What Does 3 John 1:8 Mean in the King James?
We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.
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
Hospitality does not merely shelter those who carry truth; it makes the one who receives them a co-worker with truth.
THE MEANING
You do not stand outside the truth’s work when you receive those who carry it. Your welcome joins your labor to the truth, so its work becomes shared through you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that only the person who speaks or travels for truth participates in it; receiving the messenger is also participation.
THE ROOT
συνεργοί
synergoi
GROWS FROM
ἐργ- (erg-), joined with σύν (syn, together)
Work, deed, or action; σύν (syn) adds the sense of together.
“fellowhelpers” in this verse is synergoi. The word names people who work together: σύν (syn, together) + ἔργον (ergon, work). Receiving these people draws you into the truth’s work; support is participation, not a side role.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: Work or deed.
ἔργον
It is the work at the center of being a co-worker with truth.
ergazomai: To work or labor.
ἐργάζομαι
This verb makes the shared work active: the welcome participates in what the truth is doing.
synergos: Co-worker, one who works together with another.
συνεργός
It is the singular form of the word translated “fellowhelpers,” naming the receiver as a participant in shared work.
ὑπολαμβάνειν
hypolambanein
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω (lambanō), λαμβαν- (lamban-)
To take, receive, or grasp.
The verb here, ὑπολαμβάνω (hypolambanō, receive or take up), is built on λαμβάνω (lambanō, take or receive). Its word family can describe taking hold to help, so welcome carries the sense of actively taking someone up into shared work.
ALSO GROWS
antilambanomai: To take hold of, help, or support.
ἀντιλαμβάνομαι
Its shared λαμβάνω (lambanō, take or receive) core links receiving with actively supporting someone.
katalambanō: To seize, grasp, or comprehend.
καταλαμβάνω
It shares the sense of taking hold, making the verse’s welcome more active than simply observing the messenger.
THE PATTERN
Truth’s work advances through welcome: receiving its carriers makes the receiver a participant in what they carry.
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.THE THREAD
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.The Greek word συνεργοί (synergoi, co-workers) appears in both verses. Here, receiving truth’s carriers makes you a co-worker with truth; in 1 Corinthians, the same word opens that shared-work image to include God.
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