Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Book of John
English → Bavarian (Boarisch) | Full-Book Term Registry
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from every chapter of John (1–21). Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE — REUSED EXACTLY] and must never be altered. New terms introduced by John are marked [NEW] and are proposed for addition to translation memory (pending the Phase 1 Step 8 finalized Core Glossary sign-off and Phase 2 Step 16 translation-memory versioning process).
Risk tiers follow the same definitions as the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json:
- Critical — mistranslation alters/destroys essential doctrine; human theologian review mandatory.
- High — mistranslation creates significant confusion or defaults to a competing folk-Catholic devotional reading; human theologian review required.
- Medium — mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning; native speaker review recommended.
- Low — minor imprecision risk; automated review sufficient (native-speaker dialect spot-check always required per baseline orthography note).
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (no changes; listed for completeness / cross-reference)
| English | Bavarian | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Baseline Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | Gott | Critical | Deity of Christ; Unity of Father and Son | translation_memory.json |
| Jesus | Jesus | Low | Christology | translation_memory.json |
| Holy Spirit | Heiliger Geist | Critical | Holy Spirit as Counselor | translation_memory.json |
| Father | Voda | Medium/High | Unity of Father and Son; Adoption | translation_memory.json |
| Abba | Abba | Medium | Adoption / Father | translation_memory.json |
| Lord | Herr | Critical | Lordship of Christ | translation_memory.json |
| Son of God | Sohn vo Gott | Critical | Deity/Sonship of Christ | translation_memory.json |
| Messiah/Christ | Messias | Medium | Messianic Promise | translation_memory.json |
| Holy | heilig | High | Sanctification | translation_memory.json |
| Sanctification | Heiligung | Medium | Sanctification | translation_memory.json |
| Saints | Heiling | High | Sainthood | translation_memory.json |
| Faith | Glaam (noun) | Medium/High | Faith | translation_memory.json |
| Grace | Gnad | High | Grace | translation_memory.json |
| Salvation | Erlösung | Critical/High | Salvation | translation_memory.json |
| Sin | Sünd | High | Universal Human Accountability | translation_memory.json |
| Glory | Herrlichkeit | High | Deity of Christ | translation_memory.json |
| Peace | Friad | Low/Medium | Peace with God | translation_memory.json |
| Church | Kirch | High | Church as God’s People | translation_memory.json |
| Kingdom of God | s'Reich vo Gott | Medium | Kingdom Mission | translation_memory.json |
| Law | Gsetz | High | Fulfillment of Prophecy | translation_memory.json |
| Gentiles | Heiden | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | translation_memory.json |
| Israel | Israel | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | translation_memory.json |
| David | David | Low | Davidic Covenant | translation_memory.json |
| Called/Calling | beruafa/Beruafung | Medium/High | Divine Calling | translation_memory.json |
| Election | Erwählung | High | Effectual Calling | translation_memory.json |
| Intercession | Fürbitt | High | Prayer and Intercession | translation_memory.json |
| Providence | Vorsehung | Medium | Providence | translation_memory.json |
| Mission | Mission | Medium | Mission to the Nations | translation_memory.json |
| Adoption | Kindschaft | Medium/High | Adoption into God’s Family | translation_memory.json |
| Resurrection | Aufersteh'ng | Medium/Critical | Resurrection of Christ | translation_memory.json |
| Incarnation | Menschwerdung | Medium/Critical | Incarnation | translation_memory.json |
| Apostle | Apostl | Low | Apostleship | translation_memory.json |
| Exhort | ermahna | Low | Mutual Edification | translation_memory.json |
| Prophet | Prophet | Low | Inspiration of Scripture | translation_memory.json |
| Prophecy | Weissogung | Low | Fulfillment of Prophecy | translation_memory.json |
| Covenant | Bund | Medium/High | Davidic Covenant | translation_memory.json |
| Thanksgiving | Dank | Low | Thanksgiving | translation_memory.json |
| Fellowship | Gmoaschaft | Low/Medium | Christian Fellowship | translation_memory.json |
| Spiritual Gifts | Gnodngob'n | Medium | Spiritual Gifts | translation_memory.json |
| Righteousness | Gerechtigkeit | Critical | Salvation | translation_memory.json |
| Justification | Rechtfertigung | Critical | Salvation | translation_memory.json |
| Imputed Righteousness | zuagrechnete Gerechtigkeit | Critical | Justification by Faith | translation_memory.json |
| Seed of David | Nachkomme vom David | Medium | Davidic Covenant | translation_memory.json |
| Obedience of Faith | Gehorsam vom Glaam | High | Obedience of Faith | translation_memory.json |
| Power of God | Kraft vo Gott | Medium | Power of God for Salvation | translation_memory.json |
B. New Terms Introduced by John (Proposed for Translation Memory)
| # | English Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Bavarian Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Key Passages | Risk Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Word (the Logos) | λόγος | logos | s'Wort | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1:1, 1:14, 17:17 (distinct sense) | Must hold together full distinction from AND full identity with God the Father; collapse in either direction destroys the doctrine. |
| 2 | life | ζωή | zōē | s'Lebn | Critical | Eternal Life; Deity of Christ | 1:4, 3:15-16, 5:24, 11:25, 14:6, 17:3 | Divine-quality life inherent in Christ and given to believers, not mere biological existence. |
| 3 | eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | s'ewige Lebn | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 3:15-16, 3:36, 5:24, 6:47, 10:28, 17:3 | Central soteriological category; must convey present possession of a quality of life, not only future duration; canonically defined at 17:3. |
| 4 | light | φῶς | phōs | s'Liacht | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief; Deity of Christ | 1:4-9, 3:19-21, 8:12, 9:5, 12:35-46 | Must retain morally confrontational, revelatory edge; not generic enlightenment. |
| 5 | darkness | σκοτία | skotia | d'Finsternis | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 1:5, 3:19, 12:35, 12:46 | Moral/spiritual darkness opposed to Christ, the light. |
| 6 | world (kosmos) | κόσμος | kosmos | d'Welt | High | God’s Love for the World; Judgment | 1:10, 3:16-17, 3:19, 12:31, 16:33, 17:5 | Loaded, humanity-wide category, simultaneously loved by God and in rebellion; must not narrow to nature/creation. |
| 7 | believe (verb) | πιστεύω | pisteuō | glaam (verb) | High | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | throughout, esp. 3:12-18, 20:31 | Must retain personal object (trust IN Christ); avoid vague-religiosity drift. |
| 8 | witness / testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | Zeugnis geb'n / s'Zeugnis | Medium-High | Inspiration of Scripture; structural trial-motif | 1:7-8, 3:11, 5:31-39, 8:14-18, 15:27, 21:24 | Structural motif across whole book (John as trial narrative); must render consistently throughout. |
| 9 | born again / born from above | γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν | gennēthē anōthen | vo obn gebor'n (+ translator note) | Critical | The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:3, 3:7 | Greek carries BOTH “again” and “from above” simultaneously; any single-direction rendering flattens Nicodemus’s literalistic misunderstanding in 3:4. |
| 10 | Spirit / wind (wordplay) | πνεῦμα | pneuma | da Geist / da Wind | Critical | New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:5-8 | Single Greek word = both “wind” and “Spirit”; untranslatable pun requires a translator’s note in teaching material. |
| 11 | flesh | σάρξ | sarx | Fleisch | High | Incarnation (positive sense) vs. New Birth (negative sense) | 1:14 (positive); 3:6, 6:63, 8:15 (negative) | SAME Bavarian word carries two theologically opposite senses; context must disambiguate in every occurrence. |
| 12 | Son of Man | ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου | ho huios tou anthrōpou | Menschasohn | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ; Humanity of Christ | 1:51, 3:13-14, 8:28, 12:23, 12:34 | Must remain visibly distinct from Sohn vo Gott; holds together true humanity AND heavenly pre-existent origin. |
| 13 | lifted up (crucified/exalted) | ὑψωθῆναι | hypsōthēnai | erhöht wern | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 3:14, 8:28, 12:32-34 | Deliberate double meaning (physical elevation of crucifixion = theological exaltation); one consistent rendering across all three occurrences required. |
| 14 | only Son / one and only | μονογενής | monogenēs | oanziga Sohn (modifying Sohn vo Gott) | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1:14, 1:18, 3:16, 3:18 | Unique, underived Sonship; must never parallel the believer’s derivative Kindschaft. |
| 15 | perish | ἀπόλλυμι | apollymi | verlorn gehn | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:16 | Must convey genuine final loss/destruction, not mere fading away. |
| 16 | condemn / judgment | κρίνω / κρίσις | krinō / krisis | vaurteiln / s'Gricht | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:17-19, 5:22-29, 12:31 | Present-tense force (“condemned already”) carries the doctrine’s urgency; must not be read as future-only. |
| 17 | name | ὄνομα | onoma | Nam | Medium | Judgment/Belief; Eternal Life | 3:18, 20:31 | Stands for the whole person/identity/authority of Christ, not an invocational formula. |
| 18 | truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | d'Wahrheit | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor; general Christology | 1:14, 1:17, 3:21, 4:23-24, 8:32, 14:6, 16:13, 17:17, 18:38 | Structural pillar term across whole book; must retain revealed-divine-reality/relational-integrity sense, not mere factual accuracy. |
| 19 | Lamb of God | ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | ho amnos tou theou | s'Lamm vo Gott | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 1:29, 1:36, 19:36 | Substitutionary, sin-bearing sacrificial sense; must not soften to generic gentleness metaphor. |
| 20 | wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ | orgē tou theou | da Zorn vo Gott | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:36 | Settled judicial anger, not capricious rage; direct negative counterpart to eternal life in the same verse. |
| 21 | living water | ὕδωρ ζῶν | hydōr zōn | lebendigs Wasser | Medium | New Birth; Holy Spirit | 4:10-14, 7:37-39 | Symbol of Spirit’s life-giving gift. |
| 22 | worship (in spirit and truth) | προσκυνέω | proskyneō | anbet'n | Medium-High | Holy Spirit as Counselor; general worship | 4:23-24, 9:38 | Must not be heard as devaluing liturgical form generally; target is worship divorced from Spirit and truth. |
| 23 | Savior of the world | σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου | sōtēr tou kosmou | da Heiland vo da Welt | Medium | God’s Love for the World; Salvation | 4:42 | Heiland = warm, culturally native Bavarian Christmas-devotional term for Savior-person, UNRELATED to Nazi-contaminated Heil; keep distinct from abstract Erlösung. |
| 24 | ”I AM” (absolute self-declaration) | ἐγώ εἰμι | egō eimi | I bin / I bin's | Critical | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Deity of Christ | 4:26, 6:20, 8:24, 8:28, 8:58, 13:19, 18:5-8 | Echoes Exodus 3:14 divine self-revelation; the absolute (predicate-less) uses (esp. 8:58, 18:5-8) are the highest-stakes occurrences. |
| 25 | I am the bread of life | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | egō eimi ho artos tēs zōēs | I bin s'Brot vom Lebn | Critical | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements | 6:35, 6:48 | 2nd of 7; formula I bin... must be used identically for all seven. |
| 26 | draws (the Father draws) | ἕλκω | helkō | ziang | Medium | New Birth / Effectual Calling parallel | 6:44 | Sovereign, prior divine initiative; register-gap risk parallels baseline Erwählung. |
| 27 | Holy One of God | ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ | ho hagios tou theou | der Heilige vo Gott | High | Deity of Christ | 6:69 | Peter’s confession; combines baseline heilig with divine title. |
| 28 | hour / appointed time | ἡ ὥρα / ὁ καιρός | hē hōra / ho kairos | d'Stund | Medium | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 7:6, 7:30, 12:23, 13:1, 17:1 | Theological marker for the appointed moment of the Passion/glorification, not ordinary clock-time. |
| 29 | I am the light of the world | ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου | egō eimi to phōs tou kosmou | I bin s'Liacht vo da Welt | Critical | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements | 8:12, 9:5 | 3rd of 7. |
| 30 | truth sets free | ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει | hē alētheia eleutherōsei | d'Wahrheit macht enk frei | Medium | Holy Spirit / general discipleship | 8:32 | |
| 31 | before Abraham was, I AM | πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί | prin Abraam genesthai egō eimi | Bevor da Abraham gwen is, bin I | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 8:58 | Absolute present-tense “I am” applied to remote past; deliberate grammatical shock is the point; escalate identically to 20:28. |
| 32 | good shepherd | ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός | ho poimēn ho kalos | da guade Hirt | Critical (as I AM statement) | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Substitutionary Death | 10:11, 10:14 | 4th of 7; combines with voluntary substitutionary self-giving (10:11-18). |
| 33 | I and the Father are one | ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν | egō kai ho patēr hen esmen | I und mei Voda san oans | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 10:30 | hen = unity of essence/will (neuter), not identity of person; guard against both modalism and mere-agreement readings. |
| 34 | I am the resurrection and the life | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή | egō eimi hē anastasis kai hē zōē | I bin d'Aufersteh'ng und s'Lebn | Critical | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Resurrection | 11:25 | 5th of 7. |
| 35 | died on behalf of / substitutionary hyper | ὑπέρ | hyper | für... sterb'n | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 10:11, 11:50-51, 15:13 | Must retain “on behalf of / in place of” force, not merely “because of.” |
| 36 | I am the way, the truth, and the life | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή | egō eimi hē hodos kai hē alētheia kai hē zōē | I bin da Weg, d'Wahrheit und s'Lebn | Critical | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Eternal Life | 14:6 | 6th of 7; only triple-predicate statement; carries exclusivity claim. |
| 37 | Unity: “seen me, seen the Father” | ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑωρακεν τὸν πατέρα | heōrakōs eme heōraken ton patera | wer mi gsehg'n hat, hat mein Voda gsehg'n | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 12:45, 14:9 | Fullest relational statement of Father-Son unity alongside 10:30. |
| 38 | Counselor / Paraclete | παράκλητος | paraklētos | da Beistand | Critical | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7 | FORBIDDEN to render via Fürbitt-root; must stay categorically distinct from Marian/saints intercessory devotion (Altötting) already flagged High-risk in baseline for that reason. |
| 39 | another Helper | ἄλλον παράκλητον | allon paraklēton | an andern Beistand | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:16 | Implies continuity with Christ’s own ministry, now in the Spirit. |
| 40 | I am the true vine | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή | egō eimi hē ampelos hē alēthinē | I bin da wahre Weinstock | Critical | The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements | 15:1, 15:5 | 7th and final of 7. |
| 41 | abide / remain | μένω | menō | bleiba | Medium | Union with Christ (John 15) | 6:56, 14:10, 14:17, 15:4-10 | Ongoing, living relational union, not static membership. |
| 42 | friend (philos) | φίλος | philos | Freind | Medium | Christian Fellowship (extension) | 3:29, 15:13-15 | Distinct Greek root from agapē; deepened relational status flowing from Christ’s self-giving love. |
| 43 | Spirit of truth | τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας | to pneuma tēs alētheias | da Geist vo da Wahrheit | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 15:26, 16:13 | Combines Holy Spirit with truth-motif. |
| 44 | overcome the world | νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον | nenikēka ton kosmon | d'Welt übawundn | Medium-High | Assurance of Salvation (extension) | 16:33 | Must retain cosmic-scale, historical victory sense, not merely private comfort. |
| 45 | eternal life (defined: knowing God) | αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσιν σε | hautē estin hē aiōnios zōē, hina ginōskōsin se | s'ewige Lebn is, dass sie di kenna | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 17:3 | The book’s own canonical definition of eternal life; anchor verse for teaching material. |
| 46 | glory before the world existed | ἡ δόξα… πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι | hē doxa… pro tou ton kosmon einai | d'Herrlichkeit vo vor da Welt | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 17:5, 17:24 | Explicit textual statement of pre-temporal, pre-creation glory; clearest pre-existence proof-text alongside 1:1. |
| 47 | that they may be one | ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν | hina ōsin hen kathōs hēmeis hen | dass sie oans sind, so wia mir oans sind | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son (extended to church) | 17:11, 17:21-22 | Same hen sense as 10:30, applied by analogy to believers; guard against over-mystical merger or weak “getting along” readings. |
| 48 | sanctify | ἁγιάζω | hagiazō | heiliga | Medium | Sanctification (verb form) | 17:17, 17:19 | Verb form of baseline Heiligung. |
| 49 | It is finished | τετέλεσται | tetelestai | Es is vollbracht | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 19:30 | Completed, once-for-all accomplishment; strongest textual corrective to any devotional-transaction reading of grace. |
| 50 | My Lord and my God | ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου | ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou | Mei Herr und mei Gott! | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 20:28 | Most explicit direct address of Jesus AS God in the Gospels; commended, not corrected, by Jesus (20:29). |
| 51 | do you love me? (agapaō/phileō) | ἀγαπᾷς με / φιλεῖς με | agapas me / phileis me | Hast mi liab? | Medium | Christian Fellowship / Restoration | 21:15-17 | Documented translation-loss risk: Bavarian, like most target languages, cannot sustain the Greek two-verb distinction; do not build doctrine on the alternation alone. |
| 52 | sign(s) | σημεῖον | sēmeion | Zeicha | Medium | Belief/Unbelief; general Christology | 2:11, 3:2, 4:54, 6:2, 20:30-31 | Revelatory acts pointing to Christ’s identity, not mere spectacle; explicit book-purpose term at 20:30-31. |
| 53 | disciple | μαθητής | mathētēs | Jünga | Low | General | throughout | Stable borrowed/adapted term. |
| 54 | the Jews (hoi Ioudaioi) | οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι | hoi Ioudaioi | d'Juden (broad) / de jüdischn Führer (narrowed) | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (extension) | throughout, esp. ch.5-12, 18-19 | Context-sensitive between neutral ethnic sense and hostile-leadership sense; requires the same Munich/Bavaria-specific historical care already documented for baseline israel. |
| 55 | agapaō (self-giving love, verb/noun) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη | agapaō / agapē | liab ham (verb) / Liab (noun) | High | God’s Love for the World | 3:16, 13:34-35, 15:9-13, 21:15-17 | Self-giving, deliberate, sacrificial love; must retain giving/costly quality alongside idiom’s natural warmth. |
| 56 | new commandment | ἐντολὴ καινή | entolē kainē | s'neue Gebot | Medium | Mutual Edification (extension) / God’s Love | 13:34 | Ties Father’s self-giving love (3:16) directly to a command for believers to replicate it. |
| 57 | servant / slave | δοῦλος | doulos | Knecht | Low | General discipleship | 13:1-17, 15:15 | Authentically rural-Bavarian resonant term; register asset, not risk. |
| 58 | Rabbi | ῥαββί | rabbi | Rabbi | Low | General | 1:38, 1:49, 3:2 | Transliterated, unchanged. |
| 59 | Pharisees | Φαρισαῖος | Pharisaios | Pharisäer | Low | General | throughout | Borrowed, stable. |
| 60 | Passover | πάσχα | pascha | Passah | Medium | Substitutionary Death (typology) | 2:13, 6:4, 11:55, 13:1, 19:14 | Keep distinct from Ostern (Christian Easter) to avoid conflating Jewish Passover observance with the Christian feast. |
| 61 | manna | μάννα | manna | Manna | Low | Bread of Life background | 6:31-33 | Transliterated OT background term. |
| 62 | cross | σταυρός | stauros | s'Kreuz | Low | Substitutionary Death | 19:17-19 | Culturally warm, resonant term (Herrgottswinkel devotional tradition). |
| 63 | vine (true vine imagery) | ἄμπελος | ampelos | Weinstock | Medium | Union with Christ / Fruitfulness | 15:1-8 | Reused within I AM statement #7 (see #40). |
| 64 | bread of life (concept, non-formula occurrences) | ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | artos tēs zōēs | s'Brot vom Lebn | High | Eternal Life | 6:35, 6:48, 6:51 | Reused within I AM statement #2 (see #25). |
| 65 | eat flesh / drink blood | σάρξ / αἷμα | sarx / haima | Fleisch essn / Bluat trinka | High | Substitutionary Death / union with Christ | 6:53-56 | Must not flatten into bare ritual-participation claim divorced from personal faith-union (6:35, 47). |
C. Cross-Reference: The Seven “I Am” Statements (Consolidated)
For teaching-material consistency, all seven absolute egō eimi + predicate statements must use the identical formula I bin... and must each be flagged Critical:
| # | Passage | Greek | Bavarian |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6:35, 48 | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | I bin s'Brot vom Lebn |
| 2 | 8:12 | ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου | I bin s'Liacht vo da Welt |
| 3 | 10:11, 14 | ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός | I bin da guade Hirt |
| 4 | 11:25 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή | I bin d'Aufersteh'ng und s'Lebn |
| 5 | 14:6 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή | I bin da Weg, d'Wahrheit und s'Lebn |
| 6 | 15:1, 5 | ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή | I bin da wahre Weinstock |
| 7 (absolute, no predicate) | 8:58; cf. 18:5-8 | ἐγώ εἰμι | I bin / I bin's |
Note: numbering convention varies by source (some list “I am the door,” John 10:9, as a distinct eighth statement; this curriculum follows the standard seven-statement convention naming the door/gate image as an extension of the good-shepherd discourse rather than a separate formula, consistent with the curriculum’s stated doctrine list).
D. Forbidden Substitutions (John-Specific — extends baseline list)
| Concept | NEVER use | Always use instead | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counselor / Paraclete | any Fürbitt-root rendering | Beistand | Must not collapse Spirit’s Counselor ministry into Marian/saints intercessory devotion (Altötting risk, per baseline intercession entry) |
| Savior (person title) | Heil | Heiland | Heiland is the culturally safe, warm, Nazi-unrelated Bavarian term; Heil retains the baseline’s documented Nazi-era contamination risk |
| ”born again/from above” (3:3, 3:7) | a rendering that resolves the anōthen ambiguity silently in only one direction without narrative support | vo obn gebor'n + mandatory translator note preserving the “again” sense | Destroys Nicodemus’s literalistic misunderstanding in 3:4, the passage’s own literary hinge |
| ”I AM” absolute self-declarations (8:58, 18:5-8) | a past-tense or merely comparative rendering | present-tense I bin / I bin's | The grammatical shock of present-tense “I am” applied to remote past IS the theological point |
| flesh (σάρξ), negative sense (3:6, 6:63, 8:15) | any rendering implying the physical body itself is evil | Fleisch (with explicit disambiguating context) | Guards against both an overly negative view of embodiment and confusion with the positive incarnational sense of the same word at 1:14 |
This glossary must be loaded alongside 07_semantic_analysis.md, the baseline translation_memory.json, and the baseline bible_term_registry.json before any Phase 1 Step 2+ or Phase 2 translation work proceeds. All 65 new terms in Section B require formal risk-tier ratification and translation-memory versioning before entering Phase 2 segment translation, per the baseline’s “Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions.”
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: Gerechtigkeit
Transliteration: Gerechtigkeit
Doctrine: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Rare in John itself but retained for cross-curriculum doctrinal consistency where teaching material connects John’s soteriology to Romans.
Justification
Approved rendering: Rechtfertigung
Transliteration: Rechtfertigung
Doctrine: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Retained for cross-curriculum consistency; John itself favors ‘eternal life’ and ‘believe’ vocabulary over forensic justification vocabulary.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Sohn vo Gott
Transliteration: Sohn vom Gott
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Must remain lexically distinct from the new John-specific title ‘Menschasohn’ (Son of Man) throughout; anchors the Gospel’s own purpose statement (20:31) and Martha’s confession (11:27).
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: zuagrechnete Gerechtigkeit
Transliteration: zuagrechnate Gerechtigkeit
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: verdiante Gerechtigkeit
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Retained for cross-curriculum consistency; John itself favors ‘eternal life received by faith’ vocabulary over this Pauline forensic category.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: s’Wort
Transliteration: s’Woat
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: Logos (untranslated technical loan — rejected as inaccessible/obscure to a lay dialect audience with no catechetical exposure to the Greek philosophical term)
Original: λόγος
Category: Christology
NEW. Must hold full personal distinction from AND full identity with Gott simultaneously (1:1). No native dialect coinage exists for pre-existent divine ontology; borrowed per the established Gerechtigkeit/Rechtfertigung register-gap pattern rather than a folk paraphrase. Single highest-stakes register-gap term in the book.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: s’ewige Lebn
Transliteration: s’ewige Lebm
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Must convey a present-possessed QUALITY of divine life received by faith, canonically defined at 17:3 as personal knowledge of God — never mere unending duration, a vague afterlife notion, or a reincarnation-adjacent cycle.
Life
Approved rendering: s’Lebn
Transliteration: s’Lebm
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word); Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ζωή
Category: Christology
NEW. First predicated OF Christ himself (1:4, 5:26 ‘has life in himself’), prior to any mention of believers receiving it; a rendering that appears only in the ‘given to believers’ direction loses this intrinsic, Deity-of-Christ-relevant sense.
Born Again
Approved rendering: vo obn gebor’n
Transliteration: vo obm gebor’n
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: neu gebor’n (resolves the ambiguity only toward ‘again’, silently losing the ‘from above’ sense)
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: New Birth
NEW. Greek anōthen carries BOTH ‘again’ and ‘from above’ at once; no single Bavarian word does. MANDATORY translator’s note preserving the ‘again’ sense required wherever this term occurs, to avoid flattening Nicodemus’s own literalistic misunderstanding at 3:4.
Spirit Wind Wordplay
Approved rendering: da Wind / da Geist
Transliteration: da Wind / da Gaist
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: New Birth
NEW. Single Greek word pneuma = both ‘wind’ and ‘Spirit’ in John 3:8; untranslatable pun. MANDATORY [TRANSLATOR NOTE] required explaining the underlying wordplay wherever this passage is taught.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: Menschasohn
Transliteration: Menschnsohn
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: a Mensch (bare ‘a human being’ — erases the descent/pre-existence claim), Sohn vo Gott (collapses a lexically distinct title into another)
Original: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
NEW coined calque. Must remain visibly distinct from ‘Sohn vo Gott’ at every occurrence (1:51, 3:13-14, 8:28, 12:23, 12:34); holds together true humanity AND heavenly pre-existent authority (Daniel 7:13-14 background) in a single title.
Only Son
Approved rendering: sein oanziga Sohn
Transliteration: sein oanzige Sohn
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
NEW. monogenēs = ‘one of a kind, unique, underived’ — must never be rendered in a way that could parallel the believer’s own derivative ‘Kindschaft’; the central term of the Deity/Pre-existence doctrine at its most concentrated (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, 3:18).
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: s’Lamm vo Gott
Transliteration: s’Lamm vom Gott
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Must retain the substitutionary, sin-bearing, Passover/Isaiah 53 sacrificial sense; a rural farming culture’s everyday pastoral-animal associations risk softening it into generic gentleness/innocence.
I Am Absolute
Approved rendering: I bin / I bin’s
Transliteration: I bin / I bin’s
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: past-tense or comparative rendering, e.g. ‘I existed before…’ (FORBIDDEN)
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι
Category: Christology
NEW. Bare, predicate-less self-declaration echoing Exodus 3:14; highest-stakes at 8:58 and 18:5-8. The present-tense grammatical shock IS the theological point and must never be smoothed.
I Am Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: I bin s’Brot vom Lebn
Transliteration: I bin s’Broat vom Lebm
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Seven I Am Statements
NEW. 2nd of 7. Formula ‘I bin…’ must be used identically for all seven statements; do not vary the construction for stylistic reasons.
I Am Light Of World
Approved rendering: I bin s’Liacht vo da Welt
Transliteration: I bin s’Liachd vo da Wejt
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Seven I Am Statements
NEW. 3rd of 7 (8:12, 9:5).
Before Abraham I Am
Approved rendering: Bevor da Abraham gwen is, bin I
Transliteration: Bevoa da Abraham gwen is, bin I
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: Bevor da Abraham gwen is, war i (FORBIDDEN — past-tense drift documented in the German Volxbibel paraphrase; destroys the Exodus 3:14 echo)
Original: πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί
Category: Christology
NEW. The clearest single pre-existent-deity claim in the Gospel (8:58); escalate identically to the Thomas confession (20:28) for review.
I Am Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: I bin da guade Hirt
Transliteration: I bin da guate Hirt
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Seven I Am Statements
NEW. 4th of 7 (10:11, 10:14); combined with voluntary substitutionary self-giving (10:11-18).
I And Father Are One
Approved rendering: I und mei Voda san oans
Transliteration: I und mei Voda sam oans
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν
Category: Unity of Father and Son
NEW. Neuter hen = unity of essence/will, not identity of person; the crowd’s stoning attempt (10:31-33) confirms the deity-claim force that must survive translation. Guard against both modalism and a weak mere-agreement reading.
I Am Resurrection And Life
Approved rendering: I bin d’Aufersteh’ng und s’Lebn
Transliteration: I bin d’Auferstehung und s’Lebm
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Seven I Am Statements
NEW. 5th of 7 (11:25); applied to believers’ own future resurrection, not only Christ’s own.
I Am Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: I bin da Weg, d’Wahrheit und s’Lebn
Transliteration: I bin da Weg, d’Woahrheit und s’Lebm
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Seven I Am Statements
NEW. 6th of 7 (14:6); only triple-predicate statement; carries the exclusivity claim (‘no one comes to the Father except through me’) requiring careful, non-apologetic but doctrinally faithful handling.
Seen Me Seen Father
Approved rendering: wer mi gsehg’n hat, hat mein Voda gsehg’n
Transliteration: wer mi gsehg’n hod, hod mein Voda gsehg’n
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακεν τὸν πατέρα
Category: Unity of Father and Son
NEW. 12:45, expanded at 14:9-11; fullest relational statement of Father-Son unity alongside 10:30. Must not reduce to ‘Jesus resembles God’ rather than ‘reveals and is one with God’.
Counselor Paraclete
Approved rendering: da Beistand
Transliteration: da Beischtand
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: Fürbitt or any Fürbitt-rooted word (FORBIDDEN — collides with Bavaria’s Altötting-anchored Marian/saints intercessory devotional tradition, already documented High-risk in the baseline), Paraklet (transliterated Greek loan, rejected as obscure to lay dialect readers)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. Landscape-confirmed: both Luther 2017 and Einheitsübersetzung 2016 converge on ‘Beistand’ — the term the target audience will already recognize from the lectionary. Must be kept sharply distinct from saintly/Marian intercession at every occurrence.
I Am True Vine
Approved rendering: I bin da wahre Weinstock
Transliteration: I bin da woahre Weinstock
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή
Category: Seven I Am Statements
NEW. 7th and final of 7 (15:1, 15:5); completes the formula-consistency set.
Glory Before World
Approved rendering: d’Herrlichkeit vo vor da Welt
Transliteration: d’Herrlichkeit vo voa da Wejt
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ἡ δόξα … πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι
Category: Christology
NEW. Explicit pre-temporal, pre-creation glory (17:5, 17:24) — the clearest single textual pre-existence proof-text alongside 1:1; must not be read loosely as ‘before the world knew him’ rather than ‘before the world existed’.
That They May Be One
Approved rendering: dass sie oans sind, so wia mir oans sind
Transliteration: dass sie oans sam, so wia mir oans sam
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν καθὼς ἡμεῖς ἕν
Category: Unity of Father and Son
NEW. Same hen sense as 10:30, applied BY ANALOGY (not identity) to believers (17:11, 17:21-22); guard against both an over-mystical merger reading and a weak ‘just getting along’ reading.
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: Es is vollbracht
Transliteration: Es is vollbrocht
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Perfect-tense declaration of COMPLETED, once-for-all accomplishment (19:30); strongest textual corrective to the baseline’s documented pilgrimage-vow/votive-offering devotional-transaction risk. Landscape-confirmed: unanimous across Luther, EU, Elberfelder, Schlachter.
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: Mei Herr und mei Gott!
Transliteration: Mei Herr und mei Gott!
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου
Category: Christology
NEW. Thomas’s confession (20:28), the most explicit direct address of Jesus AS God in the Gospels, commended not corrected by Jesus (20:29). FORBIDDEN: any teaching-note that hedges or reframes this as a startled, non-worshipful exclamation (a documented cult-literature pattern).
Equality With Father
Approved rendering: gleiche Ehr wia da Voda
Transliteration: gleiche Ehr wia da Voter
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
NEW. Not a single lexical term but a syntax-level doctrinal claim (5:17-23, ‘that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father’); flag every occurrence for theologian review — any rendering that subordinates the Son’s honor below the Father’s undermines the passage’s explicit claim of equal honor.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: Gnad
Transliteration: Gnod
Doctrine: Grace
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Key John occurrence: 1:14-17, ‘Gnad und Wahrheit’ (grace and truth), echoing Exodus 34:6. Retain the baseline’s caution against any Bavarian Catholic devotional-transaction undertone.
Salvation
Approved rendering: Erlösung
Transliteration: Erlesung
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: Heil (Nazi-era contamination risk, acute in Bavaria specifically)
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. In John, keep this abstract noun distinct from but non-competing with the new person-title ‘da Heiland’ (Savior of the World, 4:42).
Saints
Approved rendering: Heiling
Transliteration: de Heiling
Doctrine: Sainthood
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Not a frequent John term, but the same patron-saint/Namenstag collision risk applies wherever teaching material uses corporate believer-language.
Lord
Approved rendering: Herr
Transliteration: Herr
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Highest-stakes John occurrence: 20:28, ‘Mei Herr und mei Gott!’ (Thomas’s confession), registered separately below at Critical tier.
Church
Approved rendering: Kirch
Transliteration: Kircha
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: Gmoa (secular-administrative default, rejected)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s ecclesiology is comparatively implicit (‘one flock, one shepherd,’ 10:16); the baseline’s Kirch/Gmoa fencing applies unchanged wherever teaching material connects John to gathered-church doctrine.
Law
Approved rendering: Gsetz
Transliteration: Gsötz
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s Sabbath-healing controversies (ch.5, 7, 9) present Christ as fulfilling, not merely violating, the law’s purpose; retains the baseline’s Thomistic natural-law framing distinct from a Reformed law-gospel dialectic.
Sin
Approved rendering: Sünd
Transliteration: Sind
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Pervasive in John (1:29, 8:34, 9:41); retains the baseline’s colloquial ‘what a shame/waste’ trivialization caution.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: Gehorsam vom Glaam
Transliteration: Gehorsam vom Gloam
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Not a distinct John phrase but retained for cross-curriculum consistency with Romans.
Election
Approved rendering: Erwählung
Transliteration: Erwöahlung
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Original: ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s key occurrence: 15:19, ‘I chose you out of the world’; retains the baseline’s register-gap rationale (no lived Bavarian Catholic predestination-controversy tradition).
Intercession
Approved rendering: Fürbitt
Transliteration: Fiabitt
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. FORBIDDEN as a rendering root for the new John-specific term ‘counselor_paraclete’ — see forbidden substitutions in analysis/12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Light
Approved rendering: s’Liacht
Transliteration: s’Liachd
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: φῶς
Category: Judgment
NEW. Must retain the morally confrontational, exposing edge (3:19-20, ‘loved darkness… to avoid exposure’); risk of drifting toward generic enlightenment/wisdom imagery.
World
Approved rendering: d’Welt
Transliteration: d’Wejt
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Must do double duty as both the object of God’s redeeming love (3:16) AND humanity in organized rebellion under judgment (3:19, 12:31, 16:33) — both senses must remain visible; not narrowed to nature/creation nor softened into ‘nice people out there’.
Believe
Approved rendering: glaam
Transliteration: gloam
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: πιστεύω
Category: Faith
NEW (verb form of baseline noun Glaam). Must always retain or imply a personal object (trust IN Christ, John’s dominant construction, ~98 occurrences); a bare intransitive ‘glaam’ risks reading as vague generic religiosity.
Flesh
Approved rendering: Fleisch
Transliteration: Fleisch
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word; New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit (dual valence)
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
NEW. SAME word carries two theologically opposite senses: positive/neutral human nature (1:14) vs. negative, Spirit-less natural generation (3:6, 6:63, 8:15). Context must disambiguate every occurrence without exception; never let one sense bleed into the other.
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: erhöht wern
Transliteration: erhöcht wern
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: aufghengt wern (execution-only rendering, rejected as too narrow — loses the exaltation half of the wordplay)
Original: ὑψωθῆναι
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Single Greek verb hypsōthēnai denotes BOTH physical crucifixion-elevation AND theological exaltation; must render identically at all three occurrences (3:14, 8:28, 12:32-34).
Condemn Judgment
Approved rendering: vaurteiln / s’Gricht
Transliteration: vaurteiln / s’Grichd
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίνω / κρίσις
Category: Judgment
NEW. The perfect-tense ‘condemned already’ (3:18) carries the doctrine’s present-tense urgency; a future-only rendering weakens the passage.
Truth
Approved rendering: d’Wahrheit
Transliteration: d’Woahrheit
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor; general Christology
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Revelation
NEW. Structural pillar term across the whole Gospel (1:14, 1:17, 3:21, 4:23-24, 8:32, 14:6, 16:13, 17:17, 18:38); must retain revealed-divine-reality/relational-integrity weight, not narrow to bare factual correctness.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: da Zorn vo Gott
Transliteration: da Zoan vom Gott
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Judgment
NEW. Settled, judicial anger (3:36), not capricious temper; must avoid the profanity-adjacent register-bleed already flagged for ‘Herrgott’ in the baseline.
Worship Spirit Truth
Approved rendering: in Geist und Wahrheit anbet’n
Transliteration: in Gaist und Woahrheit anbet’n
Doctrine: Worship in Spirit and Truth
Original: προσκυνέω ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. In a Mass-centered, place-anchored devotional culture (Pfarrkirch/Kirchweih), must not be heard as devaluing liturgical worship altogether; the text’s target is worship divorced from Spirit and truth, in any form.
Holy One Of God
Approved rendering: der Heilige vo Gott
Transliteration: der Hoalige vom Gott
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
NEW. Peter’s confession (6:69); must not be diluted into a generic ‘holy man’ honorific parallel to canonized saints, echoing the baseline’s ‘Heiling’/saints collision risk.
Hyper Substitutionary
Approved rendering: für … sterb’n
Transliteration: fia … sterb’n
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὑπέρ
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Must retain ‘on behalf of/in place of’ force, not merely ‘because of’; Caiaphas’s unwitting prophecy (11:50-51) must not be flattened into a merely political calculation.
Another Helper
Approved rendering: an andern Beistand
Transliteration: an andan Beischtand
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ἄλλον παράκλητον
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. ‘Another’ implies continuity between Christ’s own ministry and the Spirit’s ongoing ministry (14:16); same forbidden-substitution caution as counselor_paraclete applies.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: da Geist vo da Wahrheit
Transliteration: da Gaist vo da Woahrheit
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. Combines Heiliger Geist with d’Wahrheit (15:26, 16:13); must retain the Spirit’s personal, guiding ministry, not reduce to an abstract ‘spirit of honesty’ quality.
The Jews
Approved rendering: d’Juden / de jüdischn Führer
Transliteration: d’Juden / de jiadischn Fiara
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles (John’s Extension)
Original: οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι
Category: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
NEW. Context-sensitive between the neutral ethnic sense (5:1) and the narrowed hostile-leadership sense (ch.5-12, 18-19); requires the same Munich/Bavaria-specific post-Holocaust historical care already documented in the baseline for ‘israel’, sharpened by Munich’s history as the Nazi movement’s headquarters.
Eat Flesh Drink Blood
Approved rendering: Fleisch essn / Bluat trinka
Transliteration: Fleisch essn / Bluad trinkn
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: σάρξ / αἷμα
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Will rightly evoke the Mass in this Eucharist-centered culture (6:53-56) but must not be flattened into bare ritual participation divorced from the personal faith-union John names in the same discourse (6:35, 47).
Resurrection Of Life And Judgment
Approved rendering: d’Aufersteh’ng zum Lebn / zum Gricht
Transliteration: d’Auferstehung zum Lebm / zum Grichd
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief; Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
NEW. Combines baseline Aufersteh’ng with s’Gricht (5:28-29); the two destinies must remain sharply, symmetrically distinct in translation.
Kingdom Not Of This World
Approved rendering: mei Reich is nit vo dera Welt
Transliteration: mei Reich is nit vo derer Wejt
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission (extension)
NEW. Reuses baseline s’Reich vo Gott and new d’Welt; must retain the deliberate contrast with a political/territorial kingdom (Pilate’s category, 18:36) without implying Christ’s kingdom is merely ‘spiritual’ in a world-denying sense.
Medium Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: Glaam
Transliteration: Gloam
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Noun form; John’s dominant form is the verb ‘glaam’ (pisteuō), registered separately below.
Called
Approved rendering: beruafa
Transliteration: beruaft
Doctrine: Divine Calling
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Calling
Approved rendering: Beruafung
Transliteration: Berufung
Doctrine: Divine Calling
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Holy
Approved rendering: heilig
Transliteration: hoalig
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Occurs in the John-specific compound ‘der Heilige vo Gott’ (Holy One of God, 6:69), registered separately below.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: Heiligung
Transliteration: Heiligung
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Verb form ‘heiliga’ (John 17:17, 17:19) registered separately below.
Adoption
Approved rendering: Kindschaft
Transliteration: Kindschaft
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: Adoption (bare, legal-procedural)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. CRITICAL CROSS-REFERENCE: must never be allowed to parallel or dilute the John-specific ‘sein oanziga Sohn’ (monogenēs); believers’ Kindschaft is derivative and granted, Christ’s Sonship is unique and underived.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: Aufersteh’ng
Transliteration: Auferstehung
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s key occurrences: 5:28-29 (‘resurrection of life’/‘resurrection of judgment’), 11:25 (‘I am the resurrection and the life’).
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Menschwerdung
Transliteration: Menschwerdung
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Directly textually anchored in John 1:14 itself (‘s’Wort is Fleisch worn’), unlike Romans where it was only implied.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: Gnodngob’n
Transliteration: Gnadengaben
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Not a major John theme; retained for cross-curriculum consistency.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Gmoaschaft
Transliteration: Gemoaschoft
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Relevant to John’s Love Command and friendship material (13:34-35, 15:9-17).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: s’Reich vo Gott
Transliteration: des Reich vom Gott
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s key occurrence, ‘my kingdom is not of this world’ (18:36), sharpens the baseline’s political/nationalist-misreading caution via explicit contrast with Pilate’s categories; see new term ‘kingdom_not_of_this_world’ below.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: Heiden
Transliteration: Hoaden
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Relevant to John’s ‘other sheep not of this fold’ (10:16) and Greeks seeking Jesus (12:20-21).
Glory
Approved rendering: Herrlichkeit
Transliteration: Herrlichkeit
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. In John, glory is manifested through signs (2:11) and, climactically, through the cross (13:31-32); distinct from the new Critical term ‘glory_before_world’ (17:5, 17:24), which specifically denotes PRE-CREATION glory.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: Kraft vo Gott
Transliteration: Kroft vom Gott
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messias
Transliteration: Messias
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός / מָשִׁיחַ
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Occurs at John 1:41, 1:49, 4:25-26, 4:29, 11:27, 20:31.
Covenant
Approved rendering: Bund
Transliteration: Bund
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Providence
Approved rendering: Vorsehung
Transliteration: Vorsehung
Doctrine: Providence
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Mission
Approved rendering: Mission
Transliteration: Mission
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Original: ἀποστολή / πέμπω
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s key occurrence, 20:21 (‘as the Father has sent me, I am sending you’), ties this term directly to the Father-Son sending pattern, a major structural theme from ch.5 onward.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Occurs at John 1:31, 1:49, 3:10 (‘the teacher of Israel’), 12:13.
God
Approved rendering: Gott
Transliteration: Herrgott
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. In John, note especially the deity claims of 1:1, 8:58, and 20:28 where ‘Gott’ is applied directly to Christ; use plain ‘Gott’ in every doctrinally load-bearing statement, reserving ‘Herrgott’ for warm folk-devotional narrative contexts only, per the baseline’s profanity register-bleed caution.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Heiliger Geist
Transliteration: Heiliga Geist
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: Pneumatology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Distinguish carefully from the new John-specific wind/Spirit wordplay term (3:8); the Counselor/Paraclete ministry (ch.14-16) is this same Person’s work, not a separate figure.
Father
Approved rendering: Voda
Transliteration: Voter
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. John’s distinctive contribution is the Father-Son unity material (10:30, 14:9-11, 17:11, 17:21-22); ensure ‘Voda’ in these passages is read as the eternal Father of the eternal Son, not merely in the adoptive sense carried elsewhere by ‘Kindschaft’.
Abba
Approved rendering: Abba
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: אַבָּא
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Does not occur in John’s Gospel text itself but retained for cross-curriculum consistency.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: Nachkomme vom David
Transliteration: Nochkumme vom David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: Some vom David (archaic/clinical register, rejected as in standard German)
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Retained for cross-curriculum consistency; John 7:42 references Davidic descent.
Darkness
Approved rendering: d’Finsternis
Transliteration: d’Finstanis
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: σκοτία
Category: Judgment
NEW. Moral/spiritual darkness opposed to Christ the light; risk limited to ensuring the moral-opposition sense is not read as merely physical/atmospheric.
Witness Testimony
Approved rendering: Zeugnis geb’n
Transliteration: Zeigniss geb’n
Doctrine: Witness and Testimony Motif
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Revelation
NEW. Structural trial-narrative motif spanning 1:7 to 21:24; must render identically at every occurrence so the reader can recognize the recurring pattern rather than scattered, unrelated vocabulary.
Perish
Approved rendering: verlorn gehn
Transliteration: valorn gehn
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Judgment
NEW. Must convey genuine, final loss/destruction (John 3:16), not a soft ‘fade away’.
Name
Approved rendering: Nam
Transliteration: Nam
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ὄνομα
Category: Faith
NEW. Stands for the whole person/identity/authority of Christ; ‘believing in the name’ must not be read as an invocational formula.
Living Water
Approved rendering: lebendigs Wasser
Transliteration: lebendiges Wasser
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor (extension)
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. Symbolic of the Spirit’s life-giving, thirst-satisfying gift (4:10-14, 7:37-39).
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: da Heiland vo da Welt
Transliteration: da Heiland vo da Wejt
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World; Salvation
Rejected alternatives: Heil (FORBIDDEN — Nazi-era contamination)
Original: σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Salvation
NEW. ‘Heiland’ is the warm, native Bavarian Christmas-devotional person-title for Savior, etymologically and culturally UNRELATED to Heil; must stay distinct from but non-competing with abstract ‘Erlösung’.
Draws
Approved rendering: ziang
Transliteration: ziag’n
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: ἕλκω
Category: New Birth
NEW. ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him’ (6:44) — sovereign, prior divine initiative; parallels the baseline’s register-gap risk already documented for ‘Erwählung’.
Hour Appointed Time
Approved rendering: d’Stund
Transliteration: d’Stund
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ἡ ὥρα / ὁ καιρός
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. John’s recurring theological marker for the divinely appointed timing of the Passion/glorification (7:6, 7:30, 12:23, 13:1, 17:1); not ordinary clock-time.
Truth Sets Free
Approved rendering: d’Wahrheit macht enk frei
Transliteration: d’Woahrheit macht enk frei
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor (extension)
Original: ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς
Category: Revelation
NEW. Genuine truth-revelation in Christ liberates from sin’s bondage (8:32); risk of reading as generic self-help wisdom detached from Christ.
Abide Remain
Approved rendering: bleiba
Transliteration: bleim
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ / Union with Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Christian Identity in Christ
NEW. Ongoing, living relational union (branch-in-vine dependence, 15:4-10; also 6:56, 14:10, 14:17), not mere static membership.
Friend Philos
Approved rendering: Freind
Transliteration: Freund
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World (extension); Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλος
Category: Christian Fellowship
NEW. Distinct Greek root (philos) from agapē; the philos/agapē interplay at 15:13-15 is a documented translation-loss risk (Bavarian’s single lexical field ‘Liab’ spans both roots) that should not carry independent doctrinal weight beyond the surrounding text.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: d’Welt übawundn
Transliteration: d’Wejt iwawundn
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (Assurance)
Original: ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον
Category: Assurance of Salvation
NEW. Actual, historical, cosmic-scale victory (16:33), anticipating the cross/resurrection; must not be softened into merely private, spiritualized comfort.
Sanctify
Approved rendering: heiliga
Transliteration: hoaliga
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit (Sanctification)
Original: ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
NEW verb form of baseline Heiligung: ‘sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth’ (17:17, 17:19).
Love Agape Phileo
Approved rendering: Hast mi liab?
Transliteration: Host mi liab?
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World (extension)
Original: ἀγαπᾷς με / φιλεῖς με
Category: Christian Fellowship
NEW. Documented translation-loss risk: Bavarian cannot sustain the agapaō/phileō two-verb distinction (21:15-17); any teaching point should rest on the fully-preservable three-fold repetition, not the verb alternation itself.
Sign
Approved rendering: Zeicha
Transliteration: Zeichn
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (evidentiary); Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: Wunder (mere wonder-working, rejected — drops the revelatory, faith-eliciting purpose)
Original: σημεῖον
Category: Revelation
NEW. Revelatory acts pointing to Christ’s identity, explicitly named as the Gospel’s purpose at 20:30-31; must not collapse into folk-magic ‘Wunder’.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: s’neue Gebot
Transliteration: s’neie Gebot
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World (extension)
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: Christian Fellowship
NEW. Ties the Father’s self-giving love (3:16) directly to a command believers must replicate toward one another (13:34); must retain agapē’s costly, self-giving quality, not soften to generic niceness.
Passover
Approved rendering: Passah
Transliteration: Passah
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection (typology)
Rejected alternatives: Ostern (the Christian Easter feast, rejected — must not conflate Jewish Passover observance with the later Christian commemoration)
Original: πάσχα
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Narrative/typological backdrop for Christ’s death as the true Passover Lamb (2:13, 6:4, 11:55, 13:1, 19:14).
King Of Israel
Approved rendering: Kini vo Israel
Transliteration: Kini vom Israel
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
NEW. König > Kini, common Bavarian form (1:49); combines with baseline Israel term.
Baptize With Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: mit’n Heiligen Geist taufa
Transliteration: mit’n Heiling Gaist taufn
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor (extension)
NEW. John the Baptist’s declaration (1:33); -en > -a infinitive per established dialect pattern.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: Apostl
Transliteration: Apoastl
Doctrine: Apostleship
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Peace
Approved rendering: Friad
Transliteration: Friade
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Key John occurrence: 14:27, ‘my peace I give to you,’ distinct from the world’s peace.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: Dank
Transliteration: Donk
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Prophet
Approved rendering: Prophet
Transliteration: Prophet
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: Weissogung
Transliteration: Weissagung
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
David
Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: דָּוִד
Category: Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes. Briefly referenced at John 7:42.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Exhort
Approved rendering: ermahna
Transliteration: ermohna
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — no changes.
Disciple
Approved rendering: Jünga
Transliteration: Jünger
Doctrine: General Discipleship
Original: μαθητής
Category: Christian Fellowship
NEW. Stable borrowed/adapted term, -er > -a per the established Voda pattern.
Servant Slave
Approved rendering: Knecht
Transliteration: Knecht
Doctrine: General Discipleship
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Christian Fellowship
NEW. Authentically rural-Bavarian resonant term (farmhand/servant); register asset, not risk. Later contrasted with ‘Freind’ (15:15).
Cross
Approved rendering: s’Kreuz
Transliteration: s’Kreiz
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: σταυρός
Category: Christ’s Substitutionary Death
NEW. Culturally warm, resonant term via the Herrgottswinkel domestic-crucifix tradition; a register asset with no doctrinal risk (19:17-19).
Rabbi
Approved rendering: Rabbi
Transliteration: Rabbi
Doctrine: General
Original: Ῥαββί
Category: Revelation
NEW. Transliterated Hebrew/Aramaic honorific, unchanged (1:38, 1:49, 3:2).
Pharisees
Approved rendering: Pharisäer
Transliteration: Pharisäa
Doctrine: General
Original: Φαρισαῖος
Category: Covenant
NEW. Borrowed, stable term (John 3:1 and throughout).
Manna
Approved rendering: Manna
Transliteration: Manna
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection (Bread of Life background)
NEW. Transliterated OT background term (Exodus 16), contrasted with Christ as the true bread from heaven (6:31-33).
Bridegroom Friend
Approved rendering: Bräutigam / Freind vom Bräutigam
Transliteration: Bräitigam / Freund vom Bräitigam
Doctrine: General (John the Baptist’s witness)
NEW. Narrative self-effacement imagery (3:29); low doctrinal risk.
Murmuring Grumbling
Approved rendering: murrn
Transliteration: murrn
Doctrine: General (OT echo)
NEW. Echoes Israel’s wilderness grumbling (6:41, 61; cf. Exodus/Numbers).
Honor
Approved rendering: Ehr
Transliteration: Ehr
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son (extension)
NEW. Ties to equality_with_father (5:23); low lexical risk on its own but load-bearing in context.
Grief Turned To Joy
Approved rendering: Traurigkeit / Freid
Transliteration: Trauerkeit / Freud
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor (extension)
NEW. 16:20-22; low doctrinal risk narrative-emotional vocabulary.
Referenced passages