Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Colossians (English–Greek–Bavarian)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across all four chapters of Colossians. Terms marked [REUSE] are established in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json and must be used exactly as recorded there — spelling, risk tier, and all. New terms proposed for this curriculum are marked [NEW] and carry a proposed risk tier for confirmation in Step 2 (doctrine risk registry).
| # | English term | Greek (transliteration) | Bavarian rendering | Status | Risk | Doctrine | Primary Colossians refs | Key translation note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | gospel | εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) | Evangelium | [REUSE] | Medium | Gospel | 1:5,23; 4:3 | Baseline term, unchanged. |
| 2 | grace | χάρις (charis) | Gnad | [REUSE] | High | Grace | 1:2,6; 3:16; 4:6,18 | 4:6 is a distinct “winsome speech” nuance — flag, don’t over-load with soteriological weight. |
| 3 | faith | πίστις (pistis) | Glaam | [REUSE] | Medium | Faith | 1:4,23; 2:5,7,12 | Unchanged. |
| 4 | saints | ἅγιοι (hagioi) | Heiling | [REUSE] | High | Sainthood | 1:2,4,12,26; 3:12 | Must gloss “alle Gläubign” per baseline forbidden-substitution rule. |
| 5 | holy | ἅγιος (hagios) | heilig | [REUSE] | High | Sanctification | 1:22; 3:12 | Unchanged. |
| 6 | sanctification | ἁγιασμός-root / ἡγιασμένοι | Heiligung | [REUSE] | Medium | Sanctification | 3:12 | Unchanged. |
| 7 | church | ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) | Kirch | [REUSE] | High | Church as Head/Body | 1:18,24; 4:15,16 | Colossians skews toward the universal body sense more than Romans; the building-default risk is thereby intensified, not reduced. |
| 8 | salvation | (conceptually related; not the dominant Colossians term — ἀπολύτρυσις carries this weight) | Erlesung | [REUSE] | High | Salvation | (cf. 1:14 ἀπολύτρωσις) | See #74 below for the distinct ransom-payment nuance. |
| 9 | lord | κύριος (kyrios) | Herr | [REUSE] | Critical/High | Lordship of Christ | 1:3,10; 3:17,18,20,22–24; 4:1,7,17 | Colossians-specific complication: κύριος also denotes the human “master” in the household code (3:22–4:1), producing a homonym collision more acute than Romans; require “irdischer Herr” qualifier for the human sense. |
| 10 | son of God | υἱὸς θεοῦ / υἱὸς τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ | Sohn vo Gott | [REUSE] | Critical | Sonship of Christ | 1:13 | Rendered here as “beloved Son” (Semitic genitive idiom), not literal “son of the love.” |
| 11 | resurrection | ἀνάστασις-root / πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν / συνεγείρω | Aufersteh’ng | [REUSE] | Medium/Critical | Resurrection of Christ / Union with Christ | 1:18; 2:12; 3:1 | Colossians’ union dimension (raised WITH Christ) elevates risk beyond the baseline’s Medium tier — see #48. |
| 12 | glory | δόξα (doxa) | Herrlichkeit | [REUSE] | Medium | Deity of Christ | 1:11,27; 3:4 | Unchanged. |
| 13 | god | θεός (theos) | Gott | [REUSE] | Critical | God | throughout | Unchanged. |
| 14 | holy spirit | πνεῦμα (implied) | Heiliger Geist | [REUSE] | Critical | — | 1:8 | Unchanged. |
| 15 | father | πατήρ (patēr) | Voda | [REUSE] | Medium | Adoption | 1:2,3,12; 3:17 | Unchanged. |
| 16 | thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία (eucharistia) | Dank | [REUSE] | Low | Thanksgiving | 1:3,12; 2:7; 3:15,17; 4:2 | Unchanged. |
| 17 | apostle | ἀπόστολος (apostolos) | Apostl | [REUSE] | Low | Apostleship | 1:1 | Unchanged. |
| 18 | called/calling | κλητός-root / ἐκλήθητε | beruafa | [REUSE] | Medium | Divine Calling | 3:15 | Unchanged. |
| 19 | election | ἐκλογή-root / ἐκλεκτός | Erwählung / Erwählte | [REUSE] | High | Effectual Calling | 3:12 | Adjective form “Erwählte” carries the same register-gap risk as the baseline noun. |
| 20 | Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Jesus | [REUSE] | Low | — | throughout | Unchanged. |
| 21 | image | εἰκών (eikōn) | Ebenbild | [NEW] | Critical | Supremacy of Christ / Deity of Christ | 1:15; 3:10 | Collides with “Gnadenbild” (venerated devotional image/icon) folk-Catholic vocabulary; must be glossed as ontological manifestation, not devotional depiction. Same term required at both refs to preserve the 1:15↔3:10 echo. |
| 22 | firstborn | πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos) | Erstgeborne | [NEW] | Critical | Supremacy of Christ over Creation | 1:15,18 | Rank/inheritance sense, NOT sequence-of-creation; guard against Arian-style misreading. Mandatory footnote. |
| 23 | invisible | ἀόρατος (aoratos) | unsichtbar | [NEW] | Low | — | 1:15,16 | Standard. |
| 24 | creation/create | κτίσις / κτίζω (ktisis/ktizō) | Schöpfung / erschaffa | [NEW] | Medium | Supremacy of Christ over Creation | 1:15,16,23 | Context must carry Christ’s distinction from, not membership in, creation. |
| 25 | thrones/dominions/rulers/authorities | θρόνοι, κυριότητες, ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι | Thronwesen, Herrschaftn, Mächt, Gwaltn | [NEW] | High | Supremacy of Christ over Creation | 1:16; 2:10,15 | Collides with residual Alpine folk-belief in intermediate spiritual beings; must read as wholly subordinate, not to-be-placated. |
| 26 | hold together / sustain | συνίστημι (synistēmi) | zsammhalten | [NEW] | Medium | Supremacy of Christ over Creation | 1:17 | Must convey ongoing metaphysical sustaining, not mere organization. |
| 27 | head | κεφαλή (kephalē) | Haupt | [NEW] | High | Christ as Head of the Church | 1:18; 2:10,19 | Collides with historical Catholic “Haupt der Kirche” papal-headship language; must assert Christ’s sole, unshared headship. |
| 28 | body | σῶμα (sōma) | Leib | [NEW] | Medium | Christ as Head of the Church | 1:18,22,24; 2:11,17,19,23; 3:15 | Context-sensitive: “body of Christ” (church) vs. “body of the flesh” (sin-nature, negative) vs. neutral physical body — flag per occurrence. |
| 29 | beginning/source | ἀρχή (archē) | Ursprung | [NEW] | Medium | Christ as Head of the Church | 1:18 | Distinguish from mere temporal “start.” |
| 30 | preeminent | πρωτεύων (prōteuōn) | in allem der Erste | [NEW] | Medium | Supremacy of Christ | 1:18 | — |
| 31 | was pleased/resolved | εὐδοκέω (eudokeō) | hod Gott so beschlossn | [NEW] | Medium | Fullness of Deity in Christ | 1:19 | Sovereign resolve, not casual preference. |
| 32 | fullness | πλήρωμα (plērōma) | Fülle | [NEW] | Critical | Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily | 1:19; 2:9,10 | Collides with Marian “fullness of grace” devotional language; must assert Christ’s unique fullness of the Godhead itself. |
| 33 | dwell | κατοικέω (katoikeō) | wohna | [NEW] | Medium | Fullness of Deity / Incarnation | 1:19 | Permanent, not temporary, indwelling. |
| 34 | reconcile | ἀποκαταλλάσσω (apokatallassō) | versöhna | [NEW] | Critical | Reconciliation through the Cross | 1:20,22 | Collides with the Catholic “Sakrament der Versöhnung” (repeatable confession rite); must assert Christ’s once-for-all objective reconciliation. |
| 35 | make peace | εἰρηνοποιέω (eirēnopoieō) | Friad gmacht | [NEW; root REUSE] | Medium | Reconciliation through the Cross | 1:20 | Built on baseline “Friad.” |
| 36 | blood of the cross | αἷμα τοῦ σταυροῦ | s’Bluat vom Kreuz | [NEW] | Medium | Reconciliation through the Cross | 1:20 | Positive cultural resonance (Herrgottswinkel, Oberammergau); retain substitutionary sense. |
| 37 | cross | σταυρός (stauros) | Kreuz | [NEW] | Low | Reconciliation through the Cross | 1:20; 2:14 | Well-established, positively-resonant Catholic devotional term. |
| 38 | love | ἀγάπη (agapē) | Liab | [NEW] | Medium | (undergirds several doctrines) | 1:4,8; 3:14 | Everyday “Liab” skews romantic/general; needs contextual reinforcement for covenantal/self-giving sense. |
| 39 | hope | ἐλπίς (elpis) | Hoffnung | [NEW] | Medium | — | 1:5,23,27 | Must convey confident assurance, not wishful uncertainty. |
| 40 | fruit/bear fruit | καρπός / καρποφορέω | Frucht bringa | [NEW] | Low | — | 1:6,10 | Positive rural resonance. |
| 41 | brother | ἀδελφός (adelphos) | Bruada | [NEW; pattern REUSE] | Low | — | 1:2; 4:7,9 | Follows baseline’s established Bruder>Bruada lenition pattern. |
| 42 | servant/slave (metaphorical) / fellow-servant | δοῦλος / σύνδουλος | Knecht (metaphor) / Mitknecht | [NEW] | Medium | — | 1:7; 4:7,12 | Distinguish from the literal-slavery sense in ch.3 (#68 below). |
| 43 | minister/servant | διάκονος (diakonos) | Diener | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 1:7,23,25 | — |
| 44 | knowledge (full) | ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis) | Erkenntnis | [NEW] | Medium-High | Warning against False Teaching | 1:9,10; 2:2; 3:10 | Must be distinguished from the false teachers’ claimed esoteric knowledge. |
| 45 | wisdom | σοφία (sophia) | Weisheit | [NEW] | Medium | Warning against False Teaching | 1:9,28; 2:3,23; 3:16; 4:5 | — |
| 46 | understanding | σύνεσις (synesis) | Verständnis | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 1:9 | — |
| 47 | endurance | ὑπομονή (hypomonē) | Ausdauer | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 1:11 | — |
| 48 | patience/longsuffering | μακροθυμία (makrothymia) | Langmuat | [NEW] | Medium | — | 1:11; 3:12 | — |
| 49 | inheritance/portion | κλῆρος (klēros) | Erbteil | [NEW] | Medium | Adoption/Inheritance | 1:12 | Guard against “Glück/Zufall” (luck) false-friend resonance. |
| 50 | dominion of darkness | ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους | d’Gwalt vo da Finsternis | [NEW] | Medium-High | Union with Christ (deliverance) | 1:13 | Actual spiritual realm, not mere ignorance. |
| 51 | redemption (ransom) | ἀπολύτρωσις (apolytrōsis) | Loskaufung | [NEW; distinct from REUSE Erlesung] | High | Salvation / Reconciliation | 1:14 | Preserve ransom-price nuance; do not collapse into generic “Erlesung.” |
| 52 | forgiveness of sins | ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν | Vergebung vo de Sünd | [NEW; root REUSE Sünd] | High | Reconciliation | 1:14 | Inherits Sünd’s trivialization risk; also risks confession-sacrament conflation. |
| 53 | alienated/estranged | ἀλλοτριόω (allotrioō) | entfremd | [NEW] | Medium | Reconciliation | 1:21 | — |
| 54 | flesh | σάρξ (sarx) | Fleisch / sündige Natur | [NEW] | Medium | Incarnation / Old Self | 1:22,24; 2:11,13,18,23; 3:22 | Context-sensitive: neutral (incarnational) vs. negative (fallen-nature) sense — flag per occurrence. |
| 55 | unblemished | ἄμωμος (amōmos) | ohne Fehl / makellos | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 1:22 | Sacrificial background, positively resonant with Mass imagery. |
| 56 | above reproach | ἀνέγκλητος (anenklētos) | ohne Vorwurf | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 1:22 | — |
| 57 | sufferings (ministry afflictions) | παθήματα / θλῖψις / ἀνταναπληρόω | de Bedrängnis vom Christus ergänzn | [NEW] | High/Critical | Sufficiency of Christ (guarding against redemptive-suffering confusion) | 1:24 | Collides with Bavarian Passion-devotion/redemptive-suffering piety (Oberammergau); must not imply added atoning merit — Christ’s atonement (1:20) is already complete. |
| 58 | stewardship | οἰκονομία (oikonomia) | s’Amt / Haushaltung | [NEW] | Medium | — | 1:25 | — |
| 59 | mystery | μυστήριον (mystērion) | Geheimnis | [NEW] | High | Warning against False Teaching / Christ Sufficiency | 1:26,27; 2:2; 4:3 | Collides with Catholic sacramental “Geheimnis” (mysterium) usage and mystery-cult/esoteric resonance; must be glossed as fully-revealed, not secret. |
| 60 | mature/complete | τέλειος (teleios) | vollkommen | [NEW] | Medium | Christ Sufficiency | 1:28 | Avoid “sinlessly perfect” misreading; sense is Christ-given completeness. |
| 61 | knit/joined together | συμβιβάζω (symbibazō) | zsammfüagn | [NEW] | Medium | Christ as Head of the Church | 2:2,19 | — |
| 62 | full assurance | πληροφορία (plērophoria) | volle Gwissheit | [NEW] | Medium | Assurance | 2:2 | — |
| 63 | rooted | ῥιζόω (rhizoō) | verwurzelt | [NEW] | Low | Union with Christ | 2:7 | Positive rural resonance. |
| 64 | tradition (of men) | παράδοσις (paradosis) | Menschasatzung / Überliefarung | [NEW] | Critical | Warning against False Teaching | 2:8 | Must be distinguished from capital-T Catholic “Tradition” as an authoritative revelation-channel — genuine risk of misreading in either direction. |
| 65 | philosophy | φιλοσοφία (philosophia) | Philosophie | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Warning against False Teaching | 2:8 | — |
| 66 | elemental spirits / elements of the world | στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου | Weltmächt / Elementargeister | [NEW] | High/Critical | Warning against False Teaching / Syncretism | 2:8,20 | Collides with residual Alpine folk-spirit belief; must be framed as defeated, subordinate powers. |
| 67 | circumcision | περιτομή (peritomē) | Beschneidung | [NEW] | Medium | Union with Christ | 2:11; 3:11 | Low cultural collision, needs explanatory framing. |
| 68 | buried with (Christ) | συνθάπτω (synthaptō) | mit eahm begrabn | [NEW] | Critical | Union with Christ | 2:12 | Core union-with-Christ imagery. |
| 69 | baptism | βάπτισμα (baptisma) | Taufe | [NEW] | High | Union with Christ | 2:12 | Risk that the near-universal Catholic infant-baptism sacramental practice eclipses the Pauline union-with-Christ theological sense. |
| 70 | record of debt | χειρόγραφον (cheirographon) | Schuldbrief | [NEW] | Medium | Reconciliation | 2:14 | Legal debt-cancellation image. |
| 71 | decree/ordinance | δόγμα (dogma) | Vorschrift / Satzung | [NEW] | Medium | Warning against False Teaching | 2:14,20 | — |
| 72 | disarm/strip off (hostile powers) | ἀπεκδύομαι (apekdyomai) | entwaffna | [NEW] | Medium | Supremacy of Christ | 2:15 | Same root reused for “put off” the old self at 3:9 — deliberate literary echo. |
| 73 | triumph over / public spectacle | θριαμβεύω / δειγματίζω | im Triumph vorführn / bloßstelln | [NEW] | Medium | Supremacy of Christ | 2:15 | Roman-triumph imagery may need brief explanation. |
| 74 | shadow vs. substance | σκιά vs. σῶμα | Schattn vs. Wirklichkeit | [NEW] | Medium | Christ Sufficiency | 2:17 | — |
| 75 | humility (context-sensitive) | ταπεινοφροσύνη (tapeinophrosynē) | Demuat | [NEW] | Medium | Warning against False Teaching (false sense) / Union with Christ ethics (true sense) | 2:18,23; 3:12 | Disambiguate false ascetic self-abasement vs. genuine Spirit-given humility per occurrence. |
| 76 | worship of angels | θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων | Engelverehrung | [NEW] | High/Critical | Warning against False Teaching / Syncretism | 2:18 | Collides with legitimate Bavarian guardian-angel (Schutzengel) piety; must target only Christ-displacing angel-worship. |
| 77 | (disputed) entering into visions | ἐμβατεύω (embateuō) | in Visionen eintaucha (tentative) | [NEW] | Medium | Warning against False Teaching | 2:18 | Genuinely lexically uncertain in the source text itself. |
| 78 | puffed up | φυσιόω (physioō) | aufblasn | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 2:18 | — |
| 79 | joints and ligaments / bond | ἁφή, σύνδεσμος | Gelenk und Bänd / s’Band | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Christ as Head of the Church | 2:19; 3:14 | Echo between 2:19 and 3:14 — preserve consistent root. |
| 80 | growth | αὔξησις (auxēsis) | s’Wachstum | [NEW] | Low | — | 2:19 | — |
| 81 | self-made religion | ἐθελοθρησκία (ethelothrēskia) | selbstgmachte Religion | [NEW] | High | Warning against False Teaching | 2:23 | Must not broadly critique legitimate Catholic devotional discipline. |
| 82 | severity to the body / asceticism | ἀφειδία σώματος | Strenge gengan Leib | [NEW] | High | Warning against False Teaching | 2:23 | Collides with legitimate Bavarian Lenten fasting tradition; target only Christ-displacing, self-glorifying asceticism. |
| 83 | raised with (Christ) | συνεγείρω (synegeirō) | mit’n Christus aufgstanden | [NEW; extends REUSE Aufersteh’ng] | Critical | Union with Christ | 3:1 | Union dimension elevates risk beyond the baseline resurrection entry. |
| 84 | things above / things on earth | τὰ ἄνω / τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς | de Sachan wo obn san / auf der Erdn | [NEW] | Medium | Union with Christ | 3:1,2 | — |
| 85 | hidden / revealed | κρύπτω / φανερόω | verborgn / offenbarn | [NEW] | Medium | Union with Christ (eschatology) | 3:3,4 | Preserve already/not-yet tension. |
| 86 | put to death/mortify | νεκρόω (nekroō) | tötn / absterbn lassn | [NEW] | High | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:5 | Active imperative vs. already-accomplished positional death (3:3) — preserve both. |
| 87 | vice list (immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness) | πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, πάθος, ἐπιθυμία κακή, πλεονεξία | Unzucht, Unreinheit, Leidenschaft, bös Begier, Gier/Habsucht | [NEW] | Medium | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:5 | — |
| 88 | idolatry (= covetousness) | εἰδωλολατρία (eidōlolatria) | Götzendienst | [NEW] | Medium-High | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:5 | Needs unpacking as “making something your god,” not only literal idol-worship. |
| 89 | wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ | Zorn vo Gott | [NEW] | Medium-High | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:6 | Holy judicial wrath, not petty anger. |
| 90 | vice list (speech/relational) | ὀργή, θυμός, κακία, βλασφημία, αἰσχρολογία | Zorn, Wuat, Bosheit, Verleumdung, gmeine Red | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:8 | βλασφημία is context-sensitive (slander vs. blasphemy). |
| 91 | falsehood | ψεῦδος (pseudos) | Liag | [NEW] | Low | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:9 | — |
| 92 | old self / new self | παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / νέος ἄνθρωπος | der alte Mensch / der neue Mensch | [NEW] | Critical | Putting Off the Old Self / Putting On the New | 3:9,10 | Definitive identity-change, not gradual self-improvement. |
| 93 | put off (clothing metaphor) | ἀπεκδύομαι (apekdyomai) | ausziagn | [NEW] | Critical | Putting Off the Old Self | 3:9 | Shared root with 2:15 (disarm) — deliberate echo. |
| 94 | put on (clothing metaphor) | ἐνδύω (endyō) | anziagn | [NEW] | Medium | Putting On the New Self | 3:10,12 | Positive cultural bridge available (Sunday-best/Tracht dressing for church/feast days). |
| 95 | being renewed | ἀνακαινόω (anakainoō) | erneuert | [NEW] | Medium | Putting On the New Self | 3:10 | Continuous-renewal tense nuance. |
| 96 | image (2nd occurrence) | εἰκών (eikōn) | Ebenbild | [see #21] | Critical | Putting On the New Self / Deity of Christ | 3:10 | Must match 1:15 exactly — intentional echo. |
| 97 | Greek/Jew/barbarian/Scythian/slave/free | Ἕλλην, Ἰουδαῖος, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος | Grieche, Jud, Barbar, Skythe, Sklave, Freie | [NEW] | High (doctrinal claim) / Low-Medium (individual terms) | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (extended to social class) | 3:11 | Extends baseline Unity doctrine to include social-class abolition — new dimension for doctrine registry. |
| 98 | elect/chosen | ἐκλεκτός (eklektos) | Erwählte | [REUSE root] | High | Effectual Calling | 3:12 | See #19. |
| 99 | heartfelt compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience | σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ, χρηστότης, πραΰτης, μακροθυμία | herzlichs Erbarma, Güte, Sanftmuat, Langmuat | [NEW] | Medium | Putting On the New Self | 3:12 | Render idiom naturally, not literally (“bowels of mercy”). |
| 100 | bearing with | ἀνέχομαι (anechomai) | vertraga | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Putting On the New Self | 3:13 | — |
| 101 | bond of perfection | σύνδεσμος τῆς τελειότητος | s’Band vo da Vollkommenheit | [NEW] | Medium | Putting On the New Self | 3:14 | Echo with 2:19. |
| 102 | let (peace) rule / arbitrate | βραβεύω (brabeuō) | entscheidn lassn | [NEW] | Medium | Peace of Christ | 3:15 | — |
| 103 | word of Christ | ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ | s’Wort vom Christus | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Christ Sufficiency | 3:16 | — |
| 104 | psalms, hymns, spiritual songs | ψαλμοῖς, ὕμνοις, ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς | Psalm, Loblied, geistlichs Liad | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Corporate Worship | 3:16 | Positive Kirchenlied resonance. |
| 105 | submit/be subject to | ὑποτάσσομαι (hypotassomai) | unterordna | [NEW] | High | Household Codes | 3:18 | Must pair with husbands’ love-command; avoid domination reading. |
| 106 | provoke/embitter | ἐρεθίζω (erethizō) | aufbringa / reizn | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Household Codes | 3:21 | — |
| 107 | slave / (human) master | δοῦλος / κύριος (household sense) | Sklave / Herr (irdischer Herr) | [NEW] | High | Household Codes | 3:22–4:1 | Slave: recommend “Sklave” over “Knecht” to preserve the historical institution’s gravity. Master: requires qualifier to avoid collision with κύριος = “the Lord.” |
| 108 | justice and fairness | δίκαιον, ἰσότης | s’Gerechte, Gleichheit | [NEW] | Medium | Household Codes | 4:1 | Non-forensic ethical use of the δικαιοσύνη root — distinguish register from soteriological “Gerechtigkeit.” |
| 109 | watch/be alert | γρηγορέω (grēgoreō) | wach bleibn | [NEW] | Low | Prayer | 4:2 | — |
| 110 | door for the word | θύρα τοῦ λόγου | Tür fürs Wort | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Mission to the Nations | 4:3 | — |
| 111 | those outside | τοὺς ἔξω | de Auswärtign | [NEW] | Medium | Evangelism | 4:5 | Respectful proclamation framing required. |
| 112 | opportune time / redeem the opportunity | καιρός / ἐξαγοράζω | de Zeit nutzn / auskaufn | [NEW] | Low-Medium | Evangelism | 4:5 | Echo with 1:14’s ransom root. |
| 113 | salt (speech) | ἅλας (halas) | Salz | [NEW] | Low | Evangelism | 4:6 | Natural culinary resonance. |
| 114 | fellow-prisoner | συναιχμάλωτος (synaichmalōtos) | Mitgfangana | [NEW] | Low | — | 4:10 | — |
| 115 | church in her house | κατ᾽ οἶκον αὐτῆς ἐκκλησία | Kirch(ngmoaschaft) in ihrem Haus | [REUSE root; cross-reference note] | High | Church as God’s People | 4:15 | Positive counter-example against the “Kirch = building” default — usable pastorally. |
| 116 | letter | ἐπιστολή (epistolē) | Brief | [NEW] | Low | — | 4:16 | — |
| 117 | chains/bonds | δεσμά (desma) | Fessln / Gfangenschaft | [NEW] | Low-Medium | — | 4:18 | — |
| 118 | proper names (Epaphras, Onesimus, Tychicus, Aristarchus, Mark, Justus, Luke, Demas, Nympha, Archippus, Laodicea, Hierapolis) | various | standard transliterations | [NEW; Low] | Low | — | 1:7; 4:7–17 | Follow established Bavarian Bible-tradition naming conventions (identical to standard German). |
Risk Tier Summary (proposed, pending Step 2 confirmation)
| Tier | Count | Notable new entries |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 11 | Ebenbild (image), Erstgeborne (firstborn), Fülle (fullness), Gottheit (deity, ch.2 — see semantic analysis 2:9), versöhna (reconcile), mit eahm begrabn (buried with), mit’n Christus aufgstanden (raised with), ausziagn (put off old self), der alte/neue Mensch (old/new self), Menschasatzung (tradition of men), Bedrängnis vom Christus ergänzn (fill up Christ’s afflictions) |
| High | 20 | Haupt (head), Thronwesen/Herrschaftn/Mächt/Gwaltn, Loskaufung (redemption), Vergebung vo de Sünd, Geheimnis (mystery), Weltmächt (elemental spirits), Engelverehrung (angel-worship), selbstgmachte Religion, Strenge gengan Leib (asceticism), Taufe (baptism), unterordna (submit), Sklave/Herr (household code), Grieche/Jud/…/Sklave/Freie (unity claim), Erwählte (elect) |
| Medium | ~55 | majority of doctrinal-supporting vocabulary (love, hope, wisdom, knowledge, virtue/vice lists, body-imagery terms, etc.) |
| Low | ~30 | proper names, minor connective vocabulary, well-established loanwords with strong existing cultural resonance (Kreuz, Salz, Frucht bringa, etc.) |
This glossary extends, and does not contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json. All [REUSE] entries retain their baseline spelling and risk tier exactly. [NEW] entries are proposed for formal addition to translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json in the next pipeline step, with risk tiers to be finalized in doctrine_risk_registry.json.
Critical Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: Herr
Transliteration: Herr
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians-specific complication: kyrios also names the human household ‘master’ at 3:22-4:1; require an ‘irdischer Herr’ qualifier for the human sense so it is never confused with Christ’s exclusive Lordship (1:10; 3:17,18,20,24; 4:1).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Sohn vo Gott
Transliteration: Sohn vom Gott
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians 1:13 uses the Semitic genitive idiom ‘Son of his love’ = ‘his beloved Son’; render as ‘Sohn vo Gott, den er liab hod’, never literally ‘son of the love’.
God
Approved rendering: Gott
Transliteration: Herrgott
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Unchanged throughout Colossians. ‘Herrgott’ reserved for culturally warm folk-devotional contexts only, never as an incidental profanity register.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Heiliger Geist
Transliteration: Heiliga Geist
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα (implied)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:8 (‘love in the Spirit’).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: Gerechtigkeit
Transliteration: Gerechtigkeit
Doctrine: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians 4:1 uses the same root (dikaion) in a non-forensic, ethical ‘be fair’ sense; must be registrally distinguished from this soteriological entry — see ‘justice_fairness’.
Justification
Approved rendering: Rechtfertigung
Transliteration: Rechtfertigung
Doctrine: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, retained for curriculum completeness though not directly re-used by a specific Colossians passage; kept to maintain cross-curriculum vocabulary consistency.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: zuagrechnete Gerechtigkeit
Transliteration: zuagrechnate Gerechtigkeit
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: verdiante Gerechtigkeit
Inherited from Romans package, retained for cross-curriculum consistency; forbidden substitution ‘verdiante Gerechtigkeit’ remains in force.
Image
Approved rendering: Ebenbild
Transliteration: Ebenbuidl
Doctrine: Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: Abbild (weaker copy/likeness sense, rejected as too derivative)
Original: εἰκών
Category: Christology
Collides with venerated Bavarian ‘Gnadenbilder’ devotional images (esp. the Black Madonna of Altötting); must be glossed as Christ’s ontological manifestation of the invisible God, never a devotional depiction. Occurs at 1:15 and 3:10 — identical rendering required at both to preserve the intentional echo. Mandatory theologian footnote every occurrence.
Firstborn
Approved rendering: Erstgeborne
Transliteration: Erschtgeborne
Doctrine: Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Original: πρωτότοκος
Category: Christology
Rank/inheritance sense (cf. Ps 89:27), NOT sequence-of-creation. The single verse most historically exploited toward an Arian/Jehovah’s Witness-style created-being misreading; that polemic actively circulates in German-speaking Bavaria-Austria border regions. Mandatory translator footnote every occurrence (1:15, 1:18); never omit.
Fullness
Approved rendering: Fülle
Transliteration: Füllung
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: Pleroma (transliterated loanword, forbidden — reintroduces the Gnostic/Theosophist technical sense Paul himself refutes)
Original: πλήρωμα
Category: Christology
Collides with the daily-recited Hail Mary’s ‘voll der Gnade’/‘gnadenvoll’ (Marian fullness of grace); must always be explicitly anchored to ‘d’Gottheit’ (the Godhead itself) and, at 2:9, ‘leiblich’ (bodily), never left to stand alone. Occurs at 1:19; 2:9,10. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence — single highest-stakes term in the curriculum.
Deity
Approved rendering: Gottheit
Transliteration: Gottheit
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: göttliche Eigenschaft / ‘divine quality’ (the New World Translation’s weakening rendering of theotes at 2:9, forbidden)
Original: θεότης
Category: Christology
The essential divine nature itself, not merely divine qualities or favor. Must not be softened to ‘godly’ or ‘god-like’. Occurs at 2:9. Mandatory theologian review.
Reconcile
Approved rendering: versöhna
Transliteration: versöhnen
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: ἀποκαταλλάσσω
Category: Salvation
Collides with the Catholic ‘Sakrament der Versöhnung’ (repeatable, priest-mediated confession rite); must be rendered as Christ’s once-for-all, objective, cosmic reconciliation, complete at the cross and received by faith, never renewed through Church ritual. Occurs at 1:20,22. Mandatory theologian review and explicit clarifying note every occurrence.
Tradition Of Men
Approved rendering: Menschasatzung
Transliteration: Menschensatzung
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: παράδοσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων
Category: False Teaching
Collides bidirectionally with capital-T Catholic ‘Tradition’ as an authoritative revelation-channel: risks either being misread as an attack on the Church’s own sacred Tradition, or dismissed as inapplicable. Mandatory clarifying note: Paul targets specifically human, Christ-displacing tradition, not divinely-transmitted apostolic Tradition. Occurs at 2:8.
Elemental Spirits
Approved rendering: Weltmächt
Transliteration: Weltmächt
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: False Teaching
Collides with residual Bavarian Alpine folk-spirit belief (Perchten processions, household/mountain-spirit lore); must be framed as powers already defeated by and wholly subordinate to Christ (cf. 2:15), never as forces still meriting respect or ritual caution. Occurs at 2:8,20.
Buried With Christ
Approved rendering: mit eahm begrabn
Transliteration: mit eahm begroabn
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Original: συνθάπτω
Category: Salvation
Real, positional union with Christ’s own burial, not a mere metaphor for imitation. Occurs at 2:12. Human theologian review required.
Worship Of Angels
Approved rendering: Engelverehrung
Transliteration: Engelvarehrung
Doctrine: Warning against Angel Veneration
Original: θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων
Category: False Teaching
Collides with widespread, ordinarily legitimate Bavarian guardian-angel devotion (Schutzengel prayers, Schutzengelfest); must target only Christ-displacing angel-worship, never ordinary angelology. Occurs at 2:18. Mandatory theologian review and explicit clarifying note.
Raised With Christ
Approved rendering: mit’n Christus aufgstanden
Transliteration: mit’n Christus aufgstandn
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Original: συνεγείρω
Category: Salvation
Extends the baseline ‘Aufersteh’ng’ root; the union dimension (raised WITH him, not merely believing he was raised) is the new, higher-stakes element central to Colossians. Occurs at 3:1 (cf. 2:12). Human theologian review required.
Old Self New Self
Approved rendering: der alte Mensch / der neue Mensch
Transliteration: der oide Mensch / der neie Mensch
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Original: παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / νέος ἄνθρωπος
Category: Sanctification
A decisive, already-accomplished Christ-wrought identity change, NOT gradual moral self-improvement — directly counters a Bavarian folk-devotional tendency to frame sanctification as incremental penance-cycle effort. Occurs at 3:9,10. Theologian review required.
Put Off Old Self
Approved rendering: ausziagn
Transliteration: ausziang
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: ἀπεκδύομαι (3:9)
Category: Sanctification
Clothing-metaphor for the believer’s decisive break with the old self; shares its root with 2:15’s ‘entwaffna’ (disarm) — an intentional literary echo translators must preserve where possible. Occurs at 3:9.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: Gnad
Transliteration: Gnod
Doctrine: Grace
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must not be rendered as luck, blessing, or reward for merit. Colossians 4:6 uses the same word for winsome/gracious speech, a distinct nuance; do not import full soteriological weight there. Occurs at 1:2,6; 3:16; 4:6,18.
Saints
Approved rendering: Heiling
Transliteration: de Heiling
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Must gloss ‘alle Gläubign’ per baseline forbidden-substitution rule; occurs repeatedly across Colossians (1:2,4,12,26; 3:12).
Church
Approved rendering: Kirch
Transliteration: Kircha
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Rejected alternatives: Gmoa (secular-administrative default, rejected)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians skews toward the universal/cosmic body sense (1:18,24) more consistently than Romans, intensifying the building/Kirchweih-festival default risk; 4:15’s ‘church in her house’ is a useful positive counter-example.
Salvation
Approved rendering: Erlesung
Transliteration: Erlesung
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: Heil (Nazi-era contamination risk, acute in Bavaria specifically)
Original: σωτηρία (conceptual; ἀπολύτρωσις carries the weight in Colossians)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians’ dominant soteriological term is instead the ransom-specific ‘Loskaufung’ (see redemption_ransom); ‘Heil’ remains forbidden given Munich’s Nazi-era headquarters history.
Election
Approved rendering: Erwählung
Transliteration: Erwöahlung
Doctrine: Election / Effectual Calling
Original: ἐκλογή-root / ἐκλεκτός
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs (adjective form ‘Erwählte’) at 3:12; same register-gap profile as the baseline — a borrowed abstraction with no lived predestination-controversy tradition in Bavarian Catholic culture.
Sin
Approved rendering: Sünd
Transliteration: Sind
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies ‘forgiveness_of_sins’ (1:14; 2:13); colloquial trivialization risk (‘a Sünd is des scho’) carries over unchanged.
Intercession
Approved rendering: Fürbitt
Transliteration: Fiabitt
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Inherited from Romans package. Bavaria’s Altötting Marian-intercession tradition continues to pull Colossians 4:2-4,12 prayer vocabulary toward that devotional frame rather than direct believer-to-God/Christ prayer.
Thrones Dominions Rulers Authorities
Approved rendering: Thronwesen, Herrschaftn, Mächt, Gwaltn
Transliteration: Thronwesn, Herrschaftn, Mächt, Gwaltn
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: θρόνοι, κυριότητες, ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι
Category: Christology
Collides with residual Bavarian Alpine folk-belief in intermediate spiritual beings (Perchten lore, household/mountain-spirit customs); must read as wholly created by and subordinate to Christ, never as forces to be respected or placated. Occurs at 1:16; echoed 2:10,15.
Head
Approved rendering: Haupt
Transliteration: Haupt
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Original: κεφαλή
Category: Church
Collides with historical Catholic ecclesiology’s ‘Haupt der Kirche auf Erden’ papal-headship title; must assert Christ’s sole, unshared headship, explicitly distinguished from any human ecclesial office. Occurs at 1:18; 2:10,19. Mandatory theologian clarifying note.
Full Knowledge
Approved rendering: Erkenntnis
Transliteration: Erkenntnis
Doctrine: Spiritual Wisdom vs. False Knowledge
Original: ἐπίγνωσις
Category: Faith
Register-gap borrowed abstraction; must be distinguished BOTH from mere factual knowledge AND from the false teachers’ claimed esoteric knowledge — a polemical nuance specific to Colossians. Occurs at 1:9,10; 2:2; 3:10.
Dominion Of Darkness
Approved rendering: d’Gwalt vo da Finsternis
Transliteration: d’Gwoit vo da Finsternis
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Original: ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους
Category: Salvation
Must convey an actual spiritual realm of bondage, not mere psychological gloom, sharpened by the same Alpine folk-spiritual-world backdrop as ‘elemental_spirits’. Occurs at 1:13.
Redemption Ransom
Approved rendering: Loskaufung
Transliteration: Loskaufung
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Rejected alternatives: Erlesung (baseline generic salvation term, rejected here as it loses the ransom-price costliness)
Original: ἀπολύτρωσις
Category: Salvation
Distinct from the baseline’s generic ‘Erlesung’; must preserve the ransom-price nuance (Christ’s blood as payment) and not be misread as humans paying for their own freedom. Occurs at 1:14.
Forgiveness Of Sins
Approved rendering: Vergebung vo de Sünd
Transliteration: Vergebung vo de Sind
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Original: ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν
Category: Salvation
Inherits baseline ‘Sünd’ trivialization risk; also risks conflation with the repeated sacramental rite of confession/absolution rather than once-for-all objective forgiveness secured in redemption. Occurs at 1:14; 2:13.
Sufferings Ministry Afflictions
Approved rendering: de Bedrängnis vom Christus ergänzn
Transliteration: de Bedrängnis vom Christus ergänzn
Doctrine: Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ (guarding against redemptive-suffering confusion)
Original: παθήματα / ἀνταναπληρόω
Category: Christology
Collides with Bavaria’s Passion/redemptive-suffering piety (Oberammergau Passion Play, Kreuzweg practice); Paul’s own apostolic ministry-afflictions, NOT a deficiency in Christ’s already-complete atoning death (1:20). Mandatory theologian review and explicit distinguishing note every occurrence. Occurs at 1:24.
Mystery
Approved rendering: Geheimnis
Transliteration: Gheamnis
Doctrine: Mystery of Christ Revealed to All
Rejected alternatives: Pleroma-style esoteric transliteration (forbidden)
Original: μυστήριον
Category: Faith
Collides with Catholic sacramental ‘heilige Geheimnisse’ usage and Hellenistic mystery-cult/esoteric folk resonance; must be glossed as now FULLY revealed to ALL, never an exclusive secret. Occurs at 1:26,27; 2:2; 4:3.
Baptism
Approved rendering: Taufe
Transliteration: Taufn
Doctrine: Baptism as Union with Christ
Original: βάπτισμα
Category: Salvation
Near-universal Bavarian Catholic infant-baptism sacramental practice (Taufkerze, godparents) risks eclipsing Paul’s theological reality of union with Christ’s death and resurrection appropriated by faith. Occurs at 2:12. Theologian review recommended.
Self Made Religion
Approved rendering: selbstgmachte Religion
Transliteration: selbstgmochte Religion
Doctrine: Warning against Self-Made Religion and Asceticism
Original: ἐθελοθρησκία
Category: False Teaching
Must not be read as a broad-brush critique of all Catholic devotional discipline; targets specifically self-willed, Christ-displacing religious invention. Occurs at 2:23.
Severity To Body
Approved rendering: Strenge gengan Leib
Transliteration: Strenge gengan Leib
Doctrine: Warning against Self-Made Religion and Asceticism
Original: ἀφειδία σώματος
Category: False Teaching
Collides with legitimate, positively-valued Bavarian Lenten fasting tradition (Fastenzeit); must target only self-glorifying, Christ-displacing asceticism, not bodily discipline as such. Occurs at 2:23. Theologian review recommended.
Put To Death Mortify
Approved rendering: tötn
Transliteration: toatn
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: νεκρόω
Category: Sanctification
Care needed to preserve both the completed positional reality (3:3, already dead with Christ) AND the active ongoing imperative (3:5) without collapsing either into the other.
Idolatry As Covetousness
Approved rendering: Götzendienst
Transliteration: Götzndienst
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: εἰδωλολατρία
Category: Sanctification
Modern secular Bavarian culture has little literal idol-worship reference point; must be explicitly unpacked as ‘making something/someone your god’, or the doctrinal force of Paul’s equation (greed = idolatry) is lost entirely. Occurs at 3:5.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: Zorn vo Gott
Transliteration: Zoan vo Gott
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Sanctification
Must retain God’s holy, judicial character; the warm folk-devotional ‘Herrgott’/‘Vater’ register risks softening this into a merely disappointed-parent tone rather than actual coming judgment. Occurs at 3:6.
Unity Ethnic Social
Approved rendering: Grieche, Jud, Barbar, Skythe, Sklave, Freie
Transliteration: Griache, Jud, Barbar, Skythe, Sklave, Freie
Doctrine: Unity of Jew and Gentile, Slave and Free
Original: Ἕλλην, Ἰουδαῖος, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος
Category: Church
Total, unqualified abolition of both ethnic AND social-class barriers in Christ; extends the Romans-baseline Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine, requiring the same historically-aware handling given Munich’s specific 20th-century history, now compounded by the slave/free social dimension. Occurs at 3:11.
Submit Household
Approved rendering: unterordna
Transliteration: untaoadna
Doctrine: Household Codes
Original: ὑποτάσσομαι
Category: Household
Must be framed as the willing, love-answered ordering Paul describes, always correlative to the husbands’ command to love sacrificially and not embitter — never one-sided domination; never excerpt 3:18 without 3:19. Occurs at 3:18. Human theologian review recommended.
Slave Master Household
Approved rendering: Sklave / Herr (irdischer Herr)
Transliteration: Sklave / Herr (irdischer Herr)
Doctrine: Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: Knecht (rejected for the household δοῦλος sense — carries a benign pre-modern Bavarian rural farmhand/Gesindeordnung association that would soften the historical chattel-slavery institution’s gravity)
Original: δοῦλος / κύριος (household sense)
Category: Household
The first-century chattel-slavery institution addressed with mutual ethical obligation, NOT endorsed; kyrios here is the human master, a homonym collision with kyrios = ‘the Lord’ within the same short passage. Mandatory ‘irdischer Herr’ qualifier for the human sense. Occurs at 3:22-4:1. Theologian review required.
Medium Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Evangelium
Transliteration: Evangelium
Doctrine: Gospel
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. The formal, liturgically borrowed term. In Colossians (1:5,23; 4:3) it is explicitly tied to the cosmic scope of Christ’s supremacy, not merely personal salvation.
Faith
Approved rendering: Glaam
Transliteration: Gloam
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Colossians ties faith explicitly to being ‘rooted and built up’ in Christ (1:23; 2:5,7) against the false teachers’ rival claims.
Holy
Approved rendering: heilig
Transliteration: hoalig
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:22, 3:12.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: Heiligung
Transliteration: Heiligung
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἡγιασμένοι
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 3:12 (‘holy and beloved’).
Resurrection
Approved rendering: Aufersteh’ng
Transliteration: Auferstehung
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις-root / πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. At 1:18 Christ is ‘firstborn from the dead’; the union dimension at 2:12/3:1 (believers raised WITH him) requires the separate ‘raised_with_christ’ entry, elevated to Critical.
Glory
Approved rendering: Herrlichkeit
Transliteration: Herrlichkeit
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:11,27 (‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’) and 3:4.
Father
Approved rendering: Voda
Transliteration: Voter
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:2,3,12; 3:17.
Called
Approved rendering: beruafa
Transliteration: beruaft
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλητός-root / ἐκλήθητε
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 3:15 (‘called to peace’); shares the standard-German career-vocation homonym risk.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: Kraft vo Gott
Transliteration: Kroft vom Gott
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Original: δύναμις
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package verbatim. Colossians’ broader sense of general empowering strength (1:11 endurance; 1:29 Paul’s labor) is recorded separately under ‘divine_empowering_strength’ to avoid overloading this salvation-specific entry.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Menschwerdung
Transliteration: Menschwerdung
Doctrine: Incarnation
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies Colossians’ ‘body of his flesh’ language (1:22) and ‘fullness of deity … bodily’ (2:9); well-established via Catholic Christmas liturgy.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Gmoaschaft
Transliteration: Gemoaschoft
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant to Colossians’ personal commendations (4:7-9) and shared-participation language.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: s’Reich vo Gott
Transliteration: des Reich vom Gott
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Inherited from Romans package as the base pattern extended in Colossians 1:13 to ‘kingdom_of_the_son’ (see that entry); God’s sovereign reign, not a political kingdom.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: Heiden
Transliteration: Hoaden
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant background for Colossians 3:11’s extended unity list (Greek/Jew/barbarian/Scythian/slave/free), though Colossians itself uses ethnic-specific terms rather than the general ‘Heiden’.
Mission
Approved rendering: Mission
Transliteration: Mission
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies Colossians 4:3’s ‘open door for the word’ request.
Divine Empowering Strength
Approved rendering: Kraft
Transliteration: Kroft
Doctrine: Christ-Centered Ministry
New entry. General dynamis sense at 1:11 (endurance sourced in power) and 1:29 (Paul’s labor empowered by Christ’s power at work in him); kept distinct from the baseline’s salvation-specific ‘Kraft vo Gott’ entry to avoid overloading it with a broader everyday-empowerment sense.
Creation
Approved rendering: Schöpfung
Transliteration: Schöpfung
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: κτίσις / κτίζω
Category: Christology
Verb form ‘erschaffa’. The noun/verb alone does not carry ‘Christ is source of, not member of, creation’; surrounding grammar and context must supply it. Occurs at 1:15,16,23.
Sustain Hold Together
Approved rendering: zsammhalten
Transliteration: zsammhoitn
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: συνίστημι
Category: Christology
Must convey Christ’s ongoing, moment-by-moment metaphysical sustaining of creation’s coherence, not a merely organizational ‘holding things together’. Occurs at 1:17.
Body
Approved rendering: Leib
Transliteration: Leib
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Original: σῶμα
Category: Church
Context-sensitive: ‘body of Christ’ (church, 1:18,24; 3:15) vs. ‘body of the flesh’ (sin-nature-adjacent, 1:22; 2:11) vs. neutral physical body (2:17,19,23). Flag disambiguation per occurrence.
Beginning Source
Approved rendering: Ursprung
Transliteration: Ursprung
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Original: ἀρχή
Category: Christology
Risk of flattening to mere temporal ‘start’ rather than ontological source; occurs at 1:18, paired with ‘Erstgeborne vo de Toten’.
Preeminent
Approved rendering: in allem der Erste
Transliteration: in oim da Erste
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: πρωτεύων
Category: Christology
Occurs at 1:18; ties the chapter’s totalizing claims together.
Divine Good Pleasure
Approved rendering: hod Gott so beschlossn
Transliteration: hod Gott so beschlossn
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Original: εὐδοκέω
Category: God
Must convey the Father’s sovereign, delighted determination, not casual preference. Occurs at 1:19.
Dwell
Approved rendering: wohna
Transliteration: wohnen
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Original: κατοικέω
Category: Christology
Must convey permanent, settled indwelling, not a temporary visitation; grounds the Incarnation doctrine. Occurs at 1:19.
Make Peace
Approved rendering: Friad gmacht
Transliteration: Friad gmocht
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: εἰρηνοποιέω
Category: Salvation
Built on the baseline ‘Friad’ root; new compound context at 1:20.
Blood Of The Cross
Approved rendering: s’Bluat vom Kreuz
Transliteration: s’Bluat vom Kreuz
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: αἷμα τοῦ σταυροῦ
Category: Salvation
Positive cultural resonance (Herrgottswinkel crucifix, Oberammergau Passion Play) is largely protective, but retain the specifically substitutionary/reconciling sense, not merely contemplative suffering-devotion. Occurs at 1:20.
Love
Approved rendering: Liab
Transliteration: Liab
Doctrine: Christian Love as the Bond of Unity
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Faith
Everyday Bavarian ‘Liab’ skews romantic/general affection; the covenantal, self-giving sense needs contextual reinforcement, since no distinct native theological term exists. Occurs at 1:4,8; 3:14.
Hope
Approved rendering: Hoffnung
Transliteration: Hoffnung
Doctrine: Assured Hope of Glory
Original: ἐλπίς
Category: Faith
Colloquial Bavarian ‘hoffn’ often carries an uncertain-wish connotation; must be reinforced as confident, assured expectation. Occurs at 1:5,23,27.
Servant Slave Metaphorical
Approved rendering: Knecht / Mitknecht
Transliteration: Knecht / Mitknecht
Doctrine: —
Original: δοῦλος / σύνδουλος
Category: Church
Metaphorical honor-term for total allegiance to Christ as Master; must be kept distinct from the literal chattel-slavery household-code sense — see ‘slave_master_household’. Occurs at 1:7; 4:7,12.
Wisdom
Approved rendering: Weisheit
Transliteration: Weisheit
Doctrine: Spiritual Wisdom vs. False Knowledge
Original: σοφία
Category: Faith
True Spirit-given wisdom vs. the false teachers’ human-tradition ‘wisdom’. Occurs at 1:9,28; 2:3,23; 3:16; 4:5.
Patience
Approved rendering: Langmuat
Transliteration: Langmut
Doctrine: Putting On the New Self
Original: μακροθυμία
Category: Faith
Patience especially toward difficult people, not merely circumstances. Occurs at 1:11; 3:12.
Inheritance
Approved rendering: Erbteil
Transliteration: Erbtoal
Doctrine: Inheritance of the Saints in Light
Original: κλῆρος
Category: Salvation
Literal root (‘lot/chance’) creates a false-friend risk if rendered with any ‘Glück/Zufall’ (luck) connotation; must convey a sovereignly-gifted, guaranteed portion. Occurs at 1:12.
Alienated
Approved rendering: entfremd
Transliteration: entfremdt
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: ἀλλοτριόω
Category: Salvation
State of hostile separation prior to reconciliation. Occurs at 1:21.
Flesh
Approved rendering: Fleisch / sündige Natur
Transliteration: Fleisch / sindige Natur
Doctrine: Incarnation / Putting Off the Old Self
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
Context-sensitive: neutral incarnational sense at 1:22 (‘body of his flesh’) vs. negative fallen-nature sense elsewhere (2:18,23; 3:22). Flag disambiguation per occurrence.
Stewardship
Approved rendering: s’Amt
Transliteration: s’Amt
Doctrine: —
Original: οἰκονομία
Category: Church
Paul’s God-given office of administering gospel proclamation. Occurs at 1:25.
Mature Complete
Approved rendering: vollkommen
Transliteration: vollkomma
Doctrine: Spiritual Wisdom vs. False Knowledge
Original: τέλειος
Category: Sanctification
Must avoid the common misreading ‘sinlessly perfect’; the sense is Christ-given completeness/maturity, opposed to the false teachers’ claim that maturity requires additional ascetic/mystical practice. Occurs at 1:28.
Knit Together
Approved rendering: zsammfüagn
Transliteration: zsammfüagn
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Original: συμβιβάζω
Category: Church
Believers joined firmly together in love; the body’s joints joined and held together. Occurs at 2:2,19.
Full Assurance
Approved rendering: volle Gwissheit
Transliteration: volle Gwissheit
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πληροφορία
Category: Faith
Reuses the Romans-baseline assurance-of-salvation doctrine frame. Occurs at 2:2.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: Beschneidung
Transliteration: Beschneidung
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
Spiritual circumcision accomplished in Christ ‘without hands’, replacing the physical ritual requirement. Low direct cultural collision but low native resonance requires explanatory framing. Occurs at 2:11; 3:11.
Record Of Debt
Approved rendering: Schuldbrief
Transliteration: Schuidbriaf
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: χειρόγραφον
Category: Salvation
Must convey a legal debt cancelled, not merely an abstract ‘written code’. Occurs at 2:14.
Decree Ordinance
Approved rendering: Vorschrift
Transliteration: Vorschrift
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: δόγμα
Category: False Teaching
Legalistic requirements cancelled in Christ (2:14) / the false teachers’ rules (2:20).
Disarm Hostile Powers
Approved rendering: entwaffna
Transliteration: entwoffna
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: ἀπεκδύομαι (2:15)
Category: Christology
Christ’s decisive stripping/disarming of hostile cosmic powers at the cross; same root deliberately reused at 3:9 for the believer ‘stripping off’ the old self — an intentional literary echo. Occurs at 2:15.
Triumph Over
Approved rendering: im Triumph vorführn
Transliteration: im Triumph vorfiahn
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: θριαμβεύω / δειγματίζω
Category: Christology
Roman military-triumph imagery of public, decisive victory; may need brief historical explanation. Occurs at 2:15.
Shadow And Substance
Approved rendering: Schattn / Wirklichkeit
Transliteration: Schotn / Wiaklichkeit
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: σκιά / σῶμα
Category: False Teaching
OT ceremonial regulations as preliminary shadow; Christ as the substantial reality they foreshadowed. Occurs at 2:17.
Humility
Approved rendering: Demuat
Transliteration: Demut
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching / Putting On the New Self
Original: ταπεινοφροσύνη
Category: False Teaching
Context-sensitive: false, self-imposed ascetic self-abasement (2:18,23) vs. genuine Spirit-produced humility (3:12); must disambiguate per occurrence.
Entering Visions
Approved rendering: in Visionen eintaucha
Transliteration: in Visionen eintaucha
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: ἐμβατεύω
Category: False Teaching
Describes the false teachers’ visionary/mystical claims; genuinely lexically uncertain in the Greek source text itself — flag reviewers to this underlying scholarly disagreement. Occurs at 2:18.
Things Above
Approved rendering: de Sachan wo obn san
Transliteration: de Sochan wo obn san
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Original: τὰ ἄνω / τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
Category: Sanctification
Reoriented heavenly affections following union with the risen, ascended Christ. Occurs at 3:1,2.
Hidden And Revealed
Approved rendering: verborgn / offenbarn
Transliteration: vaboagn / offnboarn
Doctrine: Union with Christ (eschatology)
Original: κρύπτω / φανερόω
Category: Eschatology
Must preserve the already/not-yet eschatological tension. Occurs at 3:3,4.
Vice List Sensual
Approved rendering: Unzucht, Unreinheit, Leidenschaft, bös Begier, Gier
Transliteration: Unzucht, Unreinheit, Leidenschoft, bös Begier, Gia
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, πάθος, ἐπιθυμία κακή, πλεονεξία
Category: Sanctification
Sins belonging to ‘the earthly’ to be put to death. Occurs at 3:5.
Vice List Relational
Approved rendering: Zorn, Wuat, Bosheit, Verleumdung, gmeine Red
Transliteration: Zoan, Wuat, Bosheit, Valeumdung, gmeine Red
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: ὀργή, θυμός, κακία, βλασφημία, αἰσχρολογία
Category: Sanctification
Blasphemia is context-sensitive (slander of people here at 3:8 vs. blasphemy against God elsewhere) — flag per occurrence.
Put On New Self
Approved rendering: anziagn
Transliteration: anziang
Doctrine: Putting On the New Self
Original: ἐνδύω
Category: Sanctification
Positive cultural bridge available: Bavarian Sunday-best/Tracht dressing for church and feast days offers a natural, resonant clothing-metaphor. Occurs at 3:10,12.
Being Renewed
Approved rendering: erneuert
Transliteration: erneiat
Doctrine: Putting On the New Self
Original: ἀνακαινόω
Category: Sanctification
Preserve the tense-aspect nuance: an already-changed identity, yet continuously being renewed. Occurs at 3:10.
Virtue List
Approved rendering: herzlichs Erbarma, Güte, Sanftmuat, Langmuat
Transliteration: herzlichs Erboarma, Güte, Sanftmuat, Langmuat
Doctrine: Putting On the New Self
Original: σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ, χρηστότης, πραΰτης, μακροθυμία
Category: Sanctification
Spirit-produced virtue catalogue corresponding to the vice-list put off; render the vivid Hebraic idiom ‘bowels of mercy’ naturally rather than literally. Occurs at 3:12.
Bond Of Perfection
Approved rendering: s’Band vo da Vollkommenheit
Transliteration: s’Bond vo da Vollkommenheit
Doctrine: Christian Love as the Bond of Unity
Original: σύνδεσμος τῆς τελειότητος
Category: Sanctification
Preserve the deliberate echo with 2:19’s anatomical ‘joints and ligaments’ imagery. Occurs at 3:14.
Peace As Arbiter
Approved rendering: entscheidn lassn
Transliteration: entscheidn lossn
Doctrine: —
Original: βραβεύω
Category: Church
Christ’s peace as the deciding factor governing community decisions (athletic-arbitration imagery). Occurs at 3:15.
Word Of Christ
Approved rendering: s’Wort vom Christus
Transliteration: s’Wort vom Christus
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching / Christ Sufficiency
Original: ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Church
Christ’s teaching/message dwelling richly among believers corporately, implicitly continuing the anti-syncretism argument of ch. 2. Occurs at 3:16.
Justice Fairness
Approved rendering: s’Gerechte, Gleichheit
Transliteration: s’Gerechte, Gleichheit
Doctrine: Household Codes
Original: δίκαιον / ἰσότης
Category: Household
Reuses the dikaiosyne root in a non-forensic, ethical-conduct sense, distinct from the soteriological ‘Gerechtigkeit’ entry; flag to avoid confusing registers. Occurs at 4:1.
Door For The Word
Approved rendering: Tür fürs Wort
Transliteration: Tia fürs Wort
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Original: θύρα τοῦ λόγου
Category: Mission
An opportunity for gospel proclamation, prayed for by Paul. Occurs at 4:3.
Those Outside
Approved rendering: de Auswärtign
Transliteration: de Auswoatign
Doctrine: Evangelism and Witness to Outsiders
Original: τοὺς ἔξω
Category: Mission
Non-believers, outsiders to the faith community; must remain respectful/winsome, appropriate to a culturally Catholic but increasingly secular rural and urban Bavaria alike. Occurs at 4:5.
Kingdom Of The Son
Approved rendering: s’Reich vom Sohn, den er liab hod
Transliteration: s’Reich vom Sohn, den er liab hod
Doctrine: Kingdom of the Beloved Son
Rejected alternatives: s’Reich vom Sohn dera Liab (literal genitive, rejected as an unnatural calque)
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Extends the baseline ‘s’Reich vo Gott’ pattern to the specific ‘kingdom of his beloved Son’ (Semitic genitive idiom); render as ‘beloved Son’, never literally ‘son of the love’. Entry into this kingdom is a real rescue-transfer out of the dominion of darkness, not a mood change. Occurs at 1:13.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: Dank
Transliteration: Donk
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:3,12; 2:7; 3:15,17; 4:2.
Apostle
Approved rendering: Apostl
Transliteration: Apoastl
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:1.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Unchanged throughout.
Peace
Approved rendering: Friad
Transliteration: Friade
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Reused in the compound ‘Friad gmacht’ (1:20) and as ‘the peace of Christ’ governing the community at 3:15.
Exhort
Approved rendering: ermahna
Transliteration: ermohna
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package. Extended here to the distinct-but-overlapping Greek root noutheteo at Colossians 1:28.
Invisible
Approved rendering: unsichtbar
Transliteration: unsichtboar
Doctrine: Supremacy of Christ over Creation
Original: ἀόρατος
Category: God
Standard borrowed adjective; occurs at 1:15,16.
Cross
Approved rendering: Kreuz
Transliteration: Kreuz
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: σταυρός
Category: Salvation
Well-established, positively-resonant Catholic devotional term. Occurs at 1:20, 2:14.
Fruit
Approved rendering: Frucht bringa
Transliteration: Frucht bringa
Doctrine: —
Original: καρπός / καρποφορέω
Category: Faith
Positive resonance with rural Bavarian farming/orchard culture. Occurs at 1:6,10.
Brother
Approved rendering: Bruada
Transliteration: Bruader
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
Follows the baseline’s established Bruder>Bruada lenition pattern. Occurs at 1:2; 4:7,9.
Minister
Approved rendering: Diener
Transliteration: Diener
Doctrine: —
Original: διάκονος
Category: Church
One who serves/attends to gospel ministry. Occurs at 1:7,23,25.
Understanding
Approved rendering: Verständnis
Transliteration: Vaständnis
Doctrine: —
Original: σύνεσις
Category: Faith
Practical discernment applying divine wisdom. Occurs at 1:9.
Endurance
Approved rendering: Ausdauer
Transliteration: Ausdauer
Doctrine: —
Original: ὑπομονή
Category: Faith
Steadfast endurance under trial, sourced in God’s power. Occurs at 1:11.
Unblemished
Approved rendering: ohne Fehl
Transliteration: ohne Fehl
Doctrine: —
Original: ἄμωμος
Category: Sanctification
Sacrificial-animal background, positively resonant with continuing sacrificial imagery in the Mass. Occurs at 1:22.
Above Reproach
Approved rendering: ohne Vorwurf
Transliteration: ohne Vorwuaf
Doctrine: —
Original: ἀνέγκλητος
Category: Sanctification
Forensic innocence before God. Occurs at 1:22.
Rooted
Approved rendering: verwurzelt
Transliteration: vawuazlt
Doctrine: Faith
Original: ῥιζόω
Category: Faith
Natural, positive resonance with rural Bavarian agricultural imagery. Occurs at 2:7.
Philosophy
Approved rendering: Philosophie
Transliteration: Philosophie
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Original: φιλοσοφία
Category: False Teaching
The false teachers’ syncretistic intellectual system, not intellectual inquiry as such. Occurs at 2:8.
Puffed Up
Approved rendering: aufblasn
Transliteration: aufblosn
Doctrine: —
Original: φυσιόω
Category: False Teaching
Arrogant self-inflation generated by ‘the mind of the flesh’. Occurs at 2:18.
Joints And Ligaments
Approved rendering: Gelenk und Bänd
Transliteration: Gelenk und Bänder
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Original: ἁφή / σύνδεσμος
Category: Church
Vivid body-of-Christ imagery; note literary echo with 3:14’s ‘bond of perfection’ — same root, worth preserving for consistency. Occurs at 2:19.
Growth
Approved rendering: s’Wachstum
Transliteration: s’Wochstum
Doctrine: —
Original: αὔξησις
Category: Church
The church’s growth, sourced from God. Occurs at 2:19.
Falsehood
Approved rendering: Liag
Transliteration: Liang
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self
Original: ψεῦδος
Category: Sanctification
Deceptive speech, forbidden among believers. Occurs at 3:9.
Bearing With One Another
Approved rendering: vertraga
Transliteration: vatroga
Doctrine: Putting On the New Self
Original: ἀνέχομαι
Category: Church
Mutual forbearance within the community. Occurs at 3:13.
Corporate Song
Approved rendering: Psalm, Loblied, geistlichs Liad
Transliteration: Psoim, Loblied, geistlichs Liad
Doctrine: —
Original: ψαλμοῖς, ὕμνοις, ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς
Category: Church
Positive resonance with Bavaria’s strong hymn/folk-hymn (Kirchenlied) tradition. Note charis here likely means ‘gratitude/gracious spirit’ in song, distinct from soteriological grace. Occurs at 3:16.
Provoke Embitter
Approved rendering: aufbringa
Transliteration: aufbringa
Doctrine: Household Codes
Original: ἐρεθίζω
Category: Household
Fathers commanded not to stir up resentment in their children. Occurs at 3:21.
Watchfulness
Approved rendering: wach bleibn
Transliteration: wach bleim
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Original: γρηγορέω
Category: Faith
Vigilant, alert, persistent prayer. Occurs at 4:2.
Redeem The Time
Approved rendering: de Zeit nutzn
Transliteration: de Zeit nutzn
Doctrine: Evangelism and Witness to Outsiders
Original: καιρός / ἐξαγοράζω
Category: Mission
Literary echo with 1:14’s ransom root. Occurs at 4:5.
Salt Of Speech
Approved rendering: Salz
Transliteration: Solz
Doctrine: Evangelism and Witness to Outsiders
Original: ἅλας
Category: Mission
Gracious, well-seasoned, winsome speech; natural, accessible rural-culinary imagery. Occurs at 4:6.
Fellow Prisoner
Approved rendering: Mitgfangana
Transliteration: Mitgfongana
Doctrine: —
Original: συναιχμάλωτος
Category: Church
Shared captivity for the gospel’s sake. Occurs at 4:10 (Aristarchus).
Letter
Approved rendering: Brief
Transliteration: Briaf
Doctrine: —
Original: ἐπιστολή
Category: Church
Written correspondence to be read aloud among the churches. Occurs at 4:16.
Chains Bonds
Approved rendering: Fessln
Transliteration: Fessln
Doctrine: —
Original: δεσμά
Category: Church
Paul’s literal imprisonment, authenticating the letter’s cost. Occurs at 4:18.
Referenced passages