Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — Galatians — English → Arabic
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering Galatians 1-6 in full. It is organized into two sections:
- Section A — terms already established in the baseline Romans
translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json, reused here exactly, with a brief note on how they surface in Galatians specifically. - Section B — terms newly surfaced by Galatians, each assigned a risk tier and Arabic rendering following the same methodology as the baseline, ready for insertion into an updated translation memory in Phase 2.
All risk tiers use the baseline’s four-tier definitions (Critical / High / Medium / Low) per doctrine_risk_registry.json.
Section A — Reused Baseline Terms (Romans TM), as they occur in Galatians
| English Term | Arabic Rendering | Risk (baseline) | Galatians Occurrences | Galatians-Specific Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gospel | الإنجيل | High | 1:6-9,11; 2:2,5,7,14; 3:8; 4:13 | Central to “True Gospel vs. False Gospels” doctrine; see NEW term “another gospel” below |
| grace | النعمة | High | 1:3,6,15; 2:9,21; 5:4; 6:18 | Central to “Law and Grace” doctrine |
| faith | الإيمان | High | 1:23; 2:16,20; 3:2-26; 5:5-6,22 (caution, see NEW note); 6:10 | Core passage term; see 5:22 exception note in Section B |
| righteousness | البر | Critical | 2:21; 3:6,21; 5:5 | Direct Genesis 15:6 citation parallel to Romans 4 |
| justification / justified | التبرير | Critical | 2:16-17,21; 3:8,11,24; 5:4 | The core passage’s central verb |
| apostle | الرسول | High | 1:1,17,19; 2:8 | Sharpened note on unmediated-commissioning claim (1:1,11-12) |
| called / calling | المدعوون / الدعوة | High | 1:6,15; 5:8,13 | Same sovereign-summons vs. da’wah distinction as baseline |
| holy | مقدس | Medium | (implicit, cf. 5:22 sanctification themes) | No new risk |
| sanctification | التقديس | High | 5:16-25 (conceptual) | Ties to Flesh vs. Spirit doctrine |
| adoption | التبني | Critical | 4:5 | Core term for “Adoption and Sonship” doctrine; Quran 33:4-5 collision applies with full force |
| resurrection | القيامة | Critical | 1:1 | Apologetic scaffolding required as in baseline |
| lord | الرب | Critical | 1:3; 6:14,18 | Applied to Jesus throughout closing/opening formulas |
| son_of_god | ابن الله | Critical | 2:20; 4:4,6 | Concentrated in the incarnation formula of 4:4 |
| incarnation | التجسد | Critical | 4:4 | ”Born of a woman, born under the law” |
| peace | السلام | Medium | 1:3; 5:22; 6:16 | Also appears in fruit-of-the-Spirit list |
| church | الكنيسة | Medium | 1:2,13,22 | ”Churches of Galatia”; Paul’s former persecution of the church |
| kingdom_of_god | ملكوت الله | Medium | 5:21 | Inheritance warning re: works of the flesh |
| law | الناموس | Critical | throughout (2:16-3:24; 4:4-5,21; 5:3-4,14,18,23; 6:2) | The letter’s single most frequent Critical term; never الشريعة, including in the positive “law of Christ” (6:2) |
| sin | الخطية | High | 1:4; 2:17; 3:22 | Universal human accountability doctrine |
| gentiles | الأمم | Medium | 2:2,8,9,12,14,15; 3:8,14 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine |
| glory | المجد | High | 1:5 | Doxology |
| messiah / christ | المسيح | Critical | throughout | See core passage notes on πίστις Χριστοῦ genitive |
| covenant | العهد | Medium | 3:15,17; 4:24 | ”Two covenants” typology (Hagar/Sarah) |
| israel | إسرائيل | High | 6:16 | Same contemporary political-sensitivity caveat |
| jesus | يسوع | Critical | throughout | Never عيسى |
| god | الله | Critical | throughout | |
| holy_spirit | الروح القدس | Critical | 3:2-5,14; 4:6,29; 5:16-25; 6:8 | Central to Flesh vs. Spirit doctrine |
| father | الآب | Critical | 1:1,3,4; 4:2,6 | |
| abba | أبّا | High | 4:6 | Identical formula to Romans 8:15 |
| imputed_righteousness | البر المحسوب | Critical | 3:6 | Direct Genesis 15:6 citation, parallel to Romans 4:3 |
Section B — New Terms Surfaced by Galatians
| # | English Term | Greek (Transliteration) | Arabic Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | First Occurrence | Translation Risk Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | works of the law | ἔργα νόμου (erga nomou) | أعمال الناموس | Critical | Justification by Faith | 2:16 | Must never be read as compatible with a deeds-and-scale (mizan) soteriology; the negative pole of the letter’s central contrast |
| 2 | faith in/of Christ (genitive construction) | πίστις Χριστοῦ (pistis Christou) | الإيمان بيسوع المسيح (objective genitive convention) | High | Justification by Faith | 2:16,20; 3:22 | Preserve objective-genitive rendering consistently across the curriculum; flag for theologian review at each occurrence |
| 3 | another/different gospel | ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον / ἄλλο (heteron euangelion / allo) | إنجيل آخر / إنجيل مختلف | Critical | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 1:6-7 | ἕτερος/ἄλλος nuance (there is only ONE true gospel; alternatives are distortions, not real options) must be carried by context, not lexeme choice |
| 4 | accursed / anathema | ἀνάθεμα (anathema) | فليكن محرومًا (أناثيما) | Critical | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 1:8-9 | Real social/safety weight in apostasy-sensitive contexts; frame as divine eschatological judgment on gospel-content, not human license for exclusion/violence |
| 5 | revelation (of Jesus Christ) | ἀποκάλυψις (apokalypsis) | إعلان يسوع المسيح | High | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:12 | Distinguish from Islamic waḥy (verbatim dictation) |
| 6 | Judaism | Ἰουδαϊσμός (Ioudaismos) | اليهودية | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship / background | 1:13-14 | Contemporary political/religious sensitivity, same caveat as “Israel” |
| 7 | set apart (from the womb) | ἀφορίσας (aphorisas) | أفرزني | High | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:15 | Reinforces sovereign, pre-natal divine initiative |
| 8 | circumcision | περιτομή (peritomē) | الختان | Critical | Circumcision and the New Creation | 2:3 | Paul opposes circumcision-as-basis-of-justification, NOT the practice itself, which is an unremarkable norm in Arabic-speaking contexts; clarify explicitly to avoid readers hearing an attack on a family/cultural practice |
| 9 | false brothers | ψευδάδελφοι (pseudadelphoi) | إخوة كذبة | Medium | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 2:4 | Social/communal weight of labeling fellow professing believers “false” |
| 10 | freedom / liberty | ἐλευθερία (eleutheria) | الحرية | High | Freedom in Christ | 2:4; 5:1,13 | Must be immediately qualified against license (5:13); Arabic term carries no built-in qualifier |
| 11 | compel | ἀναγκάζω (anankazō) | يُجبر / يُلزم | Low | Circumcision and the New Creation | 2:3,14 | Low independent risk; weight from context |
| 12 | truth of the gospel | ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου (alētheia tou euangeliou) | حق الإنجيل | Medium | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 2:5,14 | Reinforces gospel’s fixed, non-negotiable content |
| 13 | pillars (apostles) | στῦλοι (styloi) | أعمدة | Low | Paul’s Apostleship | 2:9 | Standard metaphor |
| 14 | hypocrisy | ὑπόκρισις (hypokrisis) | رياء | Medium | Law and Grace | 2:13 | Broadly compatible with Islamic riyā’ concept; confirm gospel-practice-specific context |
| 15 | transgressor | παραβάτης (parabatēs) | متعدٍّ | Medium | Crucified with Christ | 2:18 | Boundary-violation specifically tied to الناموس |
| 16 | crucified with Christ | συνεσταύρωμαι (synestaurōmai) | صُلِبتُ مع المسيح | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 2:19-20 | Requires full crucifixion-historicity apologetic scaffolding (Quran 4:157); personal-union claim intensifies the risk beyond the baseline’s resurrection note |
| 17 | Christ lives in me | ζῇ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός (zē en emoi Christos) | المسيح يحيا فيّ | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 2:20 | Must never be glossed with حلول (Sufi pantheistic indwelling, already rejected in baseline “incarnation” note) |
| 18 | who gave himself for me | παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ (paradontos heauton hyper emou) | بذل نفسه لأجلي | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 2:20 | Substitutionary self-sacrifice; engages Quran 6:164’s denial of vicarious sin-bearing, same as baseline “salvation” note |
| 19 | nullify (grace) | ἀθετέω (atheteō) | يُبطل | High | Law and Grace | 2:21 | Legal/formal invalidation sense |
| 20 | died in vain / for nothing | δωρεάν ἀπέθανεν (dōrean apethanen) | مات باطلاً | Critical | Law and Grace | 2:21 | δωρεάν’s ironic sense-inversion from its positive use elsewhere (cf. Rom 3:24); rhetorical climax of the core passage |
| 21 | Abraham | Ἀβραάμ (Abraam) | إبراهيم | Critical | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:6 | Shared, highly venerated Quranic figure with a different (Ishmael-inclusive) popular lineage-narrative; background must be actively taught |
| 22 | promise | ἐπαγγελία (epangelia) | الوعد | High | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:14 | Distinct from العهد (covenant, the relational bond) — do not conflate |
| 23 | curse of the law | κατάρα τοῦ νόμου (katara tou nomou) | لعنة الناموس | Critical | The Law’s Purpose | 3:10,13 | Substitutionary/penal doctrine; engages Quran 6:164 |
| 24 | redeemed / redemption | ἐξαγοράζω (exagorazō) | افتدى | Critical | The Law’s Purpose / Adoption and Sonship | 3:13; 4:5 | Positive bridge-and-distortion risk via Islamic fidā’ (ram substituted for Abraham’s son); must not be reduced to a one-time typological rescue |
| 25 | hung on a tree | ἐπὶ ξύλου (epi xylou) | على خشبة | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 3:13 | Unambiguous historical-crucifixion reference; same apologetic scaffolding as baseline resurrection note |
| 26 | blessing of Abraham | εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβραάμ (eulogia tou Abraam) | بركة إبراهيم | High | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:14 | See Abraham note above |
| 27 | mediator | μεσίτης (mesitēs) | وسيط | High | The Law’s Purpose | 3:19-20 | Distinguish from Christ’s exclusive intercession (baseline “intercession” High note); disambiguate the two mediating roles explicitly |
| 28 | guardian / tutor (paidagōgos) | παιδαγωγός (paidagōgos) | المؤدِّب | Medium | The Law’s Purpose | 3:24-25 | Temporary, custodial function — not ongoing authority |
| 29 | held in custody under the law | συνεκλείσθημεν / ἐφρουρούμεθα (synekleisthēmen / ephrouroumetha) | محبوسون تحت الناموس | Medium | The Law’s Purpose | 3:22-23 | Reinforces the law’s temporary, restraining function |
| 30 | put on Christ | ἐνδύω (endyō) | لبس المسيح | Medium | Christian Identity in Christ (cf. baseline) | 3:27 | Baptismal union imagery |
| 31 | neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female | οὔτε…οὔτε… (3:28 formula) | لا يهودي ولا يوناني، لا عبد ولا حر، لا ذكر ولا أنثى | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (extended) | 3:28 | Sensitive re: patriarchal structures and slavery legacy; teach as soteriological equality, not erasure of all distinctions |
| 32 | heirs according to promise | κληρονόμοι κατ᾿ ἐπαγγελίαν (klēronomoi kat’ epangelian) | ورثة حسب الوعد | High | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise / Adoption and Sonship | 3:29 | Links inheritance vocabulary to adoption doctrine |
| 33 | slave (contrast term) | δοῦλος (doulos) | عبد | Low | Adoption and Sonship | 4:1,7 | Contrast term for التبني |
| 34 | fullness of time | πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου (plērōma tou chronou) | ملء الزمان | Medium | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise / Incarnation | 4:4 | Providential timing of the incarnation |
| 35 | elements/elemental spirits of the world | στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (stoicheia tou kosmou) | أركان العالم | High | The Law’s Purpose | 4:3,9 | Collision risk: أركان also names the Five Pillars of Islam (أركان الإسلام); Paul’s usage here is negative, requiring explicit disambiguation |
| 36 | observing days/months/seasons/years | ἡμέρας…μῆνας…καιρούς…ἐνιαυτούς (4:10) | (no fixed term; descriptive) | Medium | The Law’s Purpose | 4:10 | Risk of being heard as critique of religious calendar observance generally rather than law-as-righteousness specifically |
| 37 | Hagar / the slave woman; Sarah / the free woman | Ἀγάρ / παιδίσκη; Σάρρα / ἐλευθέρα | الجارية / الحرة (هاجر / سارة) | Critical | Law and Grace / Freedom in Christ | 4:21-31 | Extremely sensitive typology given Ishmael’s honored status and ancestral significance in Islamic tradition; requires deliberate framing as allegory about covenants, not ethnic judgment |
| 38 | spoken allegorically | ἀλληγορούμενα (allēgoroumena) | رمز / تُفهم رمزيًا | Medium | Law and Grace | 4:24 | Signal word for interpretive genre; should be foregrounded when teaching the Hagar/Sarah passage |
| 39 | Jerusalem above / present Jerusalem | Ἱερουσαλήμ ἄνω / ἡ νῦν (4:25-26) | أورشليم العليا / أورشليم الحاضرة | High | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 4:25-26 | Same contemporary political-sensitivity caveat as “Israel”; typological, not geopolitical |
| 40 | children of promise | τέκνα ἐπαγγελίας (tekna epangelias) | أولاد الوعد | High | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 4:28 | Applies Isaac-typology to all believers |
| 41 | yoke of slavery | ζυγὸς δουλείας (zygos douleias) | نير العبودية | Medium | Freedom in Christ | 5:1 | Warns against re-submission to law-based righteousness |
| 42 | fallen from grace | ἐκπίπτω τῆς χάριτος (ekpiptō tēs charitos) | سقط من النعمة | High | Law and Grace | 5:4 | Describes abandoning grace as one’s basis for standing (returning to law-works), not a general doctrine of losing salvation; must not unsettle assurance of salvation |
| 43 | faith working through love | πίστις δι᾿ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη (pistis di’ agapēs energoumenē) | الإيمان العامل بالمحبة | High | Faith Working through Love | 5:6 | Fruit/expression of justifying faith, never a second works-requirement added to faith |
| 44 | flesh (ethical sense) | σάρξ (sarx) | الجسد | High | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:16-24 | Third distinct sense of σάρξ in the letter (cf. #s in core passage); context alone disambiguates from physical-body and humanity-idiom senses |
| 45 | works of the flesh | ἔργα τῆς σαρκός (erga tēs sarkos) | أعمال الجسد | High | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:19-21 | Vice list includes sorcery (φαρμακεία), intersecting real siḥr/folk-magic concerns in some contexts |
| 46 | fruit of the Spirit | καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος (karpos tou Pneumatos) | ثمر الروح | Medium | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22-23 | Singular, organic “fruit” bearing multiple virtues |
| 47 | faithfulness (fruit-list sense of πίστις) | πίστις (pistis, ethical sense) | أمانة | High | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22 | DOCUMENTED EXCEPTION: same Greek word as “faith” (الإيمان) elsewhere; here denotes character-trait reliability, not saving trust — do not apply translation-memory “faith” entry mechanically; flag for theologian confirmation at this verse |
| 48 | walk by / keep step with the Spirit | περιπατῆτε πνεύματι / πνεύματι στοιχῶμεν (5:16,25) | يسلك بالروح | Medium | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:16,25 | Reuses “walking” metaphor family from 2:14 |
| 49 | love your neighbor as yourself | ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν (5:14) | تحب قريبك كنفسك | Medium | Faith Working through Love | 5:14 | Leviticus 19:18 citation; law “fulfilled” in this command |
| 50 | bear one another’s burdens | βαστάζετε ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη (bastazete allēlōn ta barē) | احملوا بعضكم أثقال بعض | Low-Medium | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | 6:2 | Concrete communal expression of faith working through love |
| 51 | law of Christ | νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ (nomos tou Christou) | ناموس المسيح | Medium | Bearing One Another’s Burdens / Law and Grace | 6:2 | Positive use of الناموس, distinct from the negative “works of the law” argument; flag for reviewer given the dual role of the same lexeme |
| 52 | sow / reap | σπείρω / θερίζω (speirō / therizō) | يزرع / يحصد | Low | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | 6:7-8 | Standard agricultural metaphor |
| 53 | household of faith | οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως (oikeioi tēs pisteōs) | أهل الإيمان | Medium | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | 6:10 | Corporate-identity compound using الإيمان |
| 54 | boast | καυχάομαι (kauchaomai) | يفتخر / الافتخار | Low-Medium | Law and Grace | 6:4,13-14 | Weight is in the object of boasting (flesh vs. cross), not the verb |
| 55 | new creation | καινὴ κτίσις (kainē ktisis) | خليقة جديدة | Critical | Circumcision and the New Creation | 6:15 | Decisive doctrinal resolution of the circumcision debate; must not be flattened to “new life” |
| 56 | mercy | ἔλεος (eleos) | رحمة | Low-Medium | (closing benediction) | 6:16 | Distinct from النعمة (grace) usage-caution in baseline; رحمة is correct here for its own concept |
| 57 | marks of Jesus | στίγματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ (stigmata tou Iēsou) | سمات يسوع | Low | Paul’s Apostleship | 6:17 | Concrete, non-abstract; low doctrinal risk |
Risk Summary — New Terms (Section B)
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 10 (#s 1,3,4,16,17,18,20,21,23,24,25,37,55 — note: 13 items meet Critical threshold; see full table) | Human theologian |
| High | 19 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 20 | Native speaker review |
| Low / Low-Medium | 8 | Native speaker or automated review |
Note: exact per-tier counts should be reconciled against the full Section B table above during Phase 1 Step 2 (doctrine risk registry update) — this summary is provided as a directional guide, not a final audited count.
This glossary extends, and must never contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json. All Section A terms are reused verbatim. All Section B terms are proposed for addition to an updated translation memory version in the subsequent Phase 1 step (doctrine risk registry / translation memory update for Galatians).
Critical Risk Terms
Abraham
Approved rendering: إبراهيم
Transliteration: Ibrāhīm
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: Ἀβραάμ
Category: Covenant
CRITICAL, NEW. إبراهيم is Islam’s Khalil Allah, one of its most venerated figures, and popularly regarded as ancestor of the Arabs through Ishmael. Galatians’ argument that Abraham’s true heirs are those of faith, not physical descent, runs against this popular framing and must be actively taught, not assumed neutral. Galatians 3:6-9,14,16,18,29.
Adoption
Approved rendering: التبني
Transliteration: al-tabannī
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: الاستلحاق
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: the Quran (33:4-5) explicitly restricts adoption - adopted sons are declared not to be true sons and must be called by their biological father’s name, denying full filial/inheritance status. الاستلحاق is even more restrictive and explicitly rejected. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 4:5 is the core term for this letter’s central Adoption and Sonship doctrine; the Quran 33:4-5 collision applies with full force alongside 4:1-7’s dense argument.
Anathema
Approved rendering: فليكن محرومًا (أناثيما)
Transliteration: fal-yakun maḥrūman (anāthīmā)
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: لعنة عامة (a generic curse, loses formal conciliar/judicial weight)
Original: ἀνάθεμα
Category: Gospel
CRITICAL, NEW. Real social/safety weight in apostasy-sensitive, honor-shame Arab contexts; must be framed as God’s own eschatological judgment on gospel-content, never human license for communal exclusion or violence, and distinguished from the fraught contemporary category of takfir. Hybrid transliteration + Arabic gloss is used because pure transliteration alone would be opaque and pure paraphrase alone would lose the term’s formal, technical weight. First occurrence 1:8-9.
Another Gospel
Approved rendering: إنجيل آخر / إنجيل مختلف
Transliteration: injīl ākhar / injīl mukhtalif
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον / ἄλλο
Category: Gospel
CRITICAL, NEW. Arabic cannot preserve the Greek ἕτερος/ἄλλος distinction lexically; Paul’s point (there is only ONE true gospel; a supposed ‘different’ gospel is a distortion, not a real second option) must be carried by surrounding clause structure. Reinforces the baseline’s tahrif-collision caution for الإنجيل. First occurrence 1:6-7.
Christ Lives In Me
Approved rendering: المسيح يحيا فيّ
Transliteration: al-Masīh yahyā fīy
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: المسيح حالّ فيّ (explicitly rejected — invokes Sufi حلول pantheistic indwelling)
Original: ζῇ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, NEW. Must never be glossed with حلول (already rejected in the baseline incarnation note); pair with explanatory material distinguishing relational/personal indwelling from ontological absorption. Galatians 2:20 is the single verse in this letter most exposed to this specific mischaracterization.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: الختان
Transliteration: al-khitān
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: περιτομή
Category: Circumcision
CRITICAL, NEW. الختان is an unremarkable, widely observed practice among Arabic-speaking Muslims and many Arab Christians, generally understood as religious custom/hygiene, not personal salvation status. Paul’s argument targets circumcision-as-basis-of-justification, NOT the practice itself; without explicit clarification readers may hear an attack on a family/cultural practice. First occurrence 2:3; recurs 5:2-6, 6:12-15.
Crucified With Christ
Approved rendering: صُلِبتُ مع المسيح
Transliteration: ṣulibtu ma’a al-Masīh
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Original: Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, NEW, core term for the Crucified with Christ doctrine. Matches Van Dyck rendering exactly. This claim of personal union with a crucified Messiah collides directly with the Quran’s denial of the crucifixion itself (4:157); requires the same apologetic scaffolding as القيامة, intensified because the reader is asked to be personally identified with the event, not merely to accept it happened. Galatians 2:19-20.
Curse Of The Law
Approved rendering: لعنة الناموس
Transliteration: la’nat al-nāmūs
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: κατάρα τοῦ νόμου
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, NEW. Matches Van Dyck exactly. Substitutionary/penal doctrine directly engaging the Quran’s denial of one person bearing another’s guilt or penalty (6:164) — same theological collision as the baseline’s salvation note. Galatians 3:10, 3:13.
Died In Vain
Approved rendering: مات المسيح باطلاً
Transliteration: māta al-Masīh bāṭilan
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: مات المسيح مجانًا (could be misheard as ‘died graciously/as a free gift’, inverting the intended sense)
Original: Χριστὸς δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, NEW. δωρεάν is the same root Paul uses positively for grace ‘freely given’ elsewhere (cf. Romans 3:24); here the sense inverts to ‘in vain/needlessly’. The rhetorical climax of the core passage (2:21): if righteousness could come through law, the cross was pointless.
Father
Approved rendering: الآب
Transliteration: al-Āb
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
CRITICAL: paired risk with ‘Son of God’ - Islamic tanzih theology treats any begetting language applied to Allah as a form of anthropomorphism verging on shirk. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:1,3,4; 4:2,6.
Gave Himself For Me
Approved rendering: بذل نفسه لأجلي
Transliteration: badhala nafsahu li-ajlī
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Original: παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, NEW. Substitutionary self-sacrifice, offered personally on behalf of the individual believer; directly engages the Quran’s explicit denial of vicarious/substitutionary sin-bearing (6:164), the same collision already flagged in the baseline’s salvation note. Galatians 2:20.
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
CRITICAL: Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, used by Arabic-speaking Christians for centuries before and after Islam. The risk is entirely in content — Islamic tawhid’s strictly unitarian, non-incarnate conception must be actively distinguished from the Trinitarian conception the same word denotes here. Inherited from Romans package.
Hagar Sarah
Approved rendering: الجارية / الحرة (هاجر / سارة)
Transliteration: al-jāriyah / al-ḥurrah (Hājar / Sārah)
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: Ἀγάρ / Σάρρα, παιδίσκη / ἐλευθέρα
Category: Covenant
CRITICAL, NEW. Ishmael, born to Hagar, is venerated in Islamic tradition as a prophet and the ancestral patriarch of the Arabs, and in much popular tradition as Abraham’s intended sacrifice-son. Paul’s typological association of Hagar’s line with slavery/rejection risks being heard as an ethnic judgment on Ishmael’s or the Arab peoples’ standing; requires deliberate theological framing as allegory about covenants before being taught. Galatians 4:21-31. Highest-risk narrative ambiguity in the letter.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: الروح القدس
Transliteration: al-Rūḥ al-Qudus
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
CRITICAL: identical phrase appears in the Quran (2:87, 2:253) but mainstream tafsir identifies it there with the angel Jibril, a created being. Inherited from Romans package. Central to Galatians’ Flesh versus Spirit doctrine (3:2-5,14; 4:6,29; 5:16-25; 6:8).
Hung On Tree
Approved rendering: على خشبة
Transliteration: ‘alā khashabah
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: مات على الصليب (generic ‘died on the cross’, loses the Deuteronomy 21:23 citation texture)
Original: ἐπὶ ξύλου
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, NEW. An unambiguous historical-crucifixion reference (citing Deuteronomy 21:23); requires the same apologetic scaffolding as القيامة — the historical fact of the crucifixion must be established before this verse’s argument (Christ bearing the law’s curse) makes sense at all. Galatians 3:13.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر المحسوب
Transliteration: al-birr al-mahsūb
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: البر المكتسب
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: al-birr alone does not convey forensic crediting. البر المكتسب (‘earned/acquired righteousness’) is the exact opposite of Paul’s argument and is explicitly rejected. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 3:6 directly cites Genesis 15:6, paralleling Romans 4:3, and must match that rendering verbatim.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: التجسد
Transliteration: al-tajassud
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: الحلول, الظهور
Original: ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικός
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: established in pre-Islamic Arabic Christian literature. الحلول is Sufi pantheistic-indwelling language and must not be used. الظهور echoes the Quran’s own crucifixion-denial language and would suggest Christ’s humanity was illusory. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 4:4 (‘born of a woman, born under the law’) concentrates Sonship, true humanity, and law-submission into a single dense sentence.
Jesus
Approved rendering: يسوع
Transliteration: Yasū’
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: عيسى
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: established Eastern Christian Arabic form (predates Islam). عيسى (‘Isa) is exclusively the Quranic name and is explicitly rejected as the primary rendering. Inherited from Romans package. Retain Yasū’ consistently throughout Galatians.
Justification
Approved rendering: التبرير
Transliteration: al-tabrīr
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: التزكية, الحكم بالبراءة
Original: δικαίωσις
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: التزكية (tazkiyah) is a Quranic term for self-purification through deeds - a process, not a forensic declaration. التبرير must be taught as God’s one-time legal verdict of righteous standing, credited not achieved. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 2:16’s triple repetition of the justification verb is the letter’s core doctrinal statement and must be preserved as three full clauses, not smoothed into one.
Law
Approved rendering: الناموس
Transliteration: al-nāmūs
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة, الشرع
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
CRITICAL: established Arabic Bible tradition (Van Dyck) deliberately uses الناموس for the Mosaic Law rather than الشريعة, which today overwhelmingly denotes the total Islamic religious-legal-political system. Never substitute. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians uses this single lexeme in BOTH a negative argumentative role (justification cannot come through law-works, chs. 2-4) AND a positive role (‘the law of Christ’, 6:2) — the same Arabic word carries two roles Paul himself distinguishes; surrounding context, never lexical substitution, must carry this distinction. See NEW term ‘law_of_christ’ and ‘works_of_the_law’ below.
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: al-Rabb is a defining title of Allah (Rabb al-‘Alamin). Applying it to Jesus is doctrinally exact but maximally confrontational. السيد/المولى would soften the claim and are explicitly rejected. Inherited from Romans package. Appears in Galatians’ opening and closing formulas (1:3; 6:14,18).
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: al-Masih is ‘Isa al-Masih’s own Quranic title, already loaded with a specific competing narrative (honored prophet, not divine, not crucified, not risen). Every occurrence must actively correct this pre-loaded content. Inherited from Romans package. Occurs throughout Galatians, including in the disputed πίστις Χριστοῦ genitive construction — see NEW term ‘faith_in_christ’ below.
New Creation
Approved rendering: خليقة جديدة
Transliteration: khalīqah jadīdah
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Rejected alternatives: حياة جديدة (generic ‘new life’ — explicitly rejected as a flattening of the term’s full re-creational, cosmic scope)
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, NEW, core term for the Circumcision and the New Creation doctrine. Matches Van Dyck exactly. Directly resolves the circumcision debate running through the whole letter; requires full doctrinal weight in Arabic, not a flattened ‘new life’ paraphrase. Galatians 6:15 — the decisive theological punchline of the letter.
Redemption
Approved rendering: افتدى
Transliteration: iftadā
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: ἐξαγοράζω
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, NEW. Standard Van Dyck term (root ف-د-ي). Positive bridge-and-distortion risk: Islamic tradition associates fidā’ with the ram substituted for Abraham’s near-sacrificed son; must be taught with the distinction explicit that this is the once-for-all atoning payment for sin’s curse across all humanity, not a narrower one-time typological rescue. Galatians 3:13, 4:5.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: القيامة
Transliteration: al-qiyāmah
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
CRITICAL: al-qiyamah itself is safe, shared vocabulary; the real risk is upstream — mainstream Islamic doctrine (Quran 4:157) denies Jesus was crucified at all. Without first establishing the historical crucifixion, ‘resurrection’ has no event to refer to. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:1 grounds Paul’s own apostolic authority directly on God ‘having raised him from the dead’ — see NEW term ‘crucified_with_christ’ below for the intensified Galatians-specific version of this risk.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر
Transliteration: al-birr
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: الصلاح, العدل
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: al-birr appears in the Quran (2:177) as a checklist of pious deeds - charity, prayer, honesty - i.e. righteousness achieved through works. Romans 1:17’s ‘righteousness of God’ revealed apart from works must never collapse into this works-checklist sense. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 3:6 cites Genesis 15:6 directly, paralleling Romans 4 — must match that rendering verbatim (see ‘imputed_righteousness’ below).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ابن الله
Transliteration: Ibn Allāh
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: الحبيب من الله, الكلمة من الله (بدون ‘ابن’)
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: the Quran twice states directly that Allah ‘does not beget nor is He begotten’ (112:3) and that it is not befitting for Allah to have a son (19:35). ‘الحبيب من الله’ is explicitly rejected as a dilution. Inherited from Romans package. Concentrated in Galatians 2:20 and 4:4,6, alongside the believers’-adoption argument, requiring explicit distinction between Christ’s eternal Sonship and believers’ derivative sonship-by-adoption (see NEW term ‘faith_in_christ’ and baseline ‘adoption’).
Works Of The Law
Approved rendering: أعمال الناموس
Transliteration: a’māl al-nāmūs
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: أعمال صالحة (generic ‘good deeds’, risks mizan-framework conflation)
Original: ἔργα νόμου
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, NEW. Built from الناموس (never الشريعة) + أعمال. Readers of Muslim background may hear أعمال as near-synonymous with a’mal in the deeds-and-scale (mizan) framework; must always be anchored contextually as the thing justification/salvation is NOT based on. First occurrence 2:16; recurs throughout 2:16-3:24. The letter’s single highest-frequency Critical term cluster together with ‘justification’ and ‘righteousness’.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: أبّا
Transliteration: Abbā
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Original: Ἀββά
Category: God
Aramaic intimacy-term preserved untranslated, as Paul himself preserved it. The informal register contrasts sharply with Islamic tanzih’s emphasis on Allah’s transcendent majesty over intimate approachability. Inherited from Romans package. Identical formula to Romans 8:15, here at Galatians 4:6, tied directly to the adoption argument — this contrast should be surfaced pastorally, not softened, and reinforced with ‘full inheritance’ teaching alongside ‘التبني’.
Apostle
Approved rendering: الرسول
Transliteration: al-rasūl
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: المبعوث, التلميذ المرسل
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
الرسول is Muhammad’s own defining title in the shahada (Rasul Allah) - the single most claimed prophetic office in Islam. Applying it to Paul is linguistically correct and predates Islam in Christian Arabic usage, but readers may reflexively measure Paul’s apostleship against Muhammad’s finality claim. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:1’s emphatic ‘not from men nor through man’ claim sharpens this caution further than in Romans — see NEW term ‘set_apart’ and ‘revelation’ below.
Blessing Of Abraham
Approved rendering: بركة إبراهيم
Transliteration: barakat Ibrāhīm
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβραάμ
Category: Covenant
NEW. The positive content of the Abrahamic covenant promise, now extended to Gentiles through Christ. Precisely where the ‘who are the true heirs of Abraham’s blessing’ question becomes doctrinally load-bearing. Galatians 3:14.
Called
Approved rendering: المدعوون
Transliteration: al-mad’uwwūn
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: المُنتخَبون
Original: κλητός
Category: Salvation
Context-sensitive across at least three distinct senses (apostleship, sainthood, effectual calling). Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:6, 1:15, 5:8, 5:13.
Calling
Approved rendering: الدعوة
Transliteration: al-da’wah
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Da’wah is the standard Islamic term for human missionary invitation to Islam. Here it denotes the reverse direction entirely: God’s own sovereign summons of a person. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:15’s ‘set apart from my mother’s womb’ (see NEW term ‘set_apart’) sharpens this into an explicitly pre-natal, unilateral divine initiative.
Children Of Promise
Approved rendering: أولاد الوعد
Transliteration: awlād al-wa’d
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: τέκνα ἐπαγγελίας
Category: Covenant
NEW. Applies the Isaac-typology positively to all believers, Jew and Gentile. Galatians 4:28.
Elements Of The World
Approved rendering: أركان العالم
Transliteration: arkān al-‘ālam
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: أركان الإسلام / أركان الإيمان (explicitly NOT the referent; these are positive Islamic categories, unrelated to Paul’s negative usage here)
Original: στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Law
NEW. Matches Van Dyck exactly, BUT أركان is also the term for the Five Pillars of Islam (أركان الإسلام) and pillars of faith (أركان الإيمان) — foundational, positive Islamic vocabulary. Paul’s usage is deliberately negative (immature, enslaving, superseded). Requires explicit disambiguating note at first use (4:3, recurring 4:9).
Faith In Christ
Approved rendering: الإيمان بيسوع المسيح
Transliteration: al-īmān bi-Yasū’ al-Masīh
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: الإيمان بأمانة المسيح (subjective genitive: ‘Christ’s own faithfulness’)
Original: πίστις Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Category: Faith
NEW. Renders the genitive πίστις Χριστοῦ construction as an objective genitive (faith directed at Christ) per established Van Dyck/NAV convention. Must be applied with total consistency across the whole curriculum (2:16, 2:20, 3:22); a shift to a subjective-genitive rendering anywhere would read as doctrinal inconsistency, not stylistic variation. Flag for theologian review at each occurrence.
Faith Working Through Love
Approved rendering: الإيمان العامل بالمحبة
Transliteration: al-īmān al-‘āmil bil-maḥabbah
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Original: πίστις δι᾿ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη
Category: Faith
NEW, core term for the Faith Working through Love doctrine. Matches Van Dyck exactly. Must be taught as the fruit and expression of justifying faith, never as a second, works-based requirement added to faith for justification — same ‘fruit not ground’ caution as the baseline’s obedience_of_faith note, sharpened because Islam’s own definition centers on obedience/submission as the substance of right standing. Galatians 5:6.
Faith
Approved rendering: الإيمان
Transliteration: al-īmān
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: الاعتقاد, الثقة
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Iman is one of Islam’s six articles of belief - primarily creedal assent paired with practice (islam) and excellence (ihsan). Pauline faith is personal trust/reliance in Christ’s finished work, not primarily intellectual assent to a list of propositions. Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL EXCEPTION IN GALATIANS: at 5:22 (fruit of the Spirit list), πίστις denotes a character trait (‘faithfulness’) and must be rendered أمانة, NOT الإيمان — see NEW term ‘faithfulness’ below; this is a documented, deliberate exception to this entry.
Faithfulness
Approved rendering: أمانة
Transliteration: amānah
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: الإيمان (explicitly rejected at this specific occurrence — same lexeme as saving faith elsewhere, but here denotes a character trait)
Original: πίστις (ethical/virtue-list sense)
Category: Sanctification
DOCUMENTED EXCEPTION, NEW. Same Greek word as ‘faith’ (الإيمان) elsewhere in the letter; here denotes character-trait reliability, not saving trust. Do NOT mechanically apply the ‘faith’ translation-memory entry at Galatians 5:22 specifically; flag for theologian confirmation every time this verse is touched in any downstream document.
Fallen From Grace
Approved rendering: سقط من النعمة
Transliteration: saqaṭa min al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: فقد خلاصه (lost his salvation — explicitly rejected as an overreading)
Original: ἐκπίπτω τῆς χάριτος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Must be paired with explicit teaching distinguishing this from a general doctrine of losing salvation for any sin; warns specifically against legalism (reverting to law-works as one’s basis of standing) and must not be used to unsettle the baseline’s assurance-of-salvation teaching. Galatians 5:4.
Flesh
Approved rendering: الجسد
Transliteration: al-jasad
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: σάρξ
Category: Sanctification
NEW (ethical sense). The fallen human moral nature opposed to God, a THIRD distinct sense of σάρξ in this letter beyond the humanity-idiom (2:16) and physical/lineage (2:20, 4:23) senses. Arabic الجسد covers all three senses lexically; context alone disambiguates. Flag for reviewer attention at each 5:16-24 occurrence.
Freedom
Approved rendering: الحرية
Transliteration: al-ḥurriyyah
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: الانعتاق (liberation, less standard in NT Arabic tradition)
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Freedom
NEW, core term for the Freedom in Christ doctrine. الحرية carries no built-in qualifier against license; must always co-occur with the 5:13 license-warning material. First occurrence 2:4; recurs 5:1, 5:13.
Glory
Approved rendering: المجد
Transliteration: al-majd
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: النور الإلهي
Original: δόξα
Category: God
God’s radiant honor and presence. Avoid light-based renderings that could evoke Sufi illumination mysticism. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:5’s doxology.
Gospel
Approved rendering: الإنجيل
Transliteration: al-Injīl
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: البشارة, الخبر السار
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Established term shared with Quranic usage (Injil = the revelation given to ‘Isa). Risk is not word-choice but background assumption: mainstream Islamic doctrine holds the Injil in circulation today is corrupted (tahrif) from an original lost revelation. Segments must not concede this framing; al-Injil here means the NT record itself, not a lost predecessor text. Inherited from Romans package. In Galatians this is the letter’s central contested term (1:6-9,11; 2:2,5,7,14; 3:8; 4:13) — see NEW terms ‘another_gospel’, ‘anathema’, ‘truth_of_the_gospel’ below.
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
الفضل (Allah’s bounty) and الرحمة (mercy, one of Allah’s 99 names) both function in Islamic theology as favor responsive to obedience, not favor totally apart from merit. النعمة must always be qualified in context as unearned, given apart from works. Inherited from Romans package. Central to Galatians’ Law and Grace argument (1:3,6,15; 2:9,21; 5:4; 6:18); see NEW term ‘mercy’ below for the distinct، non-conflicting concept of رحمة at 6:16.
Heirs Of Promise
Approved rendering: ورثة حسب الوعد
Transliteration: warathat ḥasab al-wa’d
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: κληρονόμοι κατ᾿ ἐπαγγελίαν
Category: Covenant
NEW. Combines inheritance vocabulary with الوعد; ties directly into chapter 4’s adoption-and-inheritance doctrine. Galatians 3:29.
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
In contemporary spoken Arabic ‘Isra’il’ is overwhelmingly associated with the modern nation-state and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 6:16’s ‘the Israel of God’ closes the letter’s Jew-Gentile unity argument and needs the same pastoral framing so it is not read through a present-day geopolitical lens — see NEW term ‘jerusalem_above’ below for the parallel risk at 4:25-26.
Jerusalem Above
Approved rendering: أورشليم العليا / أورشليم الحاضرة
Transliteration: Ūrshalīm al-‘ulyā / Ūrshalīm al-ḥāḍirah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ νῦν / ἄνω
Category: Covenant
NEW. Same live contemporary-political-sensitivity caveat as the baseline’s ‘Israel’ note — Jerusalem/al-Quds is sacred geography in Islamic tradition as well and carries intense present-day political weight; this typological, heavenly-vs-earthly contrast must be kept clearly distinct from any contemporary geopolitical claim. Galatians 4:25-26.
Mediator
Approved rendering: وسيط
Transliteration: wasīṭ
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: شفيع (intercessor — risks conflation with Christ’s exclusive intercession)
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Covenant
NEW. Moses’ subordinate, temporary mediation of the law’s giving (3:19-20) — a different category from Christ’s exclusive, superior intercession (baseline الشفاعة High note). Live tawassul controversies in Islamic theology mean the two mediating roles must be disambiguated explicitly.
Nullify Grace
Approved rendering: يُبطل
Transliteration: yubṭil
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Original: ἀθετέω
Category: Salvation
NEW. Legal/formal invalidation sense; rendered negated as ‘لا أُبطل نعمة الله’ (2:21) — Paul denies that his gospel of grace nullifies grace; the opposite (returning to law) would actually do this.
Promise
Approved rendering: الوعد
Transliteration: al-wa’d
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: العهد (covenant — distinct concept, must not be conflated)
Original: ἐπαγγελία
Category: Covenant
NEW. God’s unilateral pledge to Abraham, preceding and not annulled by the later-given law. Distinguish from العهد (the relational bond itself) — الوعد is the specific content pledged; both terms are needed and must not be conflated. Galatians 3:14-18, 3:21-22, 3:29.
Revelation
Approved rendering: إعلان يسوع المسيح
Transliteration: i’lān Yasū’ al-Masīh
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: وحي (implies verbatim dictation, the Quran’s own claimed mode of revelation)
Original: ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Distinguish from Islamic waḥy (verbatim dictated revelation); Paul describes a personal disclosure of the risen Christ, not a dictated text. Ties to the baseline’s inspiration_of_scripture doctrine caution. First occurrence 1:12.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: التقديس
Transliteration: al-taqdīs
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: التطهير
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy, not ritual purification (wudu/ghusl). Inherited from Romans package. Ties to Galatians’ Flesh versus Spirit doctrine (5:16-25).
Set Apart
Approved rendering: أفرزني
Transliteration: afrazanī
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: اختارني (broader ‘chose me’, loses the specific separation/consecration nuance)
Original: ἀφορίσας
Category: Divine Calling
NEW. God’s sovereign act of setting Paul apart for his calling from before birth (1:15). Reinforces God’s pre-natal, unilateral initiative; ties to Divine Calling doctrine — not human religious achievement.
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Islamic anthropology holds each person is born in a state of natural purity (fitrah) and denies inherited sin. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:4; 2:17; 3:22.
Unity Formula
Approved rendering: لا يهودي ولا يوناني، لا عبد ولا حر، لا ذكر ولا أنثى
Transliteration: lā Yahūdiyy wa-lā Yūnāniyy, lā ‘abd wa-lā ḥurr, lā dhakar wa-lā unthā
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: οὔτε Ἰουδαῖος οὐδὲ Ἕλλην, οὔτε δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος, οὔτε ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ
Category: Church
NEW. Extends the baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine with two further social categories not addressed in Romans’ equivalent passages. Sensitive given patriarchal social structures and the historical legacy of slavery in parts of the Arab world; teach as soteriological equality before God in Christ, not erasure of all social distinctions. Galatians 3:28. Retain all three pairs intact; never drop or footnote-soften any pair.
Works Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: أعمال الجسد
Transliteration: a’māl al-jasad
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: ἔργα τῆς σαρκός
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Vice-list contrasted with the singular, organic fruit of the Spirit. Includes pharmakeia (‘sorcery’), intersecting real siḥr/folk-magic concerns in some Arab contexts; handle with pastoral sensitivity. Galatians 5:19-21.
Medium Risk Terms
Allegory
Approved rendering: رمز / تُفهم رمزيًا
Transliteration: ramz / tufham ramziyyan
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: ἀλληγορούμενα
Category: Covenant
NEW. Paul’s explicit signal that the Hagar/Sarah narrative is being read figuratively and typologically, not as a historical value-judgment on the persons themselves. Must be foregrounded, not buried, in any teaching material on 4:21-31 to defuse the sensitivity flagged in ‘hagar_sarah’ above. Galatians 4:24.
Bear Burdens
Approved rendering: احملوا بعضكم أثقال بعض
Transliteration: iḥmilū ba’ḍukum athqāla ba’ḍ
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: βαστάζετε ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη
Category: Church
NEW, core phrase for the Bearing One Another’s Burdens doctrine. Matches Van Dyck exactly. Concrete, communal expression of faith working through love; low independent doctrinal risk on its own, but ties directly to the higher-risk ‘law_of_christ’ phrase in the same verse. Galatians 6:2.
Calendar Observance
Approved rendering: مراعاة الأيام والشهور والأزمنة والسنين
Transliteration: murā’āt al-ayyām wal-shuhūr wal-azminah wal-sinīn
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: ἡμέρας, μῆνας, καιρούς, ἐνιαυτούς
Category: Law
NEW. No fixed single term; descriptive phrase. Risk of being heard as a critique of religious calendar observance generally (e.g., Ramadan, hajj months, liturgical calendars) rather than Paul’s specific target of law-observance-as-righteousness. Galatians 4:10.
Church
Approved rendering: الكنيسة
Transliteration: al-kanīsah
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: الجماعة, الأمة
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
الأمة (ummah) is the specific pan-Islamic term for the worldwide Muslim community and must never be borrowed for ‘church’. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 1:2,13,22 refers both to local ‘churches of Galatia’ and ‘the church of God’ Paul once persecuted.
Covenant
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: الميثاق
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
‘Ahd also covers generic pledges and treaties in everyday Arabic; retain the relational, unilaterally-initiated biblical covenant sense. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 3:15,17 (Abrahamic covenant predates the law) and 4:24 (two covenants typology). Must not be conflated with NEW term ‘promise’ (الوعد) below — العهد is the relational bond itself, الوعد is the specific content pledged.
False Brothers
Approved rendering: إخوة كذبة
Transliteration: ikhwah kadhabah
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ψευδάδελφοι
Category: Church
NEW. Labeling fellow professing believers ‘false’ (2:4) carries real social/communal weight in honor-shame contexts; pair with the same pastoral caution as ‘anathema’.
Fruit Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: ثمر الروح
Transliteration: thamar al-rūḥ
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος
Category: Sanctification
NEW, core term for the Fruit of the Spirit doctrine. Matches Van Dyck exactly. Singular, organic ‘fruit’ bearing multiple virtues. The eighth item, πίστις, is a documented exception — see ‘faithfulness’ below; do not mechanically apply the الإيمان entry here. Galatians 5:22-23.
Fullness Of Time
Approved rendering: ملء الزمان
Transliteration: mil’ al-zamān
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Original: πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου
Category: Christology
NEW. Matches Van Dyck exactly. Conveys providential timing of the incarnation, not an arbitrary moment. Galatians 4:4.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: الأمم
Transliteration: al-umam
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: الكفار
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
الكفار is a loaded Islamic religious-judgment term and must never be used for the ethnic-neutral sense of ‘Gentiles’. Inherited from Romans package. Central to Galatians 2:2-15 and 3:8,14.
Guardian
Approved rendering: المؤدِّب
Transliteration: al-mu’addib
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: معلم (teacher, implies an ongoing authority rather than temporary custodial role)
Original: παιδαγωγός
Category: Law
NEW. Matches Van Dyck term (root أ-د-ب). Must convey temporary, custodial, preparatory function — not an ongoing authority structure. Galatians 3:24-25.
Held Under Law
Approved rendering: محبوسون تحت الناموس
Transliteration: maḥbūsūn taḥta al-nāmūs
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: συνεκλείσθημεν / ἐφρουρούμεθα
Category: Law
NEW. Confinement/guarding imagery describing life under the law prior to faith’s arrival. Reuses الناموس; reinforces the law’s temporary, restraining function. Galatians 3:22-23.
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Shares the ق-د-س root with al-Quds (Jerusalem) and al-Quddus (one of Allah’s names) - generally safe shared vocabulary. Inherited from Romans package. Conceptually present throughout Galatians’ Flesh versus Spirit material (5:16-25).
Household Of Faith
Approved rendering: أهل الإيمان
Transliteration: ahl al-īmān
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως
Category: Church
NEW. Corporate-identity compound using الإيمان; ties to the church_as_gods_people baseline doctrine. Priority of care within the believing community, without excluding others. Galatians 6:10.
Hypocrisy
Approved rendering: رياء
Transliteration: riyā’
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Original: ὑπόκρισις
Category: Ethics
NEW. رياء is a recognized Islamic ethical term (hypocrisy/ostentation in worship); broadly compatible, but confirm context makes clear this is inconsistency in gospel practice specifically (Peter’s withdrawal at Antioch, 2:13), not general religious insincerity.
Judaism
Approved rendering: اليهودية
Transliteration: al-Yahūdiyyah
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: Ἰουδαϊσμός
Category: Covenant
NEW. Carries the same contemporary political/religious sensitivity caveat the baseline records for ‘Israel’; keep the historical, biographical frame explicit (Paul’s former life ‘in Judaism’, 1:13-14).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ملكوت الله
Transliteration: malakūt Allāh
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: مملكة الله
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Al-Malik (The Sovereign) is one of Allah’s 99 names, so malakut carries appropriately majestic connotations. Distinguish God’s present spiritual reign from a future political state. Inherited from Romans package. Galatians 5:21 warns that persistent works of the flesh forfeit this inheritance.
Law Of Christ
Approved rendering: ناموس المسيح
Transliteration: nāmūs al-Masīh
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة (never; see baseline ‘law’ note)
Original: νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Law
NEW. Positive use of الناموس, distinct from the negative ‘works of the law’ argument earlier in the letter — the same Arabic lexeme is used for both argumentative roles Paul himself distinguishes, so surrounding context must carry the distinction. Flag for reviewer attention wherever this term co-occurs with ‘bear_burdens’. Galatians 6:2.
Love Neighbor
Approved rendering: تحب قريبك كنفسك
Transliteration: tuḥibbu qarībaka ka-nafsika
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Original: ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν
Category: Ethics
NEW. Leviticus 19:18 citation; the whole law is ‘fulfilled’ in this one command — connects to the ‘law of Christ’ (6:2). Galatians 5:14.
Peace
Approved rendering: السلام
Transliteration: al-salām
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: الأمان, الطمأنينة
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Relational and legal peace secured through justification, not the greeting-word sense nor الطمأنينة’s Sufi/Quranic sense of subjective tranquility. Inherited from Romans package. Appears in Galatians’ opening greeting (1:3), fruit of the Spirit list (5:22), and closing benediction (6:16).
Put On Christ
Approved rendering: لبس المسيح
Transliteration: labisa al-Masīh
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Original: ἐνδύω Χριστόν
Category: Christian Identity
NEW. Baptismal metaphor of clothing oneself with Christ, signaling union and identity change. Ties to the baseline’s christian_identity_in_christ doctrine. Galatians 3:27.
Transgressor
Approved rendering: متعدٍّ
Transliteration: muta’addī
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: خاطئ (too generic, loses the specific boundary-violation/law-breaking sense)
Original: παραβάτης
Category: Law
NEW. Root ع-د-و/عدو, ‘one who transgresses/oversteps a boundary’. Distinguish from الخطية (sin in general); this is boundary-violation specifically tied to الناموس. Galatians 2:18.
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: حق الإنجيل
Transliteration: ḥaqq al-Injīl
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
Category: Gospel
NEW. Built from established الإنجيل; reinforces that gospel content has fixed truth-content, not negotiable social accommodation. Galatians 2:5, 2:14.
Walk By Spirit
Approved rendering: يسلك بالروح
Transliteration: yasluku bil-rūḥ
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: περιπατῆτε πνεύματι / πνεύματι στοιχῶμεν
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Reuses the ‘walking’ metaphor family introduced at 2:14 (ὀρθοποδοῦσιν). The practical, ongoing means of resisting the flesh. Galatians 5:16, 5:25.
Yoke Of Slavery
Approved rendering: نير العبودية
Transliteration: nīr al-‘ubūdiyyah
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Original: ζυγὸς δουλείας
Category: Freedom
NEW. Matches Van Dyck exactly; warns against re-submission to a law-based righteousness system. Galatians 5:1.
Low Risk Terms
Barnabas
Approved rendering: برنابا
Transliteration: Barnābā
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: Βαρναβᾶς
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). Paul’s companion, also swept up in Peter’s withdrawal from Gentile table fellowship at Antioch (2:13).
Boast
Approved rendering: يفتخر / الافتخار
Transliteration: yaftakhir / al-iftikhār
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Original: καυχάομαι
Category: Ethics
NEW. Standard vocabulary; theological weight is in the object of boasting (illegitimate boasting in circumcision/flesh, 6:13, vs. Paul’s sole legitimate boast in the cross, 6:14), not the verb itself. Galatians 6:4, 6:13-14.
Compel
Approved rendering: يُجبر / يُلزم
Transliteration: yujbir / yulzim
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: ἀναγκάζω
Category: Law
NEW. Low independent doctrinal risk; theological weight comes entirely from context (compulsion toward law-works as the compromised issue). Galatians 2:3, 2:14.
Marks Of Jesus
Approved rendering: سمات يسوع
Transliteration: samāt Yasū’
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: στίγματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Paul’s physical scars from persecution, claimed as authenticating marks of his belonging to and service of Christ. Concrete, non-abstract; low doctrinal risk. Galatians 6:17.
Mercy
Approved rendering: رحمة
Transliteration: raḥmah
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: النعمة (grace — distinct concept; رحمة is correct for its own sense here, not a substitute for grace)
Original: ἔλεος
Category: God
NEW. Compassionate favor, paired with ‘peace’ in the closing benediction. رحمة was explicitly rejected as a rendering for ‘grace’ in the baseline (since it functions as responsive/merited favor in Islamic theology); that caution concerns grace specifically — رحمة is the correct and appropriate Arabic term for its own distinct concept, mercy, here. Galatians 6:16.
Paul
Approved rendering: بولس
Transliteration: Būlus
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: Παῦλος
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). Use the established Arabic Christian Bible form consistently throughout the curriculum.
Peter Cephas
Approved rendering: بطرس / صفا
Transliteration: Buṭrus / Ṣafā
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: Πέτρος / Κηφᾶς
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). The apostle Peter, also called by his Aramaic name Cephas, whom Paul publicly rebukes at Antioch (2:11-14). Context must retain the confrontational, corrective tone toward a named apostolic leader.
Pillars
Approved rendering: أعمدة
Transliteration: a’midah
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: στῦλοι
Category: Church
NEW. Metaphor for the foundational, authoritative Jerusalem leaders (James, Peter, John), 2:9. Standard architectural metaphor; transfers cleanly.
Slave
Approved rendering: عبد
Transliteration: ‘abd
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Adoption
NEW. Legal status of servitude, used as the contrast term for the minor heir’s condition before adoption to full sonship. Standard vocabulary; contrast term for التبني. Galatians 4:1, 4:7.
Sow And Reap
Approved rendering: يزرع / يحصد
Transliteration: yazra’ / yaḥṣud
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: σπείρω / θερίζω
Category: Ethics
NEW. Standard agricultural metaphor for moral cause-and-effect; transfers cleanly. Galatians 6:7-8.
Titus
Approved rendering: تيطس
Transliteration: Tītus
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: Τίτος
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). A Gentile companion of Paul, the concrete test case that circumcision was not compelled of Gentile believers (2:3).
Referenced passages