Read 3 John 1 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
3 John 1:1-14 Chiastic structure:
The central axis of the structure shines a spotlight on the Contrast between good and evil.
Good is in Greek, Strong’s G18 ἀγαθός agathos. Tracing it back through the Septuagint to the Hebrew, it is from Strong’s H2895, טוב tove, “to be good, pleasant.” The ancient pictographs are tet + vav + bet.
tet ט = basket, thus surround, contain, hold, mud
vav ו = tent peg, thus add, secure, hook
bet ב = house, thus house, household, family, in, within
The parable being told by the Hebrew Root Word, is of the enclosure (tet) joined (vav) with its contents (bet in the sense of within, as a basket holds whatever it contains). “Good” means the exact opposite of “void:” instead of the enclosure being empty, it is instead filled with its contents, it is productive of its purpose.
Evil is in Greek, Strong’s G2556, κακός kakos, “evil, of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be.” Tracing it back through the Septuagint to the Hebrew, it is from Strong’s H7489, רעע raah, “to be wicked.” The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon states that originally the ayin in this root was a ghah, a letter which exists in paleo Hebrew and other Semitic languages, but which has been absorbed by the ayin in modern Hebrew.
resh ר = head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
ghah § = rope, thus twisted, goat, dark, negative
ghah § = rope, thus twisted, goat, dark, negative
The parable is of a man (resh) who is dark and twisted (ghah), who does dark and twisted things (ghah); so, to be wicked, to do wickedly. The idea is that actions are fruit which comes from seeds, and wicked deeds come from a hidden seed of like kind.
JOHN’S EPISTLES INDEX OF STUDIES | BIBLE FOR BEGINNERS ARCHIVE
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