What Does 3 John 1:12 Mean?
Demetrius has been borne witness to by all, and by the truth itself. We also bear witness, and you know that our witness is true.
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
Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.THE KEY
Demetrius is not merely called trustworthy; the people around him, truth itself, and the speaker all bear the same witness.
THE MEANING
A person’s credibility becomes visible from several directions at once: the people around them, truth itself, and those who speak with them agree. What is true can stand in the light of witness beyond its own claims.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This loosens the belief that a person’s credibility rests only on their own claims: here, others and truth itself also testify.
THE ROOT
μαρτυρεῖται
memartyrētai
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
To witness, testify, or give testimony.
“has been borne witness to” in this verse is memartyrētai. English renders this one word family as “good report,” “bear record,” and “record,” making them sound like separate ideas. The Greek repeats the language of witness: a good report is testimony received, and bearing record is testimony spoken.
ALSO GROWS
martys: Witness; one who testifies.
μάρτυς
This names the person who gives the witness that establishes Demetrius’s good report.
martyria: Testimony; witness.
μαρτυρία
This is the noun translated “record” at the verse’s close: what the speakers offer is testimony, not merely a document.
martyreō: To testify; bear witness.
μαρτυρέω
This is the verb behind “hath good report” and “bear record,” joining another’s affirmation with the speakers’ own.
THE PATTERN
Truth becomes publicly legible as witnesses from different directions converge on it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any crookedness, or for any falling short, in it he misses the mark; upon the mouth of two witnesses, or upon the mouth of three witnesses, the word shall stand.You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth.If we take in the witness of people, the witness of God is greater, for this is what he has witnessed concerning his Son.THE THREAD
You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth.The Greek verb behind “bear record” here belongs to the same witness-word family as the verb in John 5:33. In both verses, testimony does more than describe a person or truth; it makes them publicly recognizable.
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