Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 3 John (English → Spanish)
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json for the 3 John curriculum. Terms already fixed in the baseline must reuse the baseline rendering exactly (marked “Reused” in the Baseline Status column below); all other entries are new to this curriculum and must be added to translation_memory.json at Phase 2 with the risk tiers recorded here.
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s definitions exactly:
- Critical — mistranslation destroys/alters essential doctrine; human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — significant theological confusion or syncretism risk; human theologian review required.
- Medium — reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning; native speaker review recommended.
- Low — minor imprecision; automated review sufficient.
| Term Key | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Spanish Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Baseline Status | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| elder | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | anciano | High | Church Leadership | New | ”presbítero” (Catholic-tradition synonym, strong clergy/priest connotation in modern Spanish) | Same historic RV/Catholic fork as baseline’s pacto/alianza. Standardize “el anciano” per RV-anchored register; “presbítero” acceptable only as a noted ecumenical synonym. |
| gaius | Γάϊος | Gaïos | Gayo | Low | (proper name) | New | — | Established Spanish Bible form. |
| beloved | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | amado | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | — | Recurs 4× (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11); render consistently. |
| love | ἀγαπῶ / ἀγάπη | agapō / agapē | amar / amor | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | — | Selfless, covenantal love; avoid romantic drift of everyday “amor.” Baseline Romans TM has no direct “love” entry to reuse; this establishes the term for this curriculum. |
| truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | verdad | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | ”sinceridad” (as a standalone gloss, loses the substantival gospel-truth sense) | Occurs 6+ times; carries both “sincerity” and “gospel Truth” senses simultaneously. Central term for the letter; must not be flattened to a mere adverb of sincerity. |
| prosper | εὐοδοῦσθαι | euodousthai | prosperar | High | (Hospitality/pastoral greeting) | New | — | Prosperity-gospel collision risk. Must be taught as a bounded personal greeting-wish, subordinate to spiritual health (v. 2b), not a doctrinal guarantee of material increase — a live concern in Latin American/Iberian charismatic contexts. |
| health | ὑγιαίνειν | hygiainein | tener salud / estar sano | Medium | (Hospitality/pastoral greeting) | New | — | Related faith-healing collision risk; teach as ordinary pastoral concern, not a healing-doctrine promise. |
| soul | ψυχή | psychē | alma | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | — | The measure against which outward prosperity is bounded (v. 2). |
| joy | χαρά / χαίρω | chara / chairō | gozo / alegría / alegrarse | Low | Commendation of Faithful Witness | New | — | Joy occasioned by observed faithful conduct. |
| brothers | ἀδελφός | adelphos | hermanos | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | ”colegas/compañeros” (strips familial-fellowship force) | Fictive spiritual kinship; deliberately contrasted with ξένοι (“strangers,” v. 5) — hospitality doctrine turns on this tension. |
| testify / testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | testificar / dar testimonio / testimonio | High | Commendation of Faithful Witness | New | — | Structural link across vv. 3, 6, 8, 12; must render this word family with total consistency throughout the letter. |
| walk (conduct) | περιπατέω | peripateō | andar | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | ”caminar” (without the settled idiom) | Standard NT conduct metaphor; use fixed RV-style idiom “andar en la verdad.” |
| children (spiritual) | τέκνα | tekna | hijos | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | — | Pastoral/mentoring fatherhood of converts (John’s own disciples); must be distinguished by footnote from the baseline’s divine-adoption “hijos de Dios” doctrine (Romans 8). |
| faithful (in action) | πιστός | pistos | fiel | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | — | Adjectival “faithful action,” distinct from but related to baseline “fe” (trust in Christ, soteriological sense); do not conflate the two senses. |
| stranger | ξένος | xenos | extraños / desconocidos | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | ”extranjeros” (foregrounds nationality/immigration status, not the intended sense) | Anchors Greco-Roman xenia hospitality-custom background; needs explanatory teaching note. |
| church | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | iglesia | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | Reused from baseline exactly | ”la Iglesia” (institutional-hierarchical sense) | Per baseline: local gathered congregation, not capitalized institutional sense. |
| send on the way | προπέμπω | propempō | encaminar / enviar de camino / proveer para el viaje | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | ”despedir” (mere farewell, loses material-support sense) | No single Spanish word equivalent; technical hospitality/mission-support term. |
| worthy of God | ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ | axiōs tou theou | de manera digna de Dios | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | ”de manera adecuada” (loses the God-ward standard) | Hospitality’s standard is God’s own honor, not human custom. |
| the Name | ὄνομα (τοῦ ὀνόματος) | onoma | el Nombre | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Truth and Fellowship | New | — | Absolute christological shorthand for Christ’s name/authority; capitalize or gloss on first occurrence. |
| outsiders/pagans | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | paganos / los no creyentes | Critical | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New — explicitly distinct from baseline “gentiles” entry | ”gentiles” (would wrongly import Romans’ ἔθνη ethnic-inclusion sense) | Flag for theologian review. Different Greek word and different sense than baseline’s ἔθνη/“gentiles” (non-Jewish peoples, including future believers). Here it denotes unbelieving outsiders from whom support was refused (cf. Matt 18:17 usage). Must NOT default to “gentiles” in Spanish, which would collide with the baseline’s carefully guarded Romans usage. |
| ought/obligation | ὀφείλω | opheilō | deber | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | — | Moral-debt force; do not soften to optional suggestion. |
| receive/support | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | recibir y sostener / apoyar | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | — | Paired with προπέμπω and ἐπιδέχομαι as the letter’s hospitality-action vocabulary. |
| fellow workers | συνεργός | synergos | colaboradores / cooperadores | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers / Truth and Fellowship | New | — | Hosting missionaries = active partnership in gospel mission, not passive kindness. |
| loving to be first | φιλοπρωτεύων | philoprōteuōn | el que ama tener el primer lugar / el que busca la primacía | High | Church Leadership and Pride | New | ”líder” / “el que dirige” (neutral, loses the moral condemnation) | NT hapax legomenon; no single Spanish word equivalent (linguistic gap). Must preserve the explicit vice-naming force. |
| receive/acknowledge | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | recibir / aceptar | High | Church Leadership and Pride / Hospitality | New | — | Double sense (hospitality-refusal + authority-rejection); flag both senses in teaching notes (vv. 9–10). |
| works/deeds (conduct) | ἔργα | erga | obras | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | New — false-collision flag with baseline “works of the law” | — | Purely descriptive of Diotrephes’ conduct; no soteriological freight. Must not trigger the Romans 3–4 grace-vs-works justification frame. |
| slander | καταλαλέω | katalaleō | calumniar / hablar mal de | Medium-High | Church Leadership and Pride | New | ”criticar” (too mild, loses malicious intent) | Malicious, deliberate speech against another; central to Diotrephes’ character indictment. |
| hinder | κωλύω | kōlyō | impedir / prohibir | Medium-High | Church Leadership and Pride | New | — | Active obstruction of others’ hospitality, not mere personal refusal — marks abuse of congregational power. |
| cast out/expel | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | expulsar / echar fuera | High | Church Leadership and Pride | New | — | Forcible congregational expulsion; teach as illegitimate, pride-driven overreach, distinct from legitimate NT church discipline (Matt 18; 1 Cor 5). |
| imitate | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | imitar | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | ”admirar” / “aprobar” (too passive) | Central ethical verb of the letter; active, deliberate moral emulation. |
| good/evil | ἀγαθός / κακός | agathos / kakos | bueno / malo | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | — | General moral categories structuring the letter’s Diotrephes/Demetrius contrast. |
| doing good/evil | ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω | agathopoieō / kakopoieō | hacer el bien / hacer el mal | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | — | Practiced good/evil as evidence of relationship (or lack thereof) with God. |
| has seen God (idiom) | ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν | heōraken ton theon | ha visto a Dios | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | — | Relational-knowledge idiom (cf. 1 John 3:6); not a claim about literal/mystical vision. |
| demetrius | Δημήτριος | Dēmētrios | Demetrio | Low | (proper name) | New | — | Established Spanish Bible form; the letter’s positive counter-example to Diotrephes. |
| true | ἀληθής | alēthēs | verdadero | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness | New | — | Adjective from ἀλήθεια; underwrites John’s own testimony’s reliability. |
| truth itself (personified) | αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας | autēs tēs alētheias | la verdad misma | High | Commendation of Faithful Witness / Truth and Fellowship | New | ”en verdad, es cierto” (loses personification) | Striking Johannine personification (cf. John 14:6); must not be flattened to a colloquial affirmation. |
| ink/pen | μέλαν / κάλαμος | melan / kalamos | tinta / pluma (cálamo) | Low | (epistolary detail) | New | — | No theological weight; concrete ancient letter-writing detail. |
| face to face (idiom) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα | stoma pros stoma | cara a cara / en persona | Low-Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | ”boca a boca” (misleading modern connotation: CPR) | Idiom handling: do not translate literally. |
| peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | paz | Medium | (epistolary benediction) | Reused from baseline exactly | — | Same relational/covenantal weight as baseline’s Romans entry; render identically. |
| friends | φίλος | philos | amigos | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | ”hermanos” (would flatten a deliberate Johannine register-shift, cf. John 15:15) | Distinguish from ἀδελφός (“hermanos”) used throughout vv. 3–10; both denote the same believing community with different relational nuance. |
| diotrephes | Διοτρεφής | Diotrephēs | Diotrefes | Low | (proper name) | New | — | Established Spanish Bible form; the letter’s negative example. |
Summary of New Critical/High-Risk Terms Requiring Theologian Review
| Term Key | Risk | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| elder | High | RV “anciano” vs. Catholic-tradition “presbítero” clergy-connotation fork. |
| truth | High | Central letter theme; dual sincerity/gospel-Truth sense must not be flattened. |
| prosper | High | Prosperity-gospel collision in Latin American/Iberian charismatic contexts. |
| stranger | High | Anchors Greco-Roman hospitality custom; risk of nationality-based misreading. |
| send on the way | High | Linguistic gap; technical mission-support term with no single-word equivalent. |
| the Name | High | Absolute christological shorthand; risk of generic flattening. |
| outsiders/pagans (ἐθνικός) | Critical | Direct collision risk with baseline’s “gentiles” (ἔθνη) entry; different Greek word, different sense, must not be conflated. |
| receive/support (ὑπολαμβάνω) | High | Core hospitality-action vocabulary. |
| loving to be first (φιλοπρωτεύων) | High | NT hapax; must preserve explicit vice-naming force. |
| receive/acknowledge (ἐπιδέχομαι) | High | Double sense (hospitality + authority) must both be preserved. |
| cast out/expel (ἐκβάλλω) | High | Severity of illegitimate expulsion must be conveyed accurately. |
| testify/testimony | High | Structural consistency across vv. 3, 6, 8, 12 required. |
| truth itself (personified) | High | Johannine personification must not be flattened. |
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dios
Transliteration: theos
Doctrine: Relational Knowledge of God (3 John 1:11) / Deity of Christ (baseline Romans)
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. In 3 John, God is referenced as the standard of hospitality (‘de manera digna de Dios,’ v. 6) and as the object of relational, conduct-evidenced knowledge (‘ha visto a Dios,’ v. 11). No rival deity-name confusion in mainstream Hispanic Christian usage.
Outsiders Pagans
Approved rendering: paganos / los no creyentes
Transliteration: ethnikos
Doctrine: Financial Integrity in Gospel Ministry
Rejected alternatives: gentiles (would wrongly import the baseline Romans ἔθνη ethnic-inclusion doctrine into a different Greek word’s exclusionary, unbeliever-outsider sense)
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
CRITICAL. ἐθνικός is a distinct Greek word from ἔθνη (baseline ‘gentiles’); here it denotes unbelieving outsiders to the church, from whom the missionaries refused financial support (v. 7; cf. Matthew 18:17). See ‘gentiles’ entry above for the mandatory fence. Must NEVER be rendered ‘gentiles’ in this curriculum.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: fe
Transliteration: pistis
Doctrine: Faith (baseline Romans) — fence against conflation with 3 John’s ‘faithful’ (πιστός, v. 5)
Rejected alternatives: devoción religiosa general, creencia cultural heredada
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly, and retained here specifically as a fence: 3 John 1:5 uses the adjectival form πιστός (‘fiel,’ faithful action) to describe Gaius’s hospitality, a related but distinct sense from this noun’s soteriological force (trust in Christ for salvation, Romans 3-4). Do not let ‘fiel’ in 3 John be taught as equivalent to saving faith; see the separate ‘faithful’ entry below.
Elder
Approved rendering: anciano
Transliteration: presbyteros
Doctrine: Pastoral Authority of the Elder
Rejected alternatives: presbítero (Catholic-tradition synonym; strong ordained-clergy/sacramental-office connotation in contemporary Spanish, absent from John’s simple self-designation)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
John’s self-designation in v. 1. Standardize on ‘anciano’ per Reina-Valera precedent, mirroring the same historic RV/Catholic-tradition fork already fenced in the baseline’s ‘pacto/alianza’ entry. ‘Presbítero’ may appear only as a noted ecumenical synonym, never as the running translation.
Truth
Approved rendering: verdad
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: sinceramente / de veras (adverbial gloss, loses the substantival gospel-Truth sense)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Both sincerity/genuineness and substantival gospel-Truth simultaneously. Render consistently as ‘la verdad,’ retaining the article-noun construction (‘andar en la verdad,’ ‘colaboradores de la verdad,’ ‘la verdad misma,’ v. 12). Central term of the whole letter.
Prosper
Approved rendering: prosperar
Transliteration: euodousthai
Doctrine: Spiritual Prosperity and Well-Being
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι
Category: Pastoral Greeting and Well-Being
The single highest live syncretism risk in this curriculum. Contemporary Latin American/Iberian ‘teología de la prosperidad’ uses exactly this vocabulary to promise guaranteed material wealth as an entitlement of faith. Every occurrence must be taught as a personal greeting-wish bounded by and subordinate to the soul’s prosperity (v. 2b), never a doctrinal guarantee.
Testimony
Approved rendering: testificar / dar testimonio / testimonio
Transliteration: martyreō / martyria
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Must be rendered with total consistency across vv. 3, 6, 8, 12, structurally linking the report about Gaius, the brothers’ testimony before the church, and Demetrius’s threefold commendation. Teaching note required to recover the legal/multi-witness resonance (cf. Deuteronomy 19:15), since contemporary Evangelical Spanish usage narrows ‘testimonio’ to a personal-conversion-story genre.
Stranger
Approved rendering: desconocidos
Transliteration: xenos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: extranjeros (foregrounds nationality/immigration status in modern Spanish, losing the intended Greco-Roman xenia sense)
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
One personally unknown, received under the Greco-Roman hospitality custom (xenia) as family for the gospel’s sake (v. 5). Requires a teaching note explaining this ancient hospitality custom.
Send On The Way
Approved rendering: encaminar / enviar de camino / proveer para el viaje
Transliteration: propempō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: despedir (mere farewell, loses the material-support sense)
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
No single Spanish word equivalent exists (linguistic gap). NT technical term for equipping and sending off traveling missionaries with material provision, funds, and/or escort (v. 6).
The Name
Approved rendering: el Nombre
Transliteration: to onoma
Doctrine: Authority of the Name of Christ / Financial Integrity in Gospel Ministry
Rejected alternatives: el nombre (lowercase, generic, loses the absolute christological weight)
Original: τὸ ὄνομα
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Absolute, unqualified Johannine/NT shorthand for the name and authority of Jesus Christ (v. 7). Capitalize; gloss ‘el nombre de Cristo’ on first occurrence.
Receive Support
Approved rendering: recibir y sostener / apoyar
Transliteration: hypolambanō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Active material support (v. 8), paired conceptually with προπέμπω and ἐπιδέχομαι as the letter’s core hospitality-action vocabulary.
Loving To Be First
Approved rendering: el que ama tener el primer lugar
Transliteration: philoprōteuōn
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: líder / el que dirige (neutral leadership vocabulary, strips the explicit moral condemnation)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύων
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
NT hapax legomenon (v. 9); no single Spanish word equivalent. Must preserve the explicit vice-naming force, not soften into neutral leadership description.
Receive Acknowledge
Approved rendering: recibir / aceptar
Transliteration: epidechomai
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) / Pastoral Authority of the Elder
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
Deliberately double-edged in vv. 9-10: refusing hospitality AND rejecting apostolic/pastoral authority. Both senses must be held together in teaching notes, not resolved to only one.
Cast Out Expel
Approved rendering: expulsar / echar fuera
Transliteration: ekballō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
Forcible expulsion from the local congregation (v. 10) of those who show hospitality to the traveling brothers. Teach as illegitimate, pride-driven overreach, clearly distinguished from legitimate NT church discipline (Matthew 18; 1 Corinthians 5).
Truth Itself Personified
Approved rendering: la verdad misma
Transliteration: autēs tēs alētheias
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius) / Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: en verdad, es cierto (colloquial affirmation, loses the personification)
Original: αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Striking Johannine personification (v. 12; cf. John 14:6, Christ as ‘the Truth’). Must not be flattened to a colloquial affirmation of sincerity.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: iglesia
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People (baseline Romans) / local congregational context in Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes), 3 John
Rejected alternatives: la Iglesia (institución jerárquica en sentido católico-institucional)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. In 3 John (vv. 6, 9, 10) denotes the single local gathered congregation addressed by John’s earlier letter and terrorized by Diotrephes’ expulsions — the same non-institutional, gathered-people sense fixed by the baseline, not the capitalized institutional sense.
Peace
Approved rendering: paz
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: Personal Fellowship and Pastoral Care (3 John closing benediction, v. 14) / Peace with God (baseline Romans)
Rejected alternatives: tranquilidad emocional
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Epistolary Benediction
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Same relational/covenantal weight as the baseline Romans 5:1 entry; here in epistolary-benediction form (v. 14), but the underlying word and its theological weight must be rendered identically across both curricula.
Adoption
Approved rendering: adopción
Transliteration: huiothesia
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family (baseline Romans) — fence against conflation with 3 John’s ‘children’ (τέκνα, v. 4)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Retained as a fence: 3 John 1:4 calls John’s converts ‘hijos’ (τέκνα) in a pastoral, mentoring sense (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:15; Galatians 4:19), which must be taught as distinct from this baseline doctrine of divine adoption (‘hijos de Dios,’ Romans 8:15, 23). A footnote distinguishing the two at 3 John 1:4’s first occurrence is required.
Beloved
Approved rendering: amado
Transliteration: agapētos
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Recurs 4x (vv. 1, 2, 5, 11); render consistently as ‘amado’ at every occurrence; do not vary.
Love
Approved rendering: amar / amor
Transliteration: agapaō / agapē
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Selfless, covenantal love explicitly qualified ‘en la verdad’ (v. 1). Guard against register drift toward the romantic connotations of everyday Spanish ‘amor.‘
Health
Approved rendering: tener salud / estar sano
Transliteration: hygiainein
Doctrine: Spiritual Prosperity and Well-Being
Original: ὑγιαίνειν
Category: Pastoral Greeting and Well-Being
Secondary collision risk with faith-healing movements treating guaranteed physical healing as a doctrinal entitlement; teach as an ordinary pastoral wish.
Soul
Approved rendering: alma
Transliteration: psychē
Doctrine: Spiritual Prosperity and Well-Being
Original: ψυχή
Category: Pastoral Greeting and Well-Being
The interpretive control of v. 2: outward prosperity is measured against, not equal to, the soul’s spiritual health. Essential corrective to a prosperity-gospel misreading.
Brothers
Approved rendering: hermanos
Transliteration: adelphos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: colegas / compañeros (strips familial-fellowship force)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Fictive spiritual kinship extended to traveling missionaries personally unknown to the host; deliberately contrasted with ξένοι (‘desconocidos,’ v. 5) — the letter’s hospitality doctrine rests on this tension.
Walk
Approved rendering: andar (en la verdad)
Transliteration: peripateō
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: caminar (bare literal, without the settled RV-style idiom)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Standard NT conduct metaphor (vv. 3, 4); use the fixed idiomatic phrase ‘andar en la verdad,’ matching Reina-Valera convention.
Children
Approved rendering: hijos
Transliteration: tekna
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: τέκνα
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
John’s pastoral, mentoring fatherhood of his converts (v. 4); must be distinguished by footnote from the baseline’s divine-adoption ‘hijos de Dios’ doctrine (see ‘adoption’ entry above).
Faithful
Approved rendering: fiel
Transliteration: pistos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Adjectival ‘faithful action’ (v. 5), describing Gaius’s hospitality as a faithful deed, not describing personal saving belief. Do not conflate with the baseline’s soteriological ‘fe’ (see ‘faith’ entry above).
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: de manera digna de Dios
Transliteration: axiōs tou theou
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: de manera adecuada (loses the God-ward standard)
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
The standard for hospitality is God’s own honor (v. 6), not human custom or convenience.
Obligation
Approved rendering: deber
Transliteration: opheilō
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: podríamos (softens moral obligation to mere optional suggestion)
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Hospitality to gospel workers is a moral debt the church owes (v. 8), not optional generosity.
Fellow Workers
Approved rendering: colaboradores / cooperadores
Transliteration: synergos
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Hosting missionaries makes the host an active partner in gospel mission itself (v. 8), not a passive bystander offering mere kindness.
Works Deeds
Approved rendering: obras
Transliteration: erga
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἔργα
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
FALSE-COLLISION FENCE: neutral term for observable conduct (v. 10), Diotrephes’ behavior pattern. Must be explicitly distinguished from the baseline Romans soteriological contrast of ‘obras’ with grace/faith (Romans 3-4, justification doctrine); no soteriological freight here.
Slander
Approved rendering: calumniar / hablar mal de
Transliteration: katalaleō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: criticar (too mild, understates malicious intent)
Original: καταλαλέω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
Malicious, deliberate speech against John (v. 10), not mere disagreement or neutral criticism.
Hinder
Approved rendering: impedir / prohibir
Transliteration: kōlyō
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership and Pride
Active obstruction of OTHER church members’ hospitality (v. 10), not mere personal refusal — the escalation from personal unwelcome to congregational control is the doctrinal point.
Imitate
Approved rendering: imitar
Transliteration: mimeomai
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: admirar / aprobar (too passive)
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
The letter’s central ethical verb (v. 11); active, deliberate moral emulation, not passive admiration or mere approval.
Good Evil
Approved rendering: lo bueno / lo malo
Transliteration: agathos / kakos
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός / κακός
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
General moral categories structuring the letter’s Diotrephes/Demetrius contrast (v. 11); preserve the article’s substantival force (a moral category), not a bare adjective.
Doing Good Evil
Approved rendering: hacer el bien / hacer el mal
Transliteration: agathopoieō / kakopoieō
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Practiced good/evil presented as evidence of relationship (or lack thereof) with God (v. 11).
Has Seen God
Approved rendering: ha visto a Dios
Transliteration: heōraken ton theon
Doctrine: Relational Knowledge of God
Original: ἑώρακεν τὸν θεόν
Category: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Johannine idiom for authentic relational knowledge evidenced in conduct (cf. 1 John 3:6), not literal or mystical vision. Requires a teaching note given the live category of Marian/saintly apparitions in destination-culture folk piety.
True
Approved rendering: verdadero
Transliteration: alēthēs
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Adjective from ἀλήθεια, underwriting the reliability of John’s own testimony (v. 12).
Face To Face
Approved rendering: cara a cara / en persona
Transliteration: stoma pros stoma
Doctrine: Personal Fellowship and Pastoral Care
Rejected alternatives: boca a boca (misleading modern connotation: CPR/mouth-to-mouth resuscitation)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Hebraic/Johannine idiom for direct, personal conversation (v. 14; cf. Numbers 12:8 LXX). Idiom handling required: never a literal calque.
Friends
Approved rendering: amigos
Transliteration: philos
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship / Personal Fellowship and Pastoral Care
Rejected alternatives: hermanos (would flatten a deliberate Johannine register-shift, cf. John 15:15)
Original: φίλος
Category: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Closing-greeting shift from ‘hermanos’ to ‘amigos’ (v. 14) for the same believing community; echoes Johannine friendship theology. Preserve the distinct register rather than normalizing for surface consistency.
Low Risk Terms
Gentiles
Approved rendering: gentiles
Transliteration: ethnē
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles (baseline Romans) — CRITICAL fence against 3 John’s ἐθνικός
Rejected alternatives: paganos (pejorative in modern Spanish; rejected for ἔθνη in Romans, but note: ‘paganos’ is the CORRECT rendering for the different Greek word ἐθνικός in 3 John 1:7 — see ‘outsiders_pagans’ entry)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly for its baseline referent (ἔθνη, non-Jewish peoples/nations, including future believers). CRITICAL FENCE FOR THIS CURRICULUM: this rendering ‘gentiles’ must NEVER be used for 3 John 1:7’s ἐθνικός, a different Greek word denoting unbelieving outsiders to the church from whom the missionaries refused support. Using ‘gentiles’ there would wrongly import Romans’ ethnic-inclusion doctrine into a verse about refusing pagan/unbeliever money, inverting its meaning. See ‘outsiders_pagans’ for the correct 3 John rendering.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: compañerismo
Transliteration: koinōnia
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship (baseline Romans) / Truth and Christian Fellowship (3 John, curriculum doctrine)
Rejected alternatives: comunión de los santos (specific Catholic liturgical formula)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Though the specific Greek term κοινωνία does not occur within 3 John’s text itself, this entry anchors cross-lesson vocabulary consistency for the curriculum doctrine ‘Truth and Christian Fellowship,’ which draws its content instead from ἀλήθεια, ἀγάπη, ἀδελφός, and φίλος (see below).
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gayo
Transliteration: Gaïos
Doctrine: (proper name)
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Church
Established Spanish Bible form; the letter’s hospitable, faithful addressee.
Joy
Approved rendering: gozo / alegría
Transliteration: chara / chairō
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Commendation of Faithful Witness
Deep gladness occasioned specifically by a report of faithful Christian conduct, not abstract happiness.
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Demetrio
Transliteration: Dēmētrios
Doctrine: (proper name)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Church
Established Spanish Bible form; the letter’s positive counter-example to Diotrephes (v. 12).
Ink Pen
Approved rendering: tinta / pluma
Transliteration: melan / kalamos
Doctrine: (epistolary detail, no doctrine)
Original: μέλαν / κάλαμος
Category: Epistolary Detail
Concrete ancient letter-writing detail (v. 13); no theological weight. ‘Cálamo’ available as a formal-register secondary gloss.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrefes
Transliteration: Diotrephēs
Doctrine: (proper name)
Original: Διοτρεφής
Category: Church Leadership
Established Spanish Bible form; the letter’s negative example of prideful, authority-usurping church leadership (vv. 9-10).
Referenced passages