Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — Acts — English → Arabic
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering Acts 1–28 in full. Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked Reused (Romans TM) and carry forward their recorded Arabic rendering and risk tier exactly, per the hard rule that established renderings must not be altered. New terms introduced by the Acts curriculum are marked New and are proposed here for addition to the enforcement databases (Phase 1 Step 3+), with full risk rationale.
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions: Critical (human theologian review, every occurrence) / High (human theologian review) / Medium (native speaker review) / Low (automated review).
A. Reused Terms (Romans Translation Memory — Enforce Exactly)
| English Term | Arabic Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Key Acts Passages | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel | الإنجيل | al-Injīl | High | 8:4, 8:12, 8:25, 8:35, 8:40, 20:24 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Grace | النعمة | al-ni’mah | High | 4:33, 11:23, 13:43, 14:26, 15:11, 20:24, 20:32 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Faith / Believe | الإيمان | al-īmān | High | 3:16, 13:39, 16:31, 26:18 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Righteousness | البر | al-birr | Critical | 3:14, 13:39, 24:25 (note: ethical sense in 24:25 vs. forensic in 13:39 — see ch.24 note) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Justification | التبرير | al-tabrīr | Critical | 13:38-39 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Salvation | الخلاص | al-khalāṣ | Critical | 2:21, 2:40, 4:12, 11:14, 13:26, 13:47, 16:17, 16:30-31, 27:20-31 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Apostle | الرسول | al-rasūl | High | 1:2, 1:25-26, 2:37, 2:42-43, 4:33, 5:12, 6:6, 8:1, 9:27, 11:1, 14:4, 14:14, 15:2-6, 15:22-23, 16:4 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Called / Calling | المدعوون / الدعوة | al-mad’uwwūn / al-da’wah | High | 2:39 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Holy | مقدس | muqaddas | Medium/High | 3:14 (compound “Holy and Righteous One”) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Saints | القديسون | al-qiddīsūn | Medium/High | 9:13, 9:32, 9:41, 26:10 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Sanctification | التقديس | al-taqdīs | High | 26:18 (“sanctified by faith in me”) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Resurrection | القيامة | al-qiyāmah | Critical | 1:22, 2:24, 2:31-32, 4:2, 4:33, 17:18, 17:31-32, 23:6-8, 24:15, 24:21, 26:8, 26:23 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Lord | الرب | al-Rabb | Critical | 2:21, 2:34-36, 4:29, 7:59-60, 9:5, 9:17, 10:36, 16:31, 22:8, 22:10 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Son of God | ابن الله | Ibn Allāh | Critical | 9:20 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Incarnation (doctrinal category; no single Acts verse) | التجسد | al-tajassud | Critical | Background doctrine informing 2:22-24 (Christ’s real humanity/historicity) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Peace | السلام | al-salām | Medium | 9:31, 10:36, 15:33 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Spiritual Gifts | المواهب الروحية | al-mawāhib al-rūḥiyyah | Medium | (Distinct from singular δωρεά; see New Term “Gift of the Holy Spirit” below) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Thanksgiving | الشكر | al-shukr | Low | 27:35 (implicit, “giving thanks”) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Fellowship | الشركة | al-sharikah | Medium | 2:42 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Church | الكنيسة | al-kanīsah | Medium | 5:11, 8:1, 8:3, 9:31, 11:22, 11:26, 12:1, 12:5, 13:1, 14:23, 14:27, 15:3-4, 15:22, 15:41, 16:5, 18:22, 20:17, 20:28 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Kingdom of God | ملكوت الله | malakūt Allāh | Medium | 1:3, 1:6, 8:12, 14:22, 19:8, 20:25, 28:23, 28:31 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Law (Mosaic) | الناموس | al-nāmūs | Critical | 6:13, 7:53, 13:39, 15:5, 15:24, 18:13, 21:20, 21:24, 21:28, 22:3, 23:29, 24:14, 25:8, 28:23 | Reused (Romans TM) — NEVER substitute الشريعة |
| Sin | الخطية | al-khaṭīyah | High | 2:38, 3:19, 5:31, 7:60, 10:43, 13:38, 22:16, 26:18 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Gentiles | الأمم | al-umam | Medium | 9:15, 10:45, 11:1, 11:18, 13:46-48, 14:27, 15:3, 15:7, 15:12, 15:14, 15:19, 18:6, 21:19, 21:25, 22:21, 26:17, 26:20, 26:23, 28:28 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Glory | المجد | al-majd | High | 7:2, 7:55, 12:23 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Power of God | قوة الله | quwwat Allāh | Medium | 1:8, 3:12, 4:7, 4:33, 6:8, 8:10, 10:38 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Messiah / Christ | المسيح | al-Masīh | Critical | 2:31, 2:36, 3:18, 3:20, 4:26, 5:42, 8:5, 8:12, 9:20, 9:22, 10:36, 11:26, 13:33, 17:3, 18:5, 18:28, 26:23 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Prophet | نبي | nabī | High | 2:16, 2:30, 3:18, 3:21-25, 7:37, 7:52, 8:34, 10:43, 11:27, 13:1, 13:20, 15:32, 21:10, 26:22, 26:27, 28:23 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Prophecy | نبوءة | nubū’ah | Low | 2:16-21 (Joel citation), 11:27-28, 21:9-11 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Covenant | العهد | al-‘ahd | Medium/High | 3:25, 7:8 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Election | اختيار الله | ikhtiyār Allāh | High | 9:15 (“chosen instrument”), 13:48 (“appointed to eternal life”) | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Providence | العناية الإلهية | al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah | Medium | 17:26-28, 27:22-25, 27:34 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Mission | الإرسالية | al-irsāliyyah | Medium | 13:2-4, 26:17-18 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| David | داود | Dāwūd | Medium | 1:16, 2:25-31, 2:34, 4:25, 7:45, 13:22, 13:34-36, 15:16 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Israel | إسرائيل | Isrā’īl | High | 1:6, 2:36, 3:12, 4:8, 4:10, 4:27, 5:21, 5:31, 7:23, 7:37, 7:42, 9:15, 10:36, 13:16-24, 21:28, 28:20 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Jesus | يسوع | Yasū’ | Critical | Throughout — every chapter | Reused (Romans TM) — NEVER عيسى |
| God | الله | Allāh | Critical | Throughout — every chapter | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Holy Spirit | الروح القدس | al-Rūḥ al-Qudus | Critical | 1:5, 1:8, 2:4, 2:17-18, 2:33, 2:38, 4:8, 4:31, 5:3, 5:32, 6:5, 7:51, 7:55, 8:15-19, 8:29, 8:39, 9:17, 9:31, 10:44-47, 11:12, 11:15-17, 11:24, 13:2, 13:4, 13:9, 13:52, 15:8, 15:28, 16:6-7, 19:2-6, 20:22-23, 20:28, 21:4, 21:11, 28:25 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Father | الآب | al-Āb | Critical | 1:4, 1:7, 2:33 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Exhort | يشجع / يعظ | yushajji’ / ya’iẓ | Low | 2:40, 11:23, 14:22, 15:32, 16:40, 20:1-2 | Reused (Romans TM) |
| Seed of David | نسل داود | nasl Dāwūd | High | 2:30 (via Ps. 132 oath), 13:23 | Reused (Romans TM) |
B. New Terms Introduced by Acts (Proposed for Registry Addition)
| English Term | Arabic Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Category / Doctrine | Original (Greek) | Key Acts Passages | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentecost | العنصرة | al-‘Anṣarah | Medium | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | Πεντηκοστή | 2:1; 20:16 | — | Established Eastern Christian liturgical term, opaque to readers without Christian-calendar background; not a competing-referent risk (no Islamic collision) but requires a first-use gloss (“the fiftieth day after the resurrection”). |
| Tongues (miraculous languages) | ألسنة / بلغات أخرى | alsinah / bi-lughāt ukhrā | Medium | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | γλῶσσαι / ἑτέραις γλώσσαις | 2:4, 2:6, 2:8, 2:11, 10:46, 19:6 | ألسنة نارية (fire-tongues, only for 2:3’s distinct visionary sense) | Must be taught as real, known human languages (Babel-reversal), not unintelligible ecstatic utterance; distinguish from the visionary “tongues of fire” (2:3), a related but separate image. |
| Repentance | التوبة | al-tawbah | Critical | Repentance and Baptism | μετάνοια / μετανοέω | 2:38, 3:19, 5:31, 11:18, 13:24, 17:30, 19:4, 20:21, 26:20 | الرجوع (mere “returning,” judged too weak to carry the full “change of mind/heart” sense) | CRITICAL: al-tawbah is Islam’s central self-directed act of turning from sin, generally held sufficient in itself (with sincerity, cessation, resolve) to secure forgiveness, without any substitutionary/sacrificial mechanism (Qur’an 6:164 denies bearing another’s burden). Acts’s repentance is never free-standing; it is bound in the same clause (2:38) to baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ” and grounded in Christ’s atoning work, not the sincerity of the repentance act. Must be taught with this qualification every time, on the same pattern as baseline grace and faith. |
| Baptism | المعمودية / يعتمد | al-ma’mūdiyyah / ya’tamid | High | Repentance and Baptism | βάπτισμα / βαπτίζω | 1:5, 2:38, 2:41, 8:12-13, 8:36-38, 9:18, 10:47-48, 11:16, 16:15, 16:33, 18:8, 19:3-5, 22:16 | — | Established Arabic Christian sacramental term (root ع-م-د), pre-Islamic in origin. No competing sacrament exists in Islam (wudu/ghusl are repeated ritual-purity washings, not a once-for-all initiation rite). Must be taught as a single, decisive, public act of identification with Christ’s death/resurrection, inseparably linked (2:38) to repentance, forgiveness, and receiving the Spirit. |
| Forgiveness of sins | غفران الخطايا | ghufrān al-khaṭāyā | High | Repentance and Baptism; Justification apart from the Law | ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν | 2:38, 3:19 (implicit), 5:31, 10:43, 13:38, 26:18 | — | غفران is shared vocabulary (Allah’s names al-Ghafūr/al-Ghaffār), but Islamic forgiveness responds to repentance/deeds without a substitutionary ground. Must be taught as secured through Christ’s atoning work (reinforced by Acts 20:28’s “with his own blood”), not bare responsive mercy. |
| Gift of the Holy Spirit | عطية الروح القدس | ’atiyyat al-Rūḥ al-Qudus | Critical | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | δωρεὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος | 2:38, 8:20, 10:45, 11:17 | المواهب الروحية (rejected as the term for the distinct plural χαρίσματα, not this singular gift-of-the-Spirit-himself) | Distinct from baseline spiritual_gifts (plural enablements); this is the Spirit as person, given as a free, unearned gift, not obtainable by payment (8:20, Simon’s attempted purchase) or by works. Inherits Critical status from holy_spirit. |
| Signs and Wonders | آيات وعجائب | āyāt wa ‘ajā’ib | High | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα | 2:19, 2:22, 2:43, 4:30, 5:12, 6:8, 7:36, 8:6, 8:13, 14:3, 15:12 | معجزات فقط (miracles alone, judged to under-translate the paired formula and lose the “signs” evidentiary emphasis) | HIGH: آية is the standing Arabic term for a verse of the Qur’an and for God’s signs in creation pointing to divine unity. This is nonetheless the established, necessary rendering (parallel to the baseline’s treatment of “messiah” as unavoidable-but-loaded) — must be actively taught as evidentiary acts attesting to Jesus and the apostolic message, with a first-use note distinguishing this “sign” sense from the Qur’anic textual-verse sense. |
| Name (of Jesus/the Lord) | الاسم | al-ism | Critical | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; Repentance and Baptism | ὄνομα | 2:21, 2:38, 3:6, 3:16, 4:7, 4:10, 4:12, 4:17-18, 4:30, 5:28, 5:40-41, 8:12, 8:16, 9:14-16, 9:21, 9:27-28, 10:43, 10:48, 16:18, 19:5, 19:13, 19:17, 21:13, 22:16 | — | The name of Jesus is the locus of exclusive saving authority (4:12, “no other name… by which we must be saved”); must preserve exclusivity, never softened toward “through Jesus’s teaching” or treating other names/intercessors as comparably efficacious. |
| Witness / Martyr | شاهد / شهود | shāhid / shuhūd | High | Persecution and Bold Witness; Apostolic Authority and Miracles | μάρτυς / μαρτυρέω | 1:8, 1:22, 2:32, 2:40, 3:15, 5:32, 7:58 (setting for Stephen’s death), 10:39, 10:41, 13:31, 22:15, 22:20, 23:11, 26:16 | — | HIGH: shares its root with الشهادة (the Islamic creedal confession) and الشهيد (the honored martyr, especially in jihad contexts). The NT sense — firsthand eyewitness legal testimony to the risen Christ — must be distinguished from both the creedal-confession sense and the war-martyrdom sense, even as Acts’s own trajectory (esp. ch.7, Stephen) toward willing, nonviolent martyrdom is textually appropriate and should be surfaced pastorally with the contrast made explicit. |
| Boldness | الجرأة | al-jur’ah | High | Persecution and Bold Witness | παρρησία | 4:13, 4:29, 4:31, 9:27-28, 13:46, 14:3, 18:26, 19:8, 26:26, 28:31 | الشجاعة (courage, judged too generic, losing the specific sense of open/public/unashamed speech) | Explicitly prayed-for (4:29) rather than a personality trait; carries real, non-abstract safety weight given contemporary apostasy-law sensitivities in many Arabic-speaking contexts (parallel to baseline evangelism caution) — flag this sensitivity wherever the term recurs. |
| Persecution | الاضطهاد | al-iḏṭihād | Medium-High | Persecution and Bold Witness | διωγμός / διώκω | 8:1, 8:3, 9:4-5, 11:19, 12:1, 13:50, 14:5, 14:22 | — | Not primarily a doctrinal word-collision risk but a live safety-sensitivity risk, given real apostasy-related consequences in many Arabic-speaking contexts; teaching notes must carry this caution consistently. |
| The Way (self-designation of the church) | الطريق | al-ṭarīq | High | The Church as Community; Persecution and Bold Witness | ἡ ὁδός | 9:2, 18:26 (implicit), 19:9, 19:23, 22:4, 24:14, 24:22 | — | Risks being read as merely “a path” among several legitimate paths (undercutting 4:12’s exclusivity) and echoes both الشريعة’s etymological root and the Qur’an’s “الصراط المستقيم.” Teach as an exclusive, decisive-commitment self-designation of the earliest apostolic movement, not one option among many. |
| Christian(s) | المسيحيون | al-masīhiyyūn | Medium | The Church as Community | Χριστιανοί | 11:26, 26:28 | — | Root already secured via baseline messiah. Gap between the original personal-identity sense (“follower of the Messiah”) and the contemporary Arabic sociological/communal sense (an inherited minority-religion label) should be surfaced, echoing the baseline’s caution on church (building vs. living people). |
| Circumcision | الختان | al-khitān | High | Justification apart from the Law | περιτομή | 15:1, 15:5, 15:24, 16:3, 21:21 | — | A positively-regarded rite in both Islam and Judaism; the Council’s conclusion is a soteriological argument (not required for salvation) about sufficiency of grace through faith, not a verdict on the practice’s ongoing cultural/familial validity. Must not be heard as an attack on the practice itself. |
| Common / Unclean (ritual purity) | مشترك (عام) / نجس، دنس | mushtarak / najis, danas | High | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | κοινός / ἀκάθαρτος | 10:14-15, 10:28, 11:8-9, 15:9 (echo, “made their hearts clean”) | — | Shares the same κοιν- root as κοινωνία (fellowship) but with an entirely different valence (ritual defilement rather than shared communion) — worth flagging as a Greek wordplay lost in translation. Must be taught within “Fulfillment of Prophecy” / “Justification apart from the Law”: ceremonial boundary-markers fulfilled/set aside in Christ, not an arbitrary reversal, and not a claim that Christianity has its own revised halal/haram code. |
| God-fearer (Gentile sympathizer) | متقي الله / خائف الله | mutaqī Allāh / khā’if Allāh | Medium | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | φοβούμενος τὸν Θεόν | 10:2, 10:22, 10:35, 13:16, 13:26 | — | Positive overlap with Islamic taqwa makes this a potential bridge term; historically specific sociological category (Gentile monotheistic sympathizers pre-full-conversion) should be explained, not assumed as a general term for any pious non-believer. |
| No Partiality (of God) | لا محاباة | lā muḥābāh | Medium-High | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles; Unity of Jews and Gentiles | οὐ προσωπολήπτης / προσωπολημπτεῖ | 10:34 | — | Narrative enactment of the baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine (Romans 3:29-30); cross-reference explicitly in teaching materials. |
| Proselyte | دخيل متهود / متهود | dakhīl mutahawwid | Medium | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | προσήλυτος | 2:11, 6:5, 13:43 | — | Formal convert to Judaism, distinct from the “God-fearer” (uncoverted sympathizer) category above. Real-world conversion/apostasy sensitivity should be flagged when applying analogically to conversion in the modern Arabic-speaking context. |
| Elders / Overseers | الشيوخ / الأساقفة | al-shuyūkh / al-asāqifah | Medium | The Church as Community | πρεσβύτεροι / ἐπίσκοποι | 11:30, 14:23, 15:2-6, 15:22-23, 16:4, 20:17, 20:28, 21:18 | — | شيخ carries independent Islamic-authority resonance (tribal elder, religious scholar, Sufi spiritual guide); established Arabic Christian ecclesial usage is unambiguous in context, but first-use notes should clarify this is a plural, accountable, congregational-oversight office, not a solitary mystical or tribal-patriarchal role. |
| Laying on of Hands | وضع الأيدي | waḍʻ al-aydī | Medium | Apostolic Authority and Miracles; The Church as Community | ἐπίθεσις τῶν χειρῶν | 6:6, 8:17-19, 9:12, 9:17, 13:3, 19:6, 28:8 | — | Used across at least three distinct senses (ordination/commissioning, impartation of the Spirit, healing); the specific sense must be determined per occurrence and not over-generalized from any single instance. |
| Service / Ministry | الخدمة | al-khidmah | Low-Medium | The Church as Community | διακονία | 1:17, 1:25, 6:1, 6:4, 11:29, 12:25, 20:24, 21:19 | — | Dignifies both practical/material service and word-ministry as “service,” establishing a diversified-but-equal ministry structure; no major collision risk. |
| Having All Things in Common | مشتركة / كل شيء مشترك بينهم | mushtarakah / kull shay’ mushtarak baynahum | Medium | The Church as Community | ἅπαντα κοινά | 2:44-45, 4:32-35 | — | Voluntary, Spirit-motivated economic sharing in the earliest Jerusalem church; not to be taught as abolishing private property as a universal rule or repeated institutional law. Note the shared κοιν- root with the “common/unclean” entry above, though the theological valence differs entirely. |
| Vow | نذر | nadhr | Low-Medium | The Church as Community (cultural-practice context) | εὐχή | 21:23 | — | Shared vocabulary category with Islamic devotional vow-practice; low collision, potentially a comparative bridge point about voluntary religious practice’s proper non-salvific place. |
| Sorcery / Magic | السحر | al-siḥr | Low-Medium | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | μαγεία | 8:9, 8:11, 13:6-11 (Elymas), 19:19 | — | Genuinely low-collision; Islamic tradition also condemns sihr as a serious offense bordering on shirk, making this a rare bridge-friendly term. Distinguish Simon’s later attempted purchase of spiritual power (“simony,” 8:18-20) as a distinct error from sorcery itself. |
| Spirit of Divination | روح عرافة / روح تنجيم | rūḥ ʻirāfah / rūḥ tanjīm | Low-Medium | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | πνεῦμα Πύθωνα | 16:16 | — | Occult, oracular power opposed to and clearly distinct from the Holy Spirit; low collision, moral overlap with Islamic condemnation of divination (kahin-practice). |
| Servant (of God, Christological title) | فتاه / عبده | fatāhu / ‘abduhu | High | Sonship/Deity of Christ (background) | παῖς (Θεοῦ) | 3:13, 3:26, 4:27, 4:30 | — | عبد is also the standard term for any human’s relationship to Allah as Creator (famously of Muhammad in the shahada); risk that “God’s servant” flattens Christ to a generic creaturely-prophet status the surrounding sermon (e.g., 3:15, “Author of life”) is arguing against. Must be paired with fuller Christological titles. |
| Holy and Righteous One | القدوس والبار | al-Quddūs wa-l-bārr | Critical | Deity of Christ | ὁ Ἅγιος καὶ ὁ Δίκαιος | 3:14 | — | القدوس is one of Allah’s 99 names; a direct divine-title ascription to Jesus requiring the same unsoftened handling as “Lord” and “Son of God” in the baseline. |
| Son of Man | ابن الإنسان | Ibn al-Insān | High | Deity of Christ (distinct title) | υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου | 7:56 | — | A Daniel-7 exaltation/authority title, distinct from “Son of God” (eternal divine sonship); must not be conflated with baseline son_of_god, though both converge on a high Christology. |
| Chosen Instrument | إناء اختيار / وعاء مختار | inā’ ikhtiyār / wiʻā’ mukhtār | High | Conversion of Paul; Election | σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς | 9:15 | — | Extends baseline election (اختيار الله) into Paul’s specific conversion-and-call narrative; same caution against collapsing into folk-qadar fatalism. |
| Appointed to Eternal Life | المعينون للحياة الأبدية | al-mu’ayyanūn lil-ḥayāt al-abadiyyah | High | Election; Effectual Calling | τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον | 13:48 | — | Reinforces baseline election; the clause structure (“appointed… believed”) ties sovereign election to genuine faith-response in the same sentence — must not be taught as bypassing real faith. |
| The Whole Counsel of God | كل مشورة الله / كل قصد الله | kull mashūrat Allāh / kull qasd Allāh | Medium | Inspiration of Scripture (background) | πᾶσα ἡ βουλὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ | 20:27 | — | Anchors the completeness/non-selectivity of apostolic teaching; useful (with care) as a counter-point to the Islamic tahrif claim that the Christian record is a corrupted or partial revelation. |
| Whole Counsel — Redeemed with His Own Blood | اشتراها بدمه الخاص | ishtarāhā bi-damihi al-khāṣ | Critical | Justification apart from the Law (atonement) | τῷ αἵματι τῷ ἰδίῳ | 20:28 | — | Substitutionary atonement statement; inherits the baseline’s mandatory-theologian-review escalation for atonement/propitiation language (Romans 3:25 precedent). |
| Unhindered | بلا عائق / بغير عائق | bilā ʻā’iq / bighayr ʻā’iq | Medium | The Great Commission Fulfilled | ἀκωλύτως | 28:31 | — | The book’s climactic closing word: the gospel’s advance from Jerusalem to Rome is shown as unstoppable even under chains. Pair with the Chapter 4/9 boldness and persecution safety cautions so it is taught as confident hope in ultimate gospel advance, not a promise against personal suffering. |
| The End of the Earth | أقاصي الأرض | aqāṣī al-arḍ | Low-Medium | The Great Commission Fulfilled | ἔσχατον τῆς γῆς | 1:8 | — | Structural outline-verse for the whole book; keep the sending-direction (from God, through the church, outward) distinct from the human-initiated da’wah framework, per baseline calling. |
| Unknown God | الإله المجهول | al-ilāh al-majhūl | Medium-High | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (apologetic method) | ὁ Ἄγνωστος Θεός | 17:23 | — | A valuable apologetic bridge-point (Athens altar inscription), but must not be read as endorsing prior worship as already valid; Paul’s speech calls for repentance from ignorant idolatry (17:29-30), consistent with the baseline’s universal_scope_of_gospel pluralism caution. |
| Patriarch | البطريرك / الجَدّ الأكبر | al-baṭriyark / al-jadd al-akbar | Low | Fulfillment of Prophecy (background, Ch.7) | πατριάρχης | 2:29, 7:8-9 | — | Disambiguate from the modern ecclesiastical office title (Eastern patriarchates); here used in its plain ancestral sense. |
C. Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Enforcement
- Terms in Section A must be loaded from the existing Romans
translation_memory.jsonwithout modification; do not create duplicate or variant entries for Acts. - Terms in Section B are new and must be added to an Acts-specific extension of
translation_memory.jsonandbible_term_registry.jsonin Phase 1 Step 3, following the exact JSON schema of the baseline files (translation,transliteration,doctrine_risk,doctrine,alternatives_rejected,notes). - Critical-risk new terms (Repentance, Gift of the Holy Spirit, Signs and Wonders’ Christological occurrences, Name, Holy and Righteous One, “redeemed with his own blood”) require the same mandatory-theologian-review escalation rule the baseline applies to Incarnation, Deity/Sonship/Lordship of Christ, Resurrection, Salvation, Messianic Promise, Adoption, and Assurance of Salvation.
- The κοιν- root family (κοινωνία “fellowship,” κοινός “common/unclean,” ἅπαντα κοινά “all things common”) spans three distinct Arabic renderings (الشركة, نجس/دنس, مشتركة) depending on sense — flag this explicitly in any glossary-consistency automated check so the shared Greek root does not cause an incorrect assumption of a single required Arabic equivalent.
- Chapters producing no new theological vocabulary beyond terms already tabulated above: Chapter 12 (reuses persecution/providence/angel vocabulary only), Chapter 18 (reuses “the Lord,” “the Way” implicitly, standard legal narrative vocabulary), Chapter 22 (retells Chapter 9’s conversion vocabulary), Chapter 25 (standard legal-appeal narrative vocabulary), Chapter 27 (reuses providence vocabulary only). These are explicitly reviewed and confirmed as non-contributing per the full-book-coverage mandate, not silently omitted.
This glossary must be loaded alongside translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json before any Phase 2 Acts segment translation begins, per the Pre-flight Checklist in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: الآب
Transliteration: al-Āb
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 1:4,7 and 2:33’s ‘promise of the Holy Spirit’ received ‘from the Father’ pairs this term directly with the Critical-risk Holy Spirit entry; no safe substitute for the relationship category itself.
Gift Of The Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: عطية الروح القدس
Transliteration: ‘atiyyat al-Rūḥ al-Qudus
Doctrine: The Gift of the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: المواهب الروحية (rejected — the distinct plural χαρίσματα, natural enablements, not this singular gift-of-the-Spirit-himself)
Original: δωρεὰ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος
Category: God
New term, inheriting Critical status from الروح القدس. Distinct from the plural spiritual gifts; this is the Spirit as Person, given freely and unearned, never obtainable by payment (8:20, Simon’s attempted purchase) or works. Occurs at 2:38; 8:20; 10:45; 11:17.
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. No viable alternative exists; the risk is entirely in content. Acts 5:3-4 (lying to the Spirit is lying to God) supplies a direct narrative proof of Trinitarian personal distinction within the one God, which must be actively distinguished from Islamic tawhid’s strictly unitarian conception.
Holy And Righteous One
Approved rendering: القدوس والبار
Transliteration: al-Quddūs wa-l-bārr
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ὁ Ἅγιος καὶ ὁ Δίκαιος
Category: Christology
New term. القدوس is one of Allah’s 99 names; its application as a personal title to Jesus at 3:14 is a direct divine-title ascription — the paradigm case of shirk from an Islamic standpoint — requiring the same unsoftened handling the baseline mandates for ‘Lord’ and ‘Son of God.’ Never render as a merely honorific ‘holy man.‘
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: الروح القدس
Transliteration: al-Rūḥ al-Qudus
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Identical phrase in Qur’an 2:87, 2:253 but mainstream tafsir identifies it with the created angel Jibril, not a co-equal divine Person. Acts 5:3-4 strengthens the baseline’s caution by supplying direct narrative proof of the Spirit’s full personal deity. Every Pentecost-cluster occurrence (1:5,8; 2:4,17-18,33,38; 4:8,31; 8:15-19; 10:44-47; 15:8,28; 19:1-6) needs this distinction made explicit, not assumed shared.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: التجسد
Transliteration: al-tajassud
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: الحلول, الظهور
Original: (background doctrine; cf. 2:22 ‘a man attested by God’)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. No single Acts verse names this doctrine, but Acts 2:22’s full humanity (‘a man … attested to you by God’) must be taught alongside 2:36’s full deity claim so Acts’s own trajectory is not truncated into a merely-prophetic Christology.
Jesus
Approved rendering: يسوع
Transliteration: Yasū’
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: عيسى
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. NEVER عيسى, throughout every chapter of Acts. Consistency is mandatory per the Theological Consistency Rules inherited from the baseline.
Justification
Approved rendering: التبرير
Transliteration: al-tabrīr
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: التزكية, الحكم بالبراءة
Original: δικαιοῦσθαι
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. NEVER substitute التزكية. Acts 13:38-39 directly pairs justification with الناموس in a contrast structure (‘freed… from everything you could not be freed from by the law of Moses’) that must be preserved intact.
Law
Approved rendering: الناموس
Transliteration: al-nāmūs
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة, الشرع
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. NEVER substitute الشريعة/الشرع. Central to Acts 13:38-39 and Acts 15 (the curriculum’s own thesis doctrine, ‘Justification apart from the Law’); substituting shari’a would reframe Paul’s argument as an attack on Islamic law specifically.
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:34-36 applies Psalm 110:1’s ‘the Lord said to my Lord’ directly to Jesus — one of the strongest OT proof-texts for this claim in the NT. NEVER soften to ‘master/teacher’; NEVER echo cult renderings that restore ‘Jehovah’ at 2:21 while retaining a lesser title for Jesus at 2:36, which severs the deliberate identification the sermon’s argument depends on.
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Every occurrence in Acts (2:31,36; 3:18,20; 9:22; 17:3; 18:5,28) must actively correct the pre-loaded Qur’anic ‘Isa al-Masih profile (honored prophet, not divine, not crucified, not resurrected); Acts 17:3/18:28 model the apostles’ own corrective argument from Scripture.
Name
Approved rendering: الاسم
Transliteration: al-ism
Doctrine: The Name of Jesus as Exclusive Saving Authority
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Salvation
New term. Acts 4:12 (‘no other name under heaven… by which we must be saved’) is the book’s sharpest exclusivity claim. Must always preserve full exclusivity — never softened toward ‘through Jesus’s teaching’ or treating other prophetic names/intercessors as comparably efficacious. Recurs at 2:21,38; 3:6,16; 4:7,10,17-18,30; 5:28,40-41; 8:12,16; 9:14-16,21,27-28; 10:43,48; 16:18; 19:5,13,17; 21:13; 22:16.
Redeemed With His Own Blood
Approved rendering: اشتراها بدمه الخاص
Transliteration: ishtarāhā bi-damihi al-khāṣ
Doctrine: Justification apart from the Law
Original: τῷ αἵματι τῷ ἰδίῳ
Category: Salvation
New term. The price of the church’s redemption, described as Christ’s own blood (20:28). A compact substitutionary-atonement statement inheriting the baseline’s mandatory-theologian-review escalation for atonement/propitiation language (cf. Romans 3:25). Note the SVD-tradition textual reading ‘church of God… with his own blood’ is a strong communicatio-idiomatum deity-of-Christ statement; follow this curriculum’s designated base-text decision without unilaterally resolving the textual-critical question.
Repentance
Approved rendering: التوبة
Transliteration: al-tawbah
Doctrine: Repentance and Baptism
Rejected alternatives: الرجوع (mere ‘returning,’ too weak to carry the full change-of-mind/heart sense)
Original: μετάνοια / μετανοέω
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: al-tawbah is Islam’s central, human-initiated act of turning from sin, held sufficient in itself (sincerity, cessation, resolve — Qur’an 66:8) to secure forgiveness, with no substitutionary mechanism (Qur’an 6:164 denies bearing another’s burden). Acts is never free-standing on this point: 2:38 binds repentance in the same clause to baptism ‘in the name of Jesus Christ,’ with forgiveness grounded in Christ’s finished work. Never render without this co-occurring qualifier, on the same pattern the baseline establishes for grace and faith. Recurs at 3:19, 5:31, 11:18, 13:24, 17:30, 19:4, 20:21, 26:20.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: القيامة
Transliteration: al-qiyāmah
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:23 (‘you crucified and killed… by the hands of lawless men’) supplies the necessary historical-crucifixion scaffolding directly refuting Qur’an 4:157’s denial, before every subsequent resurrection claim (2:24,31-32; 4:33; 17:31-32; 23:6-8; 26:8,23). Distinguish the general future resurrection Islam also affirms (Yawm al-Qiyamah, ch.17,23) from Jesus’s own specific, already-accomplished resurrection.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر
Transliteration: al-birr
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: الصلاح, العدل
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. CRITICAL: Acts 13:39 uses البر in its forensic, apart-from-the-law sense (never a works-checklist); Acts 24:25 uses it in a legitimate secondary ethical/behavioral sense (Felix’s own moral conduct) — flag this shift explicitly so learners do not think the term is being redefined.
Salvation
Approved rendering: الخلاص
Transliteration: al-khalāṣ
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: النجاة, الفوز بالجنة
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 4:12 (‘salvation in no one else’) and 16:30-31 (‘what must I do to be saved?… believe’) are the curriculum’s sharpest exclusivity texts; never soften into a probabilistic, deeds-weighed (mizan) outcome pending Judgment Day.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ابن الله
Transliteration: Ibn Allāh
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الحبيب من الله, الكلمة من الله (بدون ‘ابن’)
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 9:20 records this as the very first content of the converted Paul’s preaching; retain in full per the forbidden-substitution rule. Acts 13:33’s quotation of Psalm 2:7 (‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you,’ ولدتك) is the highest-caution verse in the book — never soften ‘ولدتك’ toward ‘you became a son to me’ to reduce the literal-begetting sound; teach it with apologetic scaffolding distinguishing messianic enthronement from creaturely physical generation.
High Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: الرسول
Transliteration: al-rasūl
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: المبعوث, التلميذ المرسل
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 1:21-26’s strict eyewitness qualification for replacing Judas sharpens the baseline caution: the NT apostolic office is a bounded, historically-closed office, unlike Islam’s open-ended prophetic succession culminating in a ‘seal of the prophets’ claim. Applies at Acts-scale frequency (nearly every chapter), multiplying exposure to the rasul-Allah comparison.
Appointed To Eternal Life
Approved rendering: المعينون للحياة الأبدية
Transliteration: al-mu’ayyanūn lil-ḥayāt al-abadiyyah
Doctrine: Election and Sovereign Calling
Original: τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον
Category: Salvation
New term. Those appointed who believed at Antioch in Pisidia (13:48). The clause structure ties sovereign election to genuine faith-response in the same sentence (‘appointed… believed’) and must not be taught as bypassing real belief.
Baptism
Approved rendering: المعمودية / يعتمد
Transliteration: al-ma’mūdiyyah / ya’tamid
Doctrine: Repentance and Baptism
Original: βάπτισμα / βαπτίζω
Category: Salvation
New term. Established, pre-Islamic Arabic Christian sacramental term (root ع-م-د). Islam has repeated ritual washings (wudu/ghusl) for ritual purity but no comparable once-for-all covenant-initiation rite. Must be taught as a decisive, non-repeated, public act of identification with Christ’s death/resurrection, inseparably linked (2:38) to repentance, forgiveness, and the Spirit’s gift. Recurs at 1:5; 2:38,41; 8:12-13,36-38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 11:16; 16:15,33; 18:8; 19:3-5; 22:16.
Boldness
Approved rendering: الجرأة
Transliteration: al-jur’ah
Doctrine: Persecution and Bold Witness
Rejected alternatives: الشجاعة (generic courage, too broad, loses the specific sense of open, public, unashamed speech)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Church
New term. Explicitly prayed for (4:29,31), not a personality trait. Carries real, non-abstract safety weight given contemporary apostasy-law sensitivities in many Arabic-speaking contexts; flag this every time the term recurs (4:13,29,31; 9:27-28; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26; 19:8; 26:26; 28:31).
Called
Approved rendering: المدعوون
Transliteration: al-mad’uwwūn
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: المُنتخَبون
Original: κλητός / κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. In Acts 2:39, ‘as many as the Lord our God calls to himself.‘
Calling
Approved rendering: الدعوة
Transliteration: al-da’wah
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:39’s direction of address (God summoning people to himself) is the precise reverse of da’wah’s human-initiated invitation to Islam; make this distinction explicit at first use in Acts teaching materials.
Chosen Instrument
Approved rendering: إناء اختيار / وعاء مختار
Transliteration: inā’ ikhtiyār / wiʻā’ mukhtār
Doctrine: Conversion of Paul
Original: σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς
Category: Salvation
New term extending اختيار الله into Paul’s specific conversion-and-call narrative (9:15). Same caution against collapsing into folk-qadar fatalism applies; teach as God’s specific, purposive redemptive election tied to a concrete mission (carrying Christ’s name to Gentiles, kings, and Israel).
Circumcision
Approved rendering: الختان
Transliteration: al-khitān
Doctrine: Circumcision and the Law as Non-Salvific
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
New term. A positively-regarded, widely-practiced rite in both Islam and Judaism. The Council’s ruling (15:1,5,24; 16:3; 21:21) is a soteriological argument (not required for salvation), not a verdict on the rite’s ongoing cultural/familial validity; must not be misheard as an attack on a practice many readers of Muslim background continue to observe.
Common Unclean
Approved rendering: نجس، دنس / مشترك عام
Transliteration: najis, danas / mushtarak ʻāmm
Doctrine: Gentile Inclusion and Ceremonial Purity
Original: κοινός / ἀκάθαρτος
Category: Covenant
New term. Shares the same κοιν- Greek root as κοινωνία (fellowship, positive) but with an opposite theological valence — flag this wordplay explicitly. Arabic-speaking readers of Muslim background bring an active halal/haram framework to 10:14-15,28; 11:8-9; 15:9; must be taught as ceremonial boundary-markers fulfilled/set aside in Christ, not an arbitrary reversal or evidence Christianity has its own revised dietary code.
Election
Approved rendering: اختيار الله
Transliteration: ikhtiyār Allāh
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: ἐκλογή (cf. σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς, 9:15)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Named explicitly of Saul’s conversion (9:15, ‘chosen instrument’) and of the Antioch response (13:48, ‘appointed to eternal life… believed’); must never collapse into folk qadar fatalism.
Faith
Approved rendering: الإيمان
Transliteration: al-īmān
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: الاعتقاد, الثقة
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 16:31 (‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’) is the clearest single-verse summary of personal trust in Christ specifically, not creedal assent to six articles of belief.
Forgiveness Of Sins
Approved rendering: غفران الخطايا
Transliteration: ghufrān al-khaṭāyā
Doctrine: Forgiveness of Sins
Original: ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν
Category: Salvation
New term. غفران is shared vocabulary with Allah’s names al-Ghafur/al-Ghaffar, but Islamic forgiveness responds to repentance/deeds without a substitutionary ground. Anchor every occurrence (2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18) to the atoning basis Acts 20:28 supplies (‘with his own blood’), not bare responsive mercy.
Glory
Approved rendering: المجد
Transliteration: al-majd
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: النور الإلهي
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Appears to Stephen at his death (7:2,55) and afflicts Herod as judgment (12:23); avoid light-based renderings evoking Sufi ishraq mysticism.
Gospel
Approved rendering: الإنجيل
Transliteration: al-Injīl
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: البشارة, الخبر السار
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. In Acts this is the content Philip, Peter, and Paul proclaim to Jews and Gentiles alike (8:4,12,25,35,40; 20:24). Must not be conceded as a corrupted successor to a lost original Injil per mainstream tahrif doctrine.
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 15:11 (‘we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus’) is the Jerusalem Council’s own summary argument against circumcision as a salvation-requirement; reinforce apart-from-Torah-observance sense here explicitly.
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 1:6’s disciples still expect a political-national restoration; the contemporary spoken-Arabic association of ‘Isra’il’ with the modern nation-state requires deliberate pastoral framing throughout, especially at 1:6 and the Jerusalem-riot narrative (21:27ff).
No Partiality
Approved rendering: لا محاباة
Transliteration: lā muḥābāh
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: οὐ προσωπολήπτης / προσωπολημπτεῖ
Category: Church
New term. Peter’s declaration at the Gentile Pentecost of Cornelius’s household (10:34), the narrative enactment of Romans 3:29-30’s unity doctrine; cross-reference explicitly in teaching materials. Must not be flattened into a statement on the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Persecution
Approved rendering: الاضطهاد
Transliteration: al-iḏṭihād
Doctrine: Persecution and Bold Witness
Original: διωγμός / διώκω
Category: Church
New term. Not primarily a word-collision risk but a live, real-world safety-sensitivity risk given genuine apostasy-related consequences in many Arabic-speaking contexts; carry this caution consistently at every occurrence (8:1,3; 9:4-5; 11:19; 12:1; 13:50; 14:5,22).
Prophet
Approved rendering: نبي
Transliteration: nabī
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 3:22’s citation of ‘a prophet like Moses’ (Deut. 18:15) is independently a contested proof-text in Muslim-Christian polemics; Peter’s own application of it to Jesus in this speech must be foregrounded so the NT referent is unambiguous.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: التقديس
Transliteration: al-taqdīs
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: التطهير
Original: ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 26:18 pairs sanctification directly with faith ‘in me’ (Christ), not self-directed ritual purification (wudu/ghusl).
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: نسل داود
Transliteration: nasl Dāwūd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: σπέρμα Δαυίδ (via 2:30’s throne-oath)
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:30 (via the Psalm 132 throne-oath) and 13:23; requires the OT covenant background to be meaningful, not assumed as shared ground.
Servant Of God
Approved rendering: فتاه / عبده
Transliteration: fatāhu / ‘abduhu
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: παῖς (θεοῦ)
Category: Christology
New term. A title identifying Jesus as the promised Isaianic Suffering Servant (3:13,26; 4:27,30). عبد is the standard Arabic term for any human’s creaturely relationship to Allah (famously of Muhammad in the shahada, ”abduhu wa rasuluh’); must always be paired with the sermon’s higher titles (3:15, ‘Author of life’; 3:14, ‘Holy and Righteous One’) so the servant title is not read as Christ’s complete identity.
Signs And Wonders
Approved rendering: آيات وعجائب
Transliteration: āyāt wa ‘ajā’ib
Doctrine: Signs and Wonders as Evidentiary Attestation
Rejected alternatives: معجزات فقط (miracles alone, under-translates the paired formula’s evidentiary emphasis)
Original: σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα (with δυνάμεις)
Category: Church
New term. آية is the standing Arabic word for a verse of the Qur’an and for God’s signs in creation pointing to His unity. This is nonetheless the established, unavoidable, necessary rendering — parallel to the baseline’s treatment of ‘messiah’ — and must be actively taught as evidentiary acts attesting to Jesus and the apostolic message, with a first-use note distinguishing this sense from the Qur’anic textual-verse sense. Occurs at 2:19,22,43; 4:30; 5:12; 6:8; 7:36; 8:6,13; 14:3; 15:12.
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. In Acts consistently paired with تُغفر (forgiven) through Christ’s name (2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 22:16; 26:18), not resolved by fitrah-based innate purity.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: ابن الإنسان
Transliteration: Ibn al-Insān
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
New term. An exalted, enthroned, divinely-authorized Daniel-7 title, seen by Stephen in his dying vision (7:56). A distinct Christological title from ‘Son of God’; must not be conflated with ابن الله in translation or teaching, though both converge on a high Christology.
The Way
Approved rendering: الطريق
Transliteration: al-ṭarīq
Doctrine: Christian Identity and ‘the Way’
Original: ἡ ὁδός
Category: Church
New term. Sits in a crowded neighborhood: echoes الشريعة’s etymological root (a way to a watering-place), الطريقة’s Sufi-order sense, and the Qur’an’s ‘الصراط المستقيم’ (Al-Fatiha 1:6). An early self-designation for the Christian movement (9:2; 18:26 implicit; 19:9,23; 22:4; 24:14,22). Must be taught as an exclusive, decisive-commitment self-designation, never softened into ‘a way’ among several legitimate paths — this would undercut Acts 4:12’s exclusivity claim.
Unknown God
Approved rendering: الإله المجهول
Transliteration: al-ilāh al-majhūl
Doctrine: The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
Original: ὁ Ἄγνωστος Θεός
Category: God
New term. Paul’s Athens altar-inscription apologetic bridge (17:23). A valuable missiological method, but must not be read as endorsing prior idol-worship as already valid; pair every occurrence with 17:29-30’s explicit call to repentance from ignorant idolatry, consistent with the baseline’s universal-scope pluralism caution.
Witness
Approved rendering: شاهد / شهود
Transliteration: shāhid / shuhūd
Doctrine: Persecution and Bold Witness
Original: μάρτυς / μαρτυρέω
Category: Church
New term. Shares its root with الشهادة (the Islamic creedal confession) and الشهيد (the honored, often war-context martyr). The NT sense here — firsthand eyewitness legal testimony to the risen Christ (1:8,22; 2:32,40; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39,41; 13:31; 22:15,20; 23:11; 26:16) — must be actively distinguished from both, even as Acts’s own trajectory (ch.7, Stephen) toward willing, nonviolent martyrdom is textually appropriate and should be surfaced pastorally with the contrast made explicit.
Medium Risk Terms
Christian
Approved rendering: المسيحيون
Transliteration: al-masīhiyyūn
Doctrine: Christian Identity and ‘the Way’
Original: Χριστιανοί
Category: Church
New term; root already secured via المسيح. First applied at Antioch (11:26), later used ironically by Agrippa (26:28). Surface the gap between the original personal-identity sense (‘follower of the Messiah’) and today’s inherited communal/minority-religion label sense, echoing the baseline’s caution on ‘church.‘
Church
Approved rendering: الكنيسة
Transliteration: al-kanīsah
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: الجماعة, الأمة
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Occurs throughout Acts (5:11 through 20:28); Acts 20:28’s charge to ‘shepherd the church of God’ reinforces the living, gathered-people sense against everyday Arabic usage reducing al-kanisah to a minority-religion building.
Covenant
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: الميثاق
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Invoked of God’s covenant with Abraham (3:25) and Israel’s ancestral covenant (7:8); retain the relational, unilaterally-initiated sense.
David
Approved rendering: داود
Transliteration: Dāwūd
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:25-31 supplies the fullest typological argument in the curriculum for reading David as a Messiah-prophesying king, a forward-pointing dimension the Qur’anic Dawud lacks and which must be taught explicitly.
Elders Overseers
Approved rendering: الشيوخ / الأساقفة
Transliteration: al-shuyūkh / al-asāqifah
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Ministry
Original: πρεσβύτεροι / ἐπίσκοποι
Category: Church
New term. شيخ carries independent Islamic-authority resonance (tribal elder, religious scholar, Sufi spiritual guide); established Arabic Christian ecclesial usage is unambiguous in context (11:30; 14:23; 15:2-6,22-23; 16:4; 20:17,28; 21:18), but first-use notes should clarify this is a plural, accountable, congregational-oversight office, not a solitary mystical or tribal-patriarchal role.
End Of The Earth
Approved rendering: أقاصي الأرض
Transliteration: aqāṣī al-arḍ
Doctrine: The Great Commission Fulfilled
Original: ἔσχατον τῆς γῆς
Category: Church
New term. The structural outline-verse of the whole book (1:8: Jerusalem → Judea/Samaria → the end of the earth). Keep the sending-direction (from God, through the church, outward to the nations) distinct from da’wah’s human-initiated invitation framework.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: الشركة
Transliteration: al-sharikah
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: الزمالة, الجماعة
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:42, one of four marks of the earliest Jerusalem church. Note the κοιν- root family caution: this shares its Greek root with κοινός (‘common/unclean,’ see ‘common_unclean’ below) and ἅπαντα κοινά (‘all things common,’ see ‘having_all_things_common’ below), but the three senses require three distinct Arabic renderings with opposite theological valences — do not let one drift into another.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: الأمم
Transliteration: al-umam
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: الكفار
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Never render with الكفار. Destination of the gospel’s progressive expansion across Acts 8-15; the ethnic-neutral plural sense الأمم is standard and safe throughout.
God Fearer
Approved rendering: متقي الله / خائف الله
Transliteration: mutaqī Allāh / khā’if Allāh
Doctrine: The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
Original: φοβούμενος τὸν Θεόν
Category: Covenant
New term. A technical first-century designation for Gentile monotheistic sympathizers who had not undergone full proselyte conversion (10:2,22,35; 13:16,26). Positive overlap with Islamic taqwa makes this a potential bridge term, but the historically bounded sociological category should be explained, not assumed as a general reference to any pious non-believer.
Having All Things Common
Approved rendering: مشتركة
Transliteration: mushtarakah
Doctrine: Economic Sharing and Generosity
Original: ἅπαντα κοινά
Category: Church
New term. Voluntary, Spirit-motivated economic sharing in the earliest Jerusalem church (2:44-45; 4:32-35); a genuinely low-collision, bridge-friendly parallel to Islamic zakat/sadaqah. Note the shared κοιν- root with ‘common_unclean’ above, though the valence differs entirely. Must not be taught as abolishing private property as universal, repeated institutional law.
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Used adjectivally in Acts (e.g. underlying ‘Holy Spirit’); note the higher-stakes personal-title use of the cognate القدوس applied to Jesus at 3:14 is handled separately under ‘holy_and_righteous_one’ below.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ملكوت الله
Transliteration: malakūt Allāh
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: مملكة الله
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 1:6’s disciples still expect a political-national restoration (‘will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’); by 28:23,31 the term is fully reframed around gospel proclamation — surface this narrative arc explicitly, avoiding khilafah-style political resonance.
Laying On Of Hands
Approved rendering: وضع الأيدي
Transliteration: waḍʻ al-aydī
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Ministry
Original: ἐπίθεσις τῶν χειρῶν
Category: Church
New term. Spans at least three distinct senses under one Arabic phrase: commissioning/ordination (6:6; 13:3), impartation of the Spirit (8:17-19; 19:6), and healing (9:12,17; 28:8). The specific sense must be determined per occurrence and not over-generalized from any single instance.
Mission
Approved rendering: الإرسالية
Transliteration: al-irsāliyyah
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: الرسالة
Original: ἀφορίζω / ἀποστολή (cf. 13:2-4; 26:17-18)
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Prefer over الرسالة to avoid comparison with a prophet’s own personal risalah. Acts 13:2-4’s Spirit-initiated sending of Barnabas and Saul is a key founding text; Acts 26:17-18 summarizes Paul’s own commissioning.
Peace
Approved rendering: السلام
Transliteration: al-salām
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: الأمان, الطمأنينة
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Occurs at 9:31, 10:36, 15:33 in Acts; retain the relational/legal sense over the greeting-word or Sufi tranquility senses.
Pentecost
Approved rendering: العنصرة
Transliteration: al-‘Anṣarah
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit and Pentecost
Original: Πεντηκοστή
Category: God
New term. Established Eastern Christian liturgical calque for Πεντηκοστή, the Jewish harvest feast fifty days after Passover (2:1; 20:16). No competing Islamic referent, but opaque without prior exposure to the Christian calendar. Mandatory first-use gloss in every lesson: ‘the fiftieth day after Christ’s resurrection, the Jewish harvest feast.‘
Power Of God
Approved rendering: قوة الله
Transliteration: quwwat Allāh
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Original: δύναμις (θεοῦ)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Occurs at 1:8, 3:12, 4:7,33, 6:8, 8:10, 10:38; keep power specifically Spirit-given, contrasted with Simon’s siḥr (sorcery) in ch.8.
Proselyte
Approved rendering: دخيل متهود
Transliteration: dakhīl mutahawwid
Doctrine: The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
Original: προσήλυτος
Category: Covenant
New term, distinct from the unconverted ‘God-fearer’ category above. A formal Gentile convert to Judaism (2:11; 6:5; 13:43). Real-world conversion/apostasy sensitivity in many Arabic-speaking contexts should be flagged when applying analogically to conversion today.
Providence
Approved rendering: العناية الإلهية
Transliteration: al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: (cf. Acts 17:26-28; 27:22-25,34)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Affirmed in Paul’s Areopagus speech (17:26-28) and during the shipwreck voyage (27:22-25,34); must be kept distinct from folk qadar fatalism — this is personal, purposive, promise-bound care tied to Paul’s specific redemptive-historical appointment, not a generic ‘fate.‘
Saints
Approved rendering: القديسون
Transliteration: al-qiddīsūn
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: الأولياء
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 9:13,32,41; 26:10 use this of ordinary, sometimes persecuted believers as a corporate class, not a shrine-veneration elite; guard against awliya’ resonance.
Service Ministry
Approved rendering: الخدمة
Transliteration: al-khidmah
Doctrine: The Church as Community
Original: διακονία
Category: Church
New term. Dignifies both practical/material service and word-ministry (1:17,25; 6:1,4; 11:29; 12:25; 20:24; 21:19), establishing a diversified-but-equal ministry structure; low independent collision risk.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: المواهب الروحية
Transliteration: al-mawāhib al-rūḥiyyah
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: المواهب
Original: χαρίσματα
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Kept distinct in Acts from the singular ‘gift of the Holy Spirit’ (عطية الروح القدس, the Spirit himself given as a Person) — see that entry’s disambiguation note.
Tongues
Approved rendering: بلغات أخرى / ألسنة
Transliteration: bi-lughāt ukhrā / alsinah
Doctrine: Spirit-Empowered Witness and Tongues
Rejected alternatives: ألسنة نارية (reserved exclusively for 2:3’s distinct visionary ‘tongues of fire’ image, never merged with this entry)
Original: γλῶσσαι / ἑτέραις γλώσσαις
Category: God
New term. Real, known human languages (Babel-reversal, Gen. 11), not unintelligible ecstatic speech (2:4,6,8,11; 10:46; 19:6). Prefer بلغات أخرى (established Van Dyck phrasing) over bare ألسنة to keep the known-language sense forward; distinguish clearly from the separate ‘tongues of fire’ image at 2:3.
Unhindered
Approved rendering: بلا عائق / بغير عائق
Transliteration: bilā ʻā’iq / bighayr ʻā’iq
Doctrine: The Great Commission Fulfilled
Original: ἀκωλύτως
Category: Church
New term. The book’s deliberately open-ended, triumphant final word (28:31): the gospel’s advance from Jerusalem to Rome shown as unstoppable even under chains. Pair with the boldness/persecution entries so it is taught as confident hope in ultimate gospel advance, not a promise against personal suffering — the book itself has shown the opposite repeatedly.
Whole Counsel Of God
Approved rendering: كل مشورة الله
Transliteration: kull mashūrat Allāh
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: πᾶσα ἡ βουλὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Covenant
New term. Paul’s claim to have withheld nothing of God’s revealed purpose (20:27). Anchors the completeness/non-selectivity of apostolic teaching; usable, with care, as a text-internal counter-point to the Qur’anic tahrif claim that the Christian record is a corrupted or partial revelation.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: يشجع / يعظ
Transliteration: yushajji’ / ya’iẓ
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:40 favors the يعظ (urgent entreaty) sense over يشجع (comfort/encouragement) since Peter presses an urgent appeal to an as-yet-unconverted crowd; يشجع fits later pastoral occurrences (11:23; 14:22; 15:32; 16:40; 20:1-2).
Patriarch
Approved rendering: البطريرك / الجَدّ الأكبر
Transliteration: al-baṭriyark / al-jadd al-akbar
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: πατριάρχης
Category: Covenant
New term. An ancestral forefather, used of David (2:29) and Jacob’s sons in Stephen’s speech (7:8-9). Disambiguate from the modern ecclesiastical office title (Eastern patriarchates); here used in its plain ancestral sense.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: نبوءة
Transliteration: nubū’ah
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: προφητεία
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 2:16-21 (Joel citation), 11:27-28, 21:9-11.
Sorcery Magic
Approved rendering: السحر
Transliteration: al-siḥr
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority and Miracles
New term. Simon’s occult practice (8:9,11) and Elymas’s (13:6-11); genuinely bridge-friendly, since Islamic tradition also condemns sihr as bordering on shirk. Distinguish Simon’s later attempted purchase of spiritual power (8:18-20, ‘simony’) as a distinct error from sorcery itself.
Spirit Of Divination
Approved rendering: روح عرافة / روح تنجيم
Transliteration: rūḥ ʻirāfah / rūḥ tanjīm
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority and Miracles
New term. The ‘Python-spirit’ at 16:16, an occult power clearly distinct from and opposed to the Holy Spirit; low collision, moral overlap with Islamic condemnation of divination (kahin-practice).
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: الشكر
Transliteration: al-shukr
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. Acts 27:35, the ship’s-company thanksgiving; broadly compatible with shukr, a major Islamic virtue.
Vow
Approved rendering: نذر
Transliteration: nadhr
Doctrine: The Church as Community
New term. The Nazirite-type vow Paul supports at 21:23. Nadhr is also a recognized category in Islamic devotional practice (a vow to perform some act if a prayer is answered); low collision, a potential comparative bridge point about voluntary religious practice’s proper non-salvific place.
Referenced passages