Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 3 John — English → Pashto
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning the entire book of 3 John (a single chapter, 1:1–14, coextensive with the core passage — see the Full-Book Chapter Coverage Statement in that document). Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE REUSE] and their recorded rendering is reused exactly, without modification. New terms proposed here are candidates for addition to translation memory at the close of Phase 1 and are marked [NEW].
Risk tiers and review routing follow the conventions established in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json: Critical/High → human theologian review; Medium → native speaker review; Low → automated review.
| # | English term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Pashto rendering | Pashto transliteration | Doctrine(s) | Risk | Status | Rationale / collision note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | elder (title) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | مشر (د کلیسا مشر) | mashar (da kalisa mashar) | Church Leadership and Pride | High | [NEW] | Collides with tribal jirga chieftain/patriarch title in Pashtunwali; must always be qualified as church office, never left bare. |
| 2 | truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | رښتیا | rishtia | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Commendation of Faithful Witness | High | [NEW] | Avoid حقیقت (haqiqat), which carries Sufi four-stage-path (Shari’a-Tariqa-Haqiqat-Ma’rifat) mystical overtones; use plain native رښتیا throughout. |
| 3 | love | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | مینه | mina | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Medium | [NEW] | Shared with romantic/Sufi love-mysticism vocabulary (asset for warmth, risk of over-mystification); anchor to committed, self-giving, active love illustrated by hospitality. |
| 4 | beloved (address) | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | ګران | gran | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Low | [NEW] | Standard pastoral term of endearment; low ambiguity. |
| 5 | brother(s) | ἀδελφός | adelphos | ورور / ورونه | wror / wruna | Hospitality; Truth and Christian Fellowship | High | [NEW] | Strong Pashtunwali blood-tribe (qawm/khel) solidarity connotation; must be taught as kinship constituted by shared faith, not lineage — ties directly to baseline’s “Christian Identity in Christ” doctrine. |
| 6 | friend(s) | φίλος | philos | ملګری / ملګري | malgari / malgeri | Truth and Christian Fellowship | Low–Medium | [NEW] | Preserve the deliberate Greek register shift from “brothers” to “friends” at the letter’s close; do not collapse both into one word. |
| 7 | soul | ψυχή | psychē | ساه / رواني حالت | sa / rohani halat | Truth and Christian Fellowship (Gaius’s spiritual health) | Medium | [NEW] | Avoid روح (ruh) alone to prevent confusion with روح القدس (Holy Spirit, baseline Critical term). |
| 8 | children (spiritual) | τέκνα | tekna | روحاني اولاد | rohani awlad | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Commendation of Faithful Witness | Medium | [NEW] | Must be qualified “spiritual” to avoid confusion with the biological/patrilineal descent categories already Critical in baseline’s “adoption” entry. |
| 9 | faithful (adj.) | πιστός | pistos | وفادار | wafadar | Hospitality; Commendation of Faithful Witness | Medium | [NEW] | Overlaps with tribal loyalty (nang) vocabulary; anchor explicitly to faithfulness in gospel-partnership, distinct from ایمان (the noun “faith,” baseline High-risk term). |
| 10 | stranger / guest | ξένος | xenos | مېلمه | melma | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | [NEW] | Direct collision with Pashtunwali’s melmastia hospitality-reciprocity code (same cultural system flagged in baseline “grace” entry); gospel hospitality must be taught as expecting no honor-repayment. |
| 11 | send on one’s way (support for journey) | προπέμπω | propempō | د سفر لپاره مرسته کول | da safar lapara madad kawul | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | [NEW] | Descriptive phrase required; must convey material provisioning, not a bare farewell. |
| 12 | worthily (of God) | ἀξίως (τοῦ θεοῦ) | axiōs (tou theou) | د خدای وړ ډول | da Khudai war dol | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | [NEW] | Retain explicit comparison to God’s own standard, not generic social generosity. |
| 13 | fellow worker | συνεργός | synergos | همکار (د رښتیا همکار) | hamkar (da rishtia hamkar) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | [NEW] | Must be qualified so as not to read as ordinary secular employment partnership. |
| 14 | the Name (absolute, = Christ’s name) | ὄνομα | onoma | (د عیسی مسیح) نوم | (da Isa Masih) noom | Hospitality; Truth and Christian Fellowship (ties to baseline Lordship of Christ) | High | [NEW] | Bare/unqualified “the Name” collides with the Islamic devotional category of the 99 Names of Allah (asma al-husna); always gloss explicitly as Christ’s name at first use. |
| 15 | pagans / unbelieving outsiders | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | غیر مؤمنان | gheyr mu’minan | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | High | [NEW] | Distinct sense from Romans’ ἔθνη/Gentiles (baseline غیر یهودیان — do not reuse mechanically); avoid کافر/کافران given severe social/safety danger of that term for a persecuted minority readership. |
| 16 | ought / obligated | ὀφείλω | opheilō | اړينه ده / پکار ده | arinah da / pakar da | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Low–Medium | [NEW] | Frame as gospel-partnership duty, not melmastia honor-debt logic. |
| 17 | receive/support materially | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | مالي مرسته کول / پالنه کول | mali madad kawul / palana kawul | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Medium | [NEW] | Compound phrase needed to capture material-support sense. |
| 12 (repeat ref) | church | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | کلیسا | kalisa | Church Leadership and Pride; Truth and Christian Fellowship | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Use exactly as recorded in translation_memory.json; never امت. Note: the “church” in view is very likely a small, secret house-gathering. |
| 18 | God | θεός | theos | خدای | Khudai | All doctrines (backdrop) | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Use exactly as recorded in translation_memory.json. |
| 19 | loves to be first / preeminence-seeking | φιλοπρωτεύω | philoprōteuō | د مخکښۍ مینه لري / لومړیتوب غواړي | da makhkeshi mina lari / lumratob ghwari | Church Leadership and Pride | High | [NEW] | No single-word equivalent; descriptive phrase required. Contrast carefully with Pashtunwali’s generally positive view of status-seeking through generosity/leadership — the text condemns self-exalting control specifically within the believing community. |
| 20 | receive / welcome / accept | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | منل | manal | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality | Medium | [NEW] | Context-sensitive between “accepting authority” (Diotrephes refusing the Elder) and “hosting a guest” (Diotrephes refusing the brothers). |
| 21 | remind / call to account | ὑπομιμνήσκω | hypomimnēskō | یاد ورکول / افشا کول | yad warkawal / afsha kawal | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | [NEW] | Tone of formal accountability/church discipline, not personal grudge. |
| 22 | malicious/slanderous talk | λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν | logois ponērois phlyarōn | بد سخنۍ کول / تور لګول | bad sakhani kawul / tor lagawul | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | [NEW] | Moral failing, distinct from mere disagreement. |
| 23 | forbid / hinder (others) | κωλύω | kōlyō | منع کول | mana kawul | Church Leadership and Pride | Medium | [NEW] | Retain sense of active, coercive obstruction of others’ obedience. |
| 24 | expel / cast out (from church) | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | له کلیسا نه شړل | la kalisa na sharal | Church Leadership and Pride | High | [NEW] | Heightened real-world stakes: for a persecuted, often secret readership, the local church may be the believer’s only safe community — abusive expulsion carries severe social/safety consequences. |
| 25 | imitate / follow the example of | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | پیروي کول | pairavi kawul | Imitating Good rather than Evil | High | [NEW] | AVOID تقلید (taqlid) — the specific Islamic jurisprudential term for unreasoned adoption of a jurist’s ruling (opposite of ijtihad); use native پیروي کول to preserve the sense of personal moral emulation. |
| 26 | evil / evildoer | κακός / κακοποιέω | kakos / kakopoieō | بد / بد کوونکی | bad / bad kawunki | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low | [NEW] | Standard native vocabulary. |
| 27 | good / doer of good | ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω | agathos / agathopoieō | ښه / ښه کوونکی | kha / kha kawunki | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low | [NEW] | Standard native vocabulary. |
| 28 | has seen (God) | ὁράω | horaō | لیدلی دی | leedali dai | Imitating Good rather than Evil | Low–Medium | [NEW] | Teach as relational knowledge of God, not literal visual perception. |
| 29 | testify / testimony / true | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία / ἀληθής | martyreō / martyria / alēthēs | شاهدي (ورکول) / رښتینی | shahidi (warkawal) / rishtini | Commendation of Faithful Witness; Truth and Christian Fellowship | Critical | [NEW] | AVOID شهادت/شهيد (shahadat/shaheed) — the Islamic creedal confession (Shahada) and “martyr(dom)” terms respectively; use the more neutral شاهدي (ordinary courtroom/daily-use “testimony”) noun form throughout. Occurs 3x (vv. 3, 6, 12); every occurrence requires human theologian review. |
| 30 | peace (epistolary greeting) | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | سوله | sola | Truth and Christian Fellowship (closing benediction) | Medium | [BASELINE REUSE, adapted context] | Use exactly as recorded in translation_memory.json; note here it functions as an epistolary farewell-blessing, distinct from (but related to) the Romans 5:1 “peace with God” doctrine — do not conflate the two teaching contexts. |
| 31 | Gaius (proper name) | Γάϊος | Gaios | ګایوس | Gayus | — | Low | [NEW] | No fixed Pashto Bible precedent; phonetic transliteration proposed, to be used consistently. |
| 32 | Demetrius (proper name) | Δημήτριος | Dēmētrios | دیمتریوس | Dimitrios | Commendation of Faithful Witness | Low | [NEW] | Phonetic transliteration proposed. |
| 33 | Diotrephes (proper name) | Διοτρέφης | Diotrephēs | دیوترفیس | Diotrefis | Church Leadership and Pride | Low | [NEW] | Phonetic transliteration proposed. |
Notes on Baseline Reuse
The following terms recur from 3 John and MUST use the exact rendering already recorded in the baseline translation_memory.json, with no deviation:
- ἐκκλησία → کلیسا (Critical; never امت)
- θεός → خدای (Critical; never الله in this curriculum’s register)
- εἰρήνη → سوله (Medium/context-adapted; same word, epistolary-benediction sense here rather than the specific justification doctrine sense)
Notes on New High/Critical Risk Terms Requiring Theologian Review
The following newly-identified terms carry Critical or High risk and must be routed to human theologian review before Phase 2 translation proceeds, consistent with the baseline’s review-routing convention:
- μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία → شاهدي (Critical) — collision with the Islamic Shahada/martyrdom root ش-ه-د.
- πρεσβύτερος → مشر (High) — collision with Pashtunwali tribal jirga eldership.
- ἀλήθεια → رښتیا (High) — must avoid the Sufi-loaded حقیقت alternative.
- ἀδελφός → ورور (High) — collision with tribal blood-kinship solidarity.
- ξένος → مېلمه (High) — collision with melmastia hospitality-reciprocity code.
- ὄνομα (“the Name”) → (د عیسی مسیح) نوم (High) — collision with the 99 Names of Allah devotional category.
- ἐθνικός → غیر مؤمنان (High) — doctrinal distinction from Romans’ ethnē, plus safety sensitivity.
- φιλοπρωτεύω → د مخکښۍ مینه لري (High) — central negative example of Church Leadership and Pride.
- ἐκβάλλω → له کلیسا نه شړل (High) — heightened real-world stakes for a persecuted single-community readership.
- μιμέομαι → پیروي کول (High) — must avoid the Islamic jurisprudential term تقلید.
These ten terms, together with the three baseline-reused Critical terms above, form the required input to the 3 John-specific extension of doctrine_risk_registry.json in a subsequent Phase 1 step.
This glossary extends, and does not contradict, the baseline pashto Romans Language Package. All terms already present in translation_memory.json are reused exactly as recorded there.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: خدای
Transliteration: Khudai
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الله
Original: θεός
Category: God
CRITICAL: Khudai is a native word from the same Old Iranian root as Persian’s Khoda, not exclusively an Arabic/Quranic term. الله is also used in formal registers, but Khudai is preferred for everyday Pashto Christian usage. Strict tawhid theology must be distinguished from the Trinitarian conception denoted by the same word. Governs 3 John 1:6 (hospitality ‘worthily of God’) and 1:11 (the standard by which good/evil conduct is measured). Inherited from Romans package.
Church
Approved rendering: کلیسا
Transliteration: kalisa
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: امت
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church Leadership
CRITICAL: امت carries the loaded pan-Islamic community sense and must never substitute. In 3 John 1:6, 1:9-1:10, this is the small, likely secret, house-gathering before whom testimony was given and from which Diotrephes wrongly expels dissenters - reinforcing the baseline’s persecuted-dispersed-community framing with unusually high real-world stakes, since it may be the reader’s only safe congregation. Inherited from Romans package.
Jesus
Approved rendering: عیسی
Transliteration: Isa
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
CRITICAL: settled, uncontroversial Pashto Christian usage. In 3 John 1:7 this name must be supplied explicitly in the gloss for the bare, absolute Greek ‘the Name’ (see the_name entry below) so the missionaries’ authority is unmistakably tied to Christ, not left as an unqualified abstraction. Inherited from Romans package.
Messiah
Approved rendering: مسیح
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
CRITICAL: carries the same pre-loaded Quranic content as Arabic’s al-Masih. Used in 3 John alongside عیسی in the mandatory gloss for ‘the Name’ (1:7): (د عیسی مسیح) نوم. Inherited from Romans package.
Lord
Approved rendering: خداوند
Transliteration: Khudawand
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: مالک
CRITICAL: مالک is too transactional and undershoots the claim. Relevant background doctrine for 3 John’s ‘the Name’ (1:7) and general Christ-centered authority theme even though the title itself does not recur verbatim in this short letter. Inherited from Romans package.
Adoption
Approved rendering: زوی نیول
Transliteration: zoy neyol
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
CRITICAL: full inheritance-equivalent legal sonship, departing sharply from Pashtun patrilineal (qawm/khel) descent norms. Must be kept explicitly distinct from 3 John’s ‘spiritual children’ metaphor (see spiritual_children entry), which describes the Elder’s pastoral discipleship relationship, not a claim of legal inheritance status. Inherited from Romans package.
Testimony
Approved rendering: شاهدي (ورکول)
Transliteration: shahidi (warkawal)
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Rejected alternatives: شهادت, شهيد
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
CRITICAL: μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία occurs three times in 3 John (1:3, 1:6, 1:12), forming this doctrine’s core. The Perso-Arabic cognate cluster شهادت/شهيد is exceptionally dangerous: شهادت is the technical Islamic term for both the Shahada (the core creedal confession) and for religious/jihadi martyrdom; شهيد specifically means ‘martyr,’ a highly charged regional political-religious term. Using either for ordinary Christian character-testimony risks implying invocation of the Islamic creed, or, in a persecution context, dangerously suggesting martyrdom vocabulary. Use the neutral courtroom/daily-use noun شاهدي paired with ورکول at every occurrence without exception. Arguably the sharpest single collision risk identified in this pipeline to date.
High Risk Terms
Mission
Approved rendering: ماموریت
Transliteration: ma’muriyat
Doctrine: Missionary Authority in the Name of Christ
Open evangelism/mission activity carries severe, potentially life-threatening legal and social risk for converts from Islam. Directly relevant to 3 John 1:5-1:8’s traveling gospel workers sent out ‘for the sake of the Name’ (1:7). Inherited from Romans package.
Faith
Approved rendering: ایمان
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Personal trust in Christ, not loyalty to Islamic creedal iman or Pashtunwali’s honor code (nang). In 3 John, keep this noun explicitly distinct from the adjective πιστός/‘faithful’ (وفادار, see faithful entry), which describes Gaius’s reliable hospitality-conduct rather than his creedal trust. Inherited from Romans package.
Elder
Approved rendering: مشر (د کلیسا مشر)
Transliteration: mashar (da kalisa mashar)
Doctrine: Authority of Apostolic Eldership
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
The author’s self-designation, 3 John 1:1. مشر is the exact native word for a Pashtunwali tribal/jirga chieftain or family patriarch, an office with binding customary legal authority, often hereditary. Must always appear qualified as ‘د کلیسا مشر’ (elder of the church), never bare, so church office is not read as tribal governance.
Truth
Approved rendering: رښتیا
Transliteration: rishtia
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: حقیقت
Original: ἀλήθεια / ἀληθής
Category: Fellowship
3 John’s dominant theme, 6 occurrences in 14 verses, the highest concentration of any NT book (1:1, 1:3-1:4, 1:6, 1:8, 1:12). AVOID حقیقت (haqiqat), the third of the four traditional Sufi mystical path stages (Shari’a-Tariqa-Haqiqat-Ma’rifat), an esoteric reality for advanced initiates, not 3 John’s shared, public, morally-binding truth. Use native رښتیا throughout, consistent with the baseline’s pattern of preferring native terms over loaded Arabic-derived alternatives.
True
Approved rendering: رښتینی / رښتیني
Transliteration: rishtini
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Rejected alternatives: حقیقي
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Witness
Adjectival form of ἀλήθεια, 3 John 1:12 (‘our testimony is true’). Avoid حقیقي for the same Sufi-mystical-loading reason as truth/حقیقت above.
Brother
Approved rendering: ورور / ورونه
Transliteration: wror / wruna
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Fellowship
Applied to the itinerant Christian workers (3 John 1:3, 1:5, 1:10) as fellow believers regardless of blood or tribe. ورور carries very strong Pashtunwali blood-tribe (qawm/khel) solidarity and badal-obligation connotations. Must be taught explicitly as kinship constituted by shared faith in Christ, not lineage - ties directly to the baseline’s ‘Christian Identity in Christ’ doctrine.
Stranger Guest
Approved rendering: مېلمه
Transliteration: melma
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:5: personally-unknown missionaries hosted anyway. مېلمه is the operative term of Pashtunwali’s melmastia hospitality code, the same institution flagged in the baseline’s grace entry as reciprocity-creating - a host customarily gains honor and expects future repayment or alliance. 3 John commends hosting people who offer NO possible social repayment (cf. 1:7). Must be taught explicitly: gospel hospitality is melmastia stripped of its honor-reciprocity expectation, rendered ‘worthily of God’ rather than for tribal or personal gain.
The Name
Approved rendering: (د عیسی مسیح) نوم
Transliteration: (da Isa Masih) noom
Doctrine: Missionary Authority in the Name of Christ
Rejected alternatives: bare/unglossed نوم
Original: τὸ ὄνομα
Category: Christology
3 John 1:7’s absolute, unqualified early-church shorthand (‘went out for the sake of the Name’) = the name of Jesus Christ, invoked as authority for gospel mission. A bare, unglossed rendering risks being read against the vast Islamic devotional category of asma al-husna, the 99 Names of Allah. Must always be explicitly glossed at first occurrence as ‘د عیسی مسیح د نوم لپاره.’ Ties to baseline’s Critical ‘Lordship of Christ’ doctrine.
Pagans Unbelievers
Approved rendering: غیر مؤمنان
Transliteration: gheyr mu’minan
Doctrine: Missionary Authority in the Name of Christ
Rejected alternatives: کافر, کافران, غیر یهودیان (Romans-sense Gentiles - distinct category, do not reuse)
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:7, ἐθνικός: unbelieving outsiders in general, from whom the missionaries accepted no support - a different sense from Romans’ ἔθνη (Jew/Gentile redemptive-historical category, غیر یهودیان). AVOID کافر/کافران (severely loaded apostate/infidel terms carrying real social and legal danger for this persecuted readership if discovered). Use غیر مؤمنان instead.
Loves To Be First
Approved rendering: د مخکښۍ مینه لري / لومړیتوب غواړي
Transliteration: da makhkeshi mina lari / lumratob ghwari
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:9, φιλοπρωτεύω: craving preeminence and control, describing Diotrephes - the letter’s central negative leadership example. No single Pashto word exists. Must be taught carefully against a cultural backdrop where status-seeking through generosity/leadership is often positively regarded within Pashtunwali’s nang (honor) code; the text condemns self-exalting control specifically WITHIN the believing community, not status-seeking generally.
Expel Cast Out
Approved rendering: له کلیسا نه شړل
Transliteration: la kalisa na sharal
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: softened renderings such as ‘ask to leave’
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10, ἐκβάλλω: forcible removal of dissenting believers from the local church, an abuse of church discipline for personal power. Given this curriculum’s persecuted, often secret, house-church readership, for whom the local congregation may be their ONLY safe community and support network, abusive expulsion carries severe real-world social and safety stakes - materially higher than in settings with multiple accessible congregations. Never soften the literal force.
Imitate
Approved rendering: پیروي کول
Transliteration: pairavi kawul
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: تقلید
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11, μιμέομαι: the letter’s central positive command - pattern one’s character/conduct after an observed moral example. AVOID تقلید (taqlid), the specific Islamic jurisprudential term for unreasoned adoption of a jurist’s ruling (the classical opposite of ijtihad), which would reframe personal moral emulation as submission to authoritative religious precedent. Use native پیروي کول, consistent with the baseline’s pattern of preferring native terms over doctrinally-loaded Islamic-jurisprudence loanwords (cf. ناموس over شریعت).
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: سوله
Transliteration: sola
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Fellowship
In 3 John 1:14 this functions as an ordinary epistolary farewell-blessing (‘Peace to you’), distinct from (but theologically related to) the Romans 5:1 ‘peace with God through justification’ doctrine. Do not conflate the two teaching contexts; use سوله exactly as recorded. Inherited from Romans package.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: غیر یهودیان
Transliteration: gheyr yahudian
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: امتونه
امتونه shares the loaded Ummah root; غیر یهودیان (‘non-Jews’) avoids that association. IMPORTANT FOR 3 JOHN: do NOT mechanically reuse this term for 3 John 1:7’s ἐθνικός (‘pagans’/unbelieving outsiders in general). That is a distinct sense contrasting believers with non-believers generally, not the Jew/Gentile redemptive-historical category. Use the separate new term pagans_unbelievers (غیر مؤمنان) for 3 John 1:7 instead. Inherited from Romans package.
Love
Approved rendering: مینه
Transliteration: mina
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:6: Gaius’s hospitality is public evidence of ἀγάπη. مینه is the natural native word but is also the standard word for romantic/family love and resonates with regional Sufi love-mysticism poetry (Rahman Baba). Anchor explicitly to committed, sacrificial, others-directed action (as illustrated by hospitality itself), not romantic sentiment or mystical absorption.
Soul
Approved rendering: ساه / رواني حالت
Transliteration: sa / rohani halat
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Discipleship
Rejected alternatives: روح (alone)
Original: ψυχή
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:2: Gaius’s inner spiritual condition, already ‘prospering.’ Avoid روح (ruh) alone, which risks confusion with روح القدس (Holy Spirit), the baseline’s Critical-risk term for the divine Person of the Spirit.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: روحاني اولاد
Transliteration: rohani awlad
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Discipleship
Rejected alternatives: اولاد / زامن (bare, unqualified)
3 John 1:4: ‘my children,’ the Elder’s spiritual, not biological, disciples. Must always be qualified as روحاني اولاد to avoid confusion with the biological/patrilineal descent categories already flagged Critical in the baseline’s adoption entry; this is a distinct metaphor of spiritual, not legal, parentage.
Faithful
Approved rendering: وفادار
Transliteration: wafadar
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:5: Gaius’s hospitality is commended as faithful/reliable action (πιστός), adjectivally related to but distinct from the noun ایمان (faith). وفادار overlaps with Pashtunwali’s own loyalty vocabulary (nang, tribal fidelity, patron-client obligation); anchor explicitly to faithfulness in gospel-partnership, not tribal or patron-client loyalty.
Send On Journey
Approved rendering: د سفر لپاره مرسته کول
Transliteration: da safar lapara madad kawul
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: الوداع کول (bare farewell, loses material sense), د لاره ښودل (too weak)
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:6, προπέμπω: a technical NT term for practical, material provisioning of a traveler’s onward journey, not a bare farewell. No single Pashto word captures this; this descriptive compound must be locked and reused verbatim, not re-generated per segment.
Worthily Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای وړ ډول
Transliteration: da Khudai war dol
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:6: conduct rendered at a standard fitting God himself. Must retain the explicit comparison to God’s own standard so it is not read as merely ‘generous by Pashtun social custom’ or melmastia-honor generosity.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: همکار (د رښتیا همکار)
Transliteration: hamkar (da rishtia hamkar)
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:8: supporting missionaries makes the supporter an active partner in gospel work. همکار alone is generic secular co-worker/business-partner vocabulary; must always be qualified ‘د رښتیا همکار’ (fellow worker for the truth).
Ought Obligated
Approved rendering: اړينه ده / پکار ده
Transliteration: arinah da / pakar da
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:8, ὀφείλω: hospitality toward gospel workers framed as moral obligation, not optional generosity. Must be framed as gospel-partnership duty, not melmastia’s honor-debt reciprocity logic (see stranger_guest).
Receive Support Materially
Approved rendering: مالي مرسته کول / پالنه کول
Transliteration: mali madad kawul / palana kawul
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
3 John 1:8, ὑπολαμβάνω: to take up responsibility for someone’s material needs, not merely a social welcome. Compound phrase required to capture the material-support sense.
Receive Welcome Accept
Approved rendering: منل
Transliteration: manal
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:9-1:10, ἐπιδέχομαι: covers two distinct referents - refusing apostolic authority (1:9) and refusing to host guests (1:10). Context-sensitive; translators must track which sense is active per occurrence.
Remind Call To Account
Approved rendering: یاد ورکول / افشا کول
Transliteration: yad warkawal / afsha kawal
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ὑπομιμνήσκω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10, ὑπομιμνήσκω: the Elder’s planned formal confrontation of Diotrephes’ wrongdoing. Needs a tone of formal church-discipline accountability, not personal grudge or gossip.
Malicious Talk
Approved rendering: بد سخنۍ کول / تور لګول
Transliteration: bad sakhani kawul / tor lagawul
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: λόγοις πονηροῖς φλυαρῶν
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10: Diotrephes’ malicious, slanderous gossip against the Elder and his associates. Should be distinguished from mere disagreement; this is a moral, not merely rhetorical, failing.
Forbid Hinder
Approved rendering: منع کول
Transliteration: mana kawul
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
3 John 1:10, κωλύω: Diotrephes actively blocks others in the church from showing hospitality. Must retain the sense of active, coercive obstruction of others’ free obedience, not passive disagreement.
Walk Conduct
Approved rendering: ژوند کول / چلند کول
Transliteration: zhwand kawul / chaland kawul
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: کلک ګرځېدل (literal ‘walking around’)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:3-1:4, περιπατέω: NT idiom for ongoing conduct/manner of life. ‘Walking in truth’ means truth lived out habitually, not merely asserted. A literal rendering loses the ‘conduct of life’ sense entirely and must be avoided.
Prosper Wellbeing
Approved rendering: کامیابي
Transliteration: kamyabi
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Discipleship
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:2, εὐοδοῦσθαι: holistic material and general well-being wished for Gaius, alongside health and spiritual prospering. Must not be read as a ‘prosperity gospel’ guarantee of material wealth; anchor to ordinary pastoral well-wishing, paired with the spiritual qualifier in the same verse.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: ملګرتیا
Transliteration: malgartia
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: شراکت
شراکت shares the same ش-ر-ک root as shirk (idolatrous partnership); ملګرتیا is a native Pashto word avoiding this resonance entirely, foundational to 3 John’s own ‘friend’ (ملګری) vocabulary at 1:14. Inherited from Romans package.
Gaius
Approved rendering: ګایوس
Transliteration: Gayus
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Proper Name
The letter’s addressee, 3 John 1:1. No fixed Pashto Bible precedent exists; this phonetic transliteration must be used consistently throughout this curriculum.
Beloved
Approved rendering: ګران
Transliteration: gran
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
Term of pastoral/familial affection repeated across 3 John 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 1:11. Must be read as pastoral affection, not romantic endearment.
Friend
Approved rendering: ملګری / ملګري
Transliteration: malgari / malgeri
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: دوستان
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
3 John 1:14 deliberately shifts register from the formal ‘brothers’ (ورونه) to the more intimate ‘friends’ (ملګري) at the letter’s close. Use native ملګري, consistent with the baseline’s preference for native over Persian-loanword vocabulary (cf. ملګرتیا for fellowship); preserve the Greek’s register shift rather than collapsing both words into one.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: دیوترفیس
Transliteration: Diotrefis
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Διοτρέφης
Category: Proper Name
3 John 1:9-1:10, the negative example of prideful, controlling church leadership. Phonetic transliteration proposed; no fixed Pashto Bible precedent exists.
Evil Evildoer
Approved rendering: بد / بد کوونکی
Transliteration: bad / bad kawunki
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακός / κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11: standard native vocabulary for moral wrongdoing and its agent; doing evil places one outside relationship with God.
Good Doer Of Good
Approved rendering: ښه / ښه کوونکی
Transliteration: kha / kha kawunki
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός / ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11: standard native vocabulary for moral goodness and its agent; doing good is evidence of being ‘of God.‘
Has Seen God
Approved rendering: لیدلی دی
Transliteration: leedali dai
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ὁράω (ἑώρακεν)
Category: Ethics
3 John 1:11: ‘has not seen God’ means relational, not merely visual, knowledge of him. Teach idiomatically as relational knowledge, not physical sight, paralleling other Johannine ‘seeing God’ usage.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: دیمتریوس
Transliteration: Dimitrios
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Name
3 John 1:12: the letter’s positive example, commended by threefold testimony. Phonetic transliteration proposed; no fixed Pashto Bible precedent exists.
Referenced passages