What Does 3 John 1:3 Mean?
For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and bore witness to the truth in you, just as you walk in truth.
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
For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.THE KEY
Truth in you becomes a lived path that others can recognize and testify to.
THE MEANING
The truth is in you, and it is visible in your walk. Those who encounter your life can testify to what is already present within you; their witness recognizes it rather than creating it. Your inward reality and outward path belong to one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that truth is only something you affirm inwardly: the verse makes it visible in the path you walk and recognizable to others.
THE ROOT
ἀλήθεια
alētheia
GROWS FROM
ἀληθ-
alēth-
Truth, what is true or genuine; the word is traditionally associated with what is not hidden.
This word-family spans both what is true and the act of speaking truth. Here, truth is within you and also expressed in a way others can witness: it is an inward reality made visible.
ALSO GROWS
alēthēs: True, genuine
ἀληθής
This adjective names the quality of the truth that is present in you.
alētheuō: Speak the truth, deal truthfully
ἀληθεύω
This verb shows the word-family extending from truth as a reality to truth expressed in action.
περιπατεῖς
peripateis
GROWS FROM
πατ- (pat-), in περιπατέω (peripateō)
To tread, step, or walk; the compound means to walk about and can describe one’s way of life.
“walk” in this verse is peripateis. The word keeps bodily movement inside the image: truth is walked, not only held as an idea. The path you take gives visible form to what is in you.
ALSO GROWS
pateō: Tread, step
πατέω
The compound’s core carries the concrete sense of placing one step after another.
peripateō: Walk about; conduct oneself
περιπατέω
This is the verb used in the verse, joining physical walking with a person’s way of life.
μαρτυρούντων
marturountōn
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
Witness, attest, bear testimony.
“bore witness” in this verse is marturountōn. The verb belongs to the same word-family as “witness”: the brethren’s report is an attestation to something they have seen. Their testimony recognizes the truth expressed in your walk.
ALSO GROWS
martys: Witness
μάρτυς
The person who testifies is named by the same family as the act of testimony.
martyria: Testimony, witness
μαρτυρία
This noun names the attestation the brethren give about the truth in you.
THE PATTERN
Truth becomes recognizable through the way a person walks and acts.
Aim me along your way, O LORD, and I walk in your truth; gather my heart into one, to the awe of your name.But the one who does the truth comes to the light, so that their deeds may be made visible, for they have been worked in God.If we say that we share in common with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth.THE THREAD
If we say that we share in common with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth.The Greek words for “walk” and “truth” recur in both verses, and 1 John describes truth as something done. That negative mirror sharpens the testimony in 3 John: what is in a person becomes recognizable in how they walk.
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