What Does 3 John 1:12 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“good report / bear record / record” 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 iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.THE THREAD
Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto 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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