (ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη). Must be distinguished contextually from romantic love (爱情) and mere sentiment; this is covenantal, verifiable-by-testimony love publicly recognized before the church (v.6).
Brothers
Approved rendering: 兄弟
Transliteration: xiōngdì
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 结拜兄弟, 同胞
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 3, 5, 10 (ἀδελφός). Distinguish from ritualized sworn-brotherhood bonds (结拜兄弟, e.g. the Peach Garden oath) and from purely biological/clan sibling relation; this is spiritual family in Christ extended even to strangers not previously known personally.
Testimony
Approved rendering: 见证 / 作见证
Transliteration: jiànzhèng / zuò jiànzhèng
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness; Christian Witness and Testimony
Rejected alternatives: 证明, 推荐
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
NEW. 3 John 3, 6, 12 (x3) (μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία). Used secularly for legal witness and, in contemporary usage, for commercial/new-religious-movement promotional ‘testimonial’ rhetoric. Must be taught as verified, truthful eyewitness testimony to Christian character consistent with 真理, not a subjective impression or promotional endorsement. Anchor Demetrius’s threefold witness (v.12) to consistency with 真理 itself as the authenticating standard.
Send On Journey
Approved rendering: 送行
Transliteration: sòngxíng
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 告别, 欢送
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 6 (προπέμπω). Must convey active provisioning for continued travel and gospel ministry, not merely a farewell courtesy or social send-off.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: 同工
Transliteration: tónggōng
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 伙伴, 合作者
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 8 (συνεργός). Standard secular workplace vocabulary also (cf. 同工同酬, ‘equal pay for equal work’); must be anchored specifically to gospel-ministry partnership, not general employment collaboration.
Pagans Outsiders
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: wàibāngrén
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 异教徒, 夷人
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Church
NEW (sense-shifted reuse of baseline character string). 3 John 7 (ἐθνικός). Reuses the baseline Romans rendering of the cognate ἔθνη (外邦人) for cross-curriculum lexical consistency, but the SENSE SHIFTS: in Romans, 外邦人 marks the Jew/Gentile redemptive-historical category; here it denotes non-believing outsiders generally, from whom the missionaries deliberately declined support. Teach the contextual difference explicitly; do not import Romans’ ethnic-inclusion theology into this occurrence.
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: 配得过神 / 合乎神的心意
Transliteration: pèidéguò Shén / héhū Shén de xīnyì
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 值得神喜欢
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 6 (ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ). Fixed CUV-style phrase; either variant acceptable but must be used consistently within one document. Must not be read as Gaius earning merit before God, but as conduct consistent with God’s own generous character.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: 儿女
Transliteration: érnǚ
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Joy
Rejected alternatives: 过继, 后代
Original: τέκνα
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 4 (τέκνα). Distinguish from biological offspring and from clan lineage/heir language (cf. baseline’s 过继 caution under adoption); this is pastoral-spiritual fatherhood through gospel ministry, not clan succession or filial-duty (孝) obligation.
Low Risk Terms
Beloved
Approved rendering: 亲爱的
Transliteration: qīn’ài de
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1, 2, 5, 11 (ἀγαπητός). Standard CUV term of address; minimal collision risk.
Friends
Approved rendering: 朋友
Transliteration: péngyou
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 结拜兄弟
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 14 (φίλος). Notable shift from family language (兄弟) to friendship language (朋友) for the same community; teach both as describing one non-hierarchical Christian fellowship, without implying a status difference between ‘family’ and ‘friend’ members.
Slander
Approved rendering: 毁谤
Transliteration: huǐbàng
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 诽谤, 说坏话
Original: καταλαλέω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 10 (καταλαλέω). Standard term; distinguish from legitimate public accountability or rebuke.
Hinder
Approved rendering: 阻止
Transliteration: zǔzhǐ
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: 禁止
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 10 (κωλύω). Standard term; no significant collision.
Joy
Approved rendering: 喜乐
Transliteration: xǐlè
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Joy
Rejected alternatives: 快乐
Original: χαρά
Category: Faith
NEW. 3 John 4 (χαρά). Standard Christian term distinguished from generic secular happiness (快乐); minimal risk.
Obligation
Approved rendering: 应当
Transliteration: yīngdāng
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: 必须
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 8 (ὀφείλω). Standard obligation term; no significant collision.
Greet
Approved rendering: 问安
Transliteration: wèn’ān
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 打招呼
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 14 (ἀσπάζομαι). Standard CUV epistolary-closing term.
Gaius
Approved rendering: 该犹
Transliteration: Gāiyóu
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
NEW proper name. Established CUV transliteration; use exactly. Recipient of the letter, addressed throughout as ‘beloved.‘
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: 丢特腓
Transliteration: Diūtèféi
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
NEW proper name. Established CUV transliteration; use exactly. Do not soften or omit despite the negative characterization attached to this name (v.9-10).
Demetrius
Approved rendering: 低米丢
Transliteration: Dīmǐdiū
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness
NEW proper name. Established CUV transliteration; use exactly. Subject of the letter’s threefold commendation (v.12).