Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 3 John — English → Persian
This glossary seeds the Phase 2 translation memory for 3 John. Terms marked (baseline reuse) already exist in the Romans translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json and MUST be reused exactly as recorded there — no re-derivation is permitted. All other terms are newly analyzed for this curriculum and require addition to translation memory before Phase 2 segment translation begins. Risk tiers and review routing follow the same framework as the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json (Critical/High = human theologian review; Medium = native speaker review; Low = automated review).
3.1 Baseline Reuse Terms (verbatim from Romans package)
| Term | Original | Persian (exact reuse) | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine Link | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | خدا | Khoda | Critical | (baseline: Deity of Christ) | Reuse exactly; no new analysis needed for 3 John. |
| Church | ἐκκλησία | کلیسا | kelisa | High | Church as God’s People / Church Leadership and Pride | Reuse exactly; 3 John’s Diotrephes narrative (expulsion “from the church,” v.10) intensifies the baseline’s underground-house-church caution — see 3.2 below for a 3 John–specific extension note. |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | سلام | salam | Medium | (baseline: Peace with God) | Reuse exactly; here an epistolary greeting rather than Romans 5:1’s doctrinal peace, but the same rendering is required for cross-document consistency. |
3.2 New Terms for 3 John (require addition to translation memory)
| Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Persian Rendering | Persian Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elder (self-designation) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | پیر | pir | Critical | Church Leadership and Pride | کشیش (too narrow, clergy-office sense not in the Greek); قسیس (foreign, minority-church register, inaccessible to MBB* readers) | پیر is the exact title of a Sufi spiritual master in the pir-o-morid relationship; this is the opening word of the entire book and requires a first-occurrence teaching gloss (“elder/pastoral overseer of the church”) to prevent a mystical-master reading. Must be kept distinct from رسول (apostle, baseline High-risk term) — John deliberately does not use that title here. |
| Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | حقیقت | haqiqat | Critical | Truth and Christian Fellowship (controlling theme, 6 occurrences) | راستی (too thin — ethical “truthfulness” only, cannot bear v.12’s personified “the truth itself” testifying) | Collides with the Sufi tariqat-haqiqat esoteric-attainment framework (شریعت→طریقت→حقیقت→معرفت). Every occurrence needs disambiguation: gospel truth embodied in apostolic doctrine and conduct, not mystical/esoteric Reality attained via a spiritual path. |
| Imitate | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | سرمشق گرفتن (از) | sarmashq gereftan (az) | Critical — FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTION | Imitating Good rather than Evil | تقلید کردن (explicitly forbidden) — this is the technical Shia jurisprudential term for obligatory emulation of a marja’ taqlid; using it here imports religious-legal authority-submission into a simple moral-example exhortation | Single highest-priority forbidden-substitution finding in this book; parity with baseline’s ناموس/شریعت and فرزندخواندگی/سرپرستی pairs. Must never appear as تقلید anywhere in 3 John curriculum materials. |
| Testify / Testimony / True | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία / ἀληθής | martyreō / martyria / alēthēs | شهادت دادن / شهادت / راست، حقیقی | shahadat dadan / shahadat / rast, haqiqi | Critical | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); also underlies Truth and Christian Fellowship | (no viable substitute — شهادت is the established, unavoidable Persian NT term for μαρτυρέω across the Johannine corpus) | شهادت/شهید (martyr/martyrdom) is the central term of Twelver Shia Karbala/Muharram piety, already flagged Critical in the baseline for “salvation” and “intercession.” Every occurrence in 3 John (vv. 3, 6, 12 [x3]) must carry an explicit disambiguating note: this is courtroom-style character/fact testimony, categorically distinct from martyrdom. Mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence. |
| Loving to be first / ambition for preeminence | φιλοπρωτεύω | philoprōteuō | ریاستطلبی (بودن) | riyasat-talabi (budan) | High | Church Leadership and Pride | (no existing single-word Persian Bible precedent — hapax legomenon requiring a coined compound) | Real-world resonance with status competition among senior Shia clergy (marja’iyat/hawza rivalry); must be taught strictly as an internal cautionary church-leadership example, never as implicit commentary on Shia clerical structures. |
| Accept / Welcome (with authority overtone) | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | پذیرفتن | paziroftan | High | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | — | Carries a dual sense (hospitable welcome AND acceptance of apostolic authority) at every occurrence (vv. 9, 10 [x2]); context must make clear which sense, or both, is active. |
| Cast out (from the church) | ἐκβάλλω (ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας) | ekballō | از کلیسا بیرون انداختن / اخراج کردن | az kelisa biroon andakhtan / ekhraj kardan | High | Church Leadership and Pride | — | Extends the baseline’s کلیسا note: expulsion from an underground house-church can mean total loss of community and support network for a Muslim-background believer; flag for pastoral-sensitivity review alongside doctrinal review. |
| Gentiles / pagan outsiders (hospitality context) | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | غیرمؤمنان | gheyr-mo’menan | Medium-High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | غیریهودیان (rejected here — baseline term does not fit) | The baseline’s غیریهودیان is reserved for the Jew/Gentile salvation-historical contrast in Romans; ἐθνικός here means unbelieving outsiders generally. Reusing the baseline term verbatim would misapply Romans 9-11’s argument onto an unrelated hospitality-ethics verse. Deliberately NOT reused from baseline. |
| Beloved / Love | ἀγαπητός / ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη | agapētos / agapaō / agapē | محبوب / محبت | mahbub / mohabbat | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | عشق (rejected — Sufi mystical-romantic love register, e.g. Rumi’s divine-love poetry) | محبت keeps registrar restrained/relational; consistent with baseline’s caution on جلال (glory) regarding Sufi poetic resonance. |
| Brothers | ἀδελφός | adelphos | برادران | baradaran | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | — | Warm, safe spiritual-kinship term; ensure referent stays “fellow believers in Christ,” distinct from generic Islamic ummah-brotherhood usage. |
| Stranger(s) | ξένος | xenos | غریب | gharib | Medium (positive-bridge) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | — | Persian poetic/Sufi tradition’s pathos for the گریب (estranged wanderer) can be a positive teaching bridge; must clarify these are traveling gospel ministers specifically. |
| Send on one’s way (with support) | προπέμπω | propempō | بدرقه کردن | badraghe kardan | Low (positive bridge) | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | — | Strong natural equivalent — badraghe is an established, warmly-regarded Persian farewell/provisioning custom. |
| Support / receive materially | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | حمایت کردن | hemayat kardan | Low-Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | — | Keep distinct from پذیرفتن (ἐπιδέχομαι) to preserve the Greek’s own two-verb nuance (basic welcome vs. active material support). |
| Fellow worker | συνεργός | synergos | همکار | hamkar | Low | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship | — | Standard, safe. |
| Soul | ψυχή | psychē | جان | jan | Medium | (general pastoral) | نفس (rejected — Islamic “carnal/commanding self,” nafs al-ammara) | Avoid نفس entirely for this sense. |
| Children (spiritual) | τέκνα | tekna | فرزندان | farzandan | Medium | (connects to baseline Adoption doctrine, thematically) | — | Pastoral spiritual fatherhood, distinct from the fuller legal/inheritance Adoption doctrine (فرزندخواندگی); note the connection without conflating the two. |
| Wicked / evil words | πονηρός | ponēros | شریر / بد | sharir / bad | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | — | Standard. |
| Slander / groundless accusation | φλυαρέω | phlyareō | تهمت زدن | tohmat zadan | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | — | Rare NT word (hapax-adjacent); requires a descriptive phrase, not a single fixed term. |
| Forbid / hinder | κωλύω | kōlyō | مانع شدن | mane’ shodan | Low | Church Leadership and Pride | — | Standard. |
| Good / evil (doing good/evil) | ἀγαθός/κακός; ἀγαθοποιέω/κακοποιέω | agathos/kakos; agathopoieō/kakopoieō | نیکویی/بدی؛ نیکی کردن/بدی کردن | nikui/badi; niki kardan/badi kardan | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | — | Keep Bible-register نیکویی rather than casual خوبی; connects loosely to baseline’s گناه (sin) doctrine. |
| The Name (Christ, implicit) | ὄνομα (v.7) | onoma | [به خاطر] نام او / نام مسیح | [be khater-e] nam-e u / nam-e Masih | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship; (connects to baseline Lordship confession) | — | Make the implicit Christological referent explicit in translation; distinct from v.14’s literal “by name.” |
| Friends (title/greeting) | φίλος | philos | دوستان | doostan | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | — | Note possible early semi-technical in-group usage without overstating doctrinally. |
| Prosper | εὐοδοῦσθαι | euodousthai | کامیاب شدن | kamyab shodan | Low | (general pastoral) | — | Etymology (εὖ + ὁδός, “good road”) fittingly echoes the letter’s travel theme; teaching note only, no collision risk. |
| Be in health | ὑγιαίνειν | hygiainein | سالم بودن | salem budan | Low | (general pastoral) | — | Standard. |
3.3 Proper Names (transliteration only, no doctrinal content)
| Name | Original | Persian | Transliteration | Risk | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaius | Γάϊος | گایوس | Gayus | Low | Hold spelling consistent across all curriculum materials. |
| Diotrephes | Διοτρέφης | دیوترفس | Diotrefes | Low | Hold spelling consistent; do not soften or omit in translation despite the negative portrayal. |
| Demetrius | Δημήτριος | دیمیتریوس | Demetriyus | Low | Hold spelling consistent. |
3.4 Risk Summary for 3 John
| Risk Tier | Count | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 | πρεσβύτερος (elder), ἀλήθεια (truth), μιμέομαι (imitate), μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία (testify/testimony) |
| High | 4 | φιλοπρωτεύω (love of preeminence), ἐπιδέχομαι (accept/welcome), ἐκβάλλω (cast out), ἐκκλησία (church, baseline reuse) |
| Medium | 12 | ἐθνικός, ἀγαπητός/ἀγάπη, ἀδελφός, ξένος, ὑπολαμβάνω, ψυχή, τέκνα, πονηρός, φλυαρέω, ἀγαθός/κακός family, ὄνομα, εἰρήνη (baseline reuse) |
| Low | 8 | προπέμπω, συνεργός, κωλύω, φίλος, εὐοδοῦσθαι, ὑγιαίνειν, θεός (baseline reuse), proper names |
Note on review routing: All four Critical-tier terms and all four High-tier terms require mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence in Phase 2, per the baseline’s established routing framework. Of particular note: μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία (testify/testimony) requires review coordination with the baseline’s existing Critical-risk Karbala/martyrdom-sensitive terms (شفاعت/intercession, نجات/salvation) to ensure consistent disambiguation language is used across the full curriculum library, not just within 3 John materials.
*MBB = Muslim-background believer, per baseline house-church audience terminology.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: خدا
Transliteration: Khoda
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الله
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 3 John 1:6 (‘worthy of God’) and 1:11 (‘of God’ / ‘has not seen God’). No new analysis required; standard tawhid-versus-Trinity care applies as documented in the baseline.
Adoption
Approved rendering: فرزندخواندگی
Transliteration: farzand-khandegi
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: سرپرستی
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Thematically resonant with, but categorically distinct from, 3 John 1:4’s τέκνα (‘my children,’ rendered فرزندان — see children_spiritual entry below): the Adoption doctrine concerns legal/familial salvation-status, while 3 John 1:4 describes a pastoral-discipleship ministry relationship. Teaching material must note the connection without conflating the two.
Salvation
Approved rendering: نجات
Transliteration: nejat
Doctrine: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Coordination requirement: the disambiguating language used for این term’s Karbala/Hussein martyrdom-intercession caution must be kept consistent with the new testimony (شهادت) entry below, since both terms sit in the same Twelver Shia devotional semantic neighborhood and must speak with one voice across the curriculum library.
Intercession
Approved rendering: شفاعت
Transliteration: shafa’at
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Same coordination requirement as salvation above: shafa’at’s Karbala/Muharram disambiguation language must be echoed consistently wherever 3 John’s testimony (شهادت) entry is taught, since both terms share the same شهادت/شهید root family in popular Shia piety.
Lord
Approved rendering: خداوند
Transliteration: Khodavand
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: سرور
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Relevant background for 3 John 1:7’s implicit ‘the Name’ reference (see the_name entry below): teaching material connecting ‘the Name’ to Christ’s identity and authority should coordinate with this baseline entry and the Romans 10:9 Lordship-confession framework, even though κύριος itself does not occur as a title in 3 John’s text.
Jesus
Approved rendering: عیسی
Transliteration: Isa
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Jesus is not named explicitly anywhere in 3 John’s Greek text; he is the implicit referent of ‘the Name’ in 3 John 1:7. Translators must supply this referent explicitly in teaching material (‘به خاطر نام او [مسیح]’), per the_name entry below, using this established Persian form.
Elder
Approved rendering: پیر
Transliteration: pir
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: کشیش, قسیس
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
New term for 3 John. The book’s opening self-designation (3 John 1:1). پیر is also the exact, load-bearing title of a Sufi spiritual master in the pir-o-morid (master-disciple) relationship central to Persian Sufi orders (Ne’matollahi, Naqshbandi, Qaderi) active in Iran and Afghanistan. Mandatory first-occurrence teaching gloss required: ‘برادر ارشد کلیسا و شبان’ (senior brother and shepherd of the church). Must be kept distinct from رسول (apostle, baseline High-risk term) — John deliberately avoids that title here. کشیش rejected as too narrow (ordained-clergy sense absent from the Greek office); قسیس rejected as foreign-registered and inaccessible to Muslim-background house-church readers.
Truth
Approved rendering: حقیقت
Transliteration: haqiqat
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: راستی
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Fellowship
New term for 3 John. The letter’s controlling theme (6 occurrences: vv. 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12), climaxing in v.12’s personification (‘the truth itself’ testifies). حقیقت is also the technical term for the innermost attained Reality in the classical Sufi tariqat progression (شریعت → طریقت → حقیقت → معرفت), and in some Sufi usage al-Haqq functions as a divine name. Every occurrence requires a disambiguating teaching note distinguishing gospel-truth-embodied-in-apostolic-doctrine-and-conduct from esoteric mystical attainment; v.12 requires the highest scrutiny of all six occurrences. راستی rejected as too thin to bear the personified sense.
Imitate
Approved rendering: سرمشق گرفتن (از)
Transliteration: sarmashq gereftan (az)
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: تقلید کردن
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Christian Character
New term for 3 John. FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTION: تقلید کردن must never be used. تقلید is the load-bearing technical term of Twelver Shia jurisprudence for the obligatory practice of following a living marja’ taqlid’s legal rulings; rendering μιμοῦ (3 John 1:11) as تقلید کن would import an entire religious-legal authority-submission paradigm into a simple moral-example exhortation. سرمشق گرفتن از (or پیروی کردن از نمونه نیکو) must be used instead at every occurrence. This is the single highest-priority forbidden substitution in this book, on par with the baseline’s ناموس/شریعت and فرزندخواندگی/سرپرستی pairs.
Testimony
Approved rendering: شهادت / شهادت دادن
Transliteration: shahadat / shahadat dadan
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Testimony and Witness
New term for 3 John. Occurs at vv. 3, 6, and three times in v.12. شهادت is the established, unavoidable Persian NT rendering for μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία across the Johannine corpus, but it is simultaneously the central, emotionally loaded term of Twelver Shia Karbala/Muharram devotional piety (شهید, ‘martyr’), already Critical-flagged in the baseline for ‘salvation’ and ‘intercession.’ Commending Demetrius’s شهادت risks being heard as commending martyr status rather than verified good character. Every occurrence requires an explicit disambiguating note (courtroom-style character/fact testimony, categorically distinct from martyrdom), coordinated with the baseline’s شفاعت/نجات disambiguation language. Mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence.
High Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: کلیسا
Transliteration: kelisa
Doctrine: Church as God’s People / Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: امت
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. 3 John’s Diotrephes narrative (expulsion ‘from the church,’ v.10) intensifies the baseline’s underground-house-church caution: losing standing in one’s house-church can mean losing one’s entire remaining Christian community and support network in a hostile environment. Coordinate with the new cast_out entry below.
Apostle
Approved rendering: رسول
Transliteration: rasul
Doctrine: Apostleship
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Relevant to 3 John 1:1 by contrast: John deliberately self-designates as πρεσβύτερος (پیر, ‘elder’) rather than رسول at the opening of this letter. The two titles must remain lexically and doctrinally distinct throughout 3 John teaching material — do not conflate John’s pastoral eldership here with the baseline’s apostolic office entry.
Faith
Approved rendering: ایمان
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Relevant to 3 John 1:5, where πιστός appears adjectivally/adverbially (‘a faithful/trustworthy act’), not as the noun ‘faith’ itself. Reserve ایمان strictly for the noun; render the v.5 adjectival use with امین / وفادارانه (see faithful_act entry below) to avoid conflating grammatical categories.
Sin
Approved rendering: گناه
Transliteration: gonah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. 3 John 1:11’s good/evil vocabulary (νικویی/بدی) does not use گناه directly, but teaching material may cross-reference this baseline doctrine when explaining that habitual conduct (doing good/evil) is evidence of, not the cause of, one’s relationship to God — do not present 3 John 1:11 as a self-contained merit system disconnected from Romans’ doctrine of sin and grace.
Love Of Preeminence
Approved rendering: ریاستطلبی
Transliteration: riyasat-talabi
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
New term for 3 John. Coined compound rendering φιλοπρωτεύω (a NT hapax legomenon, 3 John 1:9), built from native elements ریاست (headship) + طلبی (seeking). No existing Persian Bible precedent. Flagged High because of an uncomfortably resonant real-world parallel: competition for status and following among senior Shia clergy (marja’iyat/hawza-seminary rivalry). Teaching material must keep this strictly as an internal, cautionary church-leadership example and must never be framed as commentary on Shia clerical structures generally.
Accept Welcome
Approved rendering: پذیرفتن
Transliteration: paziroftan
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride / Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership / Hospitality
New term for 3 John. Renders ἐπιδέχομαι (3 John 1:9, 1:10 [x2]), carrying a dual sense (hospitable welcome AND acceptance of apostolic authority). Context must make explicit which sense, or both, is active at each occurrence, since collapsing it to only ‘welcome as a guest’ would flatten the authority-defiance dimension central to the Church Leadership doctrine.
Cast Out
Approved rendering: از کلیسا بیرون انداختن / اخراج کردن
Transliteration: az kelisa biroon andakhtan / ekhraj kardan
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: ἐκβάλλω (ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας)
Category: Church Leadership
New term for 3 John. Renders ἐκβάλλω ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας (3 John 1:10). Being expelled ‘from the church’ carries severe real-world weight for underground house-church members; losing standing can mean losing one’s entire remaining Christian community and support network. Requires mandatory human theologian AND pastoral/native-speaker review given the lived social stakes.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: سلام
Transliteration: salam
Doctrine: Peace with God / Epistolary Peace and Greeting
Rejected alternatives: آرامش
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Christian Fellowship
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 3 John 1:14 as a closing epistolary greeting rather than Romans 5:1’s doctrinal peace-with-God statement, but the same rendering is required for cross-document consistency. Retain the baseline’s caution against آرامش (secular wellness-culture ‘inner calm’).
Fellowship
Approved rendering: مشارکت
Transliteration: mosharekat
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Although κοινωνία itself does not occur in 3 John’s Greek text, this term and the baseline’s caution about its uncomfortable root-resonance with shirk (idolatrous partnership) still govern any use of مشارکت in supporting teaching material discussing 3 John’s fellow_worker (συνεργός), برادران (ἀδελφός), and دوستان (φίλος) vocabulary.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: غیریهودیان
Transliteration: gheyr-yahudian
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: امتها
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly, but flagged here for an explicit NON-reuse instruction specific to 3 John: this term is reserved for the Jew/Gentile salvation-historical contrast in Romans 9-11 and must NOT be used to render ἐθνικός in 3 John 1:7 (unbelieving/pagan outsiders generally, a different and narrower sense). See pagan_outsiders entry below for the required 3 John-specific rendering (غیرمؤمنان).
True
Approved rendering: راست / حقیقی
Transliteration: rast / haqiqi
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness / Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Testimony and Witness
New term for 3 John. Describes John’s own testimony about Demetrius as true (v.12). حقیقی (sharing the root of حقیقت) is preferred for lexical consistency with the letter’s ἀλήθεια-family vocabulary; carries the same but lesser Sufi-resonance caution as حقیقت, reduced in this simple predicate-adjective usage.
Pagan Outsiders
Approved rendering: غیرمؤمنان
Transliteration: gheyr-mo’menan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: غیریهودیان
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality
New term for 3 John. Renders ἐθνικός (3 John 1:7), ‘unbelieving/pagan outsiders’ from whom traveling missionaries deliberately refused support. The baseline’s غیریهودیان is reserved for the Jew/Gentile salvation-historical contrast in Romans; reusing it here would falsely import Romans 9-11’s argument onto this unrelated hospitality-ethics verse. This is a deliberate departure from baseline term reuse — flag if any Phase 2 output defaults reflexively to غیریهودیان here.
Beloved
Approved rendering: محبوب / محبت
Transliteration: mahbub / mohabbat
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: عشق
Original: ἀγαπητός / ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: Truth and Fellowship
New term for 3 John. Renders ἀγαπητός/ἀγαπάω/ἀγάπη, the address term for Gaius and the letter’s relational register throughout (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11). محبت/محبوب keeps the register restrained and relational. عشق rejected: it is the passionate/romantic love vocabulary saturating Persian Sufi mystical poetry (Rumi, Hafez); using it would shift John’s pastoral affection into a mystical-erotic devotional register.
Brothers
Approved rendering: برادران
Transliteration: baradaran
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship / Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Christian Fellowship
New term for 3 John. Renders ἀδελφός (v.3, and thematically vv.5, 10). Warm, safe spiritual-kinship vocabulary shared with Islamic in-group usage (‘baradaran-e dini’); ensure the referent stays ‘fellow believers in Christ,’ distinct from generic Islamic ummah-brotherhood usage, per the baseline’s caution on مشارکت and کلیسا.
Stranger
Approved rendering: غریب
Transliteration: gharib
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
New term for 3 John. Renders ξένος (v.5), traveling gospel ministers unknown and unrelated to Gaius. غریب is the established Persian Bible term for stranger/sojourner; Persian poetic/Sufi tradition’s pathos for the estranged wanderer (e.g. Rumi’s reed cut from the reed-bed) is a positive cultural bridge, provided teaching material clarifies these غریب are specifically traveling gospel ministers, not generic destitute wanderers. Require a first-occurrence appositive gloss (‘مسافرانِ خادمِ انجیل’).
Faithful Act
Approved rendering: امین / وفادارانه عمل کردن
Transliteration: amin / vafadarane amal kardan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality
New term for 3 John. Renders πιστός adjectivally/adverbially in v.5 (‘a faithful/trustworthy act’), not the noun ‘faith.’ Use امین/وفادار vocabulary and reserve ایمان strictly for the noun per the inherited faith entry above, to avoid conflating grammatical categories.
Soul
Approved rendering: جان
Transliteration: jan
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Joy
Rejected alternatives: نفس
Original: ψυχή
Category: General Pastoral
New term for 3 John. Renders ψυχή (v.2), Gaius’s already-flourishing soul, the standard against which his physical well-being is measured. نفس rejected: in Islamic anthropology نفس specifically denotes the lower, carnal, commanding self (nafs al-ammara bi’l-su’, Qur’an 12:53), which would invert the sense of a flourishing soul into something needing restraint.
Children Spiritual
Approved rendering: فرزندان
Transliteration: farzandan
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Joy
Original: τέκνα
Category: Christian Fellowship
New term for 3 John. Renders τέκνα (v.4), John’s spiritual children — converts/disciples he has led to or nurtured in the faith. Safe as pastoral-fatherhood language, but must be taught as a ministry/discipleship relationship, distinct from the baseline’s Critical فرزندخواندگی (Adoption) doctrine, which concerns legal/familial salvation-status; the two share thematic resonance but must not be conflated.
Evil Wicked
Approved rendering: شریر / بد
Transliteration: sharir / bad
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride / Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: πονηρός
Category: Church Leadership / Christian Character
New term for 3 John. Renders πονηρός (v.10, describing Diotrephes’ wicked words). Standard Bible-register vocabulary; no distinct collision risk beyond general awareness of the term’s place in the broader NT ‘evil one’ category.
Slander
Approved rendering: تهمت زدن
Transliteration: tohmat zadan
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: φλυαρέω
Category: Church Leadership
New term for 3 John. Renders φλυαρέω (v.10), the specific charge that Diotrephes spreads groundless slander against John. A rare NT word requiring a descriptive Persian phrase rather than a single fixed term; do not flatten to a generic ‘accusation,’ which would lose the force of the claim that the charges are baseless, not merely hostile.
Good And Evil
Approved rendering: نیکویی / بدی؛ نیکی کردن / بدی کردن
Transliteration: nikui / badi; niki kardan / badi kardan
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: خوبی (too casual for Bible register)
Original: ἀγαθός/κακός; ἀγαθοποιέω/κακοποιέω
Category: Christian Character
New term for 3 John. Renders ἀγαθός/κακός and ἀγαθοποιέω/κακοποιέω (v.11), the binary the whole letter builds toward. Keep Bible-register نیکویی rather than casual خوبی. Pair with a brief evidentiary framing note: conduct reveals, not earns, one’s relationship to God — cross-reference the baseline’s گناه/فیض grace-versus-works distinction so this verse does not read as a self-contained merit system.
The Name
Approved rendering: [به خاطر] نام او / نام مسیح
Transliteration: [be khater-e] nam-e u / nam-e Masih
Doctrine: Christ’s Name and Authority (implicit)
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Christology (implicit)
New term for 3 John. Renders ὄνομα as ‘the Name’ (v.7), an implicit but unmistakable Christological reference — the motive for the missionaries’ journey. A bare, unqualified نام under-specifies the referent for a reader without deep prior NT exposure; must insert the referent explicitly. Coordinate with the inherited lord and jesus entries above. Distinct from v.14’s purely literal, non-technical ‘greet by name’ usage (see friends entry).
Low Risk Terms
Send On Way
Approved rendering: بدرقه کردن
Transliteration: badraghe kardan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
New term for 3 John. Renders προπέμπω (v.6), the technical NT term for actively supporting/equipping a traveling minister for the next leg of a journey. بدرقه کردن is an established, warmly-regarded Persian custom of ceremonially escorting a departing guest/traveler with provisions and goodwill — an unusually strong natural equivalent and positive cultural bridge.
Support Receive
Approved rendering: حمایت کردن
Transliteration: hemayat kardan
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
New term for 3 John. Renders ὑπολαμβάνω (v.8), a stronger term than simple welcome — active material support. Keep distinct from پذیرفتن (used for ἐπιδέχομαι) to preserve the Greek’s own two-verb nuance between basic welcome and active material backing.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: همکار
Transliteration: hamkar
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Christian Fellowship
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality / Christian Fellowship
New term for 3 John. Renders συνεργός (v.8): those who materially support itinerant ministers become genuine partners in the gospel work itself. Standard, safe rendering; no collision risk identified.
Forbid Hinder
Approved rendering: مانع شدن
Transliteration: mane’ shodan
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
New term for 3 John. Renders κωλύω (v.10): Diotrephes actively blocks other members from practicing the hospitality John commends in Gaius. Standard; no collision risk identified.
Friends
Approved rendering: دوستان
Transliteration: doostan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλος
Category: Christian Fellowship
New term for 3 John. Renders φίλος (v.14), a close, affectionate companion — possibly an early semi-technical self-designation for believers within Johannine circles. Note the possible early-church usage in teaching material without overstating it doctrinally.
Prosper
Approved rendering: کامیاب شدن
Transliteration: kamyab shodan
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Joy
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι
Category: General Pastoral
New term for 3 John. Renders εὐοδοῦσθαι (v.2), to have things go well, subordinated as a lesser concern than Gaius’s already-flourishing soul. Standard Persian term; the road-metaphor etymology (εὖ + ὁδός) may be noted pedagogically given the letter’s travel theme, but carries no separate translation risk.
Health
Approved rendering: سالم بودن
Transliteration: salem budan
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Pastoral Joy
Original: ὑγιαίνειν
Category: General Pastoral
New term for 3 John. Renders ὑγιαίνειν (v.2), physical soundness/health, paired with prospering in John’s prayer for Gaius. Standard; no collision risk identified.
Gaius
Approved rendering: گایوس
Transliteration: Gayus
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Proper Name
New term for 3 John. The letter’s recipient, commended for faithful hospitality. Proper name; hold spelling consistent across all curriculum materials.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: دیوترفس
Transliteration: Diotrefes
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Διοτρέφης
Category: Proper Name
New term for 3 John. A named local leader who loves preeminence, refuses hospitality, slanders John, and expels faithful members from the church. Proper name; hold spelling consistent. Do not soften or omit despite the negative portrayal — the doctrine is taught through this concrete, named case study.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: دیمیتریوس
Transliteration: Demetriyus
Doctrine: Proper Name
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Name
New term for 3 John. A named individual commended by all, and by ‘the truth itself,’ as the letter’s positive case study, deliberately paired against Diotrephes. Proper name; hold spelling consistent.