What Does 3 John 1:10 Mean?
Therefore, if I come, I will bring up the works he does, babbling against us with wicked words; and not content with these, he himself does not take in the brothers, and he blocks those who wish to, and throws them out of the assembly.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.THE KEY
Here refusal is not a private preference: it escalates into blocking others’ welcome and throwing people out.
THE MEANING
Where malicious speech takes root now, the passage traces its movement: a person refuses welcome, blocks others who would offer it, then expels the brethren. It brings those acts into view as one escalating pattern, so reputation cannot conceal the door being closed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that controlling the community’s door proves care for it: slander, obstructed welcome, and expulsion reveal a pattern of harm.
THE ROOT
ἐπιδέχεται
epidechetai
GROWS FROM
δέχομαι
dechomai
To receive, accept, or welcome.
“take in” in this verse is epidechetai. English “receive” can sound like a passive transaction, but this word carries welcome: his refusal withholds a place for the brethren. Mark 9:37 uses the same word family for receiving a child and receiving Jesus, binding welcome to recognition.
ALSO GROWS
apodechomai: To receive or accept gladly.
ἀποδέχομαι
This branch shows the root can carry welcome as an active response, sharpening the force of his refusal.
dektos: Acceptable, welcome.
δεκτός
It names the quality of being received, the shared space his action denies.
κωλύει
kōlyei
GROWS FROM
κωλύω
kōlyō
To hinder, prevent, or restrain.
“blocks” in this verse is kōlyei. The action reaches beyond his own refusal: he actively prevents the people who want to receive the brethren. English “forbiddeth” can hide that obstruction is another deed in the chain.
ALSO GROWS
kōlyma: An obstacle or hindrance.
κώλυμα
The related noun makes the barrier itself visible: he becomes an obstacle between people who would welcome and those seeking welcome.
akōlytōs: Without hindrance, unhindered.
ἀκωλύτως
This opposite form shows the same word family can describe access with the obstacle removed.
ἐκβάλλει
ekballei
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
To throw, cast, or put.
“throws them out” in this verse is ekballei. The compound adds an outward direction: the action is a casting away from the assembly. The root makes the harm concrete; this is more than disagreement or refusal to admit someone, but a forceful expulsion.
ALSO GROWS
apoballō: To cast away or throw off.
ἀποβάλλω
It shows how the same root gives force to rejection and removal.
kataballō: To throw down or lay down.
καταβάλλω
The root’s physical force remains audible in this compound, underscoring the force of expulsion here.
THE PATTERN
A gatekeeper’s speech and control of access can turn a community into an instrument of exclusion.
A false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sends out strife among brothers.Woe to the shepherds who drive to lose the way and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the LORD.But woe to you, writers and separated ones, masked ones! For you shut the governance of the heavens in the faces of people, and you yourselves do not enter, nor let those who are entering go in.THE THREAD
Whoever receives one of such children in my nature receives me, and whoever receives me does not receive me but the one who sent me.Mark uses the same Greek verb family, δέχομαι (dechomai), meaning “receive” or “welcome,” that lies beneath “receiveth” here. Receiving a child in Jesus’ name, in his nature, extends welcome through the chain of sender and sent; here, refusing the brethren and blocking others reveals the inverse.
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