3 John 11

(KJV) Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
(1611 KJV) Beloued, follow not that which is euill, but that which is good. He that doth good, is of God: but hee that doth euill, hath not seene God.
(1587 Geneva Bible) Beloued, followe not that which is euill, but that which is good: he that doeth well, is of God: but he that doeth euill, hath not seene God.
(1526 Tyndale) Beloved folowe not that which is evyll but that which is good. He that doeth well is of God: but he yt doeth evyll seith not God.

Counterfeit Versions
(1881 RV) Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He that does good, is of God; he that does evil, has not seen God.
(AMP) Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but [imitate] what is good. The one who practices good [exhibiting godly character, moral courage and personal integrity] is of God; the one who practices [or permits or tolerates] evil has not seen God [he has no personal experience with Him and does not know Him at all].
(CEB) Dear friend, don’t imitate what is bad but what is good. Whoever practices what is good belongs to God. Whoever practices what is bad has not seen God.

(CSB) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

(1899 Douay-Rheims American Edition) Dearly beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doth good, is of God: he that doth evil, hath not seen God.
(ESV) Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
(GNB) My dear friend, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God.
(HCSB) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
(LEB) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
(LB) Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do what is right prove that they are God’s children; and those who continue in evil prove that they are far from God.
(THE MESSAGE) Friend, don’t go along with evil. Model the good. The person who does good does God’s work. The person who does evil falsifies God, doesn’t know the first thing about God.
(NABRE) Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does what is good is of God; whoever does what is evil has never seen God.
(NASV) Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
(NCV) My dear friend, do not follow what is bad; follow what is good. The one who does good belongs to God. But the one who does evil has never known God.
(NET) Dear friend, do not imitate what is bad but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does what is bad has not seen God.
(NIRV) Dear friend, don’t be like those who do evil. Be like those who do good. Anyone who does what is good belongs to God. Anyone who does what is evil hasn’t really seen or known God.
(NIV) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.
(NLV) Dear friend, do not follow what is sinful, but follow what is good. The person who does what is good belongs to God. The person who does what is sinful has not seen God.
(NLT) Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.
(NRSV) Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
(RSV) Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. He who does good is of God; he who does evil has not seen God.
(NWT-Jehovah’s Witnesses) Beloved one, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. The one who does good originates with God. The one who does bad has not seen God.

Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
αγαπητε μη μιμου το κακον αλλα το αγαθον ο αγαθοποιων εκ του θεου εστιν ο δε κακοποιων ουχ εωρακεν τον θεον

Hort-Westcott - Critical Text
αγαπητε μη μιμου το κακον αλλα το αγαθον ο αγαθοποιων εκ του θεου εστιν ο κακοποιων ουχ εωρακεν τον θεον

Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
C 04 - Ephraemi Rescriptus - Fifth century
K 018 - Ninth century
P 025 - Ninth century

Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse
Stephanus (1550 A.D.)
Elziver Textus Receptus of 1624 & 1633
L 020 - Ninth century

Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Omits “but” before “he that doeth evil”
Greisbach, Johann - 1805
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871
Wordsworth, Christopher - 1856 revised in 1870
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902
Hodges and Farstad - Majority Text 1982 as corrected in 1985

Affected Teaching
There may have been a problem on the part of Gaius where he might have stopped helping the missionaries in hopes that he would not get thrown out of the church and it seems that John is addressing Gaius that he should not follow the evil ways of Diotrephes. John points out that there is a great difference between those who do good and those who don’t. Those who do not do good are giving evidence they are unsaved, which would be the case of Diotrephes because he did what he could to hinder or stop the spread of the Gospel. John contrasts that mindset with those who do good, which would have been the case of Gaius, who did what he could to further the Gospel. John wants to make sure that if Gaius fell prey to the works of Diotrephes, then John wanted to warn Gaius not to follow the evil works of the unsaved but continue the course he was on. The word “but” in the Greek is “de” which is a conjunction. In fact it something called a “coordinating conjunction” which joins words, phrases, clauses, or sentences of equal elements or equal ranks. In this case John is elevating the fact that he that does good is of God but equally important is the fact that those who do not do good have not seen God or are unsaved. This is a very important omission in the modern versions.

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