Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — 1 Timothy (English–Greek–Arabic)
Table 1 — Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (no new entries; for reference only)
| English term | Arabic (baseline) | Occurs in 1 Timothy | Baseline risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| God | الله | 1-6, throughout | Critical |
| Jesus | يسوع | 1-6, throughout | Critical |
| Christ / Messiah | المسيح | 1-6, throughout | Critical |
| Lord | الرب | 1:2, 1:12, 1:14, 6:3, 6:14-15 | Critical |
| Father | الآب | 1:2 | Critical |
| Holy Spirit | الروح القدس | (implicit, 4:1 “the Spirit says”) | Critical |
| gospel | الإنجيل | 1:11 | High |
| grace | النعمة | 1:2, 1:14, 6:21 | High |
| faith | الإيمان | throughout (see semantic-shift note, Table 6) | High |
| salvation | الخلاص | 1:15, 2:4, 2:15, 4:16 | Critical |
| law | الناموس | 1:8-9 | Critical |
| sin | الخطية | 1:9, 1:15, 5:20, 5:22, 5:24 | High |
| holy | مقدس | (implicit background, 4:5 sanctification) | High |
| sanctification | التقديس | 2:15, 4:5 | High |
| saints | القديسون | 5:10 | Medium |
| church | الكنيسة | 3:5, 3:15 | Medium |
| glory | المجد | 1:11, 1:17, 3:16 | High |
| apostle | الرسول | 1:1, 2:7 | High |
| gentiles / nations | الأمم | 2:7, 3:16 | Medium |
| election | اختيار الله | 5:21 (elect angels — extended sense) | High |
| intercession | الشفاعة | 2:1 (general prayer sense; disambiguate from Christ’s unique mediation) | High |
| calling / called | الدعوة / المدعوون | 6:12 | High |
| thanksgiving | الشكر | 2:1, 4:3-4 | Low |
| fellowship | الشركة | 6:18 (κοινωνικός root) | Medium |
| spiritual gifts | المواهب الروحية | 4:14 | Medium |
| exhort | يشجع / يعظ | 4:13 | Low |
| imputed righteousness (root) | البر المحسوب | (background to righteousness usage, 6:11) | Critical |
| righteousness | البر | 6:11 | Critical |
| prophecy | نبوءة | 1:18, 4:14 | Low |
Table 2 — CRITICAL Risk (Human theologian review mandatory, every occurrence)
| # | English term | Greek / transliteration | Arabic rendering | Transliteration | Chapter(s) | Doctrine | Grounded risk reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Godliness | εὐσέβεια / eusebeia | التقوى | al-taqwā | 2:2, 2:10; 3:16; 4:7-8; 6:3, 5, 6, 11 | Godliness and Contentment | التقوى is the single most central ethical-theological term in the Qur’an (God-consciousness yielding righteous deeds, weighed at final judgment). It is also the established Van Dyck rendering, so it must be retained — but every occurrence requires explicit anchoring in the finished work of Christ and prior grace, never functioning as an independent merit-accumulation category feeding a deeds-based judgment (mīzān). |
| 2 | One Mediator | μεσίτης / mesitēs | الوسيط | al-wasīṭ | 2:5 | Christ as the One Mediator | Mainstream Islamic theology denies any formal mediator between God and humanity. Must never be rendered الشفيع (which would fold this into the popular shafā’ah/intercession category); it is the sole, exclusive bridge-person, fully God and fully man — a stronger and more exclusive claim than intercession. |
| 3 | Saved through childbearing | σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας / sōthēsetai dia tēs teknogonias | ستَخلُص بولادة الأولاد (بشرط الثبات في الإيمان) | — | 2:15 | Sound Doctrine / Godliness and Contentment | The single greatest risk in the letter for collapsing salvation into a merit-earning act (childbearing); the following conditional clause (“if they continue in faith, love, holiness, self-control”) must always be rendered as the operative, non-negotiable condition. |
| 4 | Manifested in the flesh | ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί / ephanerōthē en sarki | ظهر في الجسد (الحقيقي) | ẕahara fī al-jasad | 3:16 | Church as Pillar of Truth / Incarnation (background) | The established Van Dyck rendering unavoidably uses the ظهور root elsewhere forbidden for incarnation contexts (echoes Qur’an 4:157’s shubbiha lahum illusory-appearance language). Requires the strongest possible contextual scaffolding — must always be paired with التجسد and explicit real-body language, never left to stand alone. |
| 5 | Vindicated/justified in the Spirit | ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι / edikaiōthē en pneumati | تبرَّر في الروح | tabarra’a fī al-rūḥ | 3:16 | Church as Pillar of Truth / Deity of Christ (background) | Reuses the التبرير root but with a different referent (Christ’s own vindication, not a sinner’s forensic justification). Must never imply Christ needed forgiveness or correction; safeguards his sinlessness and deity. |
| 6 | Godliness with contentment is great gain | εὐσέβεια μετὰ αὐτάρκειας πορισμὸς μέγας | التقوى مع القناعة مكسب عظيم | — | 6:6 | Godliness and Contentment | Thesis statement of the doctrine; compound Critical risk (see #1 and Table 3 #1 below). |
Table 3 — HIGH Risk (Human theologian review mandatory)
| # | English term | Greek / transliteration | Arabic rendering | Chapter(s) | Doctrine | Grounded risk reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Contentment | αὐτάρκεια / autarkeia | القناعة | 6:6, 6:8 | Godliness and Contentment | القناعة is itself a recognized Islamic/Sufi virtue; broadly compatible but must be anchored in Christ and grace, not presented as a tradition-neutral generic virtue. |
| 2 | Overseer / bishop | ἐπίσκοπος / episkopos | الأسقف | 3:1-2 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Contemporary Arab Christian usage denotes a single hierarchical diocesan bishop; NT usage is plural, congregational, and interchangeable with “elder.” Risk of importing an imam/mufti-style hierarchical authority model. |
| 3 | Office of overseer | ἐπισκοπή / episkopē | النِّظارة | 3:1 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Abstract function underlying #2’s office-holder risk. |
| 4 | Elder (age vs. office ambiguity) | πρεσβύτερος / presbyteros | الشيخ / الشيوخ | 3:1 (implicit); 5:1, 17, 19 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | الشيخ carries heavy contemporary Islamic religious-authority connotations (scholar, Sufi guide, cleric’s honorific); must be marked age-sense vs. office-sense at every occurrence. |
| 5 | Husband of one wife | μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα | بعل امرأة واحدة | 3:2, 3:12 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Qur’an 4:3 explicitly permits up to four wives; this qualification directly and deliberately confronts that legal default for church office specifically. |
| 6 | Mystery of the faith / mystery of godliness | μυστήριον (τῆς πίστεως / τῆς εὐσεβείας) / mystērion | سرّ الإيمان / سرّ التقوى | 3:9, 3:16 | Church as Pillar of Truth; Sound Doctrine | سرّ risks being read as Sufi asrār (hidden mystical truths for an elite) or Shi’a bāṭin esoteric knowledge; must be taught as openly revealed and proclaimed truth. |
| 7 | Pillar and buttress of the truth | στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας | عمود الحق وقاعدته | 3:15 | Church as Pillar of Truth | Risk of conflation with the Islamic ummah’s self-understanding as custodian of a perfectly preserved, unchanged revelation; must be taught as living display/defense of truth in mission, not static textual-preservation guarantee. |
| 8 | Guard the deposit | παραθήκη / parathēkē | الوديعة | 6:20 | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | Strong resonance with Islamic amānah (a major Qur’anic ethical category); risk of flattening the specific revealed doctrinal content into a generic trustworthiness virtue. |
| 9 | Teaches a different doctrine | ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω / heterodidaskaleō | يُعلِّم تعليمًا مخالفًا | 6:3 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | Risk of being read through the Islamic bid’ah (innovation) vs. sunnah (tradition) framework, itself often used polemically against core Christian doctrines. |
| 10 | Sound words / sound doctrine | ὑγιαίνοντες λόγοι / ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία | كلام صحيح / تعليم صحيح | 1:10; 6:3 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | Shares conceptual space with Sunni “correct tradition” orthodoxy claims; must be grounded in apostolic, Christ-given content, not majority-consensus as such. |
| 11 | Savior | σωτήρ / sōtēr | المخلِّص | 1:1; 2:3; 4:10 | Christ as the One Mediator; Salvation (background) | New proper-title form tied to baseline’s Critical salvation doctrine; must carry the full “secured, once-for-all deliverance” weight, not a this-life “helper” sense. |
| 12 | Mercy | ἔλεος / eleos | الرحمة | 1:2, 13, 16 | Grace (background) | الرحمة (Ar-Raḥmah) is the most invoked divine attribute in Islamic devotion (opens every Qur’an sūrah); every occurrence must be anchored as unearned and prior to merit, matching the safeguards already required for “grace.” |
| 13 | Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος / zōē aiōnios | الحياة الأبدية | 1:16; 4:8; 6:12, 19 | Salvation (background); Godliness and Contentment | Must be taught as a present, secured possession, not a probable reward pending the deeds-scale (mīzān). |
| 14 | God desires all to be saved | πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι | يريد أن يخلص جميع الناس | 2:4 | Public Worship and Prayer; Salvation (background) | Must avoid both universalism (all will be saved) and a deterministic reading collapsing into divine irāda that erases the necessity of faith. |
| 15 | Ransom | ἀντίλυτρον / antilytron | فدية | 2:6 | Christ as the One Mediator | Directly confronts the Qur’anic principle (6:164) that no soul bears another’s burden; must not collapse into a generic legal-ransom transaction devoid of substitution. |
| 16 | Modest apparel / respectable / self-controlled (women’s dress) | κόσμιος, αἰδώς, σωφροσύνη | حشمة، حياء، ضبط النفس | 2:9 | Public Worship and Prayer | Must not be taught as biblical warrant for, or equivalent to, Islamic ḥijāb regulations; the text’s actual target is ostentatious wealth display, not degree of bodily covering. |
| 17 | Exercise authority (over a man in teaching) | αὐθεντεῖν / authentein | يتسلّط على / يمارس السلطة على | 2:12 | Public Worship and Prayer | Risk of being read either through Islamic male-guardianship (qiwāmah/wilāyah) as confirmation of patriarchal norms, or as a decontextualized universal statement; requires careful, non-collapsing exposition. |
| 18 | Women/wives of deacons (ambiguous referent) | γυναῖκας / gynaikas | النساء | 3:11 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Genuine exegetical fork (deacons’ wives vs. a parallel women’s diaconal order) with real ecclesiological consequence; must be resolved and applied consistently. |
| 19 | Confidence / boldness | παρρησία / parrēsia | الثقة (الدالة) | 3:13 | Qualifications for Church Leadership; Assurance (background) | Extends the baseline’s Critical “assurance_of_salvation” collision (confident standing viewed as presumptuous in mainstream Sunni piety) into ordinary ministry life. |
| 20 | Depart from the faith | ἀποστήσονταί τῆς πίστεως / apostēsontai tēs pisteōs | يرتد بعضهم عن الإيمان | 4:1 | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | ”The faith” as a guarded doctrinal deposit sits closer to Islamic īmān-as-creedal-system than Romans’ relational-trust sense; disambiguate. |
| 21 | Scripture (two-source citation formula) | γραφή / graphē | الكتاب | 5:18 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | Intersects with taḥrīf (corruption-of-scripture) claims and Islamic waḥy (verbatim-dictation) doctrine of inspiration; per baseline’s “inspiration_of_scripture” registry entry. |
| 22 | Worse than an unbeliever | ἀπίστου χείρων / apistou cheirōn | أشرّ من غير المؤمن | 5:8 | Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | Must render ἄπιστος as غير المؤمن, never الكافر, to avoid importing the inflammatory register of Islamic takfīr culture absent from the Greek. |
| 23 | Masters (human, not divine) | δεσπότης / despotēs | السيد | 6:1-2 | Qualifications for Church Leadership (background); Lordship of Christ (protection) | Must never be rendered الرب, protecting the integrity of baseline’s Critical Lordship-of-Christ term. |
| 24 | Good fight / good warfare | καλὸς ἀγών / καλὴ στρατεία | المحاربة الحسنة / الكفاح الحسن | 1:18; 6:12 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching; Guarding the Deposit | Explicit forbidden substitution: never جهاد, which imports a specific Islamic legal-religious category absent from Paul’s athletic-military metaphor. |
| 25 | The good confession | ἡ καλὴ ὁμολογία / hē kalē homologia | الاعتراف الحسن | 6:12-13 | Christ as the One Mediator; Lordship of Christ (background) | Very plausibly the same confession as Romans 10:9-10 (“Jesus is Lord”); must be kept verbatim-consistent per baseline’s cross-document rule. |
| 26 | The appearing (Second Coming) | ἐπιφάνεια / epiphaneia | ظهور (الرب) | 6:14 | Christ as the One Mediator (background); Eschatology | Shares the ظهور root forbidden for incarnation contexts (3:16); approved here for the distinct Second Coming referent, but the two uses must never be blurred in teaching materials. |
Table 4 — MEDIUM Risk (Native speaker review recommended)
| # | English term | Greek / transliteration | Arabic rendering | Chapter(s) | Doctrine | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deacon (office) | διάκονος / diakonos | الشمّاس | 3:8, 10, 12, 13 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Established Eastern-Christian term; risk is office-definition clarity, not Islamic collision |
| 2 | Good minister (generic sense) | καλὸς διάκονος / kalos diakonos | خادم صالح | 4:6 | Sound Doctrine (background) | Same Greek word as #1 with a generic, non-office referent; disambiguate |
| 3 | Conscience | συνείδησις / syneidēsis | الضمير | 1:5, 19; 3:9; 4:2 | Sound Doctrine; Qualifications for Leadership | Islamic ethics anchors moral awareness more in fiṭrah/nafs than an autonomous conscience-faculty capable of corruption |
| 4 | Clear conscience | καθαρᾷ συνειδήσει / kathara syneidēsei | ضمير نقي | 3:9 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Deliberately avoid طاهر (ritual-purity connotation), consistent with baseline’s “holy” caution |
| 5 | Myths and endless genealogies | μῦθοι καὶ γενεαλογίαι | خرافات وأنساب لا حصر لها | 1:4 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | Proto-Gnostic/legalistic speculation |
| 6 | Blasphemer | βλάσφημος / blasphēmos | مُجدِّف | 1:13, 20 | Sound Doctrine (background) | Real-world legal/social sensitivity around blasphemy accusations in many contemporary contexts |
| 7 | Delivered to Satan | παρέδωκα τῷ Σατανᾷ | سلّمتهما للشيطان | 1:20 | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | الشيطان/إبليس referent-compatible with but narratively distinct from Qur’anic Iblis |
| 8 | Condemnation / snare of the devil | κρίμα, παγίς τοῦ διαβόλου | دينونة إبليس، فخّ إبليس | 3:6-7 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Same Iblis-narrative caution as #7 |
| 9 | New convert | νεόφυτος / neophytos | المستجد في الإيمان | 3:6 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Low-medium; standard sense |
| 10 | Good standing | βαθμὸν καλόν / bathmon kalon | درجة حسنة | 3:13 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Must not be read as merit toward salvation |
| 11 | Greedy for dishonest gain | αἰσχροκερδής / aischrokerdēs | طامع بالكسب الخسيس | 3:8 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Financial integrity, ties to widow-fund administration (Ch.5) |
| 12 | Not a lover of money | ἀφιλάργυρος / aphilargyros | غير محب للمال | 3:3 | Qualifications for Church Leadership; Godliness and Contentment | Consistency link forward to 6:10’s φιλαργυρία |
| 13 | Love of money (root of evils) | φιλαργυρία / philargyria | محبة المال | 6:10 | Godliness and Contentment | Central named vice of the false teachers |
| 14 | Manage well (household / church) | καλῶς προϊστάμενον / kalōs proistamenon | يُحسن تدبير / يُحسن الرئاسة | 3:4-5; 5:17 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Keep rendering consistent across household and elder-office contexts |
| 15 | Submission (children in household) | ὑποταγή / hypotagē | خضوع | 3:4 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Distinguish carefully from the 2:11 worship-context occurrence (Table 3 #17 territory), though same Arabic word |
| 16 | Dignity | σεμνότης / semnotēs | وقار | 3:4; 2:2 | Qualifications for Church Leadership; Public Worship | Low-medium, standard |
| 17 | Tested / examined | δοκιμαζέσθωσαν / dokimazesthōsan | فليُختبروا | 3:10 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Institutes ordination-testing process |
| 18 | Widow / real widow | χήρα, ὄντως χήρα | الأرملة، الأرملة حقًا | 5:3-16 | Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | Positive bridge with zakāt obligations; clarify distinct church-family support model |
| 19 | Enrolled (widow roll) | καταλεγέσθω / katalegesthō | فلتُدرَج في السجل | 5:9 | Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | Historically particular institutional structure |
| 20 | Double honor | διπλῆ τιμή / diplē timē | كرامة مضاعفة | 5:17 | Care for Widows / Qualifications for Leadership | Financial-support principle |
| 21 | Use a little wine | οἴνῳ ὀλίγῳ χρῶ | استعمل خمرًا قليلًا | 5:23 | (pastoral/practical) | Real tension with Islamic total-alcohol prohibition; handle pastorally |
| 22 | Elect angels | ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων | الملائكة المختارين | 5:21 | (background — Election) | Islamic angelology lacks an “elect” category of angels |
| 23 | Man of God | ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ | يا رجل الله | 6:11 | Godliness and Contentment | Avoid elevating into a walī-Allāh-style venerated honorific |
| 24 | King of kings and Lord of lords (of the Father) | βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων | ملك الملوك ورب الأرباب | 6:15 | Christ as the One Mediator (background) | Positive bridge with Qur’anic divine-attribute language; keep distinct from Christ’s own direct Lordship claim |
| 25 | Unapproachable light | φῶς ἀπρόσιτον | نور لا يُدنى منه | 6:16 | (background — Glory) | Reuse baseline’s Sufi-illumination caution |
| 26 | Contradictions of falsely-called knowledge | ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις | المعرفة الكاذبة الاسم | 6:20 | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | Anti-Gnostic polemic; avoid broad-brushing Sufi ma’rifa or religious ‘ilm debates |
| 27 | Deceitful spirits, teachings of demons | πνεύματα πλάνα, διδασκαλίαι δαιμονίων | أرواح مضلة، تعاليم شياطين | 4:1 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | Referent-compatible with, narratively distinct from, Islamic jinn cosmology |
| 28 | Forbidding marriage / foods | κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων | يمنعون الزواج، الامتناع عن أطعمة | 4:3 | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | Risk of readers assuming religious devotion requires halal/haram-style dietary legislation |
| 29 | Sanctified (of food) | ἁγιάζεται / hagiazetai | يتقدَّس | 4:5 | (background — Sanctification) | Unusual object (food); distinct from ritual purification rites |
| 30 | Laying on of hands / council of elders | ἐπίθεσις τῶν χειρῶν, πρεσβυτέριον | وضع الأيدي، هيئة الشيوخ | 4:14 | Qualifications for Church Leadership | Distinguish from folk-Islamic barakah-transfer practices at shrines |
| 31 | Purity | ἁγνεία / hagneia | العفة | 4:12 | (background) | Avoid ritual-purity-only connotation |
| 32 | Savior of all, especially believers | σωτὴρ πάντων, μάλιστα πιστῶν | مخلِّص جميع الناس، ولا سيما المؤمنين | 4:10 | Salvation (background) | Universal/particular tension parallel to 2:4 |
| 33 | Diligent training / bodily training vs. godliness | γυμνασία σωματική | التدريب الجسدي | 4:8 | Godliness and Contentment | Contrast term supporting εὐσέβεια entry |
| 34 | Before Pontius Pilate | ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου | أمام بيلاطس البنطي | 6:13 | Christ as the One Mediator (background) | Valuable apologetic historicity anchor against crucifixion-denial |
Table 5 — LOW Risk (Automated review sufficient)
| English term | Greek / transliteration | Arabic rendering | Chapter(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustworthy saying | πιστὸς ὁ λόγος | صادقة هي الكلمة | 1:15; 3:1; 4:9 |
| Command | ἐπιταγή | أمر | 1:1 |
| True/genuine child | γνησίῳ τέκνῳ | ابن حقيقي | 1:2 |
| Vain talk | ματαιολογία | كلام باطل | 1:6 |
| Pattern / example | ὑποτύπωσις | قدوة / مثال | 1:16; 4:12 |
| Patience/longsuffering | μακροθυμία | طول الأناة | 1:16 |
| Immortal / invisible | ἄφθαρτος / ἀόρατος | غير الفاني / غير المنظور | 1:17 |
| Sober-minded | νηφάλιος | صاحٍ | 3:2, 3:11 |
| Self-controlled | σώφρων | متعقِّل | 3:2 |
| Respectable | κόσμιος | محتشم | 3:2 |
| Hospitable | φιλόξενος | مضياف | 3:2 |
| Able to teach | διδακτικός | صالح للتعليم | 3:2 |
| Not a drunkard | πάροινος | غير مدمن الخمر | 3:3 |
| Not violent | πλήκτης | غير عنيف | 3:3 |
| Gentle | ἐπιεικής | حليم | 3:3 |
| Peaceable | ἄμαχος | مسالم | 3:3 |
| Above reproach | ἀνεπίλημπτος / ἀνέγκλητος | بلا لوم | 3:2, 3:10 |
| Double-tongued | δίλογος | ذو لسانين | 3:8 |
| Not slanderers | μὴ διαβόλους | غير نمّامات | 3:11 |
| Faithful in all things | πιστὰς ἐν πᾶσιν | أمينات في كل شيء | 3:11 |
| Care for (the church) | ἐπιμελήσεται | يرعى | 3:5 |
| Transgression | παράβασις | تجاوز | 2:14 |
| Holy hands | ὅσιαι χεῖρες | أيدٍ طاهرة تقية | 2:8 |
| Slaves | δοῦλοι | العبيد | 6:1 |
| Reproach / disgrace | ὀνειδισμός | عار | 3:7 |
| Good testimony from outsiders | μαρτυρία καλή ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν | شهادة حسنة من الخارج | 3:7 |
Table 6 — Semantic-Range Flags (not new terms, but shifted usage of existing baseline terms)
| Baseline term | Baseline Romans sense | 1 Timothy shift | Chapters affected | Action required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| faith (الإيمان) | Personal relational trust in Christ (πίστις) | Frequently “the faith” — a guarded body of apostolic doctrine to be kept/departed from/shipwrecked (πίστις as deposit) | 1:19; 3:9; 4:1, 6; 5:8, 12; 6:10, 12, 20-21 | Flag each occurrence for sense (personal trust vs. doctrinal deposit); the deposit sense sits closer to Islamic īmān-as-creedal-system and needs explicit disambiguation in teaching notes |
| glory (المجد) | God’s radiant honor/presence (Christology, Romans) | Extended into the Christ-hymn’s climactic line (3:16, “taken up in glory”) and the Father’s transcendence doxology (6:16, unapproachable light) | 3:16; 6:16 | Reuse exactly; note the doxological/hymnic register requires elevated liturgical Arabic consistent with Van Dyck poetic passages |
| election (اختيار الله) | God’s soteriological choice of persons unto salvation | Extended to angels (“elect angels,” 5:21) | 5:21 | Reuse term; note the non-soteriological extension so it is not mistaught as implying angelic salvation |
| sanctification (التقديس) | The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy | Extended to food (“sanctified… through the word of God and prayer,” 4:5) | 4:5 | Reuse term; flag the unusual object (food, not persons) and disambiguate from ritual purification |
| intercession (الشفاعة) | Christ’s/the Spirit’s exclusive intercession for believers (Romans 8) | General corporate prayer for all people, including rulers (2:1) | 2:1 | Reuse term for ordinary intercessory prayer; keep explicitly distinct from Christ’s unique, exclusive mediatorial role (2:5, μεσίτης/الوسيط) |
This glossary must be merged into a new translation_memory.json entry set before Phase 2 segment translation of 1 Timothy begins. All Critical and High risk terms above require human theologian review routing per doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions; Medium requires native speaker review; Low requires automated review only.
Critical Risk Terms
Adoption
Approved rendering: التبني
Transliteration: al-tabannī
Doctrine: Household Order and Family Roles
Rejected alternatives: الاستلحاق
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Not directly quoted in 1 Timothy but retained for cross-document family-status consistency given the letter’s household-order material (3:4-5,12).
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: الحياة الأبدية
Transliteration: al-ḥayāh al-abadiyyah
Doctrine: Eternal Life and Assurance
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
1 Timothy 1:16; 4:8; 6:12,19. Must be taught as a present, secured possession, not a probable future reward pending the mizan deeds-scale outcome.
Father
Approved rendering: الآب
Transliteration: al-Āb
Doctrine: Grace and Mercy
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:2’s greeting: ‘grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father.‘
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Called ‘Savior’ in 1 Timothy 1:1 and ‘the living God’ in 3:15, 4:10. Islamic tawhid’s strictly unitarian, non-incarnate conception must be actively distinguished from the Trinitarian conception this word denotes here.
Godliness With Contentment
Approved rendering: التقوى مع القناعة مكسب عظيم
Transliteration: al-taqwā ma’a al-qanā’ah maksab ‘aẓīm
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Original: εὐσέβεια μετὰ αὐτάρκειας πορισμὸς μέγας
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 6:6, the doctrine’s thesis statement. Compound Critical risk combining ‘godliness’ and ‘contentment’ below; must never be read as prosperity-theology ‘gain’ nor as godliness functioning as merit-currency toward salvation.
Godliness
Approved rendering: التقوى
Transliteration: al-taqwā
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Original: εὐσέβεια
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 2:2,10; 3:16; 4:7-8; 6:3,5,6,11. Al-taqwa is the single most central ethical-theological term in the Qur’an (God-consciousness yielding deeds weighed at the mizan). Established Van Dyck rendering retained by necessity — no viable alternative exists — but every occurrence requires explicit anchoring in the already-accomplished mystery of Christ (3:16) and prior grace (1:14), never functioning as an independent merit-accumulation category.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: الروح القدس
Transliteration: al-Rūḥ al-Qudus
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Implicit in 1 Timothy 3:16 (‘vindicated in the Spirit’) and 4:1 (‘the Spirit expressly says’). The identical Quranic phrase identifies this with the created angel Jibril; the distinction must be made explicit.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر المحسوب
Transliteration: al-birr al-mahsūb
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Rejected alternatives: البر المكتسب
Original: ἐλογίσθη εἰς δικαιοσύνην (background concept)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Background doctrine informing 1 Timothy 6:11’s pursuit of righteousness as fruit, not ground, of standing. Never render as ‘earned righteousness.‘
Incarnation
Approved rendering: التجسد
Transliteration: al-tajassud
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Rejected alternatives: الحلول, الظهور
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. THE required pairing term for 1 Timothy 3:16’s ‘ظهر في الجسد’ — that occurrence must never stand alone without التجسد and explicit real-body language.
Jesus
Approved rendering: يسوع
Transliteration: Yasū’
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Rejected alternatives: عيسى
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Occurs throughout 1 Timothy (e.g., 1:1,15; 6:13-14). Never عيسى, the Quranic form.
Law
Approved rendering: الناموس
Transliteration: al-nāmūs
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة, الشرع
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:8-9 discusses the Law’s proper use against the lawless and disobedient. Never substitute الشريعة/الشرع.
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:2,12,14; 6:3,14-15 (of the Father). Protect this Critical term by never using it for human masters (δεσπότης, 6:1-2) — see ‘masters_human’ below.
Manifested In The Flesh
Approved rendering: ظهر في الجسد
Transliteration: ẕahara fī al-jasad
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Original: ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί
Category: Church as Pillar of Truth
1 Timothy 3:16’s Christ-hymn opening line. The established Van Dyck rendering unavoidably uses the ظهور root elsewhere forbidden for incarnation contexts (echoes Qur’an 4:157’s shubbiha lahum illusory-appearance language). Never allow this to stand alone — always pair with التجسد and explicit real-body/real-history language. Do not adopt the Alexandrian-text ‘who was manifested’ (omitting ‘God’ as subject) reading used by Watchtower/NWT for anti-Trinitarian purposes; follow SVD’s explicit deity-naming.
Mediator
Approved rendering: الوسيط
Transliteration: al-wasīṭ
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Rejected alternatives: الشفيع
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Christ as the One Mediator
1 Timothy 2:5, ‘there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’ Mainstream Islamic theology denies any formal mediator between God and humanity. Never render الشفيع (intercessor), which would fold this exclusive, ontologically-grounded claim into the popular, contested shafa’ah category. Always pair with explicit ‘one/واحد’ and apposition naming Christ’s dual nature.
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Inherited from Romans package as ‘christ_messiah’; reused exactly, unchanged. Occurs throughout 1 Timothy (1:1-2,15; 2:5; 3:16; 6:13-14). Every occurrence must actively correct the Quranic ‘Isa al-Masih narrative.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: طاعة الإيمان
Transliteration: ṭā’at al-īmān
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Rejected alternatives: الطاعة الشرعية
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency with 1 Timothy’s fruit-not-ground obedience emphasis (e.g., 6:11’s virtue pursuit).
Ransom
Approved rendering: فدية
Transliteration: fidyah
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Original: ἀντίλυτρον
Category: Christ as the One Mediator
1 Timothy 2:6, Christ ‘gave himself as a ransom for all.’ Directly confronts the Quranic principle (6:164) that no soul bears another’s burden; must not collapse into a generic legal-ransom transaction devoid of substitution.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: القيامة
Transliteration: al-qiyāmah
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Background doctrine underlying 1 Timothy 3:16’s ‘vindicated in the Spirit… taken up in glory’ and 6:13-16’s historicity anchor (before Pontius Pilate).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر
Transliteration: al-birr
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Rejected alternatives: الصلاح, العدل
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Occurs in the virtue-list of 1 Timothy 6:11. Must never collapse into al-birr’s Quranic works-checklist sense (2:177).
Salvation
Approved rendering: الخلاص
Transliteration: al-khalāṣ
Doctrine: Eternal Life and Assurance
Rejected alternatives: النجاة, الفوز بالجنة
Original: σωτηρία / σωτήρ (verb σῴζω)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:15 (‘Christ Jesus came to save sinners’), 2:4, 2:15, 4:16. Secured through Christ’s finished work, not a probabilistic mizan outcome.
Saved Through Childbearing
Approved rendering: ستَخلُص بولادة الأولاد، إن ثبتت في الإيمان والمحبة والتقديس، بالعفة
Transliteration: sa-takhluṣ bi-wilādat al-awlād, in thabatat fī al-īmān wa-al-maḥabbah wa-al-taqdīs, bi-al-‘iffah
Doctrine: Saved Through Childbearing / Danger of Works-Salvation Reading
Original: σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας
Category: Public Worship and Prayer
1 Timothy 2:15. The single greatest risk in the letter for collapsing salvation into a merit-earning act. The conditional clause must always be rendered as one grammatically dependent sentence, never split into two independent clauses (a pattern seen in some dynamic-equivalence Arabic versions) — the condition is the non-negotiable qualifier ruling out any works-for-salvation reading.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ابن الله
Transliteration: Ibn Allāh
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Rejected alternatives: الحبيب من الله, الكلمة من الله (بدون ‘ابن’)
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Background Christological doctrine underlying the Christ-hymn of 3:16. Retain the full phrase; never dilute.
Vindicated In The Spirit
Approved rendering: تبرَّر في الروح
Transliteration: tabarra’a fī al-rūḥ
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Original: ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι
Category: Church as Pillar of Truth
1 Timothy 3:16. Reuses the التبرير root (baseline Critical justification term) but with a different referent — Christ’s own public vindication, not a sinner’s forensic justification. Must never imply Christ himself needed forgiveness or moral correction; safeguards his sinlessness and full deity.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: أبّا
Transliteration: Abbā
Doctrine: Household Order and Family Roles
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Not present in 1 Timothy itself; retained for cross-document consistency should this term be cited alongside 1 Timothy’s family/household material.
Apostle
Approved rendering: الرسول
Transliteration: al-rasūl
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: المبعوث, التلميذ المرسل
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:1 and 2:7 ground Paul’s teaching authority in his apostolic commissioning; distinguish from the Islamic prophetic office’s finality claim.
Called
Approved rendering: المدعوون
Transliteration: al-mad’uwwūn
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Rejected alternatives: المُنتخَبون
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Underlies 6:12’s ‘when you were called’ to eternal life.
Calling
Approved rendering: الدعوة
Transliteration: al-da’wah
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Original: κλῆσις / καλέω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 6:12: the ‘good confession’ made ‘when you were called.’ Keep the direction of address (God summoning the person) distinct from da’wah, the Islamic term for human invitation to a religion.
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: الثقة (الدالة)
Transliteration: al-thiqah (al-dāllah)
Doctrine: Eternal Life and Assurance
Original: παρρησία
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:13. الدالة is the richer patristic Arabic term for parrhesia (filial boldness before God). Mainstream Sunni piety treats confident assurance of one’s own standing as presumptuous; this verse extends that collision into ordinary ministry life, not only final salvation.
Contentment
Approved rendering: القناعة
Transliteration: al-qanā’ah
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Original: αὐτάρκεια
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 6:6,8. Al-qana’ah is a recognized Islamic/Sufi virtue often linked to riḍā (contented acceptance of divine decree); a genuine bridge, but must be anchored specifically in Christ’s sufficiency and God’s provision, not a tradition-neutral achievement.
Depart From The Faith
Approved rendering: يرتد بعضهم عن الإيمان
Transliteration: yartadd ba’ḍuhum ‘an al-īmān
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Original: ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως
Category: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
1 Timothy 4:1. ‘The faith’ as the guarded body of apostolic doctrine sits closer to Islamic iman-as-creedal-system than Romans’ relational-trust sense; disambiguate per occurrence.
Deposit
Approved rendering: الوديعة
Transliteration: al-wadī’ah
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Original: παραθήκη
Category: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
1 Timothy 6:20, ‘guard the deposit entrusted to you.’ Strong positive resonance with Islamic amanah (Q4:58) — a genuine bridge, but the deposit is a specific body of revealed apostolic doctrine to be preserved unaltered, not a generic ethical trustworthiness virtue.
Elder
Approved rendering: الشيخ
Transliteration: al-shaykh
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 5:1,17,19 (also implicit 3:1). Genuinely spans age-sense and office-sense in both Greek and Arabic, but الشيخ additionally carries heavy contemporary Islamic religious-authority connotations (scholar, Sufi guide, cleric’s honorific). Every occurrence must be marked age-sense or office-sense explicitly.
Election
Approved rendering: اختيار الله
Transliteration: ikhtiyār Allāh
Doctrine: Elder Honor, Support, and Accountability
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: ἐκλεκτός
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Extended in 1 Timothy 5:21 to ‘the elect angels.’ Note the non-soteriological extension; mainstream Islamic angelology lacks an angelic-election category.
Exercise Authority
Approved rendering: يتسلّط على / يمارس السلطة على
Transliteration: yatasallaṭ ‘alā / yumāris al-sulṭah ‘alā
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Rejected alternatives: يتولين القيادة (too soft), يحكمن على (too strong)
Original: αὐθεντέω
Category: Public Worship and Prayer
1 Timothy 2:12, αὐθεντέω, a rare word ranging from neutral ‘have authority’ to negative ‘domineer.’ Risk of being read either through Islamic qiwamah/wilayah guardianship norms or as a decontextualized universal statement; requires careful, non-collapsing exposition, flagged for human theologian review at every occurrence.
Faith
Approved rendering: الإيمان
Transliteration: al-īmān
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Rejected alternatives: الاعتقاد, الثقة
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. In 1 Timothy this word shifts more frequently toward ‘the faith’ as a guarded body of apostolic doctrine (1:19; 3:9; 4:1,6; 5:8,12; 6:10,12,20-21) rather than Romans’ predominant personal-trust sense; disambiguate per occurrence (see Table 6, 08_core_glossary.md).
Glory
Approved rendering: المجد
Transliteration: al-majd
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Rejected alternatives: النور الإلهي
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:11 (‘the glorious gospel’), 1:17 (doxology), 3:16 (Christ ‘taken up in glory’). Avoid Sufi ishraq-illumination resonance, especially with 6:16’s ‘unapproachable light.‘
Good Confession
Approved rendering: الاعتراف الحسن
Transliteration: al-i’tirāf al-ḥasan
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Original: ἡ καλὴ ὁμολογία
Category: Christ as the One Mediator
1 Timothy 6:12-13. Very plausibly the same confession as Romans 10:9-10 (‘يسوع هو الرب’). Must be kept verbatim-consistent per baseline’s cross-document consistency rule — not a separate, lesser confession.
Good Fight
Approved rendering: المحاربة الحسنة / الكفاح الحسن
Transliteration: al-muḥārabah al-ḥasanah / al-kifāḥ al-ḥasan
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Rejected alternatives: جهاد
Original: καλὴ στρατεία / καλὸς ἀγών
Category: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
1 Timothy 1:18; 6:12. EXPLICIT FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTION: never جهاد, which imports a distinct Islamic legal-religious category (its own jurisprudence, contested armed/spiritual-struggle senses) entirely absent from Paul’s athletic-military metaphor for personal doctrinal perseverance.
Gospel
Approved rendering: الإنجيل
Transliteration: al-Injīl
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: البشارة, الخبر السار
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:11 calls it ‘the glorious gospel of the blessed God’ entrusted to Paul. Must not be conceded as a corrupted successor to a lost original revelation per mainstream Islamic tahrif doctrine.
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Grace and Mercy
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Opens and closes 1 Timothy (1:2,14; 6:21); described as ‘overflowing’ toward Paul despite his former blasphemy. Must remain unearned, apart from merit.
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Original: ἅγιος / ὅσιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Underlies 4:5’s sanctification of food and 2:8’s ‘holy hands.’ Avoid ritual-purity-only connotations (wudu/ghusl).
Husband Of One Wife
Approved rendering: بعل امرأة واحدة
Transliteration: ba’l imra’ah wāḥidah
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Rejected alternatives: زوج وفي لامرأته (faithful to his wife — too weak, permits polygamous fidelity)
Original: μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2,12. Qur’an 4:3 explicitly permits up to four wives; this qualification directly and deliberately confronts that legal default for church office specifically. Retain the numeral/singular sense in full; never compress into a generic fidelity principle.
Intercession
Approved rendering: الشفاعة
Transliteration: al-shafā’ah
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: ἔντευξις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 2:1 calls for intercessions ‘for all people, including kings.’ Here denotes ordinary corporate prayer, never Christ’s unique mediatorial role (see ‘mediator’, 2:5) — keep the two explicitly distinct.
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Not directly named in 1 Timothy; retained for cross-document consistency.
Masters Human
Approved rendering: السيد
Transliteration: al-sayyid
Doctrine: Slaves, Masters, and Social Order
Rejected alternatives: الرب
Original: δεσπότης
Category: Social Order
1 Timothy 6:1-2, δεσπότης, deliberately NOT κύριος. Must never be rendered الرب, protecting the integrity of the Critical Lordship-of-Christ term; always السيد, even though δεσπότης is a legitimate ‘master/lord’ word in Greek.
Mercy
Approved rendering: الرحمة
Transliteration: al-raḥmah
Doctrine: Grace and Mercy
Rejected alternatives: الفضل
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
NEW to 1 Timothy (not in Romans baseline). Occurs 1:2,13,16, distinct Greek word (ἔλεος) from χάρις. Ar-Rahmah opens every Qur’an surah and functions there as favor responsive to piety; here it must be anchored, like grace, as unearned and prior to repentance (1:13, Paul ‘received mercy’ while still a blasphemer).
Modest Apparel
Approved rendering: حشمة، حياء، ضبط النفس
Transliteration: ḥishmah, ḥayā’, ḍabṭ al-nafs
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: κόσμιος, αἰδώς, σωφροσύνη (2:9)
Category: Public Worship and Prayer
1 Timothy 2:9. Must not be taught as biblical warrant for, or equivalent to, Islamic hijab regulations; the text’s actual target is ostentatious wealth display (braided hair, gold, pearls, costly clothing), not degree of bodily covering.
Mystery Of Godliness
Approved rendering: سرّ التقوى
Transliteration: sirr al-taqwā
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Original: τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον
Category: Church as Pillar of Truth
1 Timothy 3:16’s introduction to the Christ-hymn. Compounds the سرّ risk above with the التقوى risk; this mystery is a Person and his finished work, openly proclaimed, not a self-generated virtue-project or esoteric teaching.
Mystery Of The Faith
Approved rendering: سرّ الإيمان
Transliteration: sirr al-īmān
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Original: μυστήριον τῆς πίστεως
Category: Church as Pillar of Truth
1 Timothy 3:9, deacons must hold this ‘with a clear conscience.’ سرّ risks being read through Sufi asrar (hidden mystical truths for a spiritual elite) or Shi’a bāṭin esoteric-knowledge traditions. Must be taught explicitly as revealed and proclaimed truth held by ordinary qualified deacons, not privileged gnosis.
Office Of Overseer
Approved rendering: النِّظارة
Transliteration: al-niẕārah
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἐπισκοπή
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:1, ‘if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.’ The abstract function underlying ‘overseer’ above; teach as a task of shepherding-oversight, not a hierarchical see.
Overseer
Approved rendering: الأسقف
Transliteration: al-usquf
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἐπίσκοπος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:1-2. Correct Van Dyck-tradition term, but contemporary Arab Christian usage denotes a single diocesan hierarch, and readers of Muslim background may default to an imam/mufti/shaykh single-authority model. Must be explicitly taught as a plural, congregation-level, shepherding office interchangeable with ‘elder’ (cf. Acts 20:17,28; Titus 1:5-7).
Pillar And Buttress Of Truth
Approved rendering: عمود الحق وقاعدته
Transliteration: ‘amūd al-ḥaqq wa-qā’idatuh
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Original: στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Church as Pillar of Truth
1 Timothy 3:15. Risk of conflation with the Islamic ummah’s self-understanding as custodian of a perfectly preserved, unchanged revelation (paired with the tahrif claim against prior scriptures). Must be taught as the church displaying and defending revealed apostolic truth in ongoing mission, not a static textual-preservation guarantee.
Prophet
Approved rendering: نبي
Transliteration: nabī
Doctrine: Inspiration and Authority of Scripture
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency with ‘man of God’ (6:11), an OT prophetic title-category.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: التقديس
Transliteration: al-taqdīs
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Rejected alternatives: التطهير
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 2:15 (a woman’s continuance in holiness) and, unusually, 4:5 (food ‘sanctified through the word of God and prayer’) — disambiguate from ritual purification.
Savior
Approved rendering: المخلِّص
Transliteration: al-mukhalliṣ
Doctrine: Eternal Life and Assurance
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
1 Timothy 1:1; 2:3; 4:10, applied to both God the Father and Christ. Must be taught with the full baseline salvation-doctrine weight (secured, once-for-all deliverance), not a this-life ‘helper/rescuer’ sense.
Scripture
Approved rendering: الكتاب
Transliteration: al-Kitāb
Doctrine: Inspiration and Authority of Scripture
Original: γραφή
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 5:18, citing both Deuteronomy and a saying of Jesus under a single ‘الكتاب يقول’ authority formula. Intersects with the tahrif corruption-of-scripture claim and Islamic wahy (verbatim-dictation) doctrine of inspiration.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: نسل داود
Transliteration: nasl Dāwūd
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency; not directly quoted in 1 Timothy.
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Original: ἁμαρτία / ἁμαρτωλός
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:9,15 (Christ came to save ‘sinners,’ Paul the foremost); 5:20,22,24 (elders’ sin, public accountability). Distinguish from ritual impurity or fitrah’s assumed native purity.
Sound Words
Approved rendering: كلام صحيح
Transliteration: kalām ṣaḥīḥ
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: ὑγιαίνοντες λόγοι / ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:10; 6:3. Shares conceptual space with Sunni ‘correct tradition’ orthodoxy-claims; ground ‘sound’ in apostolic Christ-centered content, not majority-consensus as such.
Teaches A Different Doctrine
Approved rendering: يُعلِّم تعليمًا مخالفًا
Transliteration: yu’allim ta’līman mukhālifan
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: بدعة / تعليم بدعي
Original: ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:3; 6:3. Never render with بدعة — this would import the Islamic bid’ah (unlawful innovation) vs. sunnah framework itself often used polemically against core Christian doctrines. Must be taught as deviation from the apostolic, Christ-given standard.
The Appearing
Approved rendering: ظهور (الرب)
Transliteration: ẕuhūr (al-Rabb)
Doctrine: Second Coming of Christ (The Appearing)
Original: ἐπιφάνεια
Category: Christ as the One Mediator
1 Timothy 6:14. Shares the ظهور root forbidden for incarnation contexts (3:16), where it would suggest mere illusory appearance. APPROVED here only for the distinct Second Coming referent; the two uses must never be blurred in teaching materials or automated QA flags.
Universal Salvific Will
Approved rendering: يريد أن يخلص جميع الناس
Transliteration: yurīd an yukhalliṣ jamī’ al-nās
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Salvation
Original: πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι
Category: Public Worship and Prayer
1 Timothy 2:4. Must avoid both universalism (all will in fact be saved) and a deterministic reading collapsing into Islamic irada, where human response plays no meaningful role.
Women Of Deacons
Approved rendering: النساء
Transliteration: al-nisā’
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: γυναῖκας
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:11, genuinely ambiguous between (a) deacons’ wives or (b) a parallel order of women deacons/deaconesses (cf. Romans 16:1, Phoebe as διάκονος). A genuine exegetical fork with real ecclesiological consequence; resolve consistently and flag for human-theologian review.
Worse Than Unbeliever
Approved rendering: أشرّ من غير المؤمن
Transliteration: ashar min ghayr al-mu’min
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Rejected alternatives: أشرّ من الكافر
Original: ἀπίστου χείρων
Category: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
1 Timothy 5:8. Deliberately render ἄπιστος as غير المؤمن, never الكافر, to avoid importing the inflammatory, socially/legally dangerous register of Islamic takfir culture absent from Paul’s internal-community exhortation.
Medium Risk Terms
Before Pontius Pilate
Approved rendering: أمام بيلاطس البنطي
Transliteration: amām Bīlāṭus al-Banṭī
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Original: ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου
Category: Christ as the One Mediator
1 Timothy 6:13. Valuable apologetic historicity anchor against the Qur’anic denial of the crucifixion (4:157); reinforces the Critical resurrection scaffolding requirement.
Blasphemer
Approved rendering: مُجدِّف
Transliteration: mujaddif
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: βλάσφημος
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:13,20, Paul’s own former self-description. Real-world sensitivity: blasphemy (sabb Allah) carries severe legal/social consequences in many contemporary Arabic-speaking contexts; teach with pastoral awareness.
Bodily Training
Approved rendering: التدريب الجسدي
Transliteration: al-tadrīb al-jasadī
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Original: σωματικὴ γυμνασία
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 4:8, contrasted with the comprehensive value of godliness. Continues the anti-ascetic polemic of 4:1-5.
Church
Approved rendering: الكنيسة
Transliteration: al-kanīsah
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Rejected alternatives: الجماعة, الأمة
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 3:5,15 calls it ‘the church of God’ and ‘the church of the living God.’ Reinforce the living, gathered people of God, not merely a building.
Clear Conscience
Approved rendering: ضمير نقي
Transliteration: ḍamīr naqī
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Rejected alternatives: ضمير طاهر
Original: καθαρὰ συνείδησις
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:9. Deliberately render نقي rather than طاهر, consistent with the baseline’s caution against ritual-purity connotations; this is moral-relational integrity.
Condemnation And Snare Of The Devil
Approved rendering: دينونة إبليس، فخّ إبليس
Transliteration: dīnūnat Iblīs, fakhkh Iblīs
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: κρίμα τοῦ διαβόλου / παγὶς τοῦ διαβόλου
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:6-7. إبليس is the Qur’an’s own proper name for the tempter; referent-compatible with the biblical devil, but fall-narrative details differ and must not be imported as equivalent.
Conscience
Approved rendering: الضمير
Transliteration: al-ḍamīr
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: συνείδησις
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:5,19 (a good conscience as the goal of sound teaching); 4:2 (a conscience ‘seared’). Islamic ethics anchors moral awareness more in fitrah/nafs than an autonomous conscience-faculty capable of corruption; ground in the doctrine of universal human accountability rather than assumed native purity.
David
Approved rendering: داود
Transliteration: Dāwūd
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Not directly named in 1 Timothy; retained for cross-document consistency should Davidic-covenant background material be referenced.
Deacon
Approved rendering: الشمّاس
Transliteration: al-shammās
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: διάκονος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:8,10,12,13. Established, pre-Islamic Eastern-Christian (Syriac-derived) term — not an Islamic-vocabulary collision. Risk is office-definition clarity: a recognized, tested church role, not a generic word for ‘servant/helper.‘
Deceitful Spirits And Teachings Of Demons
Approved rendering: أرواح مضلة وتعاليم شياطين
Transliteration: arwāḥ muḍillah wa-ta’ālīm shayāṭīn
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: πνεύματα πλάνα καὶ διδασκαλίαι δαιμονίων
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 4:1. الشياطين overlaps with Islamic jinn/Iblis cosmology; referent-compatible but Islamic jinn-lore (capricious, morally mixed) differs from the biblical demons’ uniformly opposed-to-God role.
Delivered To Satan
Approved rendering: سلّمتهما للشيطان
Transliteration: sallamtuhumā lil-shayṭān
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Original: παρέδωκα τῷ Σατανᾷ
Category: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
1 Timothy 1:20, applied to Hymenaeus and Alexander. الشيطان/إبليس are referent-compatible with, but narratively distinct from, the Qur’anic tempter-figure; do not import that specific fall-narrative uncritically. Disciplinary act aimed at correction, not damnation.
Dignity
Approved rendering: وقار
Transliteration: waqār
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: σεμνότης
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:4; 2:2 (praying for rulers ‘with all godliness and dignity’). Standard vocabulary, low-medium risk.
Double Honor
Approved rendering: كرامة مضاعفة
Transliteration: karāmah muḍā’afah
Doctrine: Elder Honor, Support, and Accountability
Original: διπλῆ τιμή
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 5:17, honor (likely including financial support) due elders who labor in preaching and teaching. Ties to widow-support financial principles earlier in the same chapter.
Elect Angels
Approved rendering: الملائكة المختارين
Transliteration: al-malā’ikah al-mukhtārīn
Doctrine: Elder Honor, Support, and Accountability
Original: ἐκλεκτῶν ἀγγέλων
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 5:21, angels called as solemn witnesses to Timothy’s charge. Mainstream Islamic angelology generally lacks an ‘elect’ category of angels (angels are uniformly obedient by nature); a brief clarifying note is needed, not doctrinal alarm.
Enrolled
Approved rendering: فلتُدرَج في السجل
Transliteration: fal-tudraj fī al-sijill
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Original: καταλέγω
Category: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
1 Timothy 5:9, formal institutional enrollment into a recognized order of widows. Teach as a principled model, not a rigid transcultural bureaucratic mandate.
Falsely Called Knowledge
Approved rendering: المعرفة الكاذبة الاسم
Transliteration: al-ma’rifah al-kādhibah al-ism
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Original: ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις
Category: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
1 Timothy 6:20, technical anti-Gnostic polemic. Always retain the ‘falsely called’ qualifier; do not let this broad-brush all claims to religious ‘ilm/ma’rifa as false, only the specific historical proto-Gnostic target.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: الشركة
Transliteration: al-sharikah
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Rejected alternatives: الزمالة, الجماعة
Original: κοινωνικός
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 6:18 exhorts the rich to be ‘generous and ready to share’ (κοινωνικούς). Avoid pairing with vocabulary suggesting shirk-style partnership with God.
Forbidding Marriage And Foods
Approved rendering: يمنعون الزواج، ويأمرون بالامتناع عن أطعمة
Transliteration: yamna’ūn al-zawāj, wa-ya’murūn bi-al-imtinā’ ‘an aṭ’imah
Doctrine: False Asceticism and the Goodness of Creation
Original: κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 4:3. Real risk that readers steeped in a halal/haram dietary framework will assume religious devotion requires comparable dietary legislation; teach without appearing to critique Islamic dietary practice specifically.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: الأمم
Transliteration: al-umam
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Rejected alternatives: الكفار
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 2:7 (Paul as ‘teacher of the Gentiles’) and 3:16 (gospel ‘proclaimed among the nations’). Never الكفار.
Good Minister Generic
Approved rendering: خادم صالح
Transliteration: khādim ṣāliḥ
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: الشمّاس
Original: καλὸς διάκονος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 4:6, Timothy as a ‘good minister of Christ Jesus’ — same Greek word as ‘deacon’ but a generic ministry-service sense. Render as خادم صالح, not الشمّاس, to avoid implying Timothy specifically holds the deacon office.
Good Standing
Approved rendering: درجة حسنة
Transliteration: darajah ḥasanah
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: βαθμὸς καλός
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:13, the recognized spiritual standing gained through faithful deacon service. Must not be read as earning merit toward salvation; this is standing within the community of faith, not forensic justification.
Greedy For Dishonest Gain
Approved rendering: طامع بالكسب الخسيس
Transliteration: ṭāmi’ bi-al-kasb al-khasīs
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: αἰσχροκερδής
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:8. Financial integrity required for handling the church’s care of the needy; ties forward to Ch.5 widow-fund administration.
Household Submission
Approved rendering: خضوع
Transliteration: khuḍū’
Doctrine: Household Order and Family Roles
Original: ὑποταγή (household context)
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:4, children’s submission to parental authority in the overseer’s household. Distinguish carefully from 2:11’s worship-context use of the same Greek word (women’s learning posture); do not let the two contexts collapse into one another even though the same Arabic word is used.
King Of Kings Lord Of Lords
Approved rendering: ملك الملوك ورب الأرباب
Transliteration: malik al-mulūk wa-rabb al-arbāb
Doctrine: Second Coming of Christ (The Appearing)
Original: βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων
Category: God
1 Timothy 6:15, applied to God the Father’s transcendent sovereignty. A positive bridge with Qur’anic divine-attribute language (al-Malik, Rabb al-‘Alamin); keep distinct from, and do not let it dilute, Christ’s own direct Lordship claim elsewhere.
Laying On Of Hands And Council Of Elders
Approved rendering: وضع الأيدي، هيئة الشيوخ
Transliteration: waḍ’ al-aydī, hay’at al-shuyūkh
Doctrine: Ordination and Spiritual Gifts
Original: ἐπίθεσις τῶν χειρῶν / πρεσβυτέριον
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 4:14, the ordination rite performed by a plural body of recognized elders. Standard, established liturgical term with low collision risk in itself; pastorally distinguish from folk-Islamic barakah-transfer practices at a shaykh’s touch or shrine — the church’s rite recognizes/confirms a Spirit-given gift, it does not transfer a mystical substance.
Love Of Money
Approved rendering: محبة المال
Transliteration: maḥabbat al-māl
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Original: φιλαργυρία
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 6:10, ‘the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil’ — retain أصل (root), not a weakened سبب (a cause).
Man Of God
Approved rendering: يا رجل الله
Transliteration: yā rajul Allāh
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Original: ἄνθρωπε τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 6:11, an OT prophetic title (Moses, Elijah) applied to Timothy. Must not be elevated into a venerated, quasi-saintly honorific evoking wali Allah (Sufi ‘friend of God,’ shrine-venerated); keep as a plain functional designation.
Manage Household Well
Approved rendering: يُحسن تدبير
Transliteration: yuḥsin tadbīr
Doctrine: Household Order and Family Roles
Original: καλῶς προϊστάμενος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:4-5,12; 5:17. Keep rendering consistent across household-management and elder-office contexts to preserve Paul’s deliberate parallel between domestic and congregational competence.
Mission
Approved rendering: الإرسالية
Transliteration: al-irsāliyyah
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: الرسالة
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency with Paul’s teaching-commission language in 1 Timothy 2:7.
Myths And Genealogies
Approved rendering: خرافات وأنساب لا حصر لها
Transliteration: khurāfāt wa-ansāb lā ḥaṣr lahā
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: μῦθοι καὶ γενεαλογίαι ἀπέραντοι
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:4. Proto-Gnostic/legalistic speculative teaching, contrasted with sound doctrine grounded in the apostolic gospel.
New Convert
Approved rendering: المستجد في الإيمان
Transliteration: al-mustajidd fī al-īmān
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: νεόφυτος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:6 disqualifies a recent convert from the overseer’s office. Time-tested maturity, not enthusiasm alone, qualifies for oversight.
Not A Lover Of Money
Approved rendering: غير محب للمال
Transliteration: ghayr muḥibb lil-māl
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἀφιλάργυρος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:3 for overseers. Ties forward to 6:10’s φιλαργυρία; keep rendering consistent across both passages.
Peace
Approved rendering: السلام
Transliteration: al-salām
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Rejected alternatives: الأمان, الطمأنينة
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency with 1 Timothy 2:2’s prayer for ‘a peaceful life.‘
Power Of God
Approved rendering: قوة الله
Transliteration: quwwat Allāh
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency; broadly compatible with Al-Qawiyy.
Providence
Approved rendering: العناية الإلهية
Transliteration: al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. Retained for cross-document consistency with 1 Timothy’s providential themes (e.g., 6:17’s reliance on God who provides).
Purity
Approved rendering: العفة
Transliteration: al-‘iffah
Doctrine: Personal Conduct and Ministerial Example
Original: ἁγνεία
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 4:12, ἁγνεία, distinct from ἁγιωσύνη (holiness) and καθαρός (clean). Avoid a rendering carrying primarily ritual-purity connotations; personal moral integrity, especially sexual conduct, is in view.
Saints
Approved rendering: القديسون
Transliteration: al-qiddīsūn
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Rejected alternatives: الأولياء
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 5:10 references a widow’s prior good works (‘washed the feet of the saints’). Must not evoke al-awliya’ (Sufi venerated intercessory class).
Sanctified Of Food
Approved rendering: يتقدَّس بكلمة الله والصلاة
Transliteration: yataqaddas bi-kalimat Allāh wa-al-ṣalāh
Doctrine: False Asceticism and the Goodness of Creation
Original: ἁγιάζεται
Category: Sanctification
1 Timothy 4:5, an unusual application of the sanctification verb to food. Distinct from ritual purification (halal slaughter rites, wudu); food is set apart for grateful use through word and prayer.
Savior Of All Especially Believers
Approved rendering: مخلِّص جميع الناس، ولا سيما المؤمنين
Transliteration: mukhalliṣ jamī’ al-nās, wa-lā siyyamā al-mu’minīn
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Salvation
Original: σωτὴρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, μάλιστα πιστῶν
Category: Salvation
1 Timothy 4:10. Maintain the universal/particular distinction carefully, paralleling 2:4.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: المواهب الروحية
Transliteration: al-mawāhib al-rūḥiyyah
Doctrine: Ordination and Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: المواهب
Original: χάρισμα
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 4:14 refers to the specific ordination-gift given to Timothy through prophecy and the laying on of hands.
Tested
Approved rendering: فليُختبروا
Transliteration: fal-yukhtabarū
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: δοκιμάζω
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:10. Institutes an ordination process; office is earned through demonstrated character, not claimed by self-assertion or inherited status.
Unapproachable Light
Approved rendering: نور لا يُدنى منه
Transliteration: nūr lā yudnā minhu
Doctrine: Second Coming of Christ (The Appearing)
Original: φῶς ἀπρόσιτον
Category: God
1 Timothy 6:16. Reuses baseline’s caution against Sufi ishraq (illumination) mysticism of direct absorption into divine light.
Use A Little Wine
Approved rendering: استعمل خمرًا قليلًا
Transliteration: ista’mil khamran qalīlan
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Original: οἴνῳ ὀλίγῳ χρῶ
Category: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
1 Timothy 5:23, practical medicinal instruction. Real tension with Islamic total-alcohol prohibition; do not soften, omit, or allegorize — address pastorally as medicinal moderation, not general endorsement.
Widow
Approved rendering: الأرملة، الأرملة حقًا
Transliteration: al-armalah, al-armalah ḥaqqan
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Original: χήρα / ὄντως χήρα
Category: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
1 Timothy 5:3-16. Positive bridge with Islamic zakat/sadaqah obligations toward widows and orphans; clarify the distinct NT model: family-first, then church-administered support with defined qualification criteria, not a state-administered almsgiving category.
Low Risk Terms
Able To Teach
Approved rendering: صالح للتعليم
Transliteration: ṣāliḥ lil-ta’līm
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: διδακτικός
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2. Implicitly denies that spiritual authority may rest on family lineage or inherited status alone.
Above Reproach
Approved rendering: بلا لوم
Transliteration: bilā lawm
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἀνεπίλημπτος / ἀνέγκλητος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2,10. Character qualification, not sinless perfection.
Care For Church
Approved rendering: يرعى
Transliteration: yar’ā
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἐπιμελέομαι
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:5. Pastoral, not merely administrative, oversight.
Command
Approved rendering: أمر
Transliteration: amr
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: ἐπιταγή
Category: Apostleship
1 Timothy 1:1, Paul’s apostleship rests on a direct divine command. Distinct from κλῆσις (‘calling’).
Double Tongued
Approved rendering: ذو لسانين
Transliteration: dhū lisānayn
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: δίλογος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:8. Disqualifying dishonesty in handling church affairs and confidences.
Exhort
Approved rendering: يشجع / يعظ
Transliteration: yushajji’ / ya’iẓ
Doctrine: Personal Conduct and Ministerial Example
Original: παρακαλέω / παραγγελία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 4:13 instructs Timothy to devote himself to exhortation and teaching.
Faithful In All Things
Approved rendering: أمينات في كل شيء
Transliteration: amīnāt fī kull shay’
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: πιστὰς ἐν πᾶσιν
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:11. Adjectival sense closer to ‘trustworthy/reliable’ than ‘believing.‘
Gentle
Approved rendering: حليم
Transliteration: ḥalīm
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἐπιεικής
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:3. حليم shares a root with al-Halim (one of Allah’s names); a positive shared-vocabulary resonance, not a collision, since حليم is common human-temperament vocabulary.
Good Testimony From Outsiders
Approved rendering: شهادة حسنة من الذين هم من خارج
Transliteration: shahādah ḥasanah min al-ladhīna hum min khārij
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: μαρτυρία καλὴ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:7. The leader’s credibility must extend beyond the congregation into the wider community.
Holy Hands
Approved rendering: أيدٍ طاهرة تقية
Transliteration: aydin ṭāhirah taqiyyah
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: ὅσιαι χεῖρες
Category: Public Worship and Prayer
1 Timothy 2:8, ὅσιος (distinct Greek word from ἅγιος). Avoid over-identifying with ritual purity (wudu before prayer); the sense is devout, sincere-hearted worship.
Hospitable
Approved rendering: مضياف
Transliteration: miḍyāf
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: φιλόξενος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2. Genuine positive bridge with Arab hospitality (diyafah) culture; a natural point of contact.
Immortal Invisible
Approved rendering: غير الفاني، غير المنظور
Transliteration: ghayr al-fānī, ghayr al-manẕūr
Doctrine: Incarnation and Deity of Christ (Christ-Hymn)
Original: ἄφθαρτος / ἀόρατος
Category: God
1 Timothy 1:17’s doxology. A genuine point of common ground with Islamic tawhid; must not be used to imply exclusion of the Son’s full deity taught elsewhere (3:16).
Not A Drunkard
Approved rendering: غير مدمن الخمر
Transliteration: ghayr mudmin al-khamr
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: πάροινος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:3; cf. 3:8. Avoid implying total-abstinence legalism is the NT norm, while upholding this disqualifier; see also 5:23.
Not Slanderers
Approved rendering: غير نمّامات
Transliteration: ghayr nammāmāt
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: μὴ διάβολος (adj.)
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:11. Uses the same root elsewhere applied to Satan (3:6-7); worth noting the Greek wordplay in translator notes even though it cannot be reproduced in Arabic.
Not Violent
Approved rendering: غير عنيف
Transliteration: ghayr ‘anīf
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: πλήκτης
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:3. Disqualifies quarrelsome or physically aggressive leadership.
Pattern Example
Approved rendering: قدوة / مثال
Transliteration: qudwah / mithāl
Doctrine: Personal Conduct and Ministerial Example
Original: ὑποτύπωσις
Category: Godliness and Contentment
1 Timothy 1:16; 4:12. Low independent risk.
Peaceable
Approved rendering: مسالم
Transliteration: musālim
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: ἄμαχος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:3. Disqualifies a divisive temperament.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: نبوءة
Transliteration: nubū’ah
Doctrine: Ordination and Spiritual Gifts
Original: προφητεία
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 1:18 (prophecies made about Timothy) and 4:14 (Timothy’s gift given through prophecy).
Respectable
Approved rendering: محتشم
Transliteration: muḥtashim
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: κόσμιος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2. Visible, orderly conduct that commends the gospel.
Self Controlled
Approved rendering: متعقِّل
Transliteration: muta’aqqil
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: σώφρων
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2. Spirit-enabled sense, distinct from Stoic self-mastery or Sufi nafs-discipline achieved by ascetic technique alone.
Slaves
Approved rendering: العبيد
Transliteration: al-‘abīd
Doctrine: Slaves, Masters, and Social Order
Original: δοῦλοι
Category: Social Order
1 Timothy 6:1. Low independent risk; the higher risk in this passage attaches to δεσπότης/السيد, not العبيد.
Sober Minded
Approved rendering: صاحٍ
Transliteration: ṣāḥin
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Elders and Deacons)
Original: νηφάλιος
Category: Qualifications for Church Leadership
1 Timothy 3:2,11. Literal and figurative sense (not intoxicated, spiritually vigilant).
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: الشكر
Transliteration: al-shukr
Doctrine: Thanksgiving and Petition in Corporate Prayer
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, unchanged. 1 Timothy 2:1 (corporate prayer) and 4:3-4 (receiving food with thanksgiving). Broadly compatible with Islamic shukr; low risk.
Transgression
Approved rendering: تجاوز
Transliteration: tajāwuz
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: παράβασις
Category: Public Worship and Prayer
1 Timothy 2:14. Distinct nuance from ἁμαρτία; emphasizes willful boundary-crossing.
Trustworthy Saying
Approved rendering: صادقة هي الكلمة
Transliteration: ṣādiqah hiya al-kalimah
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: πιστὸς ὁ λόγος
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:15; 3:1; 4:9, formulaic Pauline marker introducing a settled apostolic maxim. Signals apostolic, authoritative teaching, not a folk proverb.
Vain Talk
Approved rendering: كلام باطل
Transliteration: kalām bāṭil
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: ματαιολογία
Category: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
1 Timothy 1:6. Low independent risk.
Referenced passages