Linguistic Gap Analysis — Ephesians (English → Assamese)
Purpose and Scope
This document executes Phase 1 Step 8 of the TRI pipeline for the Ephesians curriculum. It analyzes the Assamese language’s capacity to carry the nine core curriculum doctrines without collapsing into, or being confused with, adjacent concepts drawn from Assam’s dominant religious traditions — principally Sankardev’s Ekasarana Dharma (Vaishnavite naam-dharma, Satra/Namghar institutions), broader Assamese Hindu Puranic devotional practice, Shakta-Tantra tradition centered on Kamakhya, and folk-religious practice (bez healing, deodhani possession rites). It builds directly on 08_core_glossary.md and the Ephesians bible_term_registry.json, and it treats the Romans baseline Language Package as binding precedent: where Romans already solved a term, Ephesians reuses that solution exactly (Section A terms are LOCKED).
Coverage spans the entire letter, Ephesians 1–6. Every chapter is addressed; chapters that introduce no new vocabulary gap beyond reused/baseline terms are explicitly marked “reviewed — no new gap” rather than omitted.
Part 1 — Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix
For each of the nine core curriculum doctrines: the Assamese terms currently available, their weaknesses (semantic overreach, semantic underreach, or cultural collision), and the recommended handling strategy.
1. Salvation by Grace through Faith
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| অনুগ্ৰহ (grace, TM-locked) | None on its own; risk arises only in contrast contexts (2:8–9) where readers may assimilate grace to a boon (বৰ) or merit-transaction | Reuse TM term exactly; reinforce with mandatory contrastive note wherever grace is opposed to কৰ্ম (works) |
| দয়া (mercy) | Ordinarily denotes generic human compassion; can read as one-off kindness rather than a saving act | Reserve দয়া for ἔλεος (2:4) specifically, always paired contextually with অনুগ্ৰহ so the reader sees two distinct, reinforcing divine attributes, not a single vague sentiment |
| কৰ্ম (works) | Crowded neighborhood: primary Assamese sense is the technical Hindu doctrine of karma — the cosmic-causal law generating merit/demerit across rebirths | Mandatory fencing note at every occurrence (2:9, 2:10): কৰ্ম here = “any human deed,” explicitly NOT the rebirth-determining karma system |
| দান (gift) | Crowded neighborhood: দান is the classical Hindu meritorious-giving virtue (almsgiving, temple donation) that generates পুণ্য for the giver — the reverse of Paul’s point | Fence with mandatory note: ঈশ্বৰৰ দান is unilateral and non-reciprocal; it creates no merit-account for the recipient |
| উদ্ধাৰ (redemption) | Gap: no existing Assamese term captures “deliverance secured at a price” without drifting toward মুক্তি (rebirth-cycle liberation, forbidden) | Use উদ্ধাৰ as the base term; use তেজৰ মূল্যৰে উদ্ধাৰ (“rescue by the price of blood”) when the costliness of redemption must be foregrounded |
| পৰিত্ৰাণ (salvation, TM-locked) | None beyond the baseline’s already-documented মুক্তি/মোক্ষ collision | Reuse exactly; Eph 2:5,8 is a Tier-1 consistency point with Romans 1:16 |
2. Election and Predestination in Christ
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| ঈশ্বৰৰ মনোনয়ন (election, TM-locked) | None new | Reuse exactly |
| পূৰ্বনিৰ্ধাৰিত (predestined) | Gap: Assamese has no single native word for “determined beforehand by personal decision” that isn’t already colonized by fate-vocabulary | Coined/compound term পূৰ্বনিৰ্ধাৰিত (pre-determined) functions adequately if consistently fenced against ভাগ্য/নিয়তি/কপাল/কৰ্মফল — mandatory note required, same routing as election |
| ভাগ্য, নিয়তি, কপাল (fate, destiny, “forehead-writing”) | Crowded neighborhood: these are the ordinary Assamese words a hearer would otherwise reach for when told “God decided this beforehand”; all imply an impersonal, unalterable script, sometimes attributable to a prior-life karmic account | Explicitly forbidden for predestined/foreknown/election vocabulary throughout Ephesians, exactly as in the Romans baseline |
| উত্তৰাধিকাৰ (inheritance) | No major weakness; secular-legal register is acceptable and even useful | Reuse as-is; reinforce full/complete/non-provisional sense via adoption term (TM) |
| সীলমোহৰ কৰা (sealed) | Adjacent-neighborhood risk: could be misheard alongside protective-amulet/kavach practice if unglossed | Note required distinguishing the Spirit’s seal (ownership + assurance) from a magically protective mark |
| জামিন (guarantee/down payment) | Purely commercial-legal register risks feeling cold/transactional | Retain but pair with relational language in surrounding catechetical text (the Spirit himself, not merely a legal token, is the guarantee) |
3. The Church as the Body of Christ
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| শৰীৰ (body) | Crowded neighborhood: in a Vedantic-influenced environment, organic-unity body language can drift toward monistic absorption (jīvātma ultimately = Paramātma/Brahman), erasing individual personhood | Note required: the body metaphor preserves distinct personhood of members united under one Head, not dissolution into an undifferentiated whole |
| পৰিপূৰ্ণতা (fullness) | Same monism-adjacent risk as শৰীৰ — impersonal, all-pervading “fullness” (pūrṇatā) is a recognized Vedantic category | Note required distinguishing Christ’s relational fullness, received by the church, from an impersonal metaphysical plenum |
| মূৰ (head) | Risk is directional, not lexical: could be read through a caste/status-hierarchy lens as domination rather than self-giving headship | Anchor every occurrence of head-language to 5:25’s self-giving definition |
| পবিত্ৰ গৃহ (holy temple) | Gap: no ready-made Assamese word for “a people who are themselves God’s dwelling” without borrowing মন্দিৰ (forbidden, image-housing Hindu temple) | Compound phrase পবিত্ৰ গৃহ retained; mandatory distinguishing note at first occurrence |
| মণ্ডলী (church, TM-locked) | None beyond baseline’s নামঘৰ/মন্দিৰ exclusions | Reuse exactly across all nine occurrences |
4. Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| এক নতুন মানৱতা (one new humanity) | Gap: no pre-existing single Assamese theological term for a genuinely new corporate creation transcending two prior identity-groups | Retain the descriptive compound; guard against softening into mere social tolerance/harmony rhetoric, given the passage’s real force against caste hierarchy |
| চুন্নৎ (circumcision) | Crowded neighborhood: contemporary Assamese usage strongly associates চুন্নৎ with Islamic khatna practice | Clarifying note mandatory distinguishing the OT covenant sign from the unrelated modern rite |
| বিভাজনৰ দেৱাল (dividing wall) | Resonance risk (not lexical weakness): the phrase naturally evokes Assamese caste/ethnic separations, which is rhetorically useful but must not erase the specific historical Jew-Gentile referent | Retain the resonance deliberately in application/teaching notes, while keeping the historical referent explicit in the base translation |
| মিলন (reconciliation) | Underreach risk: ordinary usage tends toward interpersonal peacemaking/reunion alone | Note required to preserve the double dimension (vertical to God + horizontal Jew-Gentile) |
5. The Mystery of Christ Revealed
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| ৰহস্য (mystery) | Highest-severity crowded neighborhood in the letter: Assam’s Kamakhya-centered Shakta-Tantra tradition uses ৰহস্য/গুহ্য as technical terms for esoteric teaching deliberately withheld from all but initiated disciples under a guru | Mandatory translator note at every occurrence (1:9; 3:3,4,6,9; 5:32; 6:19) stating the theological inversion: biblical mystery was hidden by God’s own choice and is now openly, universally proclaimed — the opposite of a restricted esoteric secret. 5:32 (marriage typology) requires the heaviest-weighted note in the book given risk of Tantric sexual-mystical assimilation |
| প্ৰজ্ঞা (wisdom, in বহুবিধ প্ৰজ্ঞা) | Adjacent-neighborhood risk: প্ৰজ্ঞা is a technical Buddhist/Vedantic term for liberating gnosis attained through meditative insight | Brief clarifying note: this is God’s own personal, revealed wisdom, not insight self-attained through spiritual discipline |
| দায়িত্ব / ব্যবস্থা (stewardship) | No major weakness | Use as-is |
6. Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| বায়ুমণ্ডলৰ ক্ষমতাৰ অধিপতি (prince of the power of the air), এই জগতৰ অন্ধকারৰ শাসনকৰ্তা, স্বৰ্গীয় স্থানত থাকা মন্দ আত্মিক শক্তি | Highest cultural-collision cluster in the book: Assamese folk religion (bez-healers, deodhani trance-possession, household/forest spirits) treats spirit-powers as real and as subject to ritual appeasement, negotiation, or exorcistic transaction | Mandatory extensive translator note (comparable in gravity to the Romans baseline’s incarnation/avatar note) affirming these are real personal beings, already decisively defeated by Christ, resisted through faith/truth/prayer/Scripture — never appeasement or intermediary consultation |
| কবচ (kavach, magical protective amulet) | Direct doctrinal trap for “armor” | Forbidden. Use বৰ্ম (ordinary martial armor) exclusively for ঈশ্বৰৰ সম্পূৰ্ণ বৰ্ম |
| শয়তান (devil) | Minor risk of conflation with generic household/ancestral evil spirits addressed in folk exorcism | Present consistently as one specific, personal, named enemy, not a class of spirits |
7. Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| বশ্যতা স্বীকাৰ কৰা (submit) | Crowded neighborhood: risks being heard through the Hindu pativratā-dharma framework, in which a wife’s total, unconditional submission is itself a religious duty generating spiritual merit | Theologian-reviewed note mandatory: biblical submission is mutual in principle (5:21), Christ-bounded (5:25), non-meritorious |
| প্ৰেম (agapē love) | Crowded neighborhood: Assamese Vaishnavite devotional vocabulary (প্ৰেম/প্ৰীতি) names ecstatic devotional love toward Krishna cultivated through the worshiper’s own spiritual practice | Note required distinguishing self-giving, initiating agapē (loving the spiritually dead and unlovely, 2:4–5) from cultivated devotional emotion |
| মালিক vs. প্ৰভু (earthly master vs. Lord) | Direct doctrinal trap: κύριος is one Greek word for both senses | Forbidden substitution rule: মালিক exclusively for 6:5–9 earthly-master sense; প্ৰভু reserved exclusively for Christ, per Romans baseline lock |
| দাস (bondservant) | Historical-institutional gap: modern Assamese দাস carries later chattel-slavery associations not identical to Greco-Roman household service | Historical-institutional teaching note recommended, not a lexical substitution |
8. Gifts for Building Up the Church
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| পালক (pastor/shepherd) | Adjacent-neighborhood resonance (not collision): echoes Krishna-as-Gopala (cowherd) devotional imagery | Cultural-bridge note recommended, not a forbidden-term situation |
| শিক্ষক vs. গুৰু (teacher) | Direct doctrinal trap: গুৰু would collapse the office into Ekasarana’s Satradhikar guru-succession structure | Forbidden: গুৰু never used for church teaching offices; শিক্ষক exclusively |
| পৰিপূৰ্ণ vs. সিদ্ধ (mature/complete) | Direct doctrinal trap: সিদ্ধ names a yogic/tantric adept who has attained supernatural perfection through personal spiritual discipline | Forbidden: সিদ্ধ never used; পৰিপূৰ্ণ names corporate, Christ-given maturity |
| আত্মিক বৰ (spiritual gifts, TM-locked) | None beyond baseline বৰ/বৰদান boon-collision, already fenced | Reuse exactly |
9. Walking in Newness of Life
| Available Assamese terms | Weakness | Recommended strategy |
|---|
| জীৱন-যাপন কৰা / আচৰণ কৰা vs. মাৰ্গ (walk) | মাৰ্গ names a self-chosen spiritual-discipline path (e.g., bhakti-mārga, jñāna-mārga) | Forbidden: মাৰ্গ never used for περιπατέω; the compound verb phrase used identically at every occurrence (2:2,10; 4:1,17; 5:2,8,15) |
| পুৰণি মানুহ / নতুন মানুহ (old man/new man) | Adjacent-neighborhood risk: could be assimilated either to Ekasarana’s “taking naam” conversion rite or to a gradual self-improvement/multi-life purification model | Note required: this is a definitive, once-for-all re-creation in Christ, not a gradual ethical project or ritual identity-change |
| পবিত্ৰ আত্মাত পূৰ্ণ হৈ থাকা (filled with the Spirit) | Crowded neighborhood: risks conflation with deodhani-style ecstatic trance/possession states at Kamakhya-tradition festivals | Note required: sober-minded worship and thanksgiving, not loss of conscious self-control |
| প্ৰতিমা পূজা (idolatry) | Pastorally sensitive rather than lexically weak: mainstream Assamese Hindu practice is substantially image-centered (Durga Puja, Kali/Kamakhya worship), while aniconic Ekasarana explicitly rejects image worship | Theologian-reviewed contextual framing required so Paul’s covetousness-as-idolatry claim reads as a genuine doctrinal point, not an unglossed blanket condemnation of a neighbor’s worship practice |
Part 2 — Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods
Two distinct kinds of gap recur throughout Ephesians. Distinguishing them determines whether the fix is a new compound/paraphrase (missing vocabulary) or a fencing note restricting an existing word (crowded neighborhood).
2A. Missing Vocabulary (no adequate existing single word; compound/paraphrase required)
| Concept | Gap | Resolution |
|---|
| made alive together with Christ (συζωοποιέω) | No single Assamese verb for “co-quickened with another’s life” | Compound: খ্ৰীষ্টৰ সৈতে একেলগে সাৰুৱাই তোলা |
| raised/seated together with Christ | No positional-union vocabulary distinct from পুনৰুত্থান itself | Compound: খ্ৰীষ্টৰ সৈতে একেলগে তোলা / একেলগে বহুওৱা |
| justification-adjacent forensic compounds (from Romans, structurally relevant here) | No single word for “declared righteous” | ধাৰ্মিক বুলি গণ্য কৰা (reused) |
| one new humanity (εἷς καινὸς ἄνθρωπος) | No existing single term for a genuinely new corporate creation replacing two prior identity-groups | Descriptive compound: এক নতুন মানৱতা |
| cosmic powers of this present darkness / spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places | No indigenous single term names this specific NT category (distinct from generic folk evil-spirit vocabulary) | Full descriptive compounds, each requiring extensive translator notes |
| fellow heirs / fellow members / fellow partakers (triple compound, 3:6) | No existing single Assamese word conveys full, equal partnership in three dimensions simultaneously | Triple compound: সহ-উত্তৰাধিকাৰী, সহ-অংগ, সহ-ভাগী |
| children of wrath / sons of disobedience / children of light | No existing idiom; Hebraic “sons/children of ___” construction has no ready Assamese equivalent | Preserve the idiom literally across all three occurrences for structural consistency |
2B. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods (existing words carry competing, risk-bearing senses; fencing notes required, not new coinages)
| Assamese word/root | Competing sense already present in Assamese religious usage | Doctrine at risk | Fencing required |
|---|
| কৰ্ম | Hindu karma-doctrine (merit/demerit across rebirths) | Salvation by grace (2:9–10) | Mandatory note every occurrence |
| দান | Meritorious ritual almsgiving/donation (generates পুণ্য) | Gift of God (2:8) | Mandatory note |
| ৰহস্য | Shakta-Tantra restricted esoteric teaching | Mystery of Christ | Mandatory note every occurrence, heaviest at 5:32 |
| মাৰ্গ (avoided, not used) | Self-chosen bhakti/jñāna spiritual path | Walking in newness of life | Forbidden substitution, not fencing — term excluded entirely |
| গুৰু (avoided, not used) | Satradhikar guru-succession | Gifts for building up the church (teacher) | Forbidden substitution |
| সিদ্ধ (avoided, not used) | Yogic/tantric adept perfection | Maturity/completeness (4:13) | Forbidden substitution |
| কবচ (avoided, not used) | Puranic magical protective amulet | Armor of God | Forbidden substitution |
| বশ্যতা স্বীকাৰ কৰা | Pativratā-dharma unconditional wifely religious duty | Household codes | Mandatory theologian-reviewed note |
| প্ৰেম | Vaishnavite cultivated devotional ecstasy toward Krishna | Agapē love | Mandatory note |
| ভাগ্য / নিয়তি / কপাল / কৰ্মফল (avoided, not used) | Impersonal fate / karmic destiny | Election, predestination, providence | Forbidden substitution (per Romans baseline, extended to Ephesians predestination vocabulary) |
| প্ৰতিমা পূজা | Mainstream image-centered Hindu worship practice | Idolatry (covetousness as idolatry, 5:5) | Theologian-reviewed pastoral framing |
| পবিত্ৰ আত্মাত পূৰ্ণ হৈ থাকা | Deodhani ecstatic trance-possession | Filled with the Spirit | Mandatory note |
| মন্দিৰ / নামঘৰ (avoided, not used) | Image-housing Hindu temple / Ekasarana prayer-house institution | Church, holy temple | Forbidden substitution (per Romans baseline) |
| মূৰ | Caste/status-hierarchy headship reading | Christ as Head, husband as head | Anchoring note to 5:25 |
| শৰীৰ / পৰিপূৰ্ণতা | Vedantic monistic absorption (jīvātma = Brahman) | Body of Christ, fullness | Mandatory note |
| প্ৰভু / মালিক | Same Greek word (κύριος) split across two Assamese words | Lordship of Christ vs. earthly master | Forbidden cross-substitution in either direction |
Governing principle: Where Ephesians introduces a term absent from the Romans baseline but touching the same cultural fault line the baseline already identified (karma, avatar, guru, fate, image-worship, esoteric secrecy), the same fencing discipline applies even though the specific Assamese word is new. The baseline’s forbidden-substitution methodology, not merely its specific forbidden words, is binding precedent.
Part 3 — Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions
| Term | Decision | Rationale |
|---|
| বাপ্তিস্ম (baptism) | Transliterate | Established Christian loanword; no adequate native equivalent avoids loaded ritual-bathing associations (tirtha-snāna) as effectively as the loanword does |
| আব্বা (Abba, reused from Romans TM) | Transliterate | Preserve Aramaic filial intimacy; not directly recurring in Ephesians but governs the adoption/Abba-Father register carried into 1:5 |
| শয়তান (devil) | Transliterate/loanword | Established Assamese usage; naming one specific personal enemy rather than introducing a new descriptive coinage that might drift toward generic “evil spirit” vocabulary |
| মচীহ (messiah, titular sense) vs. খ্ৰীষ্ট (Christ, proper name) | Transliterate both, kept distinct | Ephesians uses Χριστός overwhelmingly as a proper name attached to Jesus (“in Christ,” “Christ Jesus”); reserve মচীহ strictly for the OT-promise/titular sense per Romans baseline, use খ্ৰীষ্ট as the letter’s dominant identity-formula term |
| ৰহস্য (mystery) | Paraphrase-with-native-word, NOT transliterate a Greek loan | A native word already exists (ৰহস্য); the risk is not lack of vocabulary but the word’s competing Tantric sense — solved by mandatory note, not by importing “মিস্টেৰিয়ন” as a loanword, which would be unintelligible to the target reader |
| আত্মিক বৰ, দান, কৰ্ম, দয়া, দয়ালুতা | Paraphrase using native words with fencing notes | These concepts have close native equivalents; introducing transliterated Greek/English loanwords here would be both unnecessary and would fail to teach the reader using their own moral-religious vocabulary, which is the whole point of careful paraphrase |
| সহ-উত্তৰাধিকাৰী / সহ-অংগ / সহ-ভাগী (fellow heirs/members/partakers) | Paraphrase via compound (সহ- prefix) | No transliteration option exists for a Greek compound with three components; Assamese সহ- (“co-/fellow-”) prefix productively generates the needed compounds |
| বৰ্ম (armor) vs. কবচ | Paraphrase using the less culturally loaded native word | Deliberate choice of the more generic martial term over the mythologically loaded alternative — the opposite move from transliteration, but the same fencing logic |
| দেহধাৰণ-adjacent Christological vocabulary (implicit in Eph 4:13, “Son of God”) | Reuse baseline paraphrase exactly | No new decision required; Ephesians makes no independent incarnation statement requiring a fresh transliteration/paraphrase choice beyond what Romans already settled |
General rule for this letter: Ephesians requires far less new transliteration than one might expect for a letter this doctrinally dense, because its distinctive vocabulary (mystery, fullness, body, one new humanity, armor, household code terms) is conceptual and relational rather than proper-name or ritual-technical. The dominant strategy across Part 3 is therefore paraphrase-with-fencing-note, not transliteration. The main exceptions (বাপ্তিস্ম, শয়তান, and the locked proper names/titles) are all already-established Assamese Christian loanwords carried over from the Romans baseline tradition.
Part 4 — Ranked List of Highest-Risk Ambiguities in Ephesians
Ranked by combined severity of doctrinal stakes and probability of misreading, given Assamese religious-cultural context.
- ৰহস্য (mystery) at 5:32 — marriage typology framed as “mystery” collides directly with Shakta-Tantra sexual-mystical rahasya teaching; single highest-risk verse-level ambiguity in the letter.
- Ephesians 6:12 spiritual-powers cluster (cosmic powers of darkness, spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places) — direct collision with bez/deodhani folk-spirit practice; risk of readers seeking ritual appeasement rather than faith-based resistance.
- কৰ্ম (works) at 2:9–10, paired with ঈশ্বৰৰ দান (gift) at 2:8 — the letter’s central salvation-by-grace argument is structurally vulnerable to being heard as an internal claim within the karma system (“not by bad karma but by good karma/grace”) rather than Paul’s totalizing rejection of any deed-based standing.
- প্ৰভু vs. মালিক (Lord vs. earthly master) at 6:5–9 — a single Greek word split across two Assamese words; any accidental cross-substitution dilutes Christ’s exclusive Lordship at the Critical tier.
- বশ্যতা স্বীকাৰ কৰা (submit) at 5:21–24 — near-total lexical overlap with pativratā-dharma risks recasting mutual, Christ-bounded submission as unconditional religious-duty subordination.
- খ্ৰীষ্টৰ সৈতে একেলগে সাৰুৱাই তোলা (made alive with Christ) at 2:5 — any drift toward rebirth-adjacent phrasing would contradict the Critical-tier resurrection/reincarnation fence already established in Romans.
- শৰীৰ / পৰিপূৰ্ণতা (body/fullness) at 1:23, 3:19, 4:13 — risk of monistic-absorption misreading in a Vedantic-influenced environment, erasing the personal distinctness the passage actually affirms.
- প্ৰতিমা পূজা (idolatry) at 5:5 — pastorally volatile equation of covetousness with idolatry in a substantially image-centered devotional culture; risk of both under- and over-application.
- পবিত্ৰ আত্মাত পূৰ্ণ হৈ থাকা (filled with the Spirit) at 5:18 — risk of conflation with ecstatic trance-possession states, inverting the sober-minded sense of the passage.
- পূৰ্বনিৰ্ধাৰিত (predestined) at 1:5, 1:11 — high risk of fatalistic/karmic misreading in the very passage meant to establish God’s personal, loving initiative.
- এক নতুন মানৱতা (one new humanity) at 2:15 — risk of softening into generic social-harmony language, blunting the passage’s real force against caste-based spiritual hierarchy.
- চুন্নৎ (circumcision) at 2:11 — contemporary Islamic khatna association risks anachronistic cross-religious confusion unrelated to the OT covenant-sign referent.
- আধিপত্য vs. প্ৰভুত্ব (cosmic dominion vs. Christ’s Lordship) at 1:21 — subtler than #4 but same fencing principle: must not blur into a second “lord” title.
- সিদ্ধ-avoidance for τέλειος (mature/complete) at 4:13 — lower narrative risk than the above but structurally important for keeping corporate ecclesial maturity distinct from individual yogic attainment.
- দান (gift of God) at 2:8 — closely tied to #3 but distinct: risk specifically of readers assimilating grace to reciprocal merit-generating giving rather than unilateral divine initiative.
Part 5 — Full-Book Chapter Review Confirmation
| Chapter | New-gap terms identified | Status |
|---|
| Ephesians 1 | election, predestined, adoption, inheritance, sealed, guarantee, blessed/blessing, heavenly places, might/working, cosmic dominion, fullness, body | Reviewed — gaps analyzed above (Parts 1–2, doctrines 2, 3) |
| Ephesians 2 | dead in sin, trespass, flesh/corrupted nature, children of wrath, sons of disobedience, course of this world, mercy, made alive with Christ, raised/seated with Christ, kindness, gift of God, works, boast, workmanship, good works, prepared beforehand, circumcision, dividing wall, one new humanity, reconciliation, fellow citizens, household of God, cornerstone, access, holy temple, dwelling place | Reviewed — this is the core-passage chapter (2:1–10) and the letter’s single densest concentration of new vocabulary; fully analyzed above |
| Ephesians 3 | fellow heirs/members/partakers, mystery (3:3-9), stewardship, manifold wisdom | Reviewed — gaps analyzed above (doctrine 5) |
| Ephesians 4 | called/calling (reused), unity, baptism, evangelist, pastor, teacher, equipping, building up, mature/complete, walk, old man/new man, renewal of mind, put off/put on, grieve the Holy Spirit, schemes, forgive | Reviewed — gaps analyzed above (doctrines 8, 9) |
| Ephesians 5 | love (agapē), submit, respect, one flesh, washing of water, savior, mystery (5:32), unity, idolatry, sexual immorality/covetousness, children of light, filled with the Spirit, imitators of God, kingdom of God (reused) | Reviewed — gaps analyzed above (doctrines 6 [note: household material begins here], 7, 9); 5:32 flagged as top-ranked ambiguity |
| Ephesians 6 | obey, honor, bondservant, master (earthly), partiality, prince of the power of the air, rulers/authorities, cosmic powers of darkness, spiritual forces of evil, devil, schemes, armor of God, stand firm, word of God, prayer, ambassador, mystery (6:19) | Reviewed — gaps analyzed above (doctrines 6, 7); contains the letter’s single highest-severity cultural-collision cluster (6:12) |
No chapter of Ephesians is silently omitted; every chapter’s load-bearing vocabulary has been checked against both the Romans baseline Language Package and Assam’s specific religious-cultural landscape.
Summary of Governing Recommendations for Phase 2
- Reuse Section A terms from the Romans baseline without deviation. Ephesians introduces no doctrine that overturns a baseline decision; it only adds new load-bearing vocabulary around the same nine fault lines the baseline already mapped (grace/merit, salvation/liberation, resurrection/rebirth, incarnation/avatar-adjacent Sonship language, guru/teacher, temple/church, fate/election).
- Apply the baseline’s fencing methodology, not just its specific forbidden words, to every new Ephesians term that touches the same cultural fault lines (কৰ্ম, দান, ৰহস্য, প্ৰেম, বশ্যতা স্বীকাৰ কৰা, প্ৰতিমা পূজা, পবিত্ৰ আত্মাত পূৰ্ণ হৈ থাকা).
- Maintain the three hard forbidden-substitution rules unique to Ephesians: মাৰ্গ never for “walk”; গুৰু/সিদ্ধ never for church offices/maturity; কবচ never for armor; মালিক/প্ৰভু never interchanged.
- Route every Critical/High item identified in this analysis to human theologian review before Phase 2 segment translation begins, per the risk-tier conventions inherited from the baseline
doctrine_risk_registry.json.
- Ephesians 2:1-10 (the core passage) and Ephesians 5:21-6:9 and 6:10-20 (household codes and spiritual warfare) carry the highest concentration of ranked ambiguities and should receive priority theologian-review scheduling in Phase 2 Step 17.