Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 3 John
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from the entire book of 3 John (a single chapter, fourteen verses, identical to the core passage). Terms already established in the baseline Romans-through-John translation memory are marked [REUSED] and must be rendered exactly as recorded there. New terms are proposed for addition to translation memory with a recommended risk tier, consistent with the baseline’s Critical/High/Medium/Low framework.
Reused Baseline Terms
| Term (English) | Greek | Transliteration | Turkish Rendering | Risk | Citations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | theos | Tanrı | Critical | 1:6, 9, 11 (×2) | Reused exactly per baseline; no new doctrinal content. |
| Church | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | Kilise | Medium | 1:6, 9, 10 | Reused exactly per baseline; never cemaat. |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | Esenlik | Medium | 1:14 | Reused exactly per baseline closing-greeting convention. |
| Truth (of the gospel pattern) | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | Gerçek | High (elevated from baseline’s High for this book, given frequency + personification in v.12) | 1:1, 3 (×2), 4, 8, 12 (×2) | Consistent with baseline’s “truth_of_the_gospel” (Müjdenin gerçeği); NEVER hakikat (Sufi Four Gates esoteric-truth collision). |
New Terms Proposed for Translation Memory
| Term (English) | Greek | Transliteration | Literal/Semantic Notes | Turkish Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Citations | Alternatives Rejected & Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elder (office/self-designation) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | Recognized pastoral office-holder, or elder by age; author’s self-title | İhtiyar | High | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:1 | İmam (Islamic prayer-leader office, wrong functional category); şeyh (Sufi spiritual master, imports mystical-hierarchy framework). Positive resonance retained with civil ihtiyar heyeti institution. |
| Beloved (address) | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | Term of affectionate address | Sevgili | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:1, 2, 5, 11 | None; standard term. |
| Love (verb) | ἀγαπάω | agapaō | Selfless, willed love | Sevmek | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:1 | None rejected; note “in truth” qualifier must be retained to prevent flattening to generic affection. |
| Love (noun) | ἀγάπη | agapē | Noun form of ἀγαπάω | Sevgi | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:6 | None rejected. |
| Prosper (spiritually/materially) | εὐοδοῦσθαι | euodousthai | Lit. “have a good road”; to succeed/prosper | Gönenmek / iyi gitmek | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:2 (×2) | Must not be isolated as a prosperity-gospel promise; keep subordinated to soul’s spiritual prospering per the verse’s own comparison. |
| Soul | ψυχή | psychē | Inner person, seat of spiritual life | Can | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:2 | Ruh rejected — reserved exclusively for πνεῦμα/Kutsal Ruh (Holy Spirit) per baseline; must not be conflated. |
| Brother (fellow believer, direct address) | ἀδελφός | adelphos | Fellow believer | Kardeş | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:3, 5, 10 | Kardeşlik (abstract “brotherhood” noun) avoided per existing baseline caution re: Turkish nationalist/ümmet overtones; direct address kardeş is standard and unproblematic. |
| Testify / Testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | To bear witness / act of witness | Tanıklık etmek / Tanıklık | High | Commendation of Faithful Witness; Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:3, 6, 12 (×3) | Şahitlik / şahadet rejected — shares Arabic root with şehit (martyr), risking unintended martyrdom association absent from the Greek. |
| Walk (conduct oneself) | περιπατέω | peripateō | Idiom for one’s manner of life | Gerçekte yürümek / gerçeğe uygun yaşamak | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:3, 4 | Bare literal “yürümek” without figurative marking risks being misread as physical walking. |
| Children (spiritual) | τέκνον | teknon | Spiritual converts/disciples | Çocuklarım | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:4 | Must be kept distinct from the Critical-tier doctrine of evlatlığa alınma (adoption into God’s family) — a pastoral affection metaphor, not that doctrine. |
| Faithful (of conduct) | πιστός | pistos | Trustworthy/reliable conduct | Sadık | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:5 | Must be distinguished from İman (the baseline’s noun for saving faith); this is an adjective describing reliable action. |
| Stranger / Guest | ξένος | xenos | Outsider received in hospitality | Yabancı / konuk | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:5 | Genuine positive cultural resonance (misafirperverlik, “Tanrı misafiri”) must be anchored to the passage’s specific missionary-support purpose, not flattened to generic cultural virtue. |
| Send on one’s way (with support) | προπέμπω | propempō | Equip and dispatch a traveler with provisions | Yolcu etmek / yol hazırlığı yaparak göndermek | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:6 | Generic “yolcu etmek” alone under-specifies the missionary-support sense; must be linked to Müjdeleme görevi (mission doctrine) in teaching material. |
| Worthy (of God) | ἀξίως (τοῦ θεοῦ) | axiōs (tou theou) | Conduct fitting God’s own standard | Tanrı’ya yaraşır biçimde | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:6 | None rejected; standard theological idiom. |
| The Name (Christological title) | ὄνομα | onoma | Metonym for Christ himself | O’nun Adı / İsim | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:7 | A generic “for some cause/reason” rejected — would strip the term of its christological, confessional weight. |
| Pagans / religious outsiders | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | Non-believing outsiders (distinct sense from ἔθνη) | İmansız uluslar / dıştaki putperestler | Medium-High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:7 | Must not be conflated with the baseline’s neutral, ethnically-defined Uluslar (Gentiles) doctrine category — different sense, different argument. |
| Ought / obligated | ὀφείλω | opheilō | Moral obligation, debt-language | Borçluyuz / …-mamız gerekir | Low-Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:8 | None rejected; consistent with existing “borç senedi” commercial-debt metaphor family in the Language Package. |
| Support / receive (materially) | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | To host and provide for | Desteklemek / ağırlamak | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:8 | None rejected. |
| Fellow worker (with the truth) | συνεργός | synergos | Partner in gospel labor | Gerçeğin emektaşları / gerçekle birlikte çalışanlar | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:8 | Must preserve the personification (partnership WITH “the truth” itself); do not flatten to generic “helper of good people.” |
| Loves to be first (preeminence-seeking) | φιλοπρωτεύω | philoprōteuō | Self-serving ambition for status/control (NT hapax) | Başta olmayı seven / öne çıkmaya düşkün | High | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:9 | Must not collapse into a neutral description of “being a leader”; targets abuse of leadership, contrasted explicitly with legitimate İhtiyar office. |
| Receive / accept (a person or authority) | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | To welcome/accept | Kabul etmek | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | 1:9, 10 | None rejected. |
| Remind / expose | ὑπομιμνήσκω | hypomimnēskō | To call to remembrance; to publicly expose | Hatırlatmak / açığa çıkarmak | Low-Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:10 | None rejected. |
| Evil / wicked (of words) | πονηρός | ponēros | Actively malicious, morally corrupt | Kötü / kötü niyetli | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:10 | May note (without overstating) Johannine association with “the evil one.” |
| Slander with groundless charges | φλυαρέω | phlyareō | Empty talk + malicious false accusation (NT hapax) | Asılsız sözlerle suçlamak / iftira atarak dedikodu yapmak | Medium-High | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:10 | Bare “dedikodu yapmak” (gossip) alone under-translates; must retain the false-accusation component. |
| Hinder / prevent | κωλύω | kōlyō | To actively obstruct another’s action | Engellemek | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:10 | None rejected. |
| Cast out / expel (from church) | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | Forcible expulsion; here illegitimate | Kovmak / kiliseden atmak | High | Church Leadership and Pride | 1:10 | Must be framed as condemned, illegitimate authority-abuse, contrasted with legitimate restorative church discipline elsewhere in the NT. |
| Imitate | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | Deliberate patterning of conduct after an example | Örnek almak | Medium-High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | Taklit etmek alone disfavored as primary rendering — carries a mild “mimicry/counterfeit” connotation in ordinary Turkish; “örnek almak” better conveys serious moral modeling. |
| Evil (moral category) | κακός | kakos | General moral badness | Kötü | Low-Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | None rejected. |
| Good (moral category) | ἀγαθός | agathos | General moral goodness | İyi | Low-Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | None rejected. |
| Does good (habitual) | ἀγαθοποιέω | agathopoieō | Habitual good conduct as evidence of belonging to God | İyilik yapan | High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | Must be taught as fruit/evidence of relationship with God, never as merit earning that relationship — guards against amel/sevap (deeds-weighed-at-Judgment) misreading. |
| Does evil (habitual) | κακοποιέω | kakopoieō | Habitual evil conduct as evidence of not knowing God | Kötülük yapan | High | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | Parallel caution to ἀγαθοποιέω; diagnostic, not a merit-based final verdict formula. |
| Has seen (= has known) | ὁράω (ἑώρακεν) | horaō | Metaphorical relational knowing, not literal sight | Görmüş / tanımış | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | 1:11 | Clarify relational-experiential sense to avoid confusion with claims about literal divine visibility. |
| True / truthful | ἀληθής | alēthēs | Factually accurate, reliable | Gerçek / doğru | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness | 1:12 | None rejected. |
| Friend (closing address) | φίλος | philos | Affectionate relational term, distinct from ἀδελφός | Dostlar | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | 1:14 | Note lexical shift from kardeş without over-theologizing as a separate relational category. |
Low-Risk / Concrete Terms (Automated Review Sufficient)
| Term (English) | Greek | Transliteration | Turkish Rendering | Risk | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rejoice / Joy | χαίρω / χαρά | chairō / chara | Sevinmek / Sevinç | Low | 1:3, 4 |
| Be healthy | ὑγιαίνω | hygiainō | Sağlıklı olmak | Low | 1:2 |
| Do / accomplish | ἐργάζομαι | ergazomai | Yapmak | Low | 1:5 |
| Be content/satisfied | ἀρκέω | arkeō | Yetinmek | Low | 1:10 |
| Hope | ἐλπίζω | elpizō | Ummak | Low | 1:14 |
| Mouth to mouth (idiom: face to face) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα | stoma pros stoma | Yüz yüze | Low | 1:14 |
| Greet | ἀσπάζομαι | aspazomai | Selamlamak | Low | 1:14 |
| Ink | μέλαν | melan | Mürekkep | Low | 1:13 |
| Pen/reed | κάλαμος | kalamos | Kalem | Low | 1:13 |
Proper Names
| Name | Greek | Transliteration | Turkish Rendering | Citations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaius | Γάϊος | Gaios | Gayus | 1:1 | Letter’s recipient; commended for hospitality. |
| Diotrephes | Διοτρέφης | Diotrephēs | Diotrefis | 1:9 | Local leader condemned for prideful, abusive conduct. |
| Demetrius | Δημήτριος | Dēmētrios | Dimitrius | 1:12 | Commended as a model of faithful, well-attested character. |
Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference Summary
| Doctrine | Primary Terms |
|---|---|
| Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | ξένος, προπέμπω, ὀφείλω, ὑπολαμβάνω, συνεργός, ὄνομα, ἐθνικός, ἀδελφός, πιστός |
| Imitating Good rather than Evil | μιμέομαι, κακός, ἀγαθός, ἀγαθοποιέω, κακοποιέω, ὁράω |
| Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | πρεσβύτερος, φιλοπρωτεύω, ἐπιδέχομαι, φλυαρέω, πονηρός, κωλύω, ἐκβάλλω, ἐκκλησία |
| Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius) | μαρτυρέω, μαρτυρία, ἀλήθεια, ἀληθής |
| Truth and Christian Fellowship | ἀλήθεια, περιπατέω, ἀγάπη, ἀγαπάω, ἀδελφός, φίλος, ψυχή, εἰρήνη |
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Tanrı
Transliteration: tahn-RUH
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Allah (theologically usable but politically/socially contested for Christian texts in some contexts)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Tanrı is the term used consistently across modern Turkish Bible translations (Kitabı Mukaddes). Occurs in 3 John at 1:6, 9, 11 (x2) in a non-polemical pastoral context; the Critical risk tier is retained across the whole Language Package for consistency, though this letter introduces no new doctrinal content for this term. Inherited from Romans package.
High Risk Terms
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: Müjdenin gerçeği
Transliteration: myooj-deh-NEEN gher-cheh-EE
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: Hristiyan bakış açısı (the Christian perspective, one among many)
Objective, standing truth, not one perspective among many. This is the baseline convention that 3 John’s own dominant term ‘Gerçek’ (see new entry ‘truth’ below) extends and reuses; retained here unchanged as the doctrinal anchor. Inherited from Romans package.
Elder
Approved rendering: İhtiyar
Transliteration: ee-hee-TYAR
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: imam (Islamic prayer-leader office, wrong functional category), şeyh (Sufi spiritual master, imports mystical-hierarchy framework)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:1. Author’s self-designation as a recognized, translocal pastoral authority (traditionally the Apostle John). İhtiyar retains genuine positive resonance with the contemporary Turkish civil institution of the köy/mahalle ihtiyar heyeti (‘village/neighborhood council of elders’), usable pastorally to explain recognized, respected communal authority without religious loading. This legitimate office is the deliberate positive contrast to Diotrephes’s illegitimate self-promotion (see loves_preeminence below); gloss on first occurrence per lesson.
Truth
Approved rendering: Gerçek
Transliteration: gher-CHEK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: hakikat (Sufi ‘Four Gates’ esoteric-truth register: şeriat→tarikat→marifet→hakikat, an ultimate truth attained only by spiritual elites at the end of a mystical path — the exact inversion of alētheia’s plain, shared, publicly-testified sense in this letter)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Fellowship
NEW entry extending the baseline’s ‘truth_of_the_gospel’ (Müjdenin gerçeği) convention. Occurs 6x in 14 verses (1:1, 3 x2, 4, 8, 12 x2) — 3 John’s single dominant term, elevated to High risk specifically for this book given that frequency and its rhetorical personification in 1:12 (‘the truth itself testifies’). NEVER hakikat, under any circumstances, in any occurrence.
Testify Testimony
Approved rendering: Tanıklık etmek / Tanıklık
Transliteration: tah-nuhk-LUHK et-MEK
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Rejected alternatives: şahitlik / şahit / şehadet (shares the Arabic triliteral root ش-ه-د with şehit, ‘martyr’; şehadet in live Islamic usage names BOTH courtroom testimony AND death for the faith — using this family risks an unintended martyrdom association entirely absent from the Greek, especially dangerous at the climactic commendation of Demetrius in 1:12)
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
NEW. 3 John 1:3, 6, 12 (x3). Used of the brothers’ report on Gaius (1:3, 6) and climactically of the triple attestation to Demetrius, including the personified ‘the truth itself testifies’ (1:12). Hard forbidden substitution: tanıklık etmek/tanıklık only, no exceptions.
Stranger Guest
Approved rendering: Yabancı / konuk
Transliteration: yah-bahn-JUH
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: a rendering left unanchored to the missionary-support purpose clause of 1:6-8 (would flatten into generic misafirperverlik cultural virtue)
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:5. Genuine point of positive cultural resonance requiring careful doctrinal anchoring, not a straightforward hazard: Turkish culture, both secular and Islamic, holds hospitality (misafirperverlik) as a deep social value, and Islamic tradition specifically honors the unexpected guest as ‘Tanrı misafiri.’ Teaching material must ensure the passage’s specific theological grounding (hospitality shown BECAUSE these are gospel workers ‘going out for the sake of the Name,’ 1:7) is not flattened into a generic, religiously-neutral cultural virtue.
Send On Way
Approved rendering: Yolcu etmek / yol hazırlığı yaparak göndermek
Transliteration: yol-JOO et-MEK
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: generic politeness/innkeeping-courtesy vocabulary alone
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:6. Specific missionary-support term: equipping and dispatching a traveler with provisions for the journey. Must be linked in teaching material to the Müjdeleme görevi (mission) doctrine so Gaius’s action reads as active gospel-partnership, not mere hospitality etiquette.
The Name
Approved rendering: O’nun Adı / İsim
Transliteration: oh-NOON ah-DUH
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: a generic ‘for some cause/reason’ rendering (would strip the term of its load-bearing christological, confessional weight)
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Christology
NEW. 3 John 1:7. Early Christian confessional shorthand title for Jesus Christ himself: ‘they went out for the sake of the Name.’ Must be rendered and glossed on first occurrence so the reader understands this as a title referring to Christ, not an unspecified cause.
Pagans Outsiders
Approved rendering: İmansız uluslar / dıştaki putperestler
Transliteration: ee-mahn-SUHZ oo-loos-LAHR
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: reuse of the baseline’s neutral Uluslar (Gentiles) vocabulary (would conflate this pejorative-functional outsider sense with Paul’s ethnically-neutral, salvation-inclusive category)
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:7. ἐθνικός names unbelieving religious outsiders in a pejorative-functional sense — those from whom the missionaries specifically refused support, to keep the gospel’s reputation clear of profiteering suspicion. Must be kept distinct from the baseline’s neutral Uluslar (Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine); do not let the two senses of ‘the nations’ bleed together in teaching material.
Fellow Worker Truth
Approved rendering: Gerçeğin emektaşları / gerçekle birlikte çalışanlar
Transliteration: gher-cheh-EEN eh-mek-tahsh-lah-RUH
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: a vague ‘helper of good people’ flattening (loses the striking personification)
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:8. Theological climax of the hospitality argument: by materially supporting gospel workers, the host congregation itself becomes an active partner ‘with the truth’ — must preserve the personification (partnership WITH ‘the truth’ itself, i.e., with the gospel’s advance). Anchor term for the entire Hospitality doctrine.
Loves Preeminence
Approved rendering: Başta olmayı seven / öne çıkmaya düşkün
Transliteration: bahsh-TAH ohl-mah-YUH seh-VEN
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: a generic ‘being a leader’ description (would implicate legitimate leadership as such, including the elder’s own office, rather than isolating self-serving ambition)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:9. NT hapax (φιλοπρωτεύω) naming Diotrephes’s core character flaw: self-serving ambition for status and control, not merely holding office. Must always be taught in explicit contrast with the neutral, legitimate İhtiyar office (1:1) so the doctrine targets abuse of leadership, not leadership itself.
Slander Groundless
Approved rendering: Asılsız sözlerle suçlamak / iftira atarak dedikodu yapmak
Transliteration: ah-suhl-SUHZ surz-LEHR-leh
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: a bare ‘dedikodu yapmak’ (gossip) alone (under-translates the word, losing the false-accusation component)
Original: φλυαρέω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:10. NT hapax (φλυαρέω) combining empty talk with malicious, unfounded accusation. Both the ‘baseless’ and ‘slanderous’ components must be captured together so the doctrine’s warning against abusive speech accompanying abusive authority is not weakened.
Cast Out Expel
Approved rendering: Kovmak / kiliseden atmak
Transliteration: kohv-MAHK
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Rejected alternatives: any rendering presented without explicit condemnation-framing (could be misread as endorsed, legitimate church discipline)
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:10. Climax of Diotrephes’s abuse: illegitimately expelling faithful believers from the congregation. Must be framed as CONDEMNED, illegitimate behavior driven by pride, contrasted explicitly with legitimate, restorative church discipline elsewhere in the NT (e.g., Matthew 18).
Imitate
Approved rendering: Örnek almak
Transliteration: ur-nek ahl-MAHK
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: taklit etmek (carries a mild ‘mimicry/counterfeit’ connotation in ordinary Turkish, e.g., taklit ürün = counterfeit good — wrong register for a serious moral-exemplar command)
Original: μιμέομαι
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:11. The letter’s central ethical instruction, positioned immediately after the Diotrephes narrative: readers must actively choose which of the letter’s two examples (Diotrephes’s evil vs. Demetrius’s good) to pattern their lives after.
Does Good
Approved rendering: İyilik yapan
Transliteration: ee-yee-LEEK yah-PAHN
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: any framing that presents habitual good conduct as the meritorious GROUND of belonging to God rather than its FRUIT
Original: ἀγαθοποιέω
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:11. CRITICAL DOCTRINE, HIGH TERM RISK. Habitual good conduct presented as diagnostic evidence of belonging to God (‘is of God’). Must be taught, consistent with the baseline’s caution around iyi işler (Ephesians 2:10), as evidence of an EXISTING relationship with God, never as a transaction that produces or earns it. A Turkish reader’s amel/sevap (deeds weighed toward Judgment-Day standing) framework is the single most likely misreading.
Does Evil
Approved rendering: Kötülük yapan
Transliteration: kur-too-LOOK yah-PAHN
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: a merit-based final-condemnation-formula reading
Original: κακοποιέω
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:11. Negative mirror of does_good: habitual evil-doing as diagnostic evidence of NOT having ‘seen’/known God, describing spiritual condition, not pronouncing an irreversible verdict grounded in a deeds-ledger.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: Kilise
Transliteration: kee-lee-SEH
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: cemaat (religious congregation/community, loaded in Turkish political usage)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Kilise is the established, unambiguous Turkish word for the Christian church body. Occurs in 3 John at 1:6, 9, 10 as the concrete local congregation before whom Gaius was commended and which Diotrephes wrongly dominates. NEVER cemaat. Inherited from Romans package.
Peace
Approved rendering: Esenlik
Transliteration: eh-sen-LEEK
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: huzur (inner calm), barış (political/interpersonal peace)
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Occurs in 3 John at 1:14 as a standard closing epistolary blessing; no new doctrinal content introduced. Distinguish from huzur (psychological calm) or barış (political peace) per baseline convention. Inherited from Romans package.
Mission
Approved rendering: Müjdeleme görevi
Transliteration: myooj-deh-leh-MEH gur-eh-VEE
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: misyonerlik (loaded with 19th-20th c. Western-missionary and, in Turkish nationalist discourse, conspiratorial connotations)
Relevant to 3 John’s Hospitality to Traveling Ministers doctrine: the traveling brothers Gaius supports (1:5-8) are engaged in exactly this ‘task of proclaiming good news.’ Teaching material must link Gaius’s hospitality to this established doctrine so it reads as gospel-partnership, not generic innkeeping. Inherited from Romans package.
Love Verb
Approved rendering: Sevmek
Transliteration: sev-MEK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπάω
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:1. Selfless, willed love, explicitly qualified ‘in truth’ (ἐν ἀληθείᾳ) rather than mere sentimental affection. The ‘in truth’ qualifier must be retained in teaching material so this is not reduced to generic warm feeling disconnected from shared gospel truth.
Love Noun
Approved rendering: Sevgi
Transliteration: sev-GEE
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:6. Names Gaius’s hospitality specifically as an act of ἀγάπη, publicly attested before ‘the church’ — a matter of corporate record, not private virtue. Should not be flattened to generic courtesy divorced from this public, corporately-attested character.
Prosper
Approved rendering: Gönenmek / iyi gitmek
Transliteration: gur-nen-MEK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: an isolated material-blessing-guarantee rendering divorced from the soul-prospering comparison
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:2 (x2). Literally ‘to have a good road/journey.’ Must not be isolated as a prosperity-gospel promise; the verse’s own subordinating comparison (‘just as your soul prospers’) must be preserved so the wish for outward well-being reads as secondary to and modeled on spiritual health.
Soul
Approved rendering: Can
Transliteration: JAHN
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: Ruh (reserved exclusively for πνεῦμα/Kutsal Ruh, the Holy Spirit, per baseline convention)
Original: ψυχή
Category: Anthropology
NEW. 3 John 1:2. The inner person, seat of will and spiritual life, distinguished from mere physical health/circumstance. Can and Ruh must never be conflated in teaching material for this verse.
Brother Believer
Approved rendering: Kardeş
Transliteration: kahr-DESH
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: kardeşlik (the abstract noun ‘brotherhood,’ flagged in the baseline for Turkish nationalist/ümmet overtones — that caution applies to the abstract noun, not this direct-address usage)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
NEW. 3 John 1:3, 5, 10. Direct address/reference for a fellow believer; standard, unproblematic Turkish Bible usage. Used of the traveling brothers Gaius hosts and whom Diotrephes later refuses to receive.
Walk Conduct
Approved rendering: Gerçekte yürümek / gerçeğe uygun yaşamak
Transliteration: gher-chek-TEH yoo-ryoo-MEK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: a bare literal ‘yürümek’ unmarked as figurative (risks being misread as physical walking)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:3, 4. Hebraic/Johannine idiom for one’s whole manner of life, not a single act; central ethical vocabulary of the letter. The figurative sense must be clearly signaled.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: Çocuklarım
Transliteration: cho-jook-lah-RUHM
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: τέκνον
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:4. The elder’s spiritual converts/disciples, not biological offspring. Must be taught as a figurative pastoral-mentorship metaphor and kept distinct from the Language Package’s established Critical-tier doctrine of evlatlığa alınma (adoption into God’s family) — that doctrine concerns believers’ legal adoption BY God the Father; this is a human pastor’s affectionate image for his own converts.
Faithful Conduct
Approved rendering: Sadık
Transliteration: sah-DUHK
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:5. Describes the reliable, dependable character of Gaius’s hospitality-actions. Distinct from İman (the baseline’s Critical-tier noun for saving faith); this is an adjective of conduct, not the noun naming saving trust — must not be confused with the doctrine of justifying faith.
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: Tanrı’ya yaraşır biçimde
Transliteration: tahn-ruh-YAH yah-rah-SHUHR beech-EEM-deh
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:6. Ties Gaius’s practical provisioning of missionaries directly to God’s own honor; standard theological idiom, low collision risk.
Ought Obligated
Approved rendering: Borçluyuz / …mamız gerekir
Transliteration: bohrch-loo-YOOZ
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:8. Frames hospitality as genuine obligation, not optional generosity. The commercial-debt root (borç) is consistent with the Language Package’s existing ‘borç senedi’ (certificate of debt) atonement-metaphor family, giving a natural, non-hazardous resonance.
Support Receive
Approved rendering: Desteklemek / ağırlamak
Transliteration: des-tek-leh-MEK
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
NEW. 3 John 1:8. Names the practical substance of the hospitality obligation: active material support of traveling gospel workers.
Receive Accept
Approved rendering: Kabul etmek
Transliteration: kah-BOOL et-MEK
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:9, 10. Diotrephes’s refusal to ‘receive’ the elder and the traveling brothers is a direct rejection of apostolic authority and hospitality obligation simultaneously.
Remind Expose
Approved rendering: Hatırlatmak / açığa çıkarmak
Transliteration: hah-tuhr-laht-MAHK
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ὑπομιμνήσκω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:10. The elder promises future, in-person accountability for Diotrephes’s conduct — leadership abuse is not left unaddressed.
Evil Wicked Words
Approved rendering: Kötü / kötü niyetli
Transliteration: kur-TOO nee-yet-LEE
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: πονηρός
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:10. Characterizes Diotrephes’s words as actively malicious, not merely unkind. May note, without overstating, the Johannine association elsewhere with ‘the evil one’ (ho ponēros), without a direct demonic accusation the text does not make.
Hinder
Approved rendering: Engellemek
Transliteration: en-gel-leh-MEK
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:10. Diotrephes actively obstructs other congregation members who want to extend hospitality — leadership abuse extending control over the whole congregation, not just his own conduct.
Has Seen Known
Approved rendering: Görmüş / tanımış
Transliteration: gur-RMOOSH
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ὁράω (ἑώρακεν)
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:11. Metaphorical, relational-experiential knowing of God, not literal physical sight. Clarify to prevent confusion with or unintended engagement of Islamic theological claims about the impossibility of seeing Allah.
True Truthful
Approved rendering: Gerçek / doğru
Transliteration: gher-CHEK / doh-ROO
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Witness
NEW. 3 John 1:12. Assures Gaius the elder’s testimony about Demetrius is reliable; implicit contrast with Diotrephes’s unreliable, malicious speech (1:10).
Friend Closing
Approved rendering: Dostlar
Transliteration: dohst-LAHR
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλος
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:14. Closing greeting shift from ἀδελφός (‘brother,’ used throughout for fellow believers) to φίλος (‘friend’). Note the lexical shift in teaching material without over-theologizing it as a separate relational category.
Diotrephes
Approved rendering: Diotrefis
Transliteration: dee-oh-treh-FEES
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: Διοτρέφης
Category: Proper Names
NEW. 3 John 1:9. Local leader condemned for prideful, self-promoting, abusive conduct. Slightly elevated above other proper names because this name anchors the doctrine and must never be confused with a positive figure in teaching material; the transliteration itself carries no lexical collision risk.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Paydaşlık
Transliteration: pie-dahsh-LUHK
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: kardeşlik (brotherhood, too generic/political)
Shared participation in Christ. Relevant background term for 3 John’s ‘Truth and Christian Fellowship’ doctrine, though the letter’s own vocabulary (ἀδελφός/Kardeş, φίλος/Dostlar, ἀγάπη/Sevgi) carries the concrete relational content in this book rather than this abstract noun itself. Inherited from Romans package.
Beloved Address
Approved rendering: Sevgili
Transliteration: sev-gee-LEE
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:1, 2, 5, 11. Term of affectionate address opening each new exhortation; standard, low-risk term of endearment.
Evil Moral
Approved rendering: Kötü
Transliteration: kur-TOO
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακός
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:11. General moral badness; names the category exemplified by Diotrephes.
Good Moral
Approved rendering: İyi
Transliteration: ee-YEE
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:11. General moral goodness; names the category exemplified by Demetrius.
Rejoice Joy
Approved rendering: Sevinmek / Sevinç
Transliteration: seh-veen-MEK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαίρω / χαρά
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:3, 4. Deep gladness as an emotional/spiritual response to good news.
Be Healthy
Approved rendering: Sağlıklı olmak
Transliteration: sah-luhk-LUH ohl-MAHK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ὑγιαίνω
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:2. Part of the elder’s epistolary greeting-wish; not used doctrinally (sound-doctrine sense) in this occurrence.
Do Accomplish
Approved rendering: Yapmak
Transliteration: yahp-MAHK
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ἐργάζομαι
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:5. General verb for performing an action; names Gaius’s concrete hospitality-actions.
Be Content
Approved rendering: Yetinmek
Transliteration: yeh-teen-MEK
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes)
Original: ἀρκέω
Category: Church Leadership
NEW. 3 John 1:10. Marks the escalating severity of Diotrephes’s conduct: slander was not the limit of his wrongdoing.
Hope Expect
Approved rendering: Ummak
Transliteration: oom-MAHK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:14. Confident expectation, not mere wishful uncertainty; the elder’s expressed intent to visit soon.
Mouth To Mouth
Approved rendering: Yüz yüze
Transliteration: yooz yoo-ZEH
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: ağız ağıza (a literal, confusing, non-idiomatic rendering)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:14. Hebraic idiom for direct, personal communication (cf. Numbers 12:8 LXX). Standard Turkish idiomatic equivalent required.
Greet
Approved rendering: Selamlamak
Transliteration: seh-lahm-lah-MAHK
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Fellowship
NEW. 3 John 1:14. Conventional epistolary closing greeting exchange.
Ink
Approved rendering: Mürekkep
Transliteration: myoo-rek-KEP
Original: μέλαν
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:13. Concrete, doctrinally inert epistolary detail; parallels 2 John 12’s near-identical statement.
Pen Reed
Approved rendering: Kalem
Transliteration: kah-LEM
Original: κάλαμος
Category: Ethics
NEW. 3 John 1:13. A reed used as a writing implement; doctrinally inert.
Gaius
Approved rendering: Gayus
Transliteration: gah-YOOS
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Γάϊος
Category: Proper Names
NEW. 3 John 1:1. The letter’s recipient, commended for faithful hospitality. Established Turkish Bible transliteration pattern for Greek proper names (cf. Titus, Silas, Timoteos).
Demetrius
Approved rendering: Dimitrius
Transliteration: dee-meet-ree-OOS
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: Δημήτριος
Category: Proper Names
NEW. 3 John 1:12. Commended as a model of faithful, well-attested Christian character. Established Turkish Bible transliteration pattern for Greek proper names.
Referenced passages