Greek word · G1926

ἐπιδέχομαι

epidechomai

to welcome

To receive or welcome someone, especially guests, envoys or messengers. By extension, to accept what such people bring: a letter, a message, a person's authority.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἐπι-δέχομαι

[in LXX: Judith 13:13 B2, 1Ma.10:1 1Mac 14:23, Sirach 51:26, al. ;]

1. in cl., of things, to allow of, admit of (Dem., Arist., al.). In late writers,

2. to accept besides (Polyb.), to accept (in π. of the terms of a lease; see ICC, on 3Jo, l.with): 3 John 1:9.

3. (a) to receive besides (Menand.);

(b) to receive hospitably (1Mac, Sir, ll with): 3 John 1:10†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 3 John 1:9

Range of meaning

To receive or welcome someone, especially guests, envoys or messengers. By extension, to accept what such people bring: a letter, a message, a person's authority.

Against the English

KJV and YLT: 'receiveth us not' (literal). NIV: 'will not welcome us' (hospitality). BSB 'will not accept our instruction', WEB and NASB 'what we say', and ESV 'acknowledge our authority' all move the sense toward accepting the elder's word or authority. Each choice picks up part of the meaning. The Greek holds both together.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Old Testament uses it for receiving envoys and their letters, for example 1 Maccabees 12:8, where Onias receives Sparta's envoy with honour and accepts the letters, and 1 Maccabees 10:1. In 3 John 10 the same verb is used for Diotrephes refusing to take in 'the brothers'.

From the study of 3 John 1:10

Range of meaning

To receive a guest into one's house; to welcome; by extension, to accept someone's authority or a message. In the New Testament it occurs only in 3 John 9 and 10.

Against the English

'Receive' (KJV, WEB) or 'welcome' (BSB). BSB renders the same verb in verse 9 as 'accept our instruction', which hides the wordplay: Diotrephes does not 'receive' the elder, and he does not 'receive' the elder's brothers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of hospitality in 1 Maccabees 10:1 and 12:8, and in papyri for receiving or accepting. Christian hospitality to travelling teachers is treated in Didache 11–12, Romans 16:1–2 and 2 John 10.

Where it appears

3 John · 2

  1. 3 John 1:9 ἐπιδέχεται welcomes

    I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction.

    Here: The usual word for welcoming visitors or envoys and for accepting what they bring. The present tense means his refusal is ongoing: he shuts out both the elder's word and the elder's people.

  2. 3 John 1:10 ἐπιδέχεται he receives

    So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

    Here: 'He does not welcome': he refuses hospitality to the travelling believers. The same verb in verse 9 ('does not accept us') ties rejecting the elder's authority to rejecting his envoys.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.