In 3 Jn 7 (KJV), should the word be “Gentiles” or “pagans” as in other translations?
The word, in isolation, could be translated either way. However, the context here is unbelievers or pagans. Paul did often receive help from Gentile Christians. See Hard Sayings of the Bible p.750-752 for more info. Q: In 3 Jn 7, should Christians accept anything from “Gentiles”? How about a paycheck? A: Christians can accept things from Gentiles and non-believers in general. Two points here. 1. It describes people who were going forth to share the Gospel. In general, it would be strange for full-time Christian workers to be paid by non-Christians. (Though this is done in state-sponsored churches, such as in Norway, Great Britain, and so forth.) 2. John was mentioning this to shame Christians who were refusing to help other Christians who were sharing the Gospel. Even today, there are genuine Christians who refuse to associate with other Christians in evangelism. One unfortunate excuse I heard was, “they might sing songs that are not doctrinally correct.” Yet, they were not willing to
