They have set out, or ‘they started on their trip,’ ‘they left their homes.’ The Greek verb is in the aorist. This tense may serve here either to emphasize the particular case, or to state the general rule, of preachers being sent out.

For his sake, literally “for-the-sake-of the name.” “The name” may stand for the person of Christ (see comments on 1 John 3.23); hence ‘for the sake of Christ,’ or ‘in the service (or as servants) of Christ,’ ‘in order to do the work of Christ.’ But one may also emphasize a special aspect of the activity of the preachers, namely, to confess and proclaim the name of Christ (as Lord, compare for example Rom 10.9; 1 Cor 12.3; Phil 2.9-11), which is the essence of any Christian activity. Therefore the phrase may also be rendered ‘to make known the name of Christ,’ ‘to proclaim the words of Jesus Christ.’

Have accepted nothing is in the present tense in the Greek, indicating habitual practice. The clause refers to their not accepting money, food, or other help.

The heathen: compare comments on “Gentiles” in A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of Luke, on 2.32. The usual rendering of heathen may refer exclusively or primarily to foreign people, or to non-Jews, or it may have an insulting connotation. In languages in which it may be insulting, it is better to render the term as ‘the non-Christians,’ or ‘those who do not believe in Christ.’

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The Third Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .